BASIC ELECTRONICS

(24B11EC111)

Unit-4
Introduction to BJT

Lecture 1
 Lecture Overview

• What is a Transistor?
• History
• Types
• Construction
• Naming of transistor regions
• Important features
• Diode Equivalent of a Transistor
What is a Transistor?

A transistor is a semiconductor device that regulates or

controls current or voltage flow in addition to amplifying and
generating the electrical signals.
Essential part of many technological advances
 A Brief History

• Guglielmo Marconi invents radio in 1895

• Problem: For long distance travel, signal must be amplified
• Lee De Forest improves on Fleming’s original vacuum tube
to amplify signals
• Made use of third electrode
• Too bulky for most applications
 The Transistor is Born

• Bell Labs (1947): Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley

• Originally made of germanium
• Current transistors made of doped silicon
 Transistor

It is a three-layered semiconductor device consisting of

either two n and one p type region or two p and one n type
region.
The former is n type and later is p type BJT
Two types: E B C

• npn
• pnp
 Bipolar Junction Transistor
• There are two junctions
• Three terminals
• Three regions
• Both electrons and holes movements are accountable- so Bipolar
• The middle region is kept thinner than other two regions.
• Both minority and majority carrier movement are considered
 Symbol of BJT

• NPN
E B C
Direction of current(B to E)
Majority carriers electrons

• PNP
E B C
Direction of current(E to B)
Majority carriers holes

Most common: npn , developed by Shockley (1949)

Symbol
 Naming of transistor terminals

• Emitter
• The section of one side that supplies carriers is called emitter
• Emitter is always forward biased w.r.t. base so it can supply
carriers.
• For npn transistor emitter supply electrons to its junction
• For pnp transistor emitter supply holes to its junction

➢Base
• Middle section which form two junctions with emitter and
collector is called base.
 Naming of transistor terminals cont.

• Collector
➢The section on the other side that collects carrier is called collector
➢The collector is always reversed biased w.r.t base
➢For npn transistor collector receives electrons to its junction
➢For pnp transistor collector receives holes to its junction
 Important features

• The transistor has three regions named E, B and C

• The base is much thinner than other regions
• Emitter is heavily doped so it can inject large amount of carriers into the
base
• Base is lightly doped so it can pass most of the carrier to the collector
• Collector is moderately doped.
• The junction between emitter and base is called EB junction(emitter
diode) and junction between collector and base is called CB
junction(collector diode)
• The emitter base junction is always forward biased and collector base
junction is revered biased.
• The resistance of emitter base junction is very small and resistance of
collector base junction is very high.
Diode Equivalent of a Transistor
 References

[1] A. S. Sedra,, and K. C. Smith, ‘Microelectronic Circuits’.

Oxford Oxford University Press, 7th Edition, 2012.

[2] R. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ‘Electronic Devices and

Circuit Theory’, PHI, 7e, 2001

[3] D.C. Kulshreshtha, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuits’, New

Age, 2e, 2006.
BASIC ELECTRONICS
(24B11EC111)

Lecture -2
 Lecture Overview

• How transistor works

• Basic working
• Operation of npn transistor
• Operation of pnp transistor
• Transistor operating modes
• Transistor configurations and basic characteristics
 Basic Operation
• At the junction, a built-in potential is set up by the action of the
fixed donor and acceptor atoms.
• Since the emitter battery acts to flatten this emitter-base potential hill,
a number of electrons pass this barrier and enter the P base region.
• The number of electrons crossing the barrier is proportional to the
value of emitter battery potential.
• Some of these electrons combine with holes in the P base region, but
most pass through and enter the N collector region.
• The loss of electrons in the P base region remains low (approximately
five percent) because: (1) the base section is thin, and (2) the potential
at the collector-base junction acts to accelerate the electrons into the
N collector region.
• In the N region, the electrons
are attracted to the positive
collector.
 Operation of npn Transistor

