Laboratory Experiment No.

: 1
REQUENCY RESPONSE OF A COMMON-EMITTER (CE) AMPLIFIER
OBJECTIVE:
1. To be able to determine the input impedance and the output impedance of a CE
amplifier.
2. To measure the voltage gain and examine the input-output waveform and phase
characteristic of a CE amplifier.
3. To be able to understand the effect of the bypass capacitor on the input impedance
and the gain of the CE amplifier.
BACKGROUND INFORMATIONS:
The most frequently encountered transistor configuration is the common-emitter
configuration. It is called a common-emitter configuration when the inputs are the base emitter
terminals and the output set are the collector and the emitter terminals. In addition, the emitter
terminal is common or reference to both the input and output terminals.
Common-emitter amplifiers normally exhibits high voltage and current gains for
fixed bias, emitter stabilized, and voltage-divider bias except when the emitter resistor is
unbypassed. It is also characterized for having a medium range of input and output impedances.
And out of three configurations, only the common-emitter configuration exhibits 180 degrees
phase shift between its input and output voltages.

FIGURE 1
MATERIALS/EQUIPMENTS:
Power Supply
Function/Signal Generator
Multi-meter (Analog or Digital)
Oscilloscope
Transistors:
1 2N6772 or equivalent (npn)
Resistors :
1 91 k (1/2 W)
1 8.2 k (1/2 W)
2 3.3 k (1/2 W)
1 1 k (1/2 W)
Capacitors :
2 10 F
WIRING DIAGRAM :

Figure 2
LABORATORY PROCEDURES :
Measuring the DC bias voltage of the common-emitter amplifier
1. Connect the circuit shown in Figure 2. Do not turn on the power supply yet and do not apply
any signal from the signal generator.
2. Turn on the power supply.
3. With no AC signal from the signal generator, measure the DC bias voltages of the circuit as
indicated in Table 1.
Table 1
CE amplifier DC bias voltages

VB VC VBE VE VCE
2.33V 23.938V 472.958V 1.857V 22.081V

AC operation of a Common-emitter amplifier

1. Make sure that the equipments are properly calibrated.
2. Using the oscilloscope, measure 1 kHz, 20 mV(peak) output voltage from the signal generator
and connect this signal to the input of the common-emitter amplifier. Measure the following AC
currents and voltages using an analog or a digital multi-meter. Record your data in column 2 of
the table 2 below.
Table 2

Parameters Bypassed RE Unbypassed RE

Ii
Io
Vi
Vo

3. Remove the bypassed capacitor C3 and repeat procedure 1. Record your data in the third
column of the table. What is the effect of removing the bypassed capacitor C3?
4. Connect the oscilloscope probes of Channel A and B at the output terminals and input
terminals of the common-emitter configuration. Set the oscilloscope to dual mode, and adjust the
horizontal scale to 10 ms/div. Adjust the vertical scale of channel A to 200 mV/div and the
vertical scale of channel B to 500 mV/div. Adjust the vertical position of the two and determine
the phase difference between the input and output voltages. Draw the waveform.
Graph
OBSERVATIONS:

CONCLUSIONS:

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS :

1.Compute Z1, Z0, Ai, and Av using the values obtained from procedure 1 on a separate sheet of
bond paper.
2. What are the characteristics of a common-emitter amplifier base from the measured and
computed values of its parameters?
3. Can you increase the voltage gain by just merely adjusting the value of Rc ? Explain your
answer.
4. What is swamping circuit? What is its purpose in an amplifier?