ELECTRONIC DEVICES

AND CIRCUITS
EC T34
B. Tech.,/ ECE/ III SEMESTER

K. SATHISH
AP/ECE

Achariya College of Engineering Technology

(Approved by AICTE and affiliated to Pondicherry University)
An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Institution
Achariyapuram, Villianur, Puducherry – 605 110.
www.acet.edu.in

(For internal circulation only)

 EC T34 – ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS

UNIT I
Semiconductor Diodes - PN junction diode – operation, forward, reverse bias characteristics- theory of
diode currents - diode equation - temperature effects – DC and AC resistance – diode equivalent circuit –
transition and diffusion capacitances – diode switching times – Avalanche and Zener breakdown – Zener
diode characteristics.
UNIT II
Bipolar Junction Transistor - PNP and NPN transistors – transistor current components –
characteristics of transistor in CB, CE, CC configurations – Early effect - Ebers-Moll model.
Field Effect Transistors - JFET – construction – operation - drain and transfer characteristics – current
equations – pinch-off voltage and its significance. MOSFET – construction, operation and characteristics
of EMOSFET, DMOSFET and VMOSFET.
UNIT III
Special Semiconductor Devices - Construction, principle of operation and characteristics of Schottky
barrier diode, Varactor diode, Tunnel diode, PIN diode, LED, LCD, UJT, SCR, DIAC and TRIAC.
Photoconductivity – photodiode, APD, phototransistor, LDR, optocoupler, solar cell, LASER diode and
MESFET.
UNIT IV
Biasing and Stabilization: DC load line and Q-point – Need for biasing – Different types of BJT biasing –
Fixed bias, Collector to base bias, Self bias –Stability factor – Bias compensation: Diode, Thermistor and
Sensistor compensation – FET biasing: Gate bias, Voltage divider bias and Self bias – MOSFET biasing.

UNIT V
Power Supplies: Rectifiers – Half wave, Full wave and bridge rectifier – Ripple factor calculation for C, L,
LC and CLC filter. Voltage regulators – Shunt voltage regulator – Series voltage regulator – Short circuit
protection circuit – Current limiting circuit – Foldback limiting – Op-Amp voltage regulator – Switching
regulator – Step up and step down converters.

Text Books:
1. Jacob Millman and Christos C. Halkias, ―Integrated Electronics‖ Tata McGraw-Hill, Second Edition,
2009.
2. R.L. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, ―Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory‖, Pearson Education, Tenth
Edition, 2009

Reference Books:
1. David A. ―Bell Electronic Devices and Circuits‖, Oxford university press, 5th Edition, 2010.
2. Donald A Neaman, ―Semiconductor Physics and Devices‖, Tata McGraw-Hill, Third Edition, 2007
3. S. Salivahanan, N. Suresh Kumar and A. Vallavaraj, Electronic Devices and Circuits, 2nd Edition, TMH,
2007.

Web References:
1. www.nptel.iitm.ac.in
2. http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/Webcourse-contents/IIT-Delhi/Semiconductor%20Devices/
3. http://www.electronic-circuits-diagrams.com/tutorials.shtml
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

UNIT NO. TITLE PAGE

NO.
1 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES 1
1.1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.2 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR 2
1.3 EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR 2

1.4 PN JUNCTION DIODE 3

1.5 PN DIODE CURRENT EQUATION 6

1.6 TEMPERATURE EFFECTS OF PN JUNCTION DIODE 8

1.7 D.C OR STATIC RESISTANCE (RF) 9

1.8 A.C. OR DYNAMIC RESISTANCE (RF) 10
1.9 DIODE EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT 11

1.10 TRANSITION OR SPACE CHARGE CAPACITANCE (CT) 12

1.11 DIFFUSION CAPACITANCE (CD) 12
1.12 DIODE SWITCHING TIMES 12
1.13 ZENER DIODE 14
1.14 BREAKDOWNS IN DIODE 16

2 BJT AND FET 17

2.1 BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR (BJT) 17
2.2 TRANSISTOR BIASING 18
2.3 OPERATION OF NPN TRANSISTOR 18
2.4 OPERATION OF PNP TRANSISTOR 19
2.5 TRANSISTOR CURRENT COMPONENTS 19
2.6 GENERAL TRNSISTOR EQUATION 21
2.6.1 RELATION AMONG IC, IB AND ICEO 21
2.6.2 RELATION BETWEEN ICBO AND ICEO 22
2.6.3 EXPRESSION FOR EMITTER CURRENT 22
2.6.4 DC current gain (𝞫dc or hFE) 22
2.7 TYPES OF CONFIGURATION 22
2.8 CB CONFIGURATION 23
2.8.1 EARLY EFFECT OR BASE-WIDTH MODULATION 24
2.8.2 THERMAL RUN AWAY 25
2.9 TRANSISTOR PARAMETERS 25
2.10 CE CONFIGURATION 25
2.11 CC CONFIGURATION 28
2.12 COMPARISON 29
2.13 EBERS MOLL TRANSISTOR MODEL 30
2.14 FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS 31
2.15 JFET (JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR) 31
2.16 OPERATION OF N CHANNEL JFET 32
2.17 OPERATION OF P CHANNEL JFET 34
2.18 FET PARAMETERS 35
 2.19 METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR 36
(MOSFET or IGFET)
2.20 ENHANCEMENT MOSFET 36
2.21 DEPLETION MOSFET 38
2.22 VMOS OR VMOSFET (OR V- GROOVE MOSFET) 40

3 SPECIAL SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 42

3.1 PRINCIPLE AND OPERATION OF SCHOTTKY DIODE 42
3.2 VARACTOR DIODE 43
3.3 TUNNEL DIODE 43
3.4 PIN DIODE 45
3.5 CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF LIGHT EMITTING DIODE 45
(LED)
3.5.1 INFRARED EMITTERS 47
3.6 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY (LCD) 47
3.6.1 DYNAMIC SCATTERING TYPE 48
3.6.2 FIELD EFFECT LCD 49
3.7 DIAC 50
3.8 SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER (SCR) 51
3.9 TRIAC 53
3.10 UNIJUNCTION TRANSISTOR (UJT) 55
3.11 UJT RELAXATION OSCILLATOR 56
3.12 PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY 58
3.13 LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR(LDR) OR PHOTORESISTOR 58
3.14 PHOTODIODES 59
3.15 AVALANCHE PHOTO DIODE (APD) 60
3.16 PHOTOTRANSISTOR 61
3.17 OPTOCOUPLER 61
3.18 SOLAR CELL 62
3.19 LASER DIODE 63

4 BIASING AND STABILIZATION 64

4.1 INTRODUCTION 64
4.2 STABILITY FACTOR (S) 64
4.3 DC EQUIVALENT MODEL, LOAD LINE AND OPERATING POINT 65
4.3.1 CRITERIA FOR FIXING OPERATING POINT 66
4.4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF BJT BIASING 67
4.5 FIXED BIAS OR BASE BIAS 67
4.5.1 STABILITY FACTOR FOR FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT 68
4.6 COLLECTOR TO BASE BIAS CIRCUIT OR BASE BIAS WITH 68
COLLECTOR FEEDBACK
4.6.1 STABILITY FACTOR FOR COLLECTOR TO BASE BIAS CIRCUIT 69
4.6.2 STABILIZATION WITH CHANGES IN β 69
4.7 SELF BIAS OR VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS OR EMITTER BIAS 70
4.7.1 STABILITY FACTOR FOR VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS 71
4.8 BIAS COMPENSATION 72
4.8.1 DIODE COMPENSATION 72
4.8.2 THERMISTOR COMPENSATION 72
 4.8.3 SENSISTOR COMPENSATION 73
4.9 BIASING IN JFE 73
4.9.1 FIXED-BIAS CIRCUIT 73
4.9.2 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT 74
4.9.3 SELF BIAS CIRCUIT 75
4.10 BIASING OF MOSFET 76
4.11 BIASING FOR ENHANCEMENT TYPE MOSFET 76
4.11.1 FEEDBACK BIAS CIRCUIT 76
4.11.2 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS 77

