A novel method to predict both the upper bound on the number and the stability of DC operating points of transistor circuits

This paper presents a new method that answers two important issues concerning a class of BJT circuits: firstly, the determination of the upper bound on the number of DC operating points, and secondly, the stability that corresponds to each of them. The method resorts to the topology of the circuit in order to achieve a systematic partitioning procedure which allows us to identify which transistor structure embedded in the circuit contributes multistable states. As result of this, the maximum number of DC operating points is established and the stability of each DC point can be assessed. Furthermore, the method can be easily incorporated in a simulation package