• EB junction: Forward Biased CB junction: Reverse Biased

The forward bias in the emitter –base junction causes electrons to move towards base,
constituting emitter current, Ie
N-type of emitter: more heavily doped than collector.
Electrons diffuse from Emitter to Base (from n to p).
There’s a wide depletion layer on the Base-Collector junction due to reverse bias →no
flow of e- allowed from collector to base.
 Operation of npn Transistor

• As the electrons flow towards p-type base, they try to recombine with holes. As base is lightly
doped only few electrons recombine with holes within the base.
• These recombined electrons constitute small base current, Ib
• The remainder electrons crosses base and constitute collector current, Ic
• With VC>VB>VE
 Operation of pnp Transistor

• EB junction Forward bias

• CB junction is Reverse bias
• The FB in EB junction causes holes to move towards base, which constitutes emitter current, I E
• As the holes flow towards n-type base, they try to recombine with electrons. As base is lightly
doped only few holes recombine with electrons within base.
• These recombined holes constitute small base current, Ib
• The remainder holes crosses base and constitute collector current, Ic
 Transistor Operating Modes

➢Active Mode
Base-Emitter junction is forward bias and Collector-Base junction is
reverse biased.

➢Saturation Mode
Base-Emitter junction is forward bias and collector base junction is also
forward bias.

➢Cut-off Mode
Both EB and CB junctions are reverse biased.
 Transistor Configurations

• Common Emitter: current gain and voltage gain

• Common Base: no current gain but voltage gain

• Common Collector: current gain but no voltage gain

 Transistor Basic Characteristics

• Current Gain:
• α is the fraction of electrons that diffuse across the narrow Base region
• (1- α) is the fraction of electrons that recombine with holes in the Base region
to create base current

• The current Gain is expressed in terms of the β (beta) of the transistor

(often called hfe by manufacturers).

• β (beta) is Temperature and Voltage dependent.

• It can vary a lot among transistors (common values for signal BJT: 20
- 200). I = I
C E

I B = (1 −  ) I E
IC 
= =
IB 1−
Numerical
 References
[1] A. S. Sedra,, and K. C. Smith, ‘Microelectronic Circuits’. Oxford
Oxford University Press, 7th Edition, 2012.

[2] R. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuit

Theory’, PHI, 7e, 2001

[3] D.C. Kulshreshtha, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuits’, New Age, 2e,
2006.
BASIC ELECTRONICS
(24B11EC111)

LECTURE - 3
Contents

• Common Emitter Configuration

• Output characteristics
• Active region
• Early voltage
• Cut-off Region
• Saturation region
• Input Characteristics
• References
 Common Emitter Configuration

• Fig. 1 shows npn transistor biased in Common Emitter configuration.

• Emitter is common to both input and output.
• Input current is IB, input voltage is VBE, Output current is Ic and output voltage is VCE.

Fig. 1 Common Emitter

Configuration[1]
Cont.
 Output Characteristics

• Fig.2 shows the output characteristics of CE configuration.

• Drawn between output current(IC) and output voltage(VCE) for various fixed values of IB.
• The region to the right of vertical line drawn at VCE= VCE,sat(~0.2 V) and above IB = 0
defines the active region.
• The region to the left of vertical line drawn at VCE= VCE,sat(~0.2 V) defines saturation
region

Fig. 2 Output characteristics of CE Configuration[1]

Active region
 Cont.

• According to eq. 4, IC is independent of VCE.

• But, in output characteristics IC rises with a finite slope as VCE
increases.
• This is due to Early Effect which is more pronounced in CE
configuration.
• For a 1% increase in αF there is 25% rise in βF. So, the slope of
output characteristics is larger in case of CE configuration when
compared to CB configuration.
Early Voltage (Base Width Modulation)
 Early voltage

• It is denoted by VA and given in datasheets of the transistor.

• Helps to find out the output resistance of the transistor.
• It is determined from output characteristics drawn for various values of VBE as shown in fig. 3.
• If the linear portion of output curves are extended back, they all meet at same point on x-axis, this
point gives the value of early voltage.
• Output resistance ro = VA/IC.

