Lab – 3

Single – stage MOSFET Amplifiers

OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand three basic configurations of single-stage MOSFET amplifiers.
2. Understand the characteristics and applications of single-stage MOSFET
amplifier.

APPARATUS:

 MOSFET – IRFZ44
 Resistor: 4.7kΩx1, 10kΩx1, 100kΩx3, 330KΩx1
 Capacitor: 10μFx2
 Function generator
 DC power supply
 Digital multimeter
 Oscilloscope

THEORY:
1. The purpose of this lab is to acquaint students with a collection of related single-
stage MOSFET amplifiers. There are three basic configurations for single-stage
MOSFET amplifiers: common-source (CS) amplifier, common-drain (CD, or source
follower) amplifier and common-gate (CG) amplifier will be introduced
individually. Each one of the three basic amplifiers has its own characteristics and
applications. The details will be discussed in the following sections.

2. Single-stage MOSFET amplifiers:

All kinds of single-stage MOSFET amplifiers are combined with two parts: 1)
driving MOSFET and 2) load. The driving MOSFET provides voltage-to-current
conversion (trans-conductance, gm), then the output current flowing through the
load will induce a voltage signal at output node. Besides, the voltage gain of
amplifier depends on the DC bias point. Figure – 1 represents three basic
configurations of single-stage MOSFET amplifiers.
 Figure 1: Three basic single Stage MOSFET Amplifiers

a) common source
b) common gate
c) common drain

a) Common – source (CS) amplifier:

As shown in Figure – 1 (a), input node of CS amplifier is at gate, small-signal
common node is at source, and output node is at drain.

VDD VDD

RD
C c2
Rb 1 Vo
Rsig C c1
RL

V sig Rb 2

Figure 2: Classical CS amplifier

In Figure – 2, Rb1 and Rb2 provide DC bias voltage. Two capacitors Cc1 and Cc2 are used
to block the DC signal component so that operating point won’t be affected. When input
signal swing increases (small signal on DC bias point), the output current will increase,
too. Because of the increasing output current, the voltage drop on R D becomes larger,
which causes the output voltage decrease, and vice versa. This leads that input and
output are out of phase.
Next, small-signal analysis of CS amplifier will be derived based on Figure – 3.

Figure 3: Small-signal model of CS Amplifier

The analysis process list as follows:

Let 𝑅 ||𝑅 ≫𝑅
𝑅 = 𝑅 ||𝑅
𝑅 𝑅 || 𝑅
𝑣 = 𝑣 . = 𝑣 . ≅ 𝑣
𝑅 + 𝑅 𝑅 || 𝑅 + 𝑅
𝑅 = 𝑅 ||𝑟
𝑣 = 𝑖 . 𝑅 = −𝑔 . 𝑣 . 𝑅 = −𝑔 . 𝑣 . (𝑅 ||𝑟 )
𝑣 𝑣
𝐴 = = = −𝑔 . (𝑅 ||𝑟 )
𝑣 𝑣
𝐴 = −𝑔 . 𝑅 |𝑟 | 𝑅
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 𝑅 || 𝑅
𝐺 = = . = . 𝐴 ≈ 𝐴 = −𝑔 . 𝑅 |𝑟 | 𝑅
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 𝑅 || 𝑅 + 𝑅

b) Common-source (CS) amplifier with source resistance:

Usually, a degenerating resistor can be added at source node to maintain the stability of
bias points and reduce the distortion resulted from too-large input signal. A CS amplifier
with source degeneration is shown in Figure – 4, and the small-signal model is depicted
in Figure – 5.
 Figure 4: CS amplifier with source Resistance Figure 5: Small-signal model of CS amplifier with source

The analysis after adding source resistor is also derived as follows:

