Electronics-I (EEE 231)

Syed Bilal Javed

Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering
CIIT, Islamabad.
1

Note: Some of the material used in these slides is copyright of the respective
authors and is used solely for teaching purpose.

Lecture No. 15 (November 01, 2012)

Chapter 5

BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTOR

2
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter, the students will be able
to:

Understand the construction and operation of
Bipolar Junction Transistors.

Understand the DC analysis and design
techniques of BJT circuits.

Examine three basic applications of BJT.
3
Introduction

The basic of electronic systems is a semiconductor device. The
famous and commonly use of this device is Transistors
(TRANSfer-resISTOR).

There are two types of Transistors

1) BJTs (Bipolar Junction Transistor)
Current in the transistor is due to the flow of both
electrons and holes, hence the name bipolar

2) FET (Field Effect Transistor)
FETs are unipolar because the conduction is only due to
one type of charge carrier.


4
BJTs Structure
There are two types of BJTs: (a) pnp and (b) npn-type.
5
BJT consists of three terminal:

Base (B): This region is very thin and lightly doped.

Emitter (E): It is heavily doped

Collector (C): It is also heavily doped but its doping level is smaller than
emitter.

Collector region area is slightly more than that of emitter. This is because the
collector region has to handle more power than the emitter and more surface
area is required for heat dissipation.
By imaging the analogy of diode, transistor can be construct like
two diodes that connected together as in figure below.

However, we cannot replace transistor by back to back connected
diodes. (Why????? )

B
E
C
B
E
C
Fig. 4.2: (a) pnp transistor (b) npn transistor
(a)
(b)
6
BJTs Structure (Cont....)
A biased transistor means a transistor with external voltage (DC)
is applied.

A single pn junction has two different types of bias:
- Forward Bias
- Reverse Bias

Thus, a two-pn-jnuction device has four types of bias.
Saturation Forward Forward
Active Forward Reverse
Reverse Active Reverse Forward
Cut-off Reverse Reverse
Mode of operation BE junction
(BEJ)
BC junction
(BCJ)
7
Biased Transistor
8
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode
BE Junction F.B.
BC Junction R.B.
o The base to emitter junction is forward biased by the dc source V
EE.
.
Thus, the depletion region at this junction is reduced.

o The collector to base junction is reverse biased, increasing depletion
region at collector to base junction shown in fig.

9
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
-
V
EE
+
The forward biased EB junction causes the electrons in the n-type emitter
to flow towards the base, creating an excess minority carrier
concentration in the base. This constitutes the emitter current.

The base region is very narrow so that, in the ideal case, the injected
electrons will not recombine with any of the majority carrier holes in the
base shown by the straight line in Figure 5.4 (on next slide).

However, if some carrier recombination does occur in the base, the
electron concentration will deviate from the ideal linear curve, as shown
in the Figure 5.4 (on next slide).


10
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
Since the BC junction is reverse biased, the electron concentration at the
edge of that junction is approximately zero.

The reason for the zero concentration at the collector side of the base is
that the positive collector voltage V
CB
causes the electrons at that end to be
swept across the CBJ depletion region.

11
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
12
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
Emitter Current: Since the BE junction is forward biased, the current
passing through this junction is an exponential function of BE voltage,
just as we saw in pn junction diode.

Therefore, the current at emitter terminal is




The parameter V
T
is the usual thermal voltage. The emission coefficient n that
multiplies V
T
is assumed to be 1, as we discussed in Chapter 1 in considering the
ideal diode equation.

The multiplying constant, I
EO
, contains electrical parameters of the junction, but in
addition is directly proportional to the active BE cross-sectional area. Typical values
of I
EO
are in the range of 10
12
to 10
16
A, but may, for special transistors, vary outside
of this range.




13
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
Direction of Emitter Current:

The flow of the negatively charged electrons is through the emitter into
the base and is opposite to the conventional current direction.

The conventional emitter current direction is therefore out of the emitter
terminal.


14
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
Collector Current:.

Most of the diffusing electrons will reach the boundary of the collector-
base depletion region. Because the collector is more positive than the base
(by V
CB
volts), these successful electrons will be swept across the CBJ
depletion region into the collector. They will thus get "collected" to
constitute the collector current i
c
.

15
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
Collector Current:.

The number of electrons reaching the collector per unit time is
proportional to the number of electrons injected into the base, which in
turn is a function of the BE voltage.

To a first approximation, the collector current is proportional to e
VBE/VT
and
is independent of the reverse-biased BC voltage. The device therefore
looks like a constant-current source.