Fig. 3 Finding out early

voltage from Output
characteristics[1]
Cut – off mode

• If IB = 0 in eq. 4,
IC = (1+βF)ICO = ICEO
• ICEO is the current flowing from collector to emitter with base kept
open.
• As αF is close to unity ,βF is very large and ICEO is not too low to be
neglected. So, transistor can’t be said in cut-off region.
• For Si transistor, EB junction is short circuited and for Ge transistor EB
junction is supplied with a small reverse bias of -0.1 V, so that IE = 0
and IC = ICO as shown in fig. 4(a) and 4(b).
• This drives the transistor in cut-off region
Fig. 4(a) Collector current with baseFig. 4(b) Arrangement to drive transistor
open[1] in cut-off[1]
Saturation mode

• Both EB and CB junctions are forward biased.

• Under active mode, typical cut-in voltages of EB and CB junctions are
0.7 V for Si transistor(0.2 V for Ge Transistor)
• Barrier potential of EB junction in saturation mode is a little higher
than in active mode (0.8 V and 0.3 V approx. for Si and Ge transistor
respectively)
• CB junction requires approximately 0.6V to forward bias. The
difference in cut-in voltages of EB and CB junction are due to
difference in doping profiles.
• VCE, sat = VCB + VBE => -0.6 + 0.8 = 0.2 V
• Applying KVL in output circuit,
IC = (VCC-VCE)/RC
• If the transistor is biased with fixed VCC and RC. A line is drawn on the output characteristics
with slope = (-1/RC) as shown in fig. 2
• This is called load line and the points where it intersects with output characteristics curve,
gives the operating values of IC and VCE at various IB values.
• If the region to the left of VCE,Sat is magnified, this load line can be approximated as a flat
line as shown in fig. 5
• For VCE < VCE,Sat , the operating value of collector current is approximately same,
irrespective if the value of base current. Thus, collector current is said to be saturated.

Fig. 5 Saturation region

magnified[1]
Now,
IC,Sat = (VCC – VCE,Sat)/RC
Minimum base current required to drive transistor in saturation is:
IB,min = IC,Sat/βF
• To operate transistor in saturation mode, the circuit should be
designed such that IB is greater than IB,min by a factor of 2 to 10.
• If IB is increased above IB,min , β will reduce as Ic,sat is constant. The
new value of β is known as βforced where
βforced = IC,Sat/IB
Input Characteristics

• Fig. shows the input characteristics of CE configuration.

• It is a family of curves drawn between input voltage (VBE) and input current (IB) for different
values of output voltage (VCE)
• For VCE = 0, the characteristics represent forward biased EB junction.
• As VCE increases (keeping constant VBE), VCB increases and hence the CB junction reverse bias also
increases.
• Due to Early effect, IB decreases as effective base width reduces.
• This results in shifting of input characteristics towards right with increase in VCE.

Fig. 5 Input characteristics of CE configuration[1]

 References

• B. Kumar and S. B. Jain,” Electronic Devices and CircuitS”, PHI, 2nd

Edition, 2014.
• R. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuit
Theory’, PHI, 7e, 2001.
BASIC ELECTRONICS
(24B11EC111)

Lecture-4
 Lecture Overview

• DC Analysis of BJT
• BJT Device model
• Common Base Configuration
• Output characteristics
• Active region
• Early Effect
• Input Characteristics
• Common Collector Configuration
• Ccomparison of CB, CE and CC
• References
DC Analysis of Transistor
DC Analysis of Transistor cont.
Numerical[3]
 Common Base Configuration

Fig. 1(b) Common base

Fig. 1(a) Common base
configuration using npn
configuration using pnp
transistor[1]
transistor[1]
Working Of npn Common Base
Configuration
 Output Characteristics

• Output characteristics is a group of curves drawn between output

voltage(VCB) and output current(Ic), for various values of input
current(IE).
• These characteristics can be divided in three regions
• Active region – E-B Junction forward biased, C-B junction reverse biased.
• Saturation region- E-B Junction forward biased, C-B junction forward biased.
• Cut-off region- Both E-B and C-B junction are reverse biased.

