Any signal presented to the bottom triode's grid will provoke a current variation through the triode, which cannot find a exit path through the plate resistor, as the MOSFET holds a fixed voltage across the plate resistor, which in turn, fixes the current through the resistor. So where do the current variations go? Through the MOSFET and then into the 100 ohm resistor is the only path. What happens is that the MOSFET's source moves ever so slightly in response to these variations (the MOSFET has huge amount of transconductance compared to the triode) and this movement results in a varying current through the MOSFET. If the triode were pulled from its socket, the MOSFET's idle current would double, but the voltage across the 5k resistor would barely change. Locking the plate voltage is the main point of a cascode circuit. In fact, his circuit functions much like the previous one save for the phase inversion at the top of the 100 ohm resistor.
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