AN0014
Bias Scheme for NBB-Series Amplifiers
AN0014
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Bias Scheme for NBB-Series Amplifiers
Introduction
RFMD’s NBB-series amplifiers are monolithic integrated circuits (IC's) using InGaP/GaAs HBT technology. The
NBB-series uses a Darlington-pair transistor configuration with bias and feedback resistors properly selected to deter-
mine the gain, input and output match and bias (both voltage and current) parameters. A schematic representation of the
NBB-series amplifier is shown in Figure 1.
+VCC
NBB-Series
Amplifier
RCC
C1
L1
RF
C2
Q1
C3
Q2
RBB
RBIAS
Figure 1. Schematic representation of Darlington-pair feedback amplifier used in the NBB-series amplifiers.
(On-chip components are shown inside the dotted outline.)
The amplifier may be analyzed as a two-port network with the input (left) and output (right) as shown in Figure 1. The
output node is also used to provide bias to the amplifier through the bias network (top), which is shown in the figure. The
packaged part has a total of four ports: input, output and bias, and two ground connections for minimization of ground
inductance.
Bias Circuit Topology
The input voltage of the amplifier is fixed by the base-emitter voltage of Q1 and Q2, and the output voltage is determined
by the voltage divider established by RBB and RF. Hence, the output voltage is a designed parameter and the amplifier is
controlled by the current supplied to the output node. Thus, the amplifier is biased using a current source rather than a
voltage source. The simplest current source is a resistor (RCC) connected to a voltage source (VCC) as shown in
Figure2.
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The current source, comprising voltage source VCC and resistor RBIAS, should be selected such that the designed ampli-
fier voltage (VD) appears at the output with the desired current (ICC) flowing into the amplifier. The governing relationship
for the bias circuit shown in Figure 2 is:
(VCC – VD)
----------------------------
ICC
=
Eq. 1
RBIAS
The recommended amplifier current (ICC) and design value of the amplifier voltage (VD) for each NBB-series amplifier is
specified on the data sheet. Hence, if a VCC is selected, then the desired RCC may be calculated from Equation 1. A bias
resistor table is provided with each datasheet which is calculated using this method.
Copyright 1997-2002 RF Micro Devices, Inc.
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