Fig. 2 Output characteristics of CB

Configuration
Cont.
 Early effect
• Fig. shows an increase in Ic with increase in |VCB|. This is due to Early effect phenomenon.
• Fig. 3 shows potential variation across pnp transistor for active region.
• When no external voltage is applied, the barrier potential across EB and CB junction is Vo.
• As EB junction is forward biased, its barrier potential decreases by VEB, consequently its depletion with also reduces.
• As CB is junction is reverse biased, its barrier potential increases by |VCB|, consequently is depletion width also
increases and penetrates more(W) in base region as it is lightly doped.
• Effective base width is given as Weff = WB-W. As |VCB| increases, W increases and Weff decreases. This is known as
Base Width Modulation or early effect.

Fig. 3 Potential variation across transistor

in active region[1]
 Results of Early effect
• As effective base width is reduced, there is less chance of recombination. So, αF increases as |VCB| increases
causing increase in IC.
• Diffusion current due to holes in the Emitter region increases as there is a increase in concentration gradient
across EB junction due to reduced base width.
• For very large |VCB| , Weff may be reduced to zero and the base region is covered by depletion region.
• As the depletion region has ions and it is conductive, transistor gets short circuited as there is no base region
between emitter and collector now.
• This results in breakdown of the transistor and is called punch through.
• Cut off region
• Region below IE=0 in characteristics is cut-off region.
• Both EB and CB junction are reverse biased.
• Only very small reverse saturation current flows and transistor is in OFF state.

• Saturation Region
• Region left to VCB = 0 and above IE= 0
• Both EB and CB junction are forward biased.
• Due to Forward biased CB junction, collector constitutes a current in opposite
direction, thus reducing overall collector current.
• For small forward bias voltage across CB junction, there is a large reduction in
collector current.
• As VCB is made more and more positive collector current falls towards zero and
can become negative for larger positive values of VCB.
• Transistor is biased in saturation region when it is to be used as a switch.
 Input Characteristics
• Family of curves drawn between input voltage(VEB) and input current(IE) for fixed output voltage
values(VCB) as shown in fig.
• When collector is open, the curve shows forward characteristics of EB diode.
• As CB junction is made more and more reverse biased, the characteristics shift to left due to early effect.
• Fig. 4 shows the input characteristics for CB configuration.
Common Collector(CC) configuration of the
Transistor
In this type of configuration collector is common terminal between other both
emitter and base terminals. Because of that, it called a common collector( CC)
transistor.
Input Characteristics of CC Configuration
• Input characteristics are the relationship between the input current and input
voltage keeping output voltage constant. Here input current is IB and input
voltage VBE and output voltage is VCE. A curve is drawn between base current
and base emitter voltage at constant collector base voltage as shown :
Output Characteristics of CC Configuration
Output characteristics are the relationship between the output current and output
voltage keeping input current constant
To determine output characteristics, the base current IB is kept constant at zero
and emitter current IE is increased from zero by increasing VEC. This is
repeated for higher fixed values of IB.

From the characteristic it is seen that for a constant value of IB, IE is

independent of VEB and the curves are parallel to the axis of VEC.
Characteristics of CC Configuration

• This configuration provides current gain but no voltage gain.

Therefore, this type of circuit is not that much suitable for
amplification.
• In CC configuration, the input resistance is high and the output
resistance is low.
• The input and output signals are in phase.
• This configuration works as non-inverting amplifier output.
• This circuit is mostly used for impedance matching. That means, to
drive a low impedance load from a high impedance source.
Comparison of the performance of Characteristics of CB, CE, and
CC Configurations
 References

• B. Kumar and S. B. Jain,” Electronic Devices and CircuitS”, PHI, 2nd

Edition, 2014.
• R. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuit
Theory’, PHI, 7e, 2001.
BASIC ELECTRONICS
(24B11EC111)

Lecture -5
Lecture Overview

• DC Load Line & Operating Point (Q point)

• Biasing and its need
• Different Biasing Techniques
• Fixed Bias Configuration
• Numerical
• References
 DC Load line

• When the transistor is given the bias and no signal is applied at its input,
the load line drawn at such condition, can be understood
as DC condition

The value of collector emitter voltage at any given time will be:
VCE=VCC−ICRC
DC Load Line

As VCC and RC are fixed values, the above one is a first degree
equation and hence
will be a straight line on the output characteristics. This line is
called as D.C. Load line.
The figure below shows the DC load line.
 Operating Point

• For transistor amplifiers the resulting dc current and voltage establish

an operating point on the characteristics that define the region that
will be employed for amplification of the applied signal.