The collector current is

The collector current is slightly smaller than the emitter current.

16
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
Base Current:.

The base current i
B
is composed of two components.

1) The first component i
B1
is due to the holes injected from the base
region into the emitter region. This current component is proportional
to e
VBE/ VT
.

2) A few electrons recombine with majority carrier holes in the base. The
holes that are lost must be replaced through the base terminal. This
recombination current is directly proportional to the number of
electrons being injected from the emitter, which in turn is an
exponential function of the BE voltage.


The total base current is the sum of the two components:

17
Operation of npn Transistor in Active mode (Cont....)
18
Try to do analysis
pnp transistor
Transistor Currents
o The direction of conventional currents in an npn and pnp transistors
are shown below.
Note:
-The arrow is always drawn on the emitter

-The arrow indicates the direction of the emitter current
- pnp: E-B
- npn: B-E
C
B
E
pnp
I
C
I
E
I
B
C
E
npn
B
I
C
I
E
I
B
I
C
=the collector current
I
B
= the base current
I
E
= the emitter current
20
Transistor Currents (Cont....)
There are 3 types of transistor configuration in electric circuit:

a) CB (common base)
b) CE (common emitter)
c) CC (common collector)

This configuration is base on which the terminal is connected to the input
signal and output signal.

Table below shows the relationship between input terminal and output
terminal with the transistor configuration.
E B CC
C B CE
C E CB
Output terminal Input terminal Configuration
21
Transistor Configuration

CB is derived from the fact that the :
Input is applied between emitter and base and output is taken
from the collector and base. Here, base of the transistor is
common to both input and output circuits and hence the name
common base (CB) configuration.








CB for npn Transistor CB for pnp Transistor
.
22
Common Base Configuration

To understand complete electrical behaviour of a transistor it is
necessary to study the interrelation of the various currents and
voltages.


These relationships can be plotted graphically which are
commonly known as the characteristics of transistor.


The most important characteristics of transistor in any
configuration are input and output characteristics.

23
Characteristics of Transistor

Input Characteristics:
It is the curve between input current (along Y-axis) and input
voltage (along X-axis) at different values of output voltage.

Output Characteristics:
It is the curve between output current (along Y-axis) and output
voltage (along X-axis) at different values of input current.


24
Characteristics of Transistor (Cont....)

It is the curve
between input
current I
E
(along
Y-axis) and input
voltage V
BE

(along X-axis) at
different values of
output voltage
25
Common Base Input Characteristics
Input characteristics for a
common-base npn transistor
V
CB
= 25 V
V
CB
= 10 V
V
CB
= 0 V

From the input characteristics of CB, we can observe the
following important points:

1. After the cut-in voltage (barrier potential), the emitter current (I
E
)
increases rapidly with small increase in base-emitter voltage
(V
BE
). It means that input resistance is very small.

2. It can be observed that there is slight increase in emitter current
(I
E
) with increase in V
CB
for a given value of V
BE
. This is
because reverse biasing voltage (V
CB
) enhances such current.

Note: In figure (on previous slide) each curve resembles a
forward biased diode characteristic, as expected.

26
Common Base Input Characteristics (Cont....)

It is the curve
between output
current I
C
(along
Y-axis) and output
voltage V
CB

(along X-axis) at
different values of
input current I
E.

27
Common Base Output Characteristics
Output characteristics for a
common-base npn ideal transistor
I
CBO

From the output characteristics of CB, we can observe the following
important points:

1. The output characteristics has three basic regions: active, cutoff and
saturation





2. Active Mode:
For the operation in the active region, the BE junction is forward biased
while CB junction is reverse biased. In this region collector current I
C
is
approximately equal to the emitter current I
E
and transistor works as an
amplifier.

28
Common Base Output Characteristics (Cont....)

2. Active Mode (Cont....)

a) In the active region, I
C
is almost constant, and the graph is almost parallel to
x-axis. The collector current I
C
is almost independent on collector base
voltage V
CB
and the transistor can be said to work as constant-current
source. This provides very high output resistance.

b) As I
E
increases I
C
also increases. Thus, I
C
depends upon input current I
E
but
not on collector voltage. Hence, input current controls output current. Since
transistor requires some current to drive it, it is called current operating
device.

c) In the active region, the collector-base junction is reverse biased. For every
transistor there is limit on the maximum value for this reverse bias voltage.












29
Common Base Output Characteristics (Cont....)
Note that when CB Junction
of npn transistor is reverse
biased for V
CB
= -0.2V to -
0.3V because V
CB
is less than
the minimum voltage (V)
required to forward bias the
CB junction.

