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I am trying to use the formula that they have mentioned Vout=Gain(v1-v2), in my simulator I have placed one signal at 0.001V and the other one at 0V. The gain that they have found is 192, so I expect Vout=192(-0.001)=-0.192V but in the simulator I get -92.571mV

I also expect that the gain would change as long as I keep changing V1/V2, but they talk about the 192 gain as it was something that's steady. Why is it steady?

Adam Haun
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PastaLover
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    Do your transistors match the ones in the book, as far as their small signal properties? The gain follows from the resistor values and transistor properties. – nanofarad Jul 06 '21 at 16:21
  • Something is not right I'm getting https://tinyurl.com/ye5mrmnb Vout = (5.4V - 5.2V) = 0.2V thus the gain is 200mV/1mV = 200V/V – G36 Jul 06 '21 at 16:35
  • @nanofarad I am not sure, they haven't shared any information about the type of transistor. – PastaLover Jul 06 '21 at 16:45
  • @G36 So what do you suggest, is there something wrong with the circuit that they provided? – PastaLover Jul 06 '21 at 16:46
  • No, the circuit is fine, see the link I posted to the simulation. You must have done something wrong in the simulation. Can you post a link to your simulation? – G36 Jul 06 '21 at 16:50
  • @G36 Oh, I see what you mean, in your case it indeed works much better but it isn't 100% accurate at 192 gain, doe this kind of amplifier has a small tolerance? Here's my circuit: https://tinyurl.com/yzsaeouw – PastaLover Jul 06 '21 at 16:53
  • @Theprocodernotreallyxd If you are trying to match up by hand with a good simulator using a good BJT model, you'd need to know the key BJT model parameters. Otherwise, it's kind of hopeless to expect high accuracy hand-computations with respect to simulation. Note also that you are using a large-scale DC simulation and not applying an AC signal, which is where the dynamic resistance matters. So it's kind of apples and oranges. – jonk Jul 06 '21 at 17:09
  • If I set RE (For Vin =0V) so that we have Ic1 = Ic1 = 50µA thus, the gain is around 193 and this is within tolerance. r'e is a temperature-dependent. https://tinyurl.com/yhf39g2u – G36 Jul 06 '21 at 17:09
  • @jonk Thanks, I am not trying to build anything right now, just trying to learn about this amplifier. Do you mean that this kind of amplifier is usually used with much lower signals than 0.001? – PastaLover Jul 06 '21 at 18:26
  • @G36 it is true when the voltage is very very low, but when the signal voltage starts to grow it looks like the gain is less than 193. Is it supposed to be light that? Is this amplifier supposed to be used with very light signals? – PastaLover Jul 06 '21 at 18:29
  • @Theprocodernotreallyxd Yes, this kind of amplifier stage is used with much smaller signals than 1 mV. – jonk Jul 06 '21 at 18:31
  • Play with this simulation https://tinyurl.com/yz2c69yc Notice that now you can have +1V at the input . But the gain is lower, around 10kΩ/(26Ω + 969Ω) = 10V – G36 Jul 06 '21 at 19:19

2 Answers2

11

Large-Scale Result

Assuming you already know the value for the current in \$R_{_\text{E}}\$ (which, by the way, you do not) and also assuming the BJTs are matched (and in a simulator they probably are) then the collector voltage difference is:

$$\begin{align*} \Delta V_{_\text{C}}=V_{_{\text{C}_1}}-V_{_{\text{C}_2}}=I_{_{\!R_\text{E}}}\cdot R_{_\text{C}}\cdot\tanh\left(\frac{\frac12\Delta V_{_\text{B}}}{\eta\cdot V_T}\right) \end{align*}$$

\$V_T\$ is the thermal voltage and is often taken to be about \$26\:\text{mV}\$. (However, who knows what your simulation is using?) \$\eta\$ is the emission coefficient "ideality" factor and assumed to be the same for both BJTs here. (For small signal BJTs, this is just "1". For monster BJTs like a 2N3055, it won't be 1.)

The above equation is a large-scale DC model. It will work over the entire range of the circuit. Not just small voltage differences between the bases, but large ones, as well.