5 POWER SUPPLIES 78
5.1 RECTIFIERS 78
5.2 HALF-WAVE RECTIFIER 78
5.3 FULL-WAVE RECTIFIER 80
5.4 BRIDGE RECTIFIER 82
5.5 FILTERS 83
5.6 INDUCTOR FILTER 84
5.7 CAPACITOR FILTER 85
5.8 L-SECTION OR LC FILTER 87
5.9 CLC OR -SECTION FILTER 89
5.10 VOLTAGE REGULATION USING ZENER DIODE 89
5.11 TYPES OF VOLTAGE REGULATORS 90
5.12 SHUNT VOLTAGE REGULATOR 90
5.12.1 ZENER DIODE SHUNT REGULATOR 90
5.12.2 EMITTER-FOLLOWER TYPE REGULATOR 91
5.12.3 TRANSISTORISED SHUNT REGULATOR 91
5.13 SERIES VOLTAGE REGULATOR 92
5.13.1 TRANSISTORISED SERIES REGULATOR 92
5.13.2 SHORT CIRCUIT PROTECTION OR OVERLOAD 93
PROTECTION
5.14 CURRENT LIMITING CIRCUIT OR TRANSISTOR CURRENT 94
REGULATOR
5.15 LINEAR VOLTAGE REGULATOR 94
5.16 OP-AMP VOLTAGE REGULATOR 94
5.16.1 OP-AMP SERIES REGULATOR 94
5.16.2 OP-AMP SHUNT REGULATOR 95
5.17 SWITCHING REGULATOR 95
5.17.1 STEP- DOWN REGULATOR 96
5.17.2 STEP- UP REGULATOR 97

2 MARKS QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS 98

QUESTION BANK 117
UNIVERSITY QUESTION PAPERS 125
REFERENCE 137
 UNIT 1
Semiconductor Diodes
1.1 INTRODUCTION

The aim of Electronic component is to act as switch.

The atom structure is show in fig.

Atom = Nucleus(Protons + Neutrons) + Electrons

The outermost electron in the atom is called as valance electron.

Fig: 1.1 Atom structure

Basically there are three material in nature. They are Conductor, Semiconductor and Insulator.
Conduction in all this material starts when the electrons in conduction band moves to the valance band.

For conductor, the conduction and valance band already overlap, so without any external voltage
it starts conducting due to normal room temperature (Noise).

For insulator, the conduction and valance band is separated with larger band gap which need
very high energy to move the electron from conduction band to valance band. This will fulfill our aim to act
as switch but with very high energy is need.

For Semiconductor, the conduction and valance band separated with small band gap which
needs low energy to move the electron from conduction to valance band. In case of semiconductor this
will act as switch with low energy which will fulfill our aim.

 Intrinsic semiconductor(Pure)

 Extrinsic semiconductor(Impure or Doped)

o N-Type semiconductor(Electrons are majority carrier)

o P- Type semiconductor(Holes are majority carrier)

Fig:1.2 Conduction and Valance band of Insulator, Semiconductor and Conductor

1
1.2 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR

It is a Pure semiconductor without any impurities. Fig 1.2 shows the energy band diagram of
intrinsic semiconductor. For Ge(Germanium) material electrons take 0.67 eV to reach conduction band
from valance band and for Si(silicon) 1.1 eV. But silicon is cheaper than germanium. That’s why silicon is
used widly.

Fig: 1.3 Intrinsic Semiconductor

To reduce the energy further, should reduce the band gap. This is done by means of doping.

Doping- Process of adding impurities in intrinsic semiconductor.

1.3 EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR

All the dopped semiconductors are called as Extrinsic semiconductor.

If the dopped atom creats excess electron in the atom means then it is called as N- Type
semiconductor. Electrons are majority carriers. Holes are minority carriers. (i.e.,) Pentavelant impurities
are used for doping (Arsenic(As), Antimony(Sb), Phosphorous(P)).

If the dopped atom creats holes in the atom means then it is called as P-Type semiconductor.
Holes are majority carriers. Electrons are minority carriers. (i.e.,) Trivalent impurities are used for doping
(Boron(B), Gallium(Ga), Indium(In)).

Fig: 1.4 (a) N-Type Semiconductor, (b) P-Type Semiconductor

2
 This P-Type and N-Type Jointly form the PN doide.

1.4 PN JUNCTION DIODE

Combination of P and N type semiconductor is called as PN junction diode. It is lightly doped

diode.

Symbol

Fig: 1.5 Circuit symbol

Construction of PN Junction Diode

 P-Type and N-Type semicondutor combined to form the PN junction diode.

Fig: 1.6 PN Junction Diode

 In P side, each acceptor atom accepts one electron from semiconductor atom and the acceptor
atom become immobile negative ion and semiconductor atom become hole. The P side has
excess holes.

 In N side, each donor atom donate one electron and the donor atom become immobile positive
ion, there is one free electron for each positive immobile ion. The N side has excess electrons.

Depletion Region

 Electrons move from N side to P side and recombine with holes in the P type material. Because
of this movement and recombination, electrons in N type and holes in P type material disappear.

Fig: 1.7 Space Charge region (or) Depletion region

3
  Near the junction there will be an array of negative and positive immobile ions, which will block
the electron hole mobility from one side to another. An equilibrium condition will be reached.

 This region near the junction, which consist of immobile ions, is called space charge region or
transision region or depletion region(no mobile carriers).

Barrier Potential

 In depletion region there are positive charges in the N side and negative charges in the P side
forms electric dipole layer, giving rise to a potential difference Vo. This potential difference is
called barrier Potential.

 It prevent the movement of mobile carriers across the junction. Vo is 0.3 V for Ge and 0.7 V for Si.

Operation of PN Junction Diode(VI Characteristics)

 There are two main operation

o Forward bias

o Reverse bias

 Bias is nothing but applying external voltage.

Forward Bias

(Batteries Positive terminal is connected to P type and Negative terminal is connected to N

type)

Fig: 1.8 Diode in Forward Bias

 When an external voltage is applied, the holes in the P type material are repelled by the positive
terminal of the battery, and the electrons in the N type material are repelled by the negative
terminal of the battery, Which will reduces the width of the depletion region. Further increase in
external voltage above the barrier potential voltage, then the depletion region gets broken. Holes
cross the junciton and move towards negative terminal of the battery and electrons moves
towards positive terminal of the battery.

 Due to this movement of charges, produces a high forward current, which is show in the forward
VI characteristics.

 When the applied voltage reaches the barrier potential then the junction break down occurs which
increases the flow of electrons. The point at which diode starts conducting in forward bias is
called as knee voltage or cut in voltage or threshold voltage

4
 Reverse Bias

(Batteries Positive terminal is connected to N type and Negative terminal is connected to P

type)

Fig: 1.9 Diode in Reverse Bias

 When an external voltage is applied, the holes in the P type material are attracted by the negative
terminal of the battery, and the electrons in the N type material are attracted by the positive
terminal of the battery, Which will increases the width of the depletion region and barrier potential.
The high barrier potential will not allow charge carriers to move across the junction. Therefore in
reverse bias no current flow through the junction.

 PN junction diode offers very low resistance in forward bias and very high resistance in reverse
bias.

 When the voltage across the diode is increased, the depletion layer is strengthened, therefore the
current through the diode is the reverse saturation current. Further increase in reverse voltage will
suddenly increases the high reverse saturation current due to the breakdown of the diode. The
minimum voltage at which the breakdown occurs is called breakdown voltage.

Diode Current Equation or Shockley Diode Equation

 The mathematical equation which describes the forward and reverse characteristic of a
semiconductor diode is called diode current equation.

 VV 
I  I o  e T  1
 
 
Where, I = forward (reverse) diode current

Io = reverse saturation current

V = external voltage, it is positive for forward bias and negative for reverse bias

 = 1 for Ge and 2 for Si

VT = volt equivalent of temperature

Application

 Diode can be used as switch, because it offers very low resistance (Closed switch) in forward
bias and very high resistance (open switch) in reverse bias.