Therefore, the transistor is still
basically biased in the
forward-active mode. The
collector current i
C
is still
essentially equal to the emitter
current i
E
.


Common Base Output Characteristics (Cont....)

3. Saturation Mode

a) The region of the characteristics where V
CB
is negative is called the
saturation region.


b) In this saturation region, the emitter-base and collector-base junctions are
both forward biased.


c) However, as the forward-bias CB voltage increases, the linear relationship
between the collector and emitter currents is no longer valid, and the
collector current very quickly drops to zero.













31
Common Base Output Characteristics (Cont....)

4. Cuttoff Mode
a) The region of the output characteristics lying below the I
E
=0 line is called the
cutoff region, where the collector current is nearly zero and the collector-base and
emitter-base junctions of a transistor are reverse biased.









b) If the emitter current is zero, the collector current is simply I
CBO
(collector-base
leakage current when the emitter is an open circuit)as shown in fig. This current is
so small in magnitude and called leakage current this current corresponds to the
reverse-bias saturation current in a diode, as described in Chapter 1.

32
Common Base Output Characteristics (Cont....)
Breakdown Voltage for CB configuration
As is the case in a reverse-biased diode,
the current through the collector-base
junction of a transistor may increase
suddenly if the reverse biasing voltage
(V
CB
) is made sufficiently large.

This increase in current is typically
caused by the avalanching mechanism.
However, in a transistor it can also be the
result of a phenomenon called punch
through or reach throgh.

To avoid this punch through effect V
CB

should always be kept below the
maximum safe limit specified by the
manufacturer.

Breakdown Voltage for CB configuration (Cont....)
The curves shown at the right side of
dotted line (V
CBmax
is exceeded) represent
the breakdown condition.

When collector to base voltage increases,
width of the depletion region at the
junction increases. Therefore, when V
CB

increases above the V
CBmax
, increase in
depletion region is such that it penetrates
into the base until it makes contact with
emitter-base depletion region. This
condition is called punch through or
reach through effect.

When this situation occurs, breakdown
occurs i.e. large collector current flows
which destroys the transistor.


Base current I
B
(A) is small compare to emitter current I
E
(mA)
and collector current I
C
(mA).

The relationship among these current can be analyse with KCL :

I
E
=I
B
+ I
C

Emitter current that flows through collector known as I
E
. The
value is big compare to leakage current.
35
Common Base Configuration
I
C
= I
C(majority)
+ I
C(minority)

I
C
= I
E
+ I
C
(minority)


I
C
= I
E


Where I
C
(minority) is ignored due to small value.

= I
C
/ I
E


Ideally = 1, but in reality it is between 0.9 and 0.998.
36
Common Base Configuration (Cont...)
The emitter and collector currents are related by i
C
= i
E
. We can also
relate the coefficients by I
S
= I
EO
. The parameter is called the common-
base current gain whose value is always slightly less than unity.

The ratio of collector current (I
C
) to the base current (I
B
) is called beta
( = I
C
/ I
B
) which is common emitter current gain. This is known as beta
for the transistor.

Where is a constant for a particular transistor. For modern npn
transistors, is in the range 50 to 200, but it can be as high as 1000 for
special devices. The constant is called the common-emitter current gain.

The ratio of collector current (I
C
) to the emitter current (I
E
) is called alpha
( = I
C
/ I
E
) which is common base current gain. This is known as beta for
the transistor

Finally, we should note that because and characterize the operation of
the BJT in the "forward-active" mode they are often denoted
F
and
F
. We
shall use and
F
interchangeably and, similarly, and
F
.


37
Transistor Parameters ( and )
38
Relationship between and

39
Transistor Parameters ( and ) (Cont....)

CE is derived from the fact that the :
Input is applied between base and emitter and output is taken
from collector and emitter. Here, emitter of the transistor is
common to both, input and output circuits and hence the name
common emitter (CE) configuration.








CE for npn Transistor CE for pnp Transistor
.
40
Common Emitter Configuration

As shown in figures the bias voltage V
BB
forward biases the
base-emitter junction and V
CC
is used to reverse bias the
collector-base junction.








CE for npn Transistor .
41
Common Emitter Configuration (Cont....)

The fig. Shows the input and output voltages and currents for the common-
emitter configuration.
Input voltage is the base-emitter voltage (V
BE
)
Output voltage is the collector-emitter voltage (V
CE
)
Input Current is the base current (I
B
)
Output current is the collector current (I
C
)










42
Common Emitter Configuration (Cont....)

It is the curve between
input current I
B
(along
Y-axis) and input
voltage V
BE
(along
X-axis) at different
values of output
voltage V
CE
.