• Because the operating point is a fixed point on the characteristics, it

is also called the quiescent point (abbreviated Q-point).

• Transistor Regions Operation:

• Linear-region operation: Base–emitter junction forward-biased
Base–collector junction reverse-biased
• Cutoff-region operation: Base–emitter junction reverse-biased
Base–collector junction reverse-biased
• Saturation-region operation: Base–emitter junction forward-
biased Base–collector junction forward-biased
 Quiescent(Q) point

• When a line is drawn joining the saturation and cut off points, such a line can be called
as Load line. This line, when drawn over the output characteristic curve, makes contact at a
point called as Operating point.

The operating point should not get disturbed as it should remain stable to achieve faithful amplification.
Hence the quiescent point or Q-point is the value where the Faithful Amplification is achieved.

Key factors for Faithful Amplification:

To ensure faithful amplification, the following basic conditions must be satisfied.
Proper zero signal collector current
Minimum proper base-emitter voltage (VBE) at any instant.
Minimum proper collector-emitter voltage (VCE) at any instant.
 Biasing Circuit

• The proper flow of zero signal collector current and the

maintenance of proper collector emitter voltage during the
passage of signal is known as Transistor Biasing. The circuit which
provides transistor biasing is called as Biasing Circuit.

Need of Biasing

• To turn the device “ON”

• To place it in operation in the region of its characteristic where the
device operates most linearly .
• Improper biasing causes
• „Distortion in the output signal
• „Clipped output signal
 Factors affecting the operating point

• Let us have a look at the factors that affect the stabilization of

operating point.

• The main factor that affect the operating point is the temperature.
The operating point shifts due to change in temperature.
• As temperature increases, the values of ICE, β, VBE gets affected.
ICBO gets doubled (for every 10o rise) and VBE decreases by 2.5mv (for
every 1o rise).
• Individual Variations: As the value of β and the value of VBE are not
same for every transistor, whenever a transistor is replaced, the
operating point tends to change

Therefore, to achieve stable Q point, biasing circuits are introduced.

 Different biasing schemes
• (i) Fixed bias (base resistor biasing)
• (ii) Collector base bias
• (iii) Emitter bias
• (iv) Voltage divider bias
 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT
• This is common emitter (CE) configuration
• 1st step: Locate capacitors and replace them
with an open circuit
• 2nd step: Locate 2 main loops which;
• BE loop (input loop)
• CE loop(output loop)

CE Loop Analysis

BE Loop Analysis

RC does not affect the value of Ic

Advantage and Disadvantages of Fixed Bias
Circuit

• Advantage: It requires only a few components, and the circuit is easy to

understand and design.

• Disadvantage: Unstable – because it is too much dependent on β

and produce width change of Q-point
• For improved bias stability , add emitter resistor to dc bias.
Numerical- Fixed Bias

Fig. shows that a silicon transistor with β = 100 is biased by base resistor method. Draw the d.c. load line and
determine the operating point.
 D.C. load line

• Referring to Fig. , VCE = VCC − ICRC

• When IC = 0, VCE = VCC = 6 V. This locates the first point B (OB = 6V) of the load
line on collector-emitter voltage axis
• When VCE = 0, IC = VCC/RC = 6V/2 kΩ = 3 mA.
• This locates the second point A (OA = 3mA) of the load line on the collector
current axis. By joining points A and B, d.c. load line AB is constructed
• As it is a silicon transistor, therefore, VBE = 0.7V. From given figure,
COLLECTOR BASE BIAS
Numerical
References