 Diode can be used as rectifier to convert AC signal into DC signal.

5
1.5 PN DIODE CURRENT EQUATION

Consider a forward biased PN junction diode, holes are injected into N side and from P side.
Holes are minority carrier in N side. The minority carrier holes concentration in N side decreases
exponentially from the junction as shown in Fig: 1.10.

Similarly electrons are injected into P side from N side, electrons are minority carrier in P side. In
N side, electron concentration decreases exponentially from the junction. In diode the current conduction
is by both the charge carriers so it is called bipolar device.

Fig: 1.10 PN Junction Diode

Let pp – Hole concentration in P-type at the edge of depletion region

nn – Electron concentration in N type at the edge of the depletion region

pn – Hole concentration in N type at the edge of the depletion region

np – Electron concentration in P type at the edge of the depletion region

Under the biased condition, when holes moves from p-side to n-side due to diffusion their
concentration behaves exponentially.

p p  pn eVJ /VT ---------- (1)

Where VJ is barrier potential or junction potential

Now consider forward biased diode. The junction is at x=0.

p p 0  pn  0  e
VJ V  /VT
Holes concentration in P region near the junction, ---------- (2)

When V=0 (i.e., Unbiased condition) p p 0  pn 0eVJ /VT ----------- (3)

Where pn 0 is concentration of holes on n-side just near the junction.

As the concentration of holes in entire P- region is constant, equating (2) and (3) we get,

pn  0  e
VJ V  /VT
 pn 0 eVJ /VT

6
 pn  0   pn 0eV /VT -------- (4)

This equation represents boundary condition and called law of junction.

Similarly n p  0   n p 0eV /VT --------- (5)

Now the difference between two concentrations at the junction under unbiased and biased
concentration is called as excess concentration.

Pn  0   pn  0   pn 0 ---------- (6)

Using (4) in (6),

Pn  0   pn 0eV /VT  pn 0

Pn  0   pn 0  eV /VT  1 ----------- (7)

Similarly, N p  0   n p 0  eV /VT  1 --------- (8)

The hole current crossing the junction from p-side to n-side is given by,

qAD p pn  0 
I pn  0   ----------- (9)
Lp
While an electron current crossing the junction from n- side to p-side is given by,

qADn N p  0 
I np  0   ----------- (10)
Ln
Where A= area of cross-section of junction

Dp = Diffusion constant for holes

Dn = Diffusion constant for electrons

Lp = Diffusion length for holes

Ln = Diffusion length for electrons

The total diode current I at the junction is the total conventional current flowing through the circuit.

7
 Fig: 1.11 Current components

Current on P side = Ipp(x) + Inp(x) ≈ Inp(x)

Current on N side = Inn(x) + Ipn(x) ≈ Ipn(x)

Total current I is given by,

qAD p Pn  0  qADn N p  0 
I  I pn  0   I np  0   
Lp Ln

 qADp Pn 0 qADn n p 0  V /V
    e T  1
 Lp Ln 

 V 
I  I o  eVT  1
 
 

qADp Pn 0 qADn n p 0
Where, I0   = reverse saturation current
Lp Ln

 V 
I  I o  eVT  1
 
 

The value of  =1 for Ge diodes and  =2 for Si diodes.

1.6 TEMPERATURE EFFECTS OF PN JUNCTION DIODE

The rise in temperature increases the generation of electron-hole pairs in semiconductors and
increases their conductivity. As a result, the current through the PN junction diode increases with
temperature as given by the diode current equation.

8
 Fig: 1.12 Effect of temperature on the diode characteristics

The small conduction current makes forward bias and reverse bias breakdown earlier in the PN
junction diode.

Temperature α Current

 VV 
I  I o  e T  1
 
 
The reverse saturation current Io, doubles with every 10o C increase in temperature.

1.7 D.C OR STATIC RESISTANCE (RF)

It is defined as the ratio of the voltage to the current, V/I, in the forward bias characteristics of the
PN junction diode. In the forward bias characteristics of the diode as shown in Fig: 1.13. The d.c. or static
resistance (RF) at the operating point can be determined by using the corresponding levels of voltage V
and current I, i.e.
V
RF 
I
Here, the D.C resistance is independent of the shape of the characteristics in the region surrounding
the point of interest. The D.C. resistance levels at the knee and below will be greater than the resistance
levels obtained for the characteristics above the knee. Hence, the D.C. resistance will be low when the
diode current is high. As the static resistance varies widely with V and I, it is not a useful parameter.

Fig: 1.13 Forward biasing of a diode

9
1.8 A.C. OR DYNAMIC RESISTANCE (RF)
It is defined as the reciprocal of the slope of the volt-ampere characteristics

Change in voltage V
rf  
resulting change in current I

Fig: 1.14 Dynamic Resistance

The Schokley’s equation for the forward and reverse bias region is defined by
 VV 
I  I o  e T  1
 
 
Taking the derivative of the above equation w.r.t the applied voltage, V, we get

Generally I>>I0 in the vertical-slope section of the characteristics. Therefore,

10
The dynamic resistance varies inversely with current.

1.9 DIODE EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT

Ideal Diode

When the forward resistance is zero and reverse resistance is infinity then it is called as Ideal diode.

Fig: 1.15 V-I Characteristics of Ideal Diode. Reverse biased Forward biased

But practically it is not possible to get the zero resistance in any device.

Practical Diode

Practically it is impossible to get the resistance zero, some forward resistance (R f) present in the
circuit. The diode starts conducting after 0.6 V, that is represented by adding the voltage source in the
practical diode model

Fig: 1.16 Practical diode model Fig: 1.17 V-I characteristics

Piecewise Linear Model of Diode

For analyzing purpose the VI characteristics of diode is approximated only by straight line i.e., linear
relationship.

Fig: 1.18 Piecewise linear model Fig: 1.19 V-I characteristics

11
1.10 TRANSITION OR SPACE CHARGE CAPACITANCE (C T)

When a diode is reverse biased, the width of the depletion region increases. So, there are more
positive and negative charges present in the depletion region. Due to this, the P region and N region act
like parallel plate capacitor while depletion region acts like dielectric. There exists a capacitance called
transition capacitance or junction capacitance or space charge capacitance or barrier capacitance or
depletion region capacitance.

where ε is the permittivity of the material, A is the cross-sectional area of the junction and W is the
width of the depletion layer over which the ions are uncovered.

This capacitance is is voltage dependent and is given by

1.11 DIFFUSION CAPACITANCE (CD)

In forward biased condition, the width of the depletion region decreases and holes from P-side get
diffused in N- side while electrons from N- side move into the P-side. As the applied voltage increases,
concentration of injected charged particles increases. This rate of change of the injected charge with
applied voltage is defined as a capacitance is called diffusion capacitance.

The diffusion capacitance can be determined by the expression

Where τ is the mean life time for holes and electrons.

1.12 DIODE SWITCHING TIMES

Diodes are often used in a switching mode. When the applied bias voltage to the PN diode is
suddenly reversed in the opposite direction, the diode response reaches a steady state after an interval of
time, called the recovery time.
The forward recovery time, tfr, is defined as the time required for forward voltage or current to
reach a specified value (time interval between the instant of 10% diode voltage to the instant this voltage
reaches within 10% of its final value) after switching diode from its reverse-to forward-biased state.
Fortunately, the forward recovery time possess no serious problem. Therefore, only the reverse recovery
time, trr, has to be considered in practical applications.
When the PN junction diode is forward biased, the minority electron concentration in the P-region
is approximately linear. If the junction is suddenly reverse biased, at t1, then because of this stored
electronic charge, the reverse current (IR) is initially of the same magnitude as the forward current (I F).
The diode will continue to conduct until the injected or excess minority carrier density (p-p0) or (n-n0) has
12
dropped to zero. However, as the stored electrons are removed into the N-region and the contact, the
available charge quickly drops to an equilibrium level and a steady current eventually flows corresponding
to the reverse bias voltage as shown in figure1.6(c).
As shown in fig.1.20 (b), the applied voltage Vi=VF for the time up to t1 is in the direction to
forward-bias the diode. The resistance RL is large so that the drop across RL is large when compared to
the drop across the diode. Then the current is

Then, at time t=t1, the input voltage is suddenly reversed to the value of –VR. Due to the reasons
explained above, the current does not become zero and has the value until the time t=t 2. At t=t2,

when the excess minority carriers have reached the equilibrium state, the magnitude of the diode
current starts to decrease, as shown in fig.1.20(d)
During the time interval from t1 to t2, the injected minority carriers have remained stored and hence this
time interval is called the storage time (ts).