43
Common Emitter Input Characteristics
Input characteristics for a
Common-emitter npn transistor

From the input characteristics of CE, we can observe the following important
points:

1. After the cut-in voltage (barrier potential), base current (I
B
) increases rapidly
with small increase in base-emitter voltage (V
BE
). It means that input
resistance is very small.

2. It can be observed that for a fixed value of V
BE
, I
B
increase as V
CE

decreases. This is because a large value of V
CE
results in a large reverse bias
of the collector-base junction, which widens the depletion region and makes
the base smaller. Hence, there are fewer recombinations in the base region,
reducing the base current.

Note: In figure (on previous slide) each curve resembles a forward biased
diode characteristic, as expected.

44
Common Emitter Input Characteristics (Cont....)
It is the curve between output current I
C
(along Y-axis) and output voltage
V
CE
(along X-axis) at different values of input current I
B
.

This characteristics is often called collector characteristics.
45
Common Emitter Output Characteristics

From the output characteristics of CE, we can observe the following
important points:

1. The output characteristics has three basic regions: active, cutoff and
saturation





46
Common Emitter Output Characteristics (Cont....)

2. Active Mode

a) For the operation in the active region, the BE junction is forward biased
while CB junction is reverse biased. The region where the curves are
approximately horizontal is the active region of the CE configuration.


b) As V
CE
is increased, reverse bias increases. This causes depletion region to
spread more in base than in collector (Why?), reducing the chance of
recombination in the base. This increases the value of . This early effect
causes collector current to rise more sharply with increasing V
CE
in the
linear region of output characteristics of CE transistor.



Ans: Depletion region spreads more in the lightly doped region. Base is lightly doped as compared to
collector.










47
Common Emitter Output Characteristics (Cont....)

2. Saturation Mode

a) If V
CE
is reduced to a small value such as 0.2 V, then collector-base junction
becomes forward biased.

b) When both the junctions are forward biased, the transistor operates in the
saturation region, which is indicated on the output characteristics. The
saturation value of V
CE
usually ranges between 0.1 V to 0.3 V.

3. Cutoff Mode

a) In this region, both the junctions of the transistor are reverse biased.

a) When the input base current is made equal to zero, the collector current is
the reverse leakage current I
CEO
. The region below I
B
=0 is the cutoff
region.










48
Common Emitter Output Characteristics (Cont....)
Breakdown Voltage for CE configuration
In the active region, the collector-base junction is reverse biased. For every
transistor there is limit on the maximum value for this reverse bias voltage. If this
limit is exceeded as shown in figure, the breakdown occurs in the transistor. This
effect is commonly known as punch through or reach throgh.

To avoid this punch through effect V
CB
should always be kept below the maximum
safe limit specified by the manufacturer.


It is called common-emitter configuration since :
- emitter is common or reference to both i/p and o/p
terminals.
- emitter is usually the terminal at ground potential.

50
Common Emitter (CE) Configuration
Common Emitter Configuration (Cont....)
In the transistor, the rate of flow of electrons and the resulting collector
current are an exponential function of the BE voltage, as is the resulting
base current. This means that the collector current and the base current are
linearly related. Therefore, we can write



Or


The parameter is the common-emitter current gain and is a key
parameter of the bipolar transistor. In this idealized situation, is
considered to be a constant for any given transistor. The value of is
usually in the range of 50 < < 300, but it can be smaller or larger for
special devices.

The value of is highly dependent upon transistor fabrication techniques
and process tolerances.
51
Common Emitter Configuration (Cont....)
When BE junction is forward biased and the BC junction is reverse biased.
Then
1) Using the piecewise linear model of a pn junction, we assume that the
BE voltage is equal to VBE(on), the junction turn on voltage.

2) Since V
CC
= V
CE
+ i
C
R
C
, the power supply voltage must be sufficiently
large to keep the BC junction reverse biased.

3) The base current is established by V
BB
and R
B
, and the resulting
collector current is i
C
= i
B
.

If we set V
BB
= 0, the BE junction will have zero applied volts; therefore,
i
B
= 0, which implies that i
C
= 0. This condition is called cutoff.
npn Transistor: Forward Active Mode Operation ( Cont....)
52
The set of curves shown in figure are also called output characteristic curves
(output current i
C
versus output voltage v
CE
at different values of input current
i
B
) for CE transistor.

