Bipolar Junction Transistor
REMEMBER THIS
Current flow in the opposite direction of the electrons flow;
same direction as holes
e e e
h h h
Transistor Structures
The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) has three separately
doped regions and contains two pn junctions.
Bipolar transistor is a 3-terminal device.
Emitter (E)
Base (B)
Collector (C)
The basic transistor principle is that the
voltage between two terminals controls the
current through the third terminal.
Current in the transistor is due to the flow of
both electrons and holes, hence the name
bipolar.
Transistor Structures
There are two types of bipolar junction transistor: npn and
pnp.
The npn bipolar transistor contains a thin p-region between
two n-regions.
The pnp bipolar transistor
contains a thin n-region
sandwiched between two p-
regions.
3 Regions of Operation
Active
Operating range of the amplifier.
Base-Emitter Junction forward biased.
Collector-Base Junction reverse biased
Cutoff
The amplifier is basically off. There is voltage but
little current.
Both junctions reverse biased
Saturation
The amplifier is full on. There is little voltage but
lots of current.
Both junctions forward biased
OPERATIONS - npn
ACTIVE MODE VBE = V
+
VBE
The base-emitter (B-E) junction -
is forward biased and the base-
collector (C-B) junction is
reverse-biased,.
Since the B-E junction is
forward biased, electrons
from the emitter are injected
iB
across the B-E junction into
the base IE
Once in the base region, the Some electrons, in passing
electrons are quickly through the base region, recombine
accelerated through the base with majority carrier holes in the
due to the reverse-biased C-B base. This produces the current
region IC IB
TO ILLUSTRATE
B E
C -
VBE
+
•Imagine the marbles as electrons
•A flat base region with gaps where the
marbles may fall/trapped – recombine
•A sloping collector region represents
high electric field in the C-B region
•Hence, when enough energy is given to
the marbles, they will be accelerated
towards to base region with enough
momentum to pass the base and straight
‘fly’ to the collector
MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSIONS
IC
IB
+
IE
VBE
-
IE = IS [ e VBE / VT -1 ] = IS e VBE / VT Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
No. of electrons crossing the base region and then directly into the
collector region is a constant factor of the no. of electrons exiting the
base region
IC = IB
No. of electrons reaching the collector region is directly proportional to
the no. of electrons injected or crossing the base region.
Ideally = 1, but in reality it is between 0.9
I C = IE and 0.998.
Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB IC = IB I C = IE
IE = IB + IB = IB( + 1) IE = IB( + 1)
Now
With IC = IB IB = IC /
Hence,
IE = [ IC / ] ( + 1)
IC = I E [ / + 1 ]
Comparing with IC = IE
=[ /+1]
C
OPERATIONS - pnp
IB
FORWARD ACTIVE MODE IC
B
-
The emitter – base (E- B) VEB IE
junction is forward biased and
the base-collector (B- C) +
junction is reverse-biased,. VEB = V
E
IE = IS [ e VEB / VT -1 ] = IS e VEB / VT
**Notice that it is VEB
Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
pnp Transistor- Active mode
SUMMARY: Circuit Symbols and
Conventions
Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
npn bipolar transistor simple
block diagram and circuit symbol.
Arrow is on the emitter terminal
that indicates the direction of
emitter current
pnp bipolar transistor simple
block diagram and circuit symbol.
Arrow is on the emitter terminal
that indicates the direction of
emitter current
NPN PNP
IE = IS [ e VBE / VT ] IE = IS [ e VEB / VT]
IC = IB
IC = IE
IE = IB( + 1)
𝜷 𝜶
𝜶= 𝜷=
𝟏+ 𝜷 𝟏− 𝜶
Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
EXAMPLE
Calculate the collector and emitter currents, given the base current and current gain.
Assume a common-base current gain, = 0.97 and a base current of iB = 25 µA . Also
assume that the transistor is biased forward in the forward active mode.
Solution: The common-emitter current gain is
The collector current is
And the emitter current is
Examples
• EXAMPLE 1
• Given IB = 6.0A and IC = 510 A. Determine , and IE
Answers:
= 85
= 0.9884
IE = 516 A
• EXAMPLE 2
• NPN Transistor
• Reverse saturation current Is = 10-13A with current gain, = 90.
• Based on VBE = 0.685V, determine IC , IB and IE
Answers:
IE = 10-13 (e 0.685/0.026) = 0.0277 A
IC = (90/91)(0.0277) = 0.0274 A
IB = IE – IC = 0.3 mA
BJT: Current-Voltage
Characteristic
IC versus VCE
Common-Emitter Configuration - npn
The Emitter is common to both input
(base-emitter) and output (collector-
emitter).
Since Emitter is grounded, VC = VCE
With decreasing VC (VCE), the junction
B-C will become forward biased too. Node B
The current IC quickly drops to zero
because electrons are no longer
collected by the collector
0V
Characteristics of Common-Emitter - npn
NOTE: VEC for PNP