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 Fig: 1.20 Switching characteristics of PN junction diode

After the instant t=t2, the diode gradually recovers and ultimately reaches the steady-state. The
time interval between t2 and the instant t3 when the diode has recovered nominally, is called the
transition time, tt. The recovery is said to have completed (i) when even the minority carriers remote from
the junction have diffused to the junction and crossed it, and (ii) when the junction transition capacitance,
CT, across the reverse-biased junction has got charged through the external resistor RL to the voltage –
VR.
The reverse recovery time (or turn-off time) of a diode, trr, is the interval from the current reversal
at t=t1 until the diode has recovered to a specified extent in terms either of the diode current or of the
diode resistance, i.e. trr=ts+tt.
For commercial switching type diodes the reverse recovery time, trr, ranges from less than 1ns up to
as high as 1 μs. This switching time obviously limits the maximum operating frequency of the device. If
the time period of the input signal is such that T=2.trr, then the diode conducts as much in reverse as in
the forward direction. Hence it does not behave as a one way device. In order to minimise the effect of
the reverse current, the time period of the operating frequency should be a minimum of approximately 10
times trr. For example, if a diode has trr of 2ns, its maximum operating frequency is

The trr can be reduced by shortening the length of the P-region in a PN junction diode. The stored
charge and, consequently, the switching time can also be reduced by introduction of gold impurities into
the junction diode by diffusion. The gold dopant, sometimes called a life time killer, increases the
recombination rate and removes the stored minority carriers. This technique is used to produce diodes
and other active devices for high speed applications.

1.13 ZENER DIODE

 Zener diode is a heavily doped PN junction diode.

 Depletion layer is very thin (due to heavy doping).

 Junction electric field is strong therefore lower applied reverse voltage is enough to cause the
breakdown. Which is called as Zener breakdown.

14
  Zener breakdown is sharp

Symbol

Fig: 1.21 Circuit symbol

V-I Characteristics

 Forward bias

 Reverse bias

Bias- applying external voltage

Fig: 1.21 V-I Characteristics of Zener diode

Forward Bias

(Batteries Positive terminal is connected to P type and Negative terminal is connected to N type)

In forward biased condition Zener diode acts as the ordinary PN junction diode.

 When an external voltage is applied, the holes in the P type material are repelled by the positive
terminal of the battery, and the electrons in the N type material are repelled by the negative
terminal of the battery, Which will reduces the width of the depletion region. Further increase in
external voltage above the barrier potential voltage, then the depletion region gets broken. Holes
cross the junciton and move towards negative terminal of the battery and electrons moves
towards positive terminal of the battery.

 Due to this movement of charges, produces a high forward current, which is show in the forward
VI characteristics.

15
Reverse Bias

(Batteries Positive terminal is connected to N type and Negative terminal is connected to P type)

 At a reverse voltage the electric field in the depletion layer will be strong enough to break the
covalent bonds. This produces extremely large number of electrons and holes and heavy current
flow through the junction causing breakdown. The zener breakdown voltage depends on the
amount of doping.

Application

 In the zener breakdown region voltage across the diode remains constant over a wide range of
current, therefore zener diode can be used as Voltage regulator.

1.14 BREAKDOWNS IN DIODE

In reverse bias, breakdown of the junction occurs by two mechanisms, they are Zener Breakdown and
Avalanche Breakdown.

Zener Breakdown

Zener breakdown takes place in a heavily doped diode. In a heavily doped diode the depletion
layer will be thin and the electric field in the depletion layer will be high. When a small reverse bias
voltage is applied, a very strong electric field (about 10 7 V/m) is set up across the thin depletion layer. This
field directly breaks or ruptures the covalent bonds. Now extremely large number of electrons and holes
are produced and the current through the diode increases rapidly. This mechanism is called Zener
Breakdown.

Avalanche Breakdown

Avalanche breakdown takes place in lightly doped diode, whose depletion layer is large and the
electric field across the depletion layer is not so strong to break covalent bond. In the depletion layer
thermally generated minority carriers are accelerated by the electric field. The minority carriers move with
high speed and collide with atoms. Due to the collision covalent bonds are broken and electron hole pairs
are generated. These new carries so produced are also accelerated by the field and they break more
covalent bonds. This forms a cumulative process is called as avalanche (or flood) multiplication and the
current through the diode increases rapidly. This breakdown is called as avalanche breakdown.

16
 UNIT II
BJT and FET
2.1 BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR (BJT)
 Transistor is a two junction, three terminal device.
 Conduction due to both majority and minority charge carriers. (i.e., Bipolar).

Construction

Fig: 2.1 Transistor (a) NPN & (b) PNP

 Transistor is simply a sandwich of one type semiconductor material between two layers of other
type. There are two types of Transistor, they are
o NPN transistor – P type material is sandwich between two layer of N type material.
o PNP transistor - N type material is sandwich between two layer of P type material.

Fig: 2.2 Circuit symbol of (a) NPN & (b) PNP Transistor
 Arrowhead should be at the emitter terminal. It indicates the directional of current flow when
emitter base junction is forward biased.

Terminals
Emitter: The main function of this region is to supply majority charge carriers to the base. Emitter
region is more heavily doped when compared with other regions.
Base: The middle section of the transistor is known as base. Base region is very lightly doped
and is very thin as compared to either emitter or collector. It is made very thin to reduce recombination of
charge carriers in the base region.
Collector: The main function of the collector is to collect majority charge carriers through the
base. Collector region is moderately doped. The collector region is made physically larger than the
emitter region. This is due to the fact that collector has to dissipate much greater power. Due to this
difference, collector and emitter are not interchangeable.

17
Operating Modes
Transistor can be considered as two diodes connected back to back. Consider current flowing
from collector to emitter of an NPN. It is operated in three regions

Fig: 2.3 Graphical representation of different regions with its voltages

 Saturation – The transistor acts like a short circuit. Current freely flows from collector to emitter.
i.e., both collector base and emitter base junction are forward biased
 Cut-off – The transistor acts like an open circuit. No current flows from collector to emitter. i.e.,
both collector base and emitter base junction are Reverse biased
 Active - Emitter base junction is Forward biased and collector base junction is Reverse biased
 Active – Forward Active: The current from collector to emitter is proportional to the current
flowing into the base.
 Active – Reverse Active: Like forward active mode, the current is proportional to the base
current, but it flows in reverse. Current flows from emitter to collector.

2.2 TRANSISTOR BIASING

As shown in fig 2.4, usually the emitter-base junction is forward biased (F.B) and collector-base
junction is reverse biased (R.B). Due to the forward bias on the emitter-base junction, an emitter current
flows through the base into the collector. Though the collector-base junction is reverse biased, almost the
entire emitter current flows through the collector circuit.