The above equation, taken to its extremes, behaves as one would expect. The \$\tanh\$ function goes from -1 to +1. So when the base voltage difference reaches extremes in either direction the magnitude of resulting voltage difference cannot exceed \$\mid I_{_{\!R_\text{E}}}\cdot R_{_\text{C}}\mid\$. In short, if all of the current in \$R_{_\text{E}}\$ is directed to one BJT and not the other one, then there will be no voltage drop across one of the collector resistors and the other collector resistor will get all the current and therefore all of the voltage drop, and the difference will just be that voltage drop. This simple thought experiment verifies that the developed equation makes sense and produces the right results in the extremes.

Keeping in mind that \$\Delta V_{_\text{C}}=V_{_{\text{C}_1}}-V_{_{\text{C}_2}}\$ and \$\Delta V_{_\text{B}}=V_{_{\text{B}_1}}-V_{_{\text{B}_2}}\$, the voltage gain is:

$$\begin{align*} A_V=\bigg| \frac{\Delta V_{_\text{C}}}{\Delta V_{_\text{B}}}\bigg|=R_{_\text{C}}\cdot\frac{\bigg|I_{_{\!R_\text{E}}}\cdot \tanh\left(\frac{\frac12\Delta V_{_\text{B}}}{\eta\cdot V_T}\right)\bigg|}{\bigg|\Delta V_{_\text{B}}\bigg|} \end{align*}$$

How to Reach the Large-Scale Result

In perfectly matched BJTs, the collector current ratios are:

$$\frac{I_1}{I_2}\approx \exp\left(\frac{\frac12 \Delta V_{_\text{B}}}{\eta\cdot V_T}\right)$$

(This is approximate, because the Shockley equation includes a tiny -1 term in it and I've neglected it, as the other term dominates and neglecting the -1 term allows a much simpler expression to result that is a lot easier to solve and doesn't impact the result.)

Also, it's pretty obvious that the following is true due to KCL:

$$I_{_{\!R_\text{E}}}=I_1+I_2$$

This provides two equations with two unknowns, \$I_1\$ and \$I_2\$, and this can be solved and then applied to the two collector resistors to compute the difference. If you work this out on paper, you will in fact get the first equation I provided above.

Refined Large-Scale Result

There's one last detail, though: the value for \$\mid I_{_{\!R_\text{E}}}\mid\$. This will not be so simple to compute. Your approximation is obviously wrong, assuming that one of the base voltages is \$0\:\text{V}\$ and the other is \$+1\:\text{mV}\$. Clearly, the emitter voltage will be some negative value and therefore the current will be less than you propose. So the voltage gain will also be smaller than expected.

I won't show the details, but the shared emitter voltage is:

$$\begin{align*} V_{_\text{E}}&=V_{_\text{EE}} + \eta\,V_T\:\operatorname{LambertW}\left[\frac{I_{_\text{SAT}}\:R_{_\text{E}}}{\eta\,V_T}\left(e^{^\frac{V_{_{\text{B}_1}}}{\eta\,V_T}} + e^{^\frac{V_{_{\text{B}_2}}}{\eta\,V_T}}\right)\:e^{^\frac{2\:I_{_\text{SAT}}\:R_{_\text{E}} - V_{_\text{EE}}}{\eta\,V_T}}\right]-2\:I_{_\text{SAT}}\:R_{_\text{E}} \end{align*}$$

In your example circuit and using \$I_{_\text{SAT}}=1\times 10^{-14}\:\text{A}\$ and \$V_T=26\:\text{mV}\$, I get \$V_{_\text{E}}\approx -578.58\:\text{mV}\$ and therefore \$\mid I_{_{R_\text{E}}}\!\!\mid\,\approx 94.2\:\mu\text{A}\$. The estimated voltage gain is then \$\mid A_V\!\!\mid\approx 181.2\$.

Clearly, if your simulator uses different model parameters for the BJTs or if it uses a different thermal voltage, the results will likely differ. But the above is the correct approach.

Note that this is just a DC operating point solution showing how the base voltage difference affects the DC solution.

