Frequency Response of Field Effect

Transistors Amplifiers
Amplifier Frequency Response
Midband

All coupling and by-pass capacitors are short-circuit.
All internal capacitive effects (i.e. stray and transistor capacitor) are open-circuit.
Midband gain, AM constant, and evaluated by small-signal analysis

Bandwidth of amplifier (Hz), f
BW
= f
H
- f
L

Gain-bandwidth product, GB = | AM |.BW

Low-frequency range: f < f
L
: the gain decreases
as the f decrease because of coupling and bypass
capacitor effect.

High-frequency range: f > f
H
: stray capacitance
and transistor capacitance effects (internal
capacitors) cause the gain to decrease as the f
increase.

Mid-band range: region where coupling and
bypass capacitors act as short circuits, and, stray
and transistor capacitance act as open circuit. In
this region, the gain is almost constant.
Inherent Resistances and Capacitances in n-
Channel MOSFET
ox gd gs
WLC C C
2
1

LOW-FREQUENCY AMPLIFIER
RESPONSE

Input RC Circuit
Output RC Circuit
Bypass RC Circuit

FET Amplifier

+VDD

RD

C2

RSi C1

RG

Vi

RS

Vo

RL

C3

Common-source FET amplifier

Low-frequency Equivalent
Circuit

Input RC

circuit

Bypass RC

circuit

Output RC
circuit

The cutoff frequencies defined by the input , output
and bypass circuits can be obtained by the following
formulas:

Input RC
circuit

Input RC circuit f

c

1

=
2 C

where
RC

1

1

RC1=RSi+RG

Output RC
circuit

Output RC circuit f

c

1

=
2

RC2

C

2

where

RC2=RD+RL

Bypass RC
circuit

Bypass RC circuit f

c

1

=
2 C

where

RC3=RS // 1/gm

RC

3

3

Example

Determine the lower cutoff
frequency for the FET amplifier.
Given K = 0.4mA/V2, VTN= 1V, = 0

C1

0.01F

+VDD

20V

RD

4.7K

C2

Vo

0.5F

RSi

10K

Vi

RG

1M RS

1K

RL

2.2K

C3

2F

Solution

Since fc in bypass RC circuit is the largest of the
three cutoff frequencies, it defines the low cutoff
frequency for the amplifier:

fc = 238.73Hz

HIGH-FREQUENCY
AMPLIFIER RESPONSE

Input RC Circuit

Output RC Circuit

HIGH-FREQUENCY
Small capacitances exist between the
gate and drain and between the gate
and source. These effect the frequency
characteristics of the circuit.

Cgd

+

Vgs

Cgs

gmVgs

ro

-

hi-frequency hybrid- model

Basic data sheet for the BS 107 n-MOSFET

Cgs = Ciss - Crss

Cgd = Crss

MOSFET Unity-Gain Frequency
Unity-gain frequency, f
T
, is defined as a frequency at
which the magnitude of the short-circuit current gain of
the common-source configuration goes to 1.
It is a parameter of FET, and is independent of circuit.

If we neglect r
s
, r
d
, r
o
and C
ds
, and connect the drain
signal to ground, small signal equivalent circuit will be as
before.
)
f

T

=

2(C

g

gs

m

+C

gd

FET Amplifier


In high-frequency analysis,
coupling and bypass capacitors
are assumed to have negligible
reactances and are considered to
be shorts.
RSi C1

vi

+VDD

RD

R1

R2

RS

C2

vo

RL

C3

High-frequency hybrid- model
with Miller effect
The cutoff frequencies defined by the input and output
circuits can be obtained by first finding the Thevenin
equivalent circuits for each section as shown below:

RTH1

vi

(a) Input circuit

1

Cin

vi

RTH2

Cout

(b) Output circuit

1

f

c

= f

2R

c

=

2R

TH1Cin

where RTH1 = RSi||R1||R2 and
Cin = Cgs + CMi

TH2Cout

where RTH2 = RD||RL and
Cout = CMo

Example
Find the cutoff frequency of the

input and output RC circuit for the

FET amplifier in figure below.
Given that Cgd=0.1pF, Cgs=1pF, K
=0.5mA/V2 and VTN=2V, =0.

R1

RSi C1

10 k

vi R2

+VDD

10 V

RD 4 k
234 k

166 k

RS

C

C3

2 v

20 k RL

o

0.5 k

Solution