Assume 𝑟 ≅ ∞
𝑅 = 𝑅 ||𝑅
𝑅 𝑅 || 𝑅
𝑣 = 𝑣 . = 𝑣 . ≅ 𝑣
𝑅 + 𝑅 𝑅 || 𝑅 + 𝑅
1
𝑔 𝑣
𝑣 =𝑣. =
1 1+𝑔 𝑅
+ 𝑅
𝑔
𝑔 𝑣
𝑖 =𝑔 𝑣 =
1+𝑔 𝑅
𝑔 𝑅
𝑣 = −𝑖 . 𝑅 = − .𝑣
1+𝑔 𝑅
𝑣 −𝑔 . 𝑅
𝐴 = =
𝑣 1+𝑔 𝑅
𝑣 −𝑔 . (𝑅 ||𝑅 )
𝐴 = =
𝑣 1+𝑔 𝑅
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 𝑅 || 𝑅 −𝑔 . (𝑅 ||𝑅 )
𝐺 = = . = .𝐴 ≈ 𝐴 =
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 𝑅 || 𝑅 + 𝑅 1+𝑔 𝑅

From the analysis, we can see that after adding the source resistor R S, the gate-to-source
range is 1+gmRS times of the original CS amplifier, but the overall gain Gv is .
c) Common-gate (CG) amplifier
As shown in Figure – 1 (b), input node of CG amplifier is at source, small-signal
common node is at gate, and output node is at drain.

Figure 6: Classical Common Gate Amplifier

In Figure – 6, the gate node of CG amplifier is connected to a DC bias voltage. Two

capacitors Cc1 and Cc2 are used to block the DC signal component so that the operating
point won’t be affected. In most of the single-stage MOSFET amplifier applications,
CG amplifier features a good current buffer.

Figure 7: Small -signal model of CG amplifier

The small-signal model is depicted in Figure – 7. The small-signal analysis is as follows:

𝑣 = −𝑣
𝑅 =
𝑅 = 𝑅
 We know that:
𝑣
𝑖 = 0 ⇒ 𝑖 = −𝑖 = = −𝑔 . 𝑣
1
𝑔

𝑣 = 𝑖 .𝑅 = 𝑔 .𝑅 .𝑣

𝐴 = = 𝑔 .𝑅

𝐴 = 𝑔 . (𝑅 ||𝑅 )

1
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 𝑔 𝑣 𝑔 . (𝑅 ||𝑅 )
𝐺 = = . = . =
𝑣 𝑣 𝑣 1 𝑣 1+𝑔 𝑅
+𝑅
𝑔

Compared with CS amplifier, the output voltage of CG amplifier is in-phase to input

signal and CG amplifier has low input impedance . Owing to its low impedance
character CG amplifier can be also called “unity-gain current amplifier” or “current
follower”.

d) Common-drain (CD) amplifier:

As shown in Figure – 1 (c), input node of CD amplifier is at gate, small-signal
common node is at drain, and output node is at source.

Figure 8: Classical CD amplifier

In Figure – 8, gate node of CD amplifier is connected to a DC bias voltage. Two
capacitors Cc1 and Cc2 are used to block the DC signal component so that operating
point won’t be affected. The CD amplifier is also called “source follower”.

Figure 9: Small-signal model of CD amplifier

Now using Figure – 9 to analyze the small-signal operation, the derivation is shown as
below:

𝑅 ||𝑅
𝑣 = .𝑣 ≅ 𝑣
𝑅 || 𝑅 + 𝑅
(𝑅 ||𝑟 )
𝑣 = .𝑣
1
(𝑅 ||𝑟 ) +
𝑔
𝐴 = = ≅1 (𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑟 ≫ )
(𝑅 || 𝑟 ) 𝑅
𝐴 = ≅ (𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑟 ≫ 𝑅 )
1 1
(𝑅 || 𝑟 ) + 𝑅 +
𝑔 𝑔
𝑅 ||𝑅 (𝑅 ||𝑟 )
𝐺 = . ≅1
𝑅 || 𝑅 + 𝑅 1
(𝑅 ||𝑟 ) +
𝑔
1
(when 𝑅 ||𝑅 ≫ 𝑅 , 𝑟 ≫ ,𝑟 ≫ 𝑅 )
𝑔
1 1
𝑅 = ||𝑟 ≅
𝑔 𝑔