Fig: 2.4 Transistor biasing (a) NPN transistor and (b) PNP transistor

2.3 OPERATION OF NPN TRANSISTOR

As shown in fig 2.5, the forward bias applied to the emitter base junction of an NPN transistor
causes a lot of electrons from the emitter region to crossover to the base region. As the base is lightly
doped with P-type impurity, the number of holes in the base region is very small and hence the number of
electrons that combine with holes in the P-type base region is also very small. Hence a few electrons
combine with holes to constitute a base current IB. The remaining electrons (more than 95%) crossover
into the collector region to constitute a collector current IC. Thus the base and collector current summed
up gives the emitter current, i.e.
18
 Fig: 2.5 Current in NPN transistor

In the external circuit of the NPN bipolar junction transistor, the magnitudes of the emitter current
IE, the base current IB and the collector current IC are related by

2.4 OPERATION OF PNP TRANSISTOR

As shown in fig 2.6, the forward bias applied to the emitter-base junction of a PNP transistor
causes a lot of holes from the emitter region to crossover to the base region as the base is lightly doped
with N-type impurity. The number of electrons in the base region is very small and hence the number of
holes combined with electrons in the N-type base region is also very small. Hence a few holes combined
with electrons to constitute a base current IB. The remaining holes (more than 95%) crossover into the
collector region to constitute a collector current Ic. Thus the collector and base current when summed up
gives the emitter current, i.e.

Fig: 2.6 Current in PNP transistor

In the external circuit of the PNP bipolar junction transistor, the magnitudes of the emitter current
IE, the base current IB and the collector current Ic are related by

This equation gives the fundamental relationship between the currents in a bipolar transistor
circuit. Also, this fundamental equation shows that there are current amplification factors α and β in
common base transistor configuration and common emitter transistor configuration respectively for the
static (D.C) currents, and for small changes in the currents.

2.5 TRANSISTOR CURRENT COMPONENTS

In the fig 2.7 shown the various components which flow across the forward-based emitter junction
and the reverse-biased collector junction. The emitter current IE consists of hole current IpE (holes
crossing from the emitter into base) and electron current I nE (electron crossing from base into the emitter).

19
The ratio of hole to electron currents, IpE / InE, crossing the emitter junction is proportional to the ratio of
the conductivity of the p material to that of the n material. In the commercial transistor the doping of the
emitter is made much larger than the doping of the base. This future ensures (in a p-n-p transistor) that
the emitter current consists almost entirely of the holes. Such a situation is desired since the current
which results from electrons crossing the emitter junction from base to emitter does not contribute carriers
which can reach the collector.
Not all the holes crossing the emitter junction JE reach the collector junction Jc because some of
them combine with the electrons in the n – type base. If Ipc is the hole current at Jc, there must be a bulk
recombination current IpE - IpC leaving the base, as indicated in figure. (actually, electrons enter the base
region through the base lead to supply those charges which have been lost by recombination with the
holes injected into the base across JE).

Fig: 2.7 Transistor current components

If the emitter were open-circuited so that IE = 0, then IpC would be zero. Under these circumstances,
the base and collector would act as a reverse-biased diode, and the collector current Ic would equal the
reverse saturation current ICO. If IE ≠ 0, then, from figure, we note that
Ic = Ico - IpC
For a p-n-p transistor, Ico consists of holes moving across Jc from left to right (base to collector)
and electrons crossing Jc in the opposite direction. Since the assumed reference direction for I co in figure
is from right to left, then for a p-n-p transistor, Ico is negative. For an n-p-n transistor, Ico is positive.
Emitter Efficiency:- (γ)
The emitter, or injection, efficiency γ is defined as
current of injected carriers at emitter junction

Total emitter current
I pE I
In the case of a p-n-p transistor,    pE
I pE  I nE I E
Where IpE is the injected hole diffusion current at emitter junction and I nE is the injected electron
diffusion current at emitter junction.
Transport Factor:- (β)
The transport factor β is defined as
injected carrier current at the collector junction

injected carrier current at the emitter junction
I pC

I pE

20
Large – signal current Gain:- (α)
We define the ratio of the negative of the collector-current increment to the emitter-current change
from zero (cutoff) to IE as the large-signal currant gain of a common-base transistor, or
α = - (Ic – Ico)/ IE
since Ic and IE have opposite signs, then α, as defined, is always positive Typical numerical values of α lie
in the range of 0.90 to 0.995.
α = IpC / IE
= (IpC / IpE ). (IpE / IE)
α=βγ

2.6 GENERAL TRNSISTOR EQUATION

In the active region of the transistor, the emitter is forward biased and the collector is reverse
biased. The generalized expression for collector current IC for collector junction voltage VC and emitter
current IE is given by

If VC is negative and | VC | is very large compared with VT, then the above equation reduces to

If VC, i.e. VCB, is few volts, IC is independent of VC. Hence the collector current Ic is determined
only by the fraction α of the current IE flowing in the emitter.
Relation among IC, IB and ICBO
If VC is negative and | VC | is very large compared with VT, then the above equation reduces to

since IC and IE are flowing in opposite directions,

2.6.1 RELATION AMONG IC, IB AND ICEO

In this CE configuration of the transistor, the collector current Ic is the sum of the part of the
emitter current IE that reaches the collector, and the collector-emitter leakage current ICEO. Therefore, the
part of IE, which reaches collector is equal to

Hence, the large-signal current gain (𝞫)is defined as,

21
 From the equation, we have

2.6.2 RELATION BETWEEN ICBO AND ICEO

Comparing the IC, we get the relationship between the leakage currents of transistor common-
base (CB) and common-emitter (CE) configurations as

From this equation, it is evident that the collector-emitter leakage current (ICEO) in CE
configuration is (1+𝞫) times larger than that in CB configuration. As ICBO is temperature-dependent, ICEO
varies by large amount when temperature of the junctions changes.

2.6.3 EXPRESSION FOR EMITTER CURRENT

The magnitude of emitter-current is

substituting IC in the above equation, we get

substituting , we have

2.6.4 DC current gain (𝞫dc or hFE)

The d.c. current gain is defined as the ratio of the collector current Ic to the base current IB.

As IC is large compared with ICEO, the large signal current gain and the d.c. current gain (hFE) are
approximately equal.

2.7 TYPES OF CONFIGURATION

Depending upon the common terminal between the input and output of the transistor, three
configurations are classified. They are: (i) Common base (CB) configuration, (ii) common emitter (CE)
configuration, and (iii) common collector configuration.

(i) (CB) configuration

This is also called grounded base configuration. In this configuration, emitter is the input terminal,
collector is the output terminal and base is the common terminal.

(ii) (CE) configuration

22
 This is also called grounded emitter configuration. In this configuration, base is the input terminal,
collector is the output terminal and emitter is the common terminal.

(iii) (CC) configuration

This is also called grounded collector configuration. In this configuration, base is the input
terminal, emitter is the output terminal and collector is the common terminal.

Fig: 2.8 Transistor configuration: (a) Common Base, (b) Common Emitter & (c) Common Collector

2.8 CB CONFIGURATION
The circuit diagram for determining the static characteristics curves of an NPN transistor in the
common base configuration is shown in fig 2.9

Fig: 2.9 Circuit to determine CB static characteristics

Input Characteristics
To determine the input characteristics, the collector-base voltage VCB is kept constant at zero
volt and the emitter current IE is increased from zero in suitable equal steps by increasing VEB. This is
repeated for higher fixed values of VCB. A curve is drawn between emitter current IE and emitter-base
voltage VEB at constant collector-base voltage VCB. The input characteristics thus obtained are shown in
fig

Fig: 2.10 CB Input Characteristics

23
 When VCB is equal to zero and the emitter-base junction is forward biased as shown in the fig
2.10 characteristics, the junction behaves as a forward biased diode so that emitter current I E increases
rapidly with small increase in emitter-base voltage VEB. When VCB is increased keeping VEB constant, the
width of the base region will decrease. This effect results in an increase of I E. Therefore, the curves shift
towards the left as VCB is increased.

