Hybrid Parameters

Experiment-414 S

HYBRID PARAMETERS OF
BC107 SILICON TRANSISTOR
Jeethendra Kumar P K
KamalJeeth Instrumentation & Service Unit, No-610, Tata Nagar, Bengaluru-560092, INDIA
Email: labexperiments@kamaljeeth.net

Abstract
Hybrid-parameters hie, hfe, hre, and h oe of BC107 silicon transistor are determined
using CE amplifier circuit and compared with the corresponding standard
values.

Introduction

The hybrid (h) parameters are advanced set of mathematical tools used in linear
transistor circuit analysis. These are ultimate set of parameters one can use to get exact
calculations of amplifier gain, input impedance and output impedance. Discrete
transistor based circuits are not being used much these days. However, BC107 silicon
transistor still remains as one of the essential components of electronic circuits. Single
transistor based amplifiers, oscillators, and switching circuits are fundamental circuits
that are being used in lab experiments. Designing a transistor amplifier circuit starts
with h-parameters. Hence determining h-parameter experimentally is an important
experiment in electronics as well as physics.

Figure-1 shows a two- port network, consisting of an input port (Port-1) and output
port (Port-2). I1 is the input current to the network and V1 is the input voltage across the
input terminals. Similarly, I2 and V2 are current and voltage at the output (i.e. Port-2)
terminal. One can apply Thevnin’s and Norton’s theorems to the input and output ports
to write the system equation and get information about the two-port network shown in
Figure-1.

I1 I2
V1 V2

Two port network

Figure-1: A two-port network

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V1 = h11I1+h12V2 …1
I2 = h21V1+h22V2 …2

This treatment holds good for the CE amplifier shown in Figure-2. In these two
equations, the first subscript refers to the port and second subscript refers to different
mode of transistor connection in the circuit. For a common emitter (CE) mode the first
subscript indicates input or output (‘i’ or ‘o’) and second subscript refers to common
emitter (e) mode of operation. Using these above two equations for CE amplifier can be
written as [1]

V1 =hie I1 + h re V2 …3
I2 = hfe I1 + h oe V2 …4

where hie is the input impedance by shorting the output terminal

hre is the reverse voltage gain with the input kept as open
hfe : forward current gain with output terminal is in the short condition
hoe : output admittance with the input as open

We have simplified the above two equations and determined the values of h-
parameters. By electrically shorting the output ports, we have

V2=0

Applying this condition to Equation-3, we have

V1 =hie I1 + hre 0

୚భ
Or hie = ୍భ
…5

The dimension of hie is voltage/current and its unit is Ohm. Hence, it is the input
resistance of the transistor.

Equation-4 becomes

I2 = hfe I1 + h oe 0

Or
୍
hfe = మ …6
୍భ

The parameter hfe is dimensionless (current/current). Hence it represents the forward

current gain of the transistor.

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Similarly when the input is open circuited (i.e. the AC source is removed from the
input), we have I1 =0, and Equation -3 becomes

V1 =hie 0 + hre V2

୚భ
Or hre = ୚మ
, when I1= 0 and hre is called the reverse voltage gain. This parameter is also
dimensionless.

For the open circuit condition, Equation-4 becomes

I2 = hfe 0 + h oe V2

Or

୍మ
hoe= …7
୚మ
The unit of hoe is Mho (inverse of Ohm), hence it is called output conductance.

To determine these parameters experimentally, one can follow the definition and the
conditions mentioned in the definition of the circuit. In this experiment we use these
definitions to design a CE amplifier circuit which has two ports. The transistor in CE
amplifier circuit is biased with external resistors. Coupling capacitors are used to couple
the input signal and remove the amplified signal. In addition, there is a bypass
capacitor to remove the AC signal in the circuits. Hence these components have to be
taken into consideration while using the definitions.

+12V

RC
R1,75K =3K
Cc, 1uF I1
VC
Cc, 1 uF
I1 VB

VE
V2
RE, 3K

V1
R2,
3 3K CE,
1 0uF

Figure-2: CE amplifier circuit

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Measurement of hie

The parameters hie and hfe, as per definition need to be measured with output as short
and emitter at AC ground. The short can be applied by grounding the open end of the
output coupling capacitor. The capacitor CE is used for filtering the AC signal at the
emitter to maintain emitter at AC ground. However, only at a certain frequency it filters
the entire AC signal completely and the emitter is at the AC ground. For all other
frequencies there will be AC signal at the emitter which provides feedback (input
current feedback) [2] to the input. Hence the input current increases with the increasing
frequency and attains a maximum value thereafter. Further increase in the frequency
from this value decreases the current. At this frequency the input current is maximum,
because the reactance impedance of CE becomes minimum (almost zero) and the only
resistance present in the circuit is the hie. Hence hie can be determined by the study of
frequency variation of the input current.

