Questions tagged [biasing]

The setting of the DC operating point (the DC voltage or current about which the instantaneous value might vary) of an electronic component that processes time-varying signals.

Biasing is establishing predetermined voltages or currents at various points of an electronic circuit for the purpose of establishing proper operating conditions in electronic components.

Many electronic devices whose function is processing time-varying (AC) signals also require a steady (DC) current or voltage to operate correctly — a bias. The AC signal applied to them is superposed on this DC bias current or voltage.

The operating point of a device, also known as bias point, quiescent point, or Q-point, is the steady-state (DC) voltage or current at a specified terminal of an active device with no input signal applied. A bias circuit is a portion of the device's circuit which supplies this steady current or voltage.

(See also: Wikipedia)

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Effect of bootstrapping in amplifier circuit

I am trying to understand this "bootstrap bias" amplifier circuit. The picture below is adapted from the book "Transistor Techniques" by G. J. Ritchie: This circuit is a variation of the "voltage divider bias", with the addition of the…
favq
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What's input bias current in opamps?

Is it the current you have to drive in the input to get a specific, defined voltage at the output? And don't the currents cancel each other when applied to both inputs?
Federico Russo
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DC biasing audio signal

I have seen a few different ways of adding DC bias to an audio signal. I have simulated them and they all give me similar results, but I can't figure out why choose A over B or C. My audio source will be a Line Level Audio -2V to +2V AC passed…
jsolarski
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AB Without Diodes

Looking at another question about an AB Amplifier stage the answer was the classic diode biased push-pull stage like this... which I voted up like others.. simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab But then, while staring at, it I…
Trevor_G
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What is the basic idea behind the so-called "diamond buffer"?

The idea for this question came about after I wrote an answer to a similar question . This "diamond solution" was something unknown to me. I took a look at Wikipedia page (see the picture below) and it immediately impressed me. (The picture is taken…
Circuit fantasist
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Physically/fundamentally/literally, why does a significant voltage not develop across a diode in forward bias?

I am asking for a fundamental and physical explanation of why, not formulas. Let's take an ideal diode. Let's say I have some voltage source not big enough to breakdown and destroy the diode, but much larger than its threshold voltage of .7 V;…
RiFF RAFF
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Why won't this PNP Transistor trigger?

The circuit below should be taking a 3.3V signal from an MCU on MCU_LS12 and outputting a 12V high-side signal. The output is always 12V. On scoping the base to the output transistor is not being pulled to ground "enough" - only going 12V then to…
MattyT2017
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Are film capacitors affected by DC bias?

After looking around, I have found quite a few things about how DC bias reduces effective capacitance for a ceramic, or electrolytic capacitor, however nothing seems to talk about the effect on film capacitors. I've found a couple of papers about…
Puffafish
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What is the advantage of gate resistor (R3) in this JFET voltage divider biasing circuit?

I've been studying and building JFET circuits to serve as a high-impedance input to a DIY guitar amp. In my research on voltage divider biasing, I've come across a circuit in Nuts & Volts Magazine that has me perplexed. It's shown on the left in the…
Dave H.
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VBE Multiplier with Emitter Resistance Cancellation

Function of shown circuit is biasing of output power stage complementary audio amplifier. P1 allows precise adjustment of \$ V_{CE} \$ of VBE multiplier and \$C_B\$ improves its rail rejection. \$ r_e' \$ negates unwanted effects of \$ r_e \$ , also…
lucenzo97
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Difficulties with Class B Amplifier Biasing

Here I am referring to class B output power amplifier. This circuit should be easy to build and understand but I'm having problems with biasing since I don't really know how to bias the bases of Q1 and Q2, so that Q1 would conduct only positive…
lucenzo97
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Input coupling to Class AB amp with diode bias. One capacitor or two?

When AC coupling the input signal to a Class AB (Push-Pull / Complementary Pair) which is diode biased I see two different approaches: Signal connected between biasing diodes with single decoupling capacitor: Signal connected directly to each…
Frosty
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RS485 termination: AC + failsafe + parallel + bidirectional

Knowing that I need to refine my RS485 circuitry, I've been reading. I have a series of specific questions and I hope that you'll indulge me as I describe how I attempted to follow through an application note. Here are some basics of the serial comm…
Reinderien
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Pre-biased Bipolar Transistor (BJT) Tradeoffs

If you go to the Discrete Semiconductor category on Mouser.com, there is a section for "Bipolar Transistors - Pre-Biased". Is this as simple as including a resistor in series with the base? Are there other nuances about this type of package?
Anton
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Biasing a common emitter stage with active load (current mirror)

Biasing of a non-degenerated common emitter stage with a resistive load \$R_C\$ is easy to do. You choose a collector current \$I_C\$ and use the equation \$I_C = I_S \left(e^{\frac{V_\text{BE}}{V_T}} - 1 \right) \$ to determine \$V_B\$ which sets…
Carl
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