Output Characteristics
To determine the output characteristics, the emitter current IE is kept constant at a suitable value
by adjusting the emitter-base voltage VEB. Then VCB is increased in suitable equal steps and the collector
current IC is

Fig: 2.11 CB Output Characteristics

Noted for each value of IE. This is repeated for different fixed values of IE, Now the curves of Ic
versus VCB are plotted for constant values of IE and the output characteristics thus obtained is shown in
Fig. 2.11
From the characteristics, it is seen that for a constant value of IE, IC is independent of VCB and the
curves are parallel to the axis of VCB. Further, Ic flows even when VCB is equal to zero. As the emitter-
base junction is forward biased, the majority carriers, i.e. electrons, from the emitter are injected into the
base region. Due to the action of the internal potential barrier at the reverse biased collector-base
junction, they flow to the collector region and give rise to Ic even when VCB is equal to zero.

2.8.1 EARLY EFFECT OR BASE-WIDTH MODULATION

As the output voltage Vcc increased, the collector base junction is more reverse biased, therefore
the depletion layer width at the collector junction increases, which reduces the effective width of the base.
This dependency of base-width on collector-to-emitter voltage is known as the Early effect.
This decrease in effective base-width has three consequences:
(i) There is less chance for recombination within the base region. Hence, α increases with increasing
|VCE|.
(ii) The charge gradient is increased within the base, and consequently, the current of minority carriers
injected across the emitter junction increases,
(iii) For extremely large output voltage, the effective base-width may be reduced to zero, causing voltage
breakdown in the transistor. This phenomenon is called the punch through or Reach through.
For higher values of VCB, due to Early effect, the value of α increases. For example, α changes,
say from 0.98 to 0.935. Hence, there is a very small positive slope in the CB output characteristics and
hence the output resistance is not zero.

24
2.8.2 THERMAL RUN AWAY
Flow of collector current produces heat in the collector junction which increases the reverse
saturation current ICO, again the IC increases. This process goes in cumulative way, the heat at the
junction increases and burns the transistor. The process of self-destruction of transistor is called Thermal
Run Away.

2.9 TRANSISTOR PARAMETERS

The slope of the CB characteristics will give the following four transistor parameters. Since these
parameters have different dimensions, they are commonly known as common base hybrid parameters or
h-parameters.

(i) Input impedance (hib). It is defined as the ratio of the change in (input) emitter voltage to the
change in (input) emitter current with the (output) collector voltage VCB kept constant. Therefore,

(ii) Output admittance (hob): It is defined as the ratio of change in the (output) collector current
to the corresponding change in the (output) collector voltage with the (input) emitter current IE kept
constant. Therefore,

(iii)Forward current gain (hfb): It is defined as a ratio of the change in the (output) collector
current to the corresponding change in the (input) emitter current keeping the (output) collector voltage
VCB constant. Hence,

(iv) Reverse voltage gain (hrb): It is defined as the ratio of the change in the (input) emitter
voltage and the corresponding change in (output) collector voltage with constant (input) emitter current, I E.

2.10 CE CONFIGURATION
Input characteristics
To determine the input characteristics, the collector to emitter voltage is kept constant at zero volt
and base current is increased from zero in equal steps by increasing VBE in the circuit shown in Fig.
2.12.

25
 Fig: 2.12 Circuit to determine CE static characteristics
The value of VBE is noted for each setting of IB. This procedure is repeated for higher fixed
values of VCE, and the curves of IB Vs. VBE are drawn. The input characteristics thus obtained arc
shown in Fig. 2.13
When VCE =0, the emitter-base junction is forward biased and the junction behaves as a forward
biased diode. Hence the input characteristic for VCE = 0 is

Fig: 2.13 CE Input Characteristics

Similar to that of a forward-biased diode. When VCE is increased, the width of the depletion region
at the reverse biased collector-base junction will increase. Hence the effective width of the base will
decrease. This effect causes a decrease in the base current I B. Hence, to get the same value of IB as that
for VCE = 0, VBE should be increased. Therefore, the curve shifts to the right as V CE increases.

Output characteristics
To determine the output characteristics, the base current I B is kept constant at a suitable value by
adjusting base-emitter voltage, VBE. The magnitude of collector-emitter voltage VCE is increased in
suitable equal steps from zero and the collector current Ic is noted for each setting VCE.

Fig: 2.14 CE Output Characteristics

26
 
 and I C  1    I CBO   I B
1
For larger values of VCE, due to early effect, a very small change in α is reflected in a very large
0.98
change in β. For example, when α=0.98,   49. If α increases to 0.985, then
1  0.98
0.985
  66. Here, a slight increase in α by about 0.5 results in an increases in by β about 34%.
1  0.985
Hence, the output characteristics of CE configuration show a larger slope when compared with CB
Configuration.
The output characteristics have three regions, namely, saturation region, cutoff region and active
region. The region of curves to the left of the line OA is called the saturation region (hatched), and the line
OA is called the saturation line. In this region, both junctions are forward biased and an increase in the
base current does not cause a corresponding large change in Ic. The ratio of VCE(sat) to IC region is called
saturation resistance,
The region below the curve for IB = 0 is called the cut-off region (hatched). In this region, both
junctions are reverse biased. When the operating point for the transistor enters the cut-off region, the
transistor is OFF. Hence, the collector current becomes almost zero and the collector voltage almost
equals Vcc, the collector supply voltage. The transistor is virtually an open circuit between collector and
emitter
The central region where the curves are uniform in spacing and slope is called the active region
(unhatched). In this region, emitter-base junction is forward biased and the collector-base junction is
reverse biased. If the transistor is to be used as a linear amplifier, it should be operated in the active
region,
If the base current is subsequently driven large and positive, the transistor switches into the
saturation region via the active region, which is traversed at a rate that is dependent on factors such as
gain and frequency response. In this ON condition, large collector current flows and collector voltage falls
to a very low value, called VCEsat, typically around 0.2 V for a silicon transistor, the transistor is virtually a
short circuit in this state.
High speed switching circuits are designed in such a way that transistors are not allowed to
saturate, thus reducing switching times between ON and OFF times.
Transistor parameters
The slope of the CE characteristics will give the following four transistor parameters. Since these
parameters have different dimensions, they are commonly known as common emitter hybrid parameters
or h-parameters,
(i) Input impedance (hie): It is defined as the ratio of the change in (input) base voltage to the
change in (input) base current with the (output) collector voltage VCE kept constant. Therefore,

(ii) Output admittance (hoe): It is defined as the ratio of change in the (output) collector current
to the corresponding change in the (output) collector voltage with the (input) base current IB kept constant.
Therefore,

27
 (iii) Forward current gain (hfe). It is defined as a ratio of the change in the (output) collector
current to the corresponding change in the (input) base current keeping the (output) collector voltage VCE
constant. Hence,

(iv) Reverse voltage gain (hre): It is defined as the ratio of the change in the (input) base
voltage and the corresponding change in (output) collector voltage with constant (input) base current, IB.
Hence,

2.11 CC CONFIGURATION
The circuit diagram for determining the static characteristics of an NPN transistor in the common
collector configuration is shown in fig. 2.15.

Fig: 2.15 Circuit to determine CC static characteristics

Input characteristics
To determine the input characteristics, VEC is kept at a suitable fixed value. The base-collector
voltage VBC is increased in equal steps and the corresponding increase in IB is noted. This is repeated for
different fixed values of VEC. Plots of VBC versus IB for different values of VEC shown in Fig. 2.16 are the
input characteristics.

Fig: 2.16 Input Characteristics

Output characteristics
The output characteristics are the same as those of the common emitter configuration.