Figure-3 shows the Eber-Mol equivalent circuit of the transistor CE amplifier. The
biasing resistors R1 and R2 are selected by assuming a firm voltage divider. The two
resistors R1 and R2 are connected in parallel and are represented by R B. The value of RB
(22.92KΩ) is large compared to hie of the transistor, hence it can be neglected in
comparison with hie. RE and CE are in parallel, when the emitter is at the AC ground, the
impedance of CE is minimum (fraction of an Ohm) and effectively it is impedance of CE
which determines the AC voltage at the emitter. RE (=3K) provides a fixed DC voltage
to the emitter. As the input frequency is increased, the impedance of CE decreases and
hence the input current also increases (at 100Hz frequency, the impedance of CE is 159Ω
and at 10 KHz the impedance becomes 1.59Ω) and there is a frequency at which I1 is
maximum. At this frequency the only resistance present in the circuit is the resistance
hie.

I1 I2
+ +

hie hfe I1

V1 RB V2

CE RE

- -
Figure-3: Eber Mol model of CE amplifier

Measurement of hfe

To measure the output current I2, the voltage across the shorted output coupling
capacitor is noted. Dividing this voltage by its impedance, I2 can be calculated. I1 is

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measured by connecting a milli-ammeter in series with the function generator. The

other two parameters hre and hoe are straight forward and can be measured by
connecting a function generator to the output port (port-2), keeping the input port
open.

Design of CE amplifier

A CE amplifier circuit is biased with a firm voltage divider circuit. The Q-point is set at
the center of DC load line by selecting VCE = 0.5VCC. This selection ensures a rock-solid
Q-point. Taking VCC =12V, VCE = 6V, which appears across the collector emitter
terminal of the transistor. The remaining 6V is dropped equally across the collector
resistance RC and emitter resistance RE. Since CE amplifier is a voltage amplifier we take
IC =1mA as a small quiescent current. Hence

IE =1mA, voltage across RE =3V

୚ు
= R ୉ = 3KΩ
୍ు

Since an equal amount of voltage is dropped across R E, and IC≈ IE

୚ి
୍ి
= R େ = 3KΩ

The base voltage VB = VE+ 0.6 = 3+0.6 =3.6V

To have a firm-voltage divide at the base, the base voltage the value of VB is given by

ୖమ
VB = VCC
ୖభ ାୖమ

ୖమ
3.6 = x12
ୖభ ାୖమ
Hence R1= 75K and R2 =33K satisfy the above relation.

Apparatus used

H-parameter expt set-up model HPA-1305, of KamalJeeth make, consisting of 12 V

power supply, wide band AC volt meter (0-2V, 200 KHz), AC current meter 0-2mA, 200
KHz), Function generator 3MHz, Digital storage oscilloscope (DSO). The complete
experimental set-up is shown in Figure-4.

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Figure-4: Hybrid parameter experimental set-up

Experimental procedure

Experiment consists of three parts

Part-I: Construction of CE amplifier and determination of hie

Part-II: Determination of hfe
Part-III: Determination of hoe, and h re

Part-I: Construction of CE amplifier and determination of hie

1. The CE amplifier circuit is rigged using BC107B transistor as shown in Figure-2

and supply voltage (12V) is connected to the circuit as shown in Figure-5. Using
a multi- meter (20V range) the voltages at the three terminals of the transistor are
measured and the values are :

VE = 3.02V, VC = 9.01V, VB = 3.59V

ଵ
These voltages are as per our design and VCE = 5.99V= ( Vୡୡ) ensures that the Q-
ଶ
point is at the center of dc load line. From the quiescent current ICQ, the emitter
current IE is calculated as

୚ు ଷ.଴ଶ
ICQ = IE = = =1mA
ୖు ଷ୏

Hence Q-point (VCE, IC) = (5.99V, 1mA)

AC emitter resistance rୣ′ =25/IC =25/1 =25 Ω

AC voltage gain of the amplifier is given by

AV = RC/rୣ′ = 3000/25 =120

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Figure-5: Power connections and measuring bias voltages

2. The function generator is connected in series with the milli-ammeter provided in

the set-up and a sine wave input is selected, with its frequency as 100Hz and its
amplitude is set to 100mV (the minimum value of the input is set so that output
voltage is not saturated in the entire range of frequencies from 1Hz to 3MHz).

3. The open end of the output coupling capacitor Cc is connected to the common
terminal as shown in Figure-6.

Figure-6: Shorting of the output terminals (Port-2)

4. The AC voltmeter provided in the set-up is connected across the input terminal
to measure V1.

At 100Hz, the input voltage V1 and input current I1 are noted and recorded in
Table-1.

V1= 0.105V, I1=8µA,

hence V1/I1= 0.105V/8µ= 13.125KΩ

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5. The trial is repeated by increasing the frequency, keeping the amplitude

constant, in suitable steps up to a frequency where current starts decreasing. The
readings obtained are tabulated in Table-1. The ratio V1/I1 is calculated and
presented in Table-1.