Current Voltage Characteristics for CE Configuration
In the npn device, in order for the
transistor to be biased in the forward-
active mode, the BC junction must be
zero or reverse biased, which means that
V
CE
must be greater than approximately
V
BE(on)
.

For V
CE
> V
BE(on)
,
There is a finite slope to the curves.
If, however, V
CE
< V
BE(on)
,
the BC junction becomes forward
biased, the transistor is no longer in the
forward-active mode, and the collector
current very quickly drops to zero.
Current Voltage Characteristics for CE Configuration (Cont...)
Figure 5.14 shows an exaggerated view of the currentvoltage characteristics plotted
for constant values of the BE voltage.

When extrapolated, the characteristic lines meet at a point on the negative v
CE
axis, at
v
CE
= -V
A
, The voltage V
A
, a positive number, is a parameter for the particular BJT,
with typical values in the range of 50 V to 100 V. It is called the Early voltage, after
J. M. Early, the engineering scientist who first studied this phenomenon.
Current Voltage Characteristics for CE Configuration (Cont...)
Circuit Symbols and Conventions
Summary of Transistor Operation
When the npn bipolar transistor biased in the forward-active region.
Then:

The forward-biased BE voltage, V
BE
, causes an exponentially
related flow of electrons from the emitter into the base where they
diffuse across the base region and are collected in the collector
region.

The collector current, i
C
, is independent of the BC voltage as long
as the BC junction is reverse biased. The collector, then, behaves as
an ideal current source.

The collector current is a fraction of the emitter current, and the
base current is a fraction 1/ of the collector current. If >> 1, then
1 and i
C
i
E
.
57
Important Points
The voltage notation v
BE
, with the dual subscript, denotes the
voltage between the B (base) and E (emitter) terminals. Implicit in
the notation is that the first subscript (the base terminal) is positive
with respect to the second subscript (the emitter terminal).

Since we are considering the case of a transistor biased in the
forward-active mode, the commonbase current gain and common-
emitter current gain parameters are often denoted as
F
and
F
,
respectively.

For ease of notation, we will simply define these parameters as and
.
Leakage Current for CB configuration
In the common-base circuits in
Figure 5.11, if we set the current
source i
E
= 0, transistors will be cut
off, but the BC junctions will still
be reverse biased.

A reverse bias leakage current exists
in these junctions, and this current
corresponds to the reverse-bias
saturation current in a diode, as
described in Chapter 1.

Leakage Current for CB Configuration (Cont....)
The direction of these reverse-bias leakage currents is the same as that
of the collector currents.

The term I
CBO
is the collector leakage current in the common-base
configuration, and is the collector-base leakage current when the emitter
is an open circuit.
This leakage current is shown in Figure 5.15(a).
The cutoff region for the common-emitter configuration is not as well defined
as for the common-base configuration. Note on the output characteristics for
CE shown in Fig. 2 that I
C
is not equal to zero when I
B
is zero.

For the common-base configuration, when the input current I
E
was equal to
zero, the collector current was equal only to the reverse saturation current I
CEO

Leakage Current for CE Configuration
Leakage Current for CE Configuration (Cont....)
Another leakage current can exist between the emitter and collector with
the base terminal an open circuit.

Figure 5.15(b) is a block diagram of an npn transistor in which the base
is an open circuit (i
B
= 0).
If we consider the case discussed in previous slide, where I
B
= 0 A, and
substitute a typical value of such as = 0.996, the resulting collector
current is the following:
If I
CBO
were 1A, the resulting collector current with I
B
= 0 A would be
250(1A) = 0.25 mA,
For future reference, the collector current defined by the condition I
B
= 0 A
will be assigned the notation I
CE0
as indicated by following Eq.
Leakage Current for CE Configuration (Cont....)
The common-base currentvoltage characteristics shown in Fig. (1) are
ideal in that breakdown is not shown. Fig. (2) shows the same i
C
versus
v
CB
characteristics with the breakdown voltage.


Fig. (1) Ideal Fig. (2) Practical
Breakdown Voltage for CB configuration
Relationship between Breakdown Voltages of CB & CE configuration
The breakdown voltage characteristics for the two configurations are also
different.
The breakdown voltage for the open-base case is given by
where n is an empirical constant usually in the range of 3 to 6.
Comment: The breakdown voltage of the open-base configuration is
substantially less than that of the CB junction. This represents a worst-case
condition, which must be considered in any circuit design.

Design Pointer: The designer must be aware of the breakdown voltage of the
specific transistors used in a circuit, since this will be a limiting factor in the
size of the dc bias voltages that can be used.