28
2.12 COMPARISON
Property CB CE CC
Input resistance Low (about 100 Ω) Moderate (about 750 Ω) High (about 750 KΩ)
Output resistance High (about 450 KΩ) Moderate (about 45 KΩ) Low (about 25 Ω)
Current gain 1 High High
Voltage gain About 150 About 500 Less than 1
Phase shift between 0 or 360o 180o 0 or 360o
input & output voltages
Applications For high frequency For audio frequency For impedance
circuits circuits matching
Current amplification I C I C I E
factor=(output   
I E I B I B
current)/(input current)

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN α AND β

We know that I E  I C  I B
By definition, I C  I E
Therefore, I E  I E  I B
i.e. I B  I E 1   
Dividing both sides by I C , we get

Therefore,
  1 1
 and  , or  1
1    1     
From this relationship, it is clear that as α approaches unity, β approaches infinity. The CE
configuration is used for almost all transistor applications because of its high current gain, β

RELATIONSHIP AMONG α, β AND γ:

In the CC transistor amplifier circuit, IB is the input current and IE is the output current.
I E
Current amplification factor for CC configuration is  , substituting I B  I E  I C , we
I B
I E
get 
I E  IC
Dividing the numerator and denominator on RHS by I E , we get
I E
I E 1
 
I E I C 1  

I E I E
29
 1
Therefore,   1   
1

2.13 EBERS MOLL TRANSISTOR MODEL

Consider two ideal diodes connected back to back and two dependent current sources. If emitter
junction is forward biased and collector junction is reverse biased then the collector current will be
 VVC 
I C   N I E  I CO  e T  1
  .  N is current gain of CB configuration.
 
N  I  0
If collector junction is forward biased and emitter junction is reverse biased then the emitter
current will be I E   I I C .  I is the inverse current gain of CB configuration. It is called inverse because
collector acts as emitter and emitter acts as collector. This is indicated by two current sources in Ebers
Moll model.
When emitter base junction is reverse biased, the reverse saturation current through the diode is
-IEO. The emitter base junction can be considered as a diode with reverse saturation current I EO.
When collector base junction is reverse biased, the reverse saturation current through the diode
is –ICO. The collector base junction can be considered as a diode with reverse saturation current ICO. This
is indicated by two diodes in Ebers Moll model. Fig shows the Ebers Moll model of PNP transistor.

Fig: 2.17 Ebers Moll model for PNP transistor

The current through a diode is given by

 V 
I  I o  eVT  1
 
 
Applying KCL to the collector node.
I C   N I E  I
 VVC 
I C   N I E  I CO  e T  1
 
 
Applying KCL to the emitter node
I E   I I C  I

30
  VVE 
I E   I I C  I EO  e T  1
 
 
The  N ,  I , I EO , I CO are related by the following equation
 N I CO   I I EO
This model is valid for both forward and reverse voltages applied across the transistor junctions.
If N  I  0 , that is no minority carrier is transported through the base (when base width is
large, all the carriers injected into base will recombine in the base and no carrier is transported to
collector or emitter), therefore the transistor amplification factor become zero. Hence it is not possible to
construct a transistor by connecting two diodes back to back.

Application of Transistor
 Transistor can be used as voltage and current amplifier.
 Transistor can be used in impedance matching.
 Transistor can be used as switch.

2.14 FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS

FET is a device in which the flow of current through the conducting region is controlled by an
electric field. Hence it is called as Field Effect Transistor (FET).
Current conduction is only by majority carrier, therefore it is called as unipolar junction transistor.
Based on construction, it is classified into two types
 Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET)
 Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) or Insulated Gate FET
(IGFET) or Metal Oxide Silicon Transistor (MOST).
Advantages of FET:
 FET is a unipolar device, the current conduction is by majority carriers only. Transistor is
a bipolar device, the current conduction is by both majority and minority carriers.
 FET has thermal stability.
 Input impedance is very high
 FET is less noisy
 FET is immune to radiation
 FET can be operated in wide range of frequencies
 Fabrication of FET in IC is simpler and occupy less space.
Disadvantages of FET
 The gain of the FET amplifier is low.
 The gain bandwidth product is relatively small.

2.15 JFET (JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR)

JFET has three terminals source, drain and gate.
Source is the terminal through which majority carriers enter into the JFET.
Drain is the terminal through which majority carriers leave the JFET.
Gate is the terminal used to control the flow of majority carriers through JFET.
Depends on the type of material used in the gate region, JFET is classified into two types
 N Channel JFET
 P Channel JFET

31
 Fig: 2.18 Structure of (a) N channel JFET, (b) P channel JFET

Fig: 2.19 Symbol of (a) N channel JFET, (b) P channel JFET

 Arrow head indicates the direction of current flow.

2.16 OPERATION OF N CHANNEL JFET

Fig: 2.20 Operation of N channel JFET

The gate junction is reverse biased by the battery VGS. The positive terminal of the battery VDS is
connected to drain D and the negative terminal to source S. Through the channel, electrons move from
the source to the drain. The current due to electrons is drain current (I D).
For a fixed value of VDS, as the gate source reverse voltage VGS is increased the depletion layer
width at the gate junction increases. The increases in the depletion layer width decreases the channel
width and the area for the electrons movement. In JFET the drain current I D depends on the gate source
reverse voltage VGS.

32
Static Characteristics

Fig: 2.21 Drain characteristics of N channel JFET

The graph between drain source voltage VDS and drain current ID for a constant gate source
voltage VGS is called static characteristics of JFET, it is also know as drain characteristics.
For plotting static characteristics, gate source voltage VGS is kept constant, the change in drain
current ID is noted for change in drain source voltage VDS. The variation of ID with VDS for different
constant values of VGS can be obtained and plotted on a graph.
When VGS=0, the entire width of the channel is available for the movement of electrons. When
VDS is zero the drain current ID is also Zero.
Graph shows three regions of operation.
Ohmic region:
As VDS is increases from zero the drain current ID also increases. The N type semiconductor acts
as a resistor. VDS and ID follow ohms law up to the point A. From zero to the point A the region is called
ohmic region. In ohmic region there exist a linear relationship between VDS and ID.
Non Linear Region:
As VDS is increased, the voltage drop through the semiconductor bar. It is V DS at the drain and
decreases towards source and become zero at the source. The voltage drop in the semiconductor bar
revere biases the junction, the depletion layer width at the junction increases. The voltage near drain is
higher than the voltage at source; therefore the gate reverse biased less. Because of this the depletion
layer width is more near the drain terminal. Now if the voltage VDS from point A is increased, the drain
current ID, increases at reverse square law rate up to the point B. the region from A to B is called the
nonlinear region.
Pinch off Region:
At the point B the channel is almost blocked by the depletion layer. Now the increase in drain
current ID is not possible. The drain current ID reaches saturation and it remain constant up to point C. the
drain source voltage VDS, at which the channel is pinched off (the channel is almost blocked and current
remain constant) is called Pinch off voltage VP. The region over which the current remain constant is
called pinch off or saturation region. In this region a JFET acts as a constant current device.
2
 V 
I D  I DSS 1  GS 
 VP 
Where IDSS = Drain current when VGS=0.
VGS = voltage between gate and source.
VP = pinch off voltage.
33
 Breakdown
After pinch off, if the voltage is increases beyond the point C avalanche breakdown of the reverse
biased gate junction will occur and the current increases abruptly.
When the negative reverse bias voltage at the gate is increases, the resulting V DS-ID curve is
similar to VGS=0 curve but
 The ohmic region is decreased
 Pinch off occurs for lower values of voltage and
 Avalanche breakdown occurs for lower values of VDS.
Transfer characteristics
The graph between gate source VGS and drain current ID for a constant drain source voltage VDS
is called transfer characteristics of JFET.
2
 V 
Drain current equation, is I D  I DSS 1  GS 
 VP 

Fig: 2.22 Transfer characteristics of N channel JFET

When VGS=0, the drain current ID=IDSS. As VGS is increased, the channel width decreases and
hence the drain current decreases. When VGS=VP the current width become zero and the drain current ID
become zero. The source voltage at which the drain current become zero is called VGS(off) voltage.
2
 VGS 
I D  I DSS 1  
 VGS (off) 

2.17 OPERATION OF P CHANNEL JFET

The gate junction is reverse biased by the battery VGS. The negative terminal of the battery VDS is
connected to drain D and the positive terminal to source S. through the channel, holes move from the
source to drain. The current due to holes is drain current ID.
For a fixed value of VDS, as the gate source reverse voltage VGS is increased the depletion layer
width at the gate junction increases. The increase in the depletion layer width decreases the channel
width and the area for the holes movement. In JFET the drain current I D depends on the gate source
reverse voltage VGS.