Table-1: Variation of input current with frequency in BC107B

Frequency (KHz) V1(V) I1(µA) (V1/I1) KΩ
BC107
0.1 0.105 8 13.12
0.2 0.106 9 11.77
0.4 0.107 10 10.70
0.6 0.107 11 9.72
0.8 0.108 11 9.81
1.0 0.108 12 9.00
2.0 0.109 13 8.38
3.0 0.110 14 7.85
4.0 0.110 14 7.85
6.0 0.110 15 7.40
8.0 0.111 15 7.53
10.0 0.114 13 8.76
11.0 0.106 10 10.6
12.0 0.113 4 28.2
hie (KΩ) 7.40

6. The value of V1/I1, where the current is maximum, or V1/I1 is minimum, is taken
as

hie =7.4KΩ

Part-II: Determination of hfe

To determine hfe, both, input current (I1) and output current (I2) are measured. The
input current is measured using the milli-ammeter provided in the set-up and the
output current is measured by taking the voltage drop across the output capacitor
which is shorted to the common. This is done using a CRO or a DSO.

7. Continuing with same connections, a CRO or DSO is now connected across the
collector and common to measure voltage across CC.

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8. Input voltage is set to 100mV and frequency as 100Hz. The current I1 is measured
by the digital milli-ammeter provided in the set-up and voltage across the
capacitor is measured using DSO.

I1 = 7µA, Voltage drop across CC = 0.8V

At 100Hz, 1µF capacitor offers (XC =1/(2̟fC) =1.59KΩ impedance, hence the
output current, I2, is given by

I2 = 0.8V/1.59K = 0.53mA

୍మ ଴.ହଷ୫୅
Current gain, hfe = = = 71.85
୍భ ଻µ୅

The readings obtained are tabulated in Table-2.

9. The trial is repeated by increasing the frequency in suitable steps up to 10 KHz.
The readings obtained are tabulated in Table-2. Leaving the first two readings,
the average of the ratio I2/I1 is taken as

hfe =180

Table-2: Input and output currents at different frequencies

Drop across
Frequency I1(µA) output Impedance I2(mA) hfe=I2/I1
(KHz) capacitor of Cc (KΩ) Ω
CC (V)
0.1 7 0.8 1.591 0.503 71.85
0.2 8 0.78 0.795 0.981 122.62
0.4 10 0.64 0.397 1.612 161.20
0.6 11 0.49 0.265 1.849 168.09
0.82 11 0.40 0.194 2.061 187.36
1 12 0.34 0.159 2.138 178.09
2 13 0.20 0.079 2.531 194.69
4 14 0.10 0.039 2.564 183.14
6 14 0.065 0.026 2.500 178.57
8 15 0.05 0.019 0.252 168.00
10 12 Output not stable

Average hfe (BC107B) (without considering first two 180

readings)

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Part-III: Determination of hre and hoe

To determine h oe, circuit connections are made as follows. The function generator is
disconnected from the input (Port-1) and connected across to the output terminals
(Port-2) in series with AC milli-ammeter provided in the set-up. The voltage at port-2
(V2) is measured by connecting DSO across port-2. Voltage V1 at port-1 is measured
using the AC voltmeter provided in the set-up. Current I2 is measured using digital the
milli-ammeter provided in the set-up (by selecting 20mA range).

10. The voltage at the Port-2 is set to 3V and frequency as 6 KHz.

11. The voltage across Port-1 is noted and the ratio V2/V1 is calculated and noted in
Table-3.

V2 =3V, V1= 0.006V, I2 = 1.18mA

V1/V2 = 0.006V/3V =0.002

I2/V2 = 1.18mA/3V = 393x10-3 Mho

12. The trial is repeated by increasing the voltage in suitable steps up to the
maximum value of 12V (or up to amplitude till the output does not get saturated)
and the average values of V1/V2 and I2/V2 are noted.

hoe = 440x10-3 Mho

hre = 0.002

Table-3: V1, V2, I2, hre and hoe

V2(V) V1(V) I2(mA) hre =V1/V2 hoe=I2/V2 x10 -3
3 0.006 1.18 0.0020 0.393
4 0.008 1.68 0.0020 0.420
5 0.010 2.18 0.0020 0.436
6 0.012 2.60 0.0020 0.433
7 0.014 3.11 0.0020 0.444
8 0.017 3.63 0.0021 0.453
9 0.020 4.14 0.0022 0.460
10 0.023 4.74 0.0023 0.474
12 0.028 5.78 0.0023 0.481
Average h re 0.002
h oe 0.440x10-3

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Results

The h parameters of BC107B transistor obtained at 1mA quiescent current are

Parameters hie (K Ω) hfe hre hoe(Mho)x10-3

BC107B Expt. Typical Expt. Typical Expt. Typical Expt. Typical
7.4 5 188 190 0.002 0.002 440 300

References

[1] A P Malvino, Electronic Principles, 3rd Edition, McGrwaw-Hill, 1984, Page-232

[2] A P Malvino, Electronic Principles, 3rd Edition, McGrwaw-Hill, 1984, Page-155

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