(And finally, I've ignored the difference between the emitter currents and the collector currents in the above analysis. I really should have applied \$\alpha_{_\text{F}}\$ as a factor in the first equation. But it's close to 1 and it is easy enough to adjust downward slightly the expected voltage gain.)

Small-Scale Result

If \$\Delta V_{_\text{B}}\$ is very tiny then the \$\tanh\$ function's output value is the same as its parameter value. This follows from the Taylor's expansion:

$$\tanh x = x-\frac13 x^3+\frac{2}{15}x^5-\frac{17}{315}x^7+...$$

And just selecting the first term, as the remaining terms rapidly diminish.

In this case, where the base voltage difference is sufficiently small, you can neglect the \$\tanh\$ function and get this small-difference result:

$$ A_V \approx \frac{\frac12 \mid I_{_{R_\text{E}}}\!\!\mid \cdot \,R_{_\text{C}}}{\eta\cdot V_T}$$

Taking \$\eta=1\$ (commonly done for low-power BJTs), the quiescent \$I_{_\text{E}}=\frac12 I_{_{R_\text{E}}}\$, and the small-signal BJT model value \$r_e^{\:'}=\frac{V_T}{\mid I_{_\text{E}}\mid}=\frac{V_T}{\frac12\mid I_{_{R_\text{E}}}\mid}\$, the differential gain is:

$$ A_V\approx \frac{R_{_\text{C}}}{r_e^{\:'}}$$

As \$g_m=\frac{\mid I_{_\text{C}}\mid}{V_T}\$ and \$I_{_\text{C}}\approx I_{_\text{E}}\$ it follows that \$g_m\approx \frac1{r_e^{\:'}}\$ and:

$$\begin{align*} A_V&\approx g_m\:R_{_\text{C}} \end{align*}$$

And in your example, this gives about the same result. So your difference is "small" enough that this DC operating point simplification is useful as an AC gain estimate.

This last equation remains approximately valid for differences up to about \$\frac12 V_T\$ (or about \$12\:\text{mV}\$), after which the gain variations are sufficient to start distorting the output signal. This means this stage, run open loop and without NFB to correct it, will distort signal inputs when the base voltage differences peak at more than a tenth of a volt.


Appendix

If you don't feel comfortable with the LambertW product-log function to form a closed solution, you can iterate to find a solution.

In this case, you can derive an iterative solution by first assuming that the collector currents and emitter currents are the same (as I have done, above), assuming we can ignore the -1 term in the Shockley equation (reasonable, too), assuming \$\eta=1\$, and then knowing that the sum of the two emitter currents must be:

$$\begin{align*} I_{_{R_\text{E}}}=\frac{V_{_\text{E}}}{R_{_\text{E}}}&\approx I_{_\text{SAT}}\exp\left(\frac{V_{_\text{B}}-V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right)+I_{_\text{SAT}}\exp\left(\frac{\left(V_{_\text{B}}+1\:\text{mV}\right)-V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right) \\\\ \frac{I_{_{R_\text{E}}}}{R_{_\text{E}}\cdot I_{_\text{SAT}}}&\approx \exp\left(\frac{V_{_\text{B}}-V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right)+\exp\left(\frac{\left(V_{_\text{B}}+1\:\text{mV}\right)-V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right) \\\\&\approx\exp\left(\frac{V_{_\text{B}}-V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right)\left[1+\exp\left(\frac{1\:\text{mV}}{V_T}\right)\right] \\\\ \frac{I_{_{R_\text{E}}}}{I_{_\text{SAT}}\cdot \left[1+\exp\left(\frac{1\:\text{mV}}{V_T}\right)\right]}&\approx \exp\left(\frac{V_{_\text{B}}-V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right) \end{align*}$$