From the results derived above, CD amplifier has high input impedance (R b1||Rb2) and
low output impedance ( ) which means that it can be a good candidate for voltage
buffer.
EXPLORATIONS
1. Common-source MOSFET amplifier

Figure 10: Common-source MOSFET amplifier

1) Assemble the circuit in Figure – 10. The parameters are: C1=10μF,

C2=10μF, RD=4.7kΩ, RL=100kΩ, RB1=100kΩ, and RB2=330kΩ. Be sure to
connect the substrates correctly to the supplies as indicated.
2) Measure the DC voltage at gate and drain node.
3) Inject a 200 mVpp sine wave at 100 Hz into Vi. Use your oscilloscope to
measure Vi and Vo. Find the voltage gain of (Vo/Vi).
4) Repeat (3) with injecting different frequencies listed in Table – 1.

2. Common-gate MOSFET amplifier

Figure 11: Common-gate MOSFET amplifier

1) Assemble the circuit as shown in Figure – 11. The parameters are: C1= 10μF,
C2= 10μF, RD = 4.7kΩ, RL=100kΩ, RB1 = 100kΩ, RB2 = 330kΩ, and RB3 =
10kΩ. Be sure to connect the substrates correctly to the supplies as indicated.
2) Measure the DC voltage at gate and drain nodes.
3) Inject a 200 mVpp sine wave at 100 Hz into Vi. Use your oscilloscope to
measure Vi and Vo. Find the voltage gain of (Vo/Vi).
4) Repeat (3) with injecting different frequencies listed in Table – 2.
 3. Common-drain MOSFET amplifier

Figure 12: Common-drain MOSFET amplifier

1) Assemble the circuit as shown in Fig. 6.13, using the CD4007 array. The
parameters are: C1= 10μF, C2= 10μF, RL=100kΩ, RS =100kΩ, RB1=100kΩ, and
RB2=330kΩ. Be sure to connect the substrates correctly to the supplies (pin14
to +5V, pin7 to the ground) as indicated.
2) Measure the DC voltage at gate and source node.
3) Inject a 200 mVpp sine wave at 100 Hz into Vi. Use your oscilloscope to measure
Vi and Vo. Find the voltage gain of (Vo/Vi).
4) Repeat (3) with injecting different frequencies listed in Table – 3.

Pre Lab – Task

 Problem – 1 (Simulation)
Assemble the circuit as shown in Figure – 10 and apply a sine wave to input with
200 mVpp amplitude and 100 kHz frequency. Plot the waveforms at input and output
terminals. Observe Vi and Vo, are they in-phase?

 Problem 2 (Simulation)
Assemble the circuit as shown in Figure – 11. Then apply a sine wave at input node
which has 200 mVpp amplitude and 100 kHz frequency. Plot the waveform of input
and output terminals.

 Problem 3 (Simulation)
Assemble the circuit as shown in Figure – 12. Then apply a sine wave at input node
which has 200 mVpp amplitude and 100 kHz frequency. Plot the waveform of input
and output terminals.
 Lab – Task
1. Experiment – 1:

Measure the VG= V, VD= V.

𝑉
Input Vi, pp Vo, pp 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 = 20. log
𝑉
Frequency (Hz) (V) (V)
(dB)
100
1k
10k
100k
500k
1Meg
3Meg
5Meg
7Meg
10Meg
Table 1

2. Experiment – 2:
Measure the VG= V, VD= V.
𝑉
Input Vi, pp Vo, pp 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 = 20. log
𝑉
Frequency (Hz) (V) (V)
(dB)
100
1k
10k
100k
500k
1Meg
3Meg
5Meg
7Meg
10Meg
Table 2
3. Experiment – 3:
Measure the VG= V, VS= V.
𝑉
Input Vi, pp Vo, pp 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 = 20. log
𝑉
Frequency (Hz) (V) (V)
(dB)
100
1k
10k
100k
500k
1Meg
3Meg
5Meg
7Meg
10Meg
Table 3

4. Use MATLAB or Excel to plot the frequency vs. gain figures according to your
measurement results.