[1] R. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuit

Theory’, PHI, 7e, 2001

[2] A. S. Sedra,, and K. C. Smith, ‘Microelectronic Circuits’. Oxford

Oxford University Press, 7th Edition, 2012

[3] D.C. Kulshreshtha, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuits’, New Age, 2e,
2006
 Lecture Overview

• Emitter Stabilized Bias Circuit

• Bias Stability
• Numerical

• Voltage Divider circuit

• Bias Stability
• Numerical

• References
BASIC ELECTRONICS
(24B11EC111)

Lecture-6
 EMITTER BIAS CIRCUIT

This Emitter Bias Circuit Diagram is obtained by simply introducing an

emitter resistor to the fixed bias circuit as shown in Figure
BE Loop Analysis
CE Loop Analysis
• Advantages of Emitter Biasing
1. Stability Against Temperature Variations:
-Emitter biasing provides good thermal stability.
2. Improved Linear Operation:
- This biasing method allows for better linearity in the amplification process,
which is crucial for audio and RF applications.
• Disadvantages of Emitter Biasing

1. Requires More Components:

- Emitter biasing typically requires additional resistors (for biasing) and capacitors
(for coupling and bypassing), which can increase the complexity and size of the
circuit.
2. Limited Input Impedance:
- The presence of the emitter resistor can lower the input impedance of the
circuit, which may not be desirable in all applications.
3. Dependency on Emitter Resistor Value:
- The performance and stability of the biasing depend heavily on the value of the
emitter resistor.
• Usage: Emitter biasing is a widely used technique in transistor amplifier design,
offering a good balance between stability and performance. Emitter bias is
a very good and stable way to bias transistors if both positive and negative
power supplies are available.
Numerical [1]
VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT
For analyzing a voltage divider bias circuit are:
• 1st step: Locate capacitors and replace them with
an open circuit
• 2nd step: Simplified circuit using Thevenin Theorem
• 3rd step: Locate 2 main loops which;
• BE loop
• CE loop
• Advantage and Disadvantage:

It provides good Q-point stability with a single

polarity supply voltage. This is the biasing circuit
wherein, ICQ and VCEQ are almost independent of
beta. On the other hand, the disadvantage of this
bias is that signals tend to get mixed up at times.
Numerical [1]

• Find Ic & VCE ::

• In addition to main Stability Factor which is due to leakage current, there are two other Stability Factors
due to β and VBE

• The rate of change of collector current IC w.r.t. base-emitter voltage at constant β and ICO is called stability
factor due to base-emitter voltage i.e.

• Stability Factor due to β

• The rate of change of collector current IC w.r.t. β at constant base-emitter voltage and ICO is called stability factor due to
current gain β i.e.
• Stability factor indicates the degree of change in operating due to
variation in temperature. There are three variables which are
temperature dependent. We can define three stability factors:
Ideally, Stability factors should be zero to keep operating point stable and fixed.
• Stability Factor of Transistor:
• The degree of success achieved in stabilizing lC in the face of
variations in ICO is expressed in terms of Stability Factor of Transistor S
and it is defined as the rate of change of collector current w.r.t.
ICO keeping β and VBE constant
General Expression For Stability Factor S:
• In addition to main Stability Factor which is due to leakage current, there are two other Stability Factors
due to β and VBE

• The rate of change of collector current IC w.r.t. base-emitter voltage at constant β and ICO is called stability
factor due to base-emitter voltage i.e.

• Stability Factor due to β

• The rate of change of collector current IC w.r.t. β at constant base-emitter voltage and ICO is called stability factor due to
current gain β i.e.
Stability Factor of voltage divider
Numerical

• For the circuit shown in Fig, find the operating point. What is the stability factor of the circuit ?
Given that β = 50 and VBE = 0.7V.
References

[1] R. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuit

Theory’, PHI, 7e, 2001

[2] A. S. Sedra,, and K. C. Smith, ‘Microelectronic Circuits’. Oxford

Oxford University Press, 7th Edition, 2012

[3] D.C. Kulshreshtha, ‘Electronic Devices and Circuits’, New Age, 2e,
2006