We can simplify the above by setting \$V_{_\text{B}}=0\:\text{V}\$. Then:

$$\begin{align*} \frac{I_{_{R_\text{E}}}}{I_{_\text{SAT}}\cdot \left[1+\exp\left(\frac{1\:\text{mV}}{V_T}\right)\right]}&\approx \frac1{\exp\left(\frac{V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right)} \\\\ \exp\left(\frac{V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}\right)&\approx \frac{I_{_\text{SAT}}\cdot \left[1+\exp\left(\frac{1\:\text{mV}}{V_T}\right)\right]}{I_{_{R_\text{E}}}} \\\\ \frac{V_{_\text{E}}}{V_T}&\approx \ln\left(\frac{I_{_\text{SAT}}\cdot \left[1+\exp\left(\frac{1\:\text{mV}}{V_T}\right)\right]}{I_{_{R_\text{E}}}}\right) \\\\ V_{_\text{E}}&\approx V_T\cdot \ln\left(\frac{I_{_\text{SAT}}\cdot \left[1+\exp\left(\frac{1\:\text{mV}}{V_T}\right)\right]}{I_{_{R_\text{E}}}}\right) \end{align*}$$

Let's assume \$I_{_{R_\text{E}}}=100\:\mu\text{A}\$ to start, that \$I_{_\text{SAT}}=1\times 10^{-14}\:\text{A}\$, and that \$V_t=26\:\text{mV}\$. Then we'd find at the first iteration that \$V_{_\text{E}}\approx -580.1\:\text{mV}\$. From this, we can work out that \$I_{_{R_\text{E}}}=\frac{-580.1\:\text{mV}-\left(-10\:\text{V}\right)}{100\:\text{k}\Omega}\approx 94.2\:\mu\text{A}\$. Re-computing, find \$V_{_\text{E}}\approx -578.59\:\text{mV}\$. From this, find \$I_{_{R_\text{E}}}=\frac{-578.59\:\text{mV}-\left(-10\:\text{V}\right)}{100\:\text{k}\Omega}\approx 94.2\:\mu\text{A}\$, again. So we are done with iterations. And you can see that this value, \$V_{_\text{E}}\approx -578.59\:\text{mV}\$, is very close to the value computed using the LambertW function, above.

jonk
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  • Thanks, I can't understand everything as I am just a beginner but I now do understand that like I expected the gain changes as the signals change. What I still do not understand is how Vout would be useful if signals is applied. Looks like we will get a Vout that is the difference between the signals + a gain that is not constant. – PastaLover Jul 06 '21 at 18:40
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    @Theprocodernotreallyxd Often, one side is used for a signal while the other side is used for negative feedback (NFB.) Also, the collector resistors are rarely seen, today, except perhaps in discrete circuits. Instead a current mirror is used, because it is far, far "stiffer" than resistors (and because in ICs it is a lot easier to make a current mirror than large valued resistors.) This greatly increases the gain... though it is no longer a voltage gain but now a transconductance because the output is a current instead of a voltage difference. – jonk Jul 06 '21 at 18:44
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    @Theprocodernotreallyxd If you want to blow your mind, take a look at the schematic (figure 23) for the MC1496. There, you will see whole new ways that the differential bases are used. – jonk Jul 06 '21 at 18:52
  • Why did you change the gain expressions from symmetric output to unsymmetrical (single−ended) one without mentioning it in the answer? – G36 Feb 20 '22 at 20:52
  • @G36 Probably because I wasn't thinking. I may have been incorrect in my earlier writing, as well. I see at least part of what you mean, though. I'll re-review what I wrote and repair the damage later today. Probably should cover it both ways. Thanks! Also, any suggestions aside from correcting errors? (I may as well improve it where reasonable.) – jonk Feb 20 '22 at 21:36
  • @G36 I just remembered also that $g_m$ has a better definition here, too. I really do need to clean this up. Thanks, again! – jonk Feb 20 '22 at 21:43
  • @G36 Handled, I hope. Thanks again! – jonk Feb 21 '22 at 05:16
1

The approximate one-sided (unsymmetric) gain is Au=0.5(gm*Rc), assuming input at the most left (T1) and output at the most right transistor (T2).

For collector currents of 50µA the transconductance is gm=50µA/26mV=1.92 mA/V.

Hence the gain is Au=0.5(1.92*100)=96 and the ouput voltage is Vout2=96mV.

Consequently, the output voltage at the collector of T1 is Vout1=-96mV.

Note: This simplified calculation has neglected the common mode portion of the output voltages.

The symmetric output signal is Vd=Vout2-Vout1=96*2mV=192 mV.

For my oinion, these results are sufficiently in agreement with your simulation.

LvW
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