34
 Fig: 2.23 Operation of P channel JFET

Characteristics
Drain and transfer characteristics of P channel JFET is same as N channel JFET except the
reverse in VDS and VGS polarity.

2.18 FET PARAMETERS

o DC drain Resistance
o AC drain Resistance
o Transconductance
o Amplification Factor

DC Drain Resistance (RDS)

This is the static or ohmic resistance of the channel. It is given by
VDS
RDS 
ID
AC Drain Resistance (rD)
VDS
rd  , VGS  0 held constant.
I D
AC resistance between drain and source terminals when FET is operating in the Pinch-off region.

Transconductance or Mutual Conductance (gm)

It is the measure of control of gate voltage over drain current
I D
gm  mho, VDS held constant
VGS
It is the slope of transfer characteristic.

Amplification Factor (μ)

VDS
 , I D held constant.
VGS
The relation among ac drain resistance, transconductance and amplification factor is given by
  rd  g m

35
2.19 METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR (MOSFET or IGFET)
There are two types of MOSFET, they are
 Enhancement MOSFET
 Depletion MOSFET

2.20 ENHANCEMENT MOSFET

In enhancement MOSFET, the drain current is increased by the gate voltage.
Construction
The N channel MOSFET consist of a lightly doped P type substrate. Two heavily doped N+
regions are formed into the substrate.

Fig: 2.24 N channel Enhancement MOSFET

One N+ region acts as source S and another N+ region acts as drain D. A thin layer of Silicon
dioxide (SiO2) is grown over the surface, and holes are made in the oxide layer to form metal contacts
with source and drain. The region between the N+ source and drain is called Channel. The gate metal
contact G is made on the SiO2 layer, above the channel. The gate metal and the channel act as the two
plates of a parallel plate capacitor and the SiO2 layer acts as the dielectric.

OPERATION
The channel is lightly doped P type semiconductor, its resistance is high therefore electrons
cannot move freely from source to drain. When a Positive voltage is applied at the gate, it induces
negative charges in the channel.
These induced negative charge are called inversion layer. Now the channel has electrons as
carriers, therefore the conductivity of the channel increases and electrons flow from source to drain. Thus
the drain current is increased (enhanced) by the gate voltage.

Fig: 2.25 Operation of N channel Enhancement MOSFET

36
Symbol

Fig: 2.26 Symbol of Enhancement N channel and P channel MOSFET

Drain characteristics
The graph between drain source voltage VDS and drain current ID for a constant gate source
voltage VGS is called the drain characteristics of MOSFET. For plotting drain characteristics, gate source
voltage VGS is kept constant, the change in drain current ID is noted for change in drain source voltage
VDS. The variation of ID with VDS for different constant value of VGS can be obtained and plotted on a
graph.

Fig: 2.27 Drain characteristics

When VGS is zero, the drain current is zero. When VGS is made positive, drain current increases.

Transfer characteristics
The graph between gate source voltage VGS and drain current ID for a constant drain and source
voltage VDS is called the transfer characteristics of MOSFET.
For a fixed drain source voltage VDS voltage, when VGS is zero or negative, very small saturation
current flow through the MOSFET, called IDSS. When VGS is increased above zero, the drain current,
remain at IDSS for small values of VGS. Above the gate source threshold voltage VGST the current increases
rapidly.
N channel enhancement MOSFET cannot be operated with gate voltage negative (depletion
mode).

37
 Fig: 2.28 Transfer characteristics

2.21 DEPLETION MOSFET

In depletion MOSFET, the drain current can be increased or decreased by the gate voltage.
Construction
The N channel depletion MOSFET consist of a lightly doped P type substrate. Two heavily doped
N+ regions are formed into the substrate.

Fig: 2.29 N channel Depletion MOSFET

One N+ region acts as source S and another N+ region acts as drain D. A lightly doped N type
channel is formed between source and drain. A thin layer of silicon dioxide (SiO 2) is grown over the
surface, and holes are made in the oxide layer to form metal contacts with source and drain. The gate
metal contact G is made on the SiO2 layer, above the N type channel. The gate metal and the channel act
as the two plates of a parallel plate capacitor and the SiO 2 layer act as the dielectric.

Operation
The channel is lightly doped N type semiconductor, therefore electrons can move from source to
drain.

Enhancement mode
When a positive voltage is applied at the gate, it induces negative charges in the channel,
therefore the conductivity of the channel increases and more electrons flow from source to drain. Thus
the drain current is increases (enhanced) by the positive gate voltage.

38
 Fig: 2.30 N channel depletion MOSFET with Negative Gate Voltage

Depletion Mode
When the gate voltage is negative, it induces positive charges in the channel. The induced
positive charges reduce the conductivity of the channel (prevent the movement of electrons from source
to drain); therefore the drain current decreases for negative gate voltage.

Symbol

Fig: 2.31 Symbol of Depletion N channel and P channel MOSFET

Drain Characteristics
The graph between drain source voltage VDS and drain current ID for a constant gate source
voltage VGS is called the drain characteristics of MOSFET.
For plotting drain characteristics, gate source voltage VGS is kept constant, the change in drain
current ID is noted for change in drain source voltage VDS. The variation of ID with VDS for different
constant values of VGS can be obtained and plotted on a graph.

Fig: 2.32 Drain characteristics

When VGS is zero, small drain current flow through the MOSFET. When VGS is made positive,
drain current is increases. When VGS is made negative, the drain current is decreases.

Transfer Characteristics
The graph between gate source voltage VGS and drain current ID for a constant drain and source
voltage VDS is called the transfer characteristics of MOSFET.
39
 For a fixed VDS voltage, when VGS is zero small drain current flow through the MOSFET. When
VGS is increased above zero, the drain current is also increased. When V GS is reduced below zero, the
drain current decreases and reaches zero. The gate source voltage VGS at which the drain current
become zero is called VGS(off), at this voltage the current is completely occupied by the positive charges,
therefore electrons cannot move from source to drain.

Fig: 2.33 Transfer Characteristics

N channel depletion MOSFET can be operated with gate voltage negative (depletion mode) and
with gate voltage positive (enhancement mode).

2.22 VMOS OR VMOSFET (OR V- GROOVE MOSFET)

One of the major disadvantage of MOSFET is the reduced power handling level as compared to
BJT. This can be overcome by changing construction mode.
The vertical-MOSFET is a component designed to handle much large drain currents. There is no
physical connection between Source and drain. Thus VMOS is an enhancement type MOSFET.

Fig: 2.34 VMOSFET

With the V-shaped gate, a larger channel is formed by a positive gate voltage. With a large
channel, the device is capable of handeling a large amoun of drain current.
Operation
When a positive gate voltage is applied to the device, an N- Type channel forms in the P-type
region. This effective channel connects the source and drain. The shape of the gate causes a wider
channel, which allows much higher drain current.

40
 Fig: 2.35 Operation of VMOS
VMOS exhibit higher transconductance and a lower turn-on resistance. This devices is not
harmful to thermal runaway and has Positive temperature coefficient. More than one V-groove is formed
to increase the amount of drain current.

41
 UNIT III
Special Semiconductor Devices
3.1 PRINCIPLE AND OPERATION OF SCHOTTKY DIODE
Schottky barrier diode is an extension of point contact diode. The Schottky diode is formed when a
metal, such as Aluminum, is brought into contact with a moderately doped N-type. It is a unipolar device
because it has electrons as majority carriers on both sides of the junction. Hence, there is no depletion layer
formed near the junction.
There is no significant current from the metal to the semiconductor with reverse bias. Thus, the
delay present in the junction diodes due to hole-electron recombination time is absent here. The forward
resistance is lower, and so is noise.

Fig: 3.1 SCHOTTKY DIODE a) metal-semiconductor contact and (b) circuit symbol
The forward current is dominated by electron flow from semiconductor to metal, and the reverse
current is mainly due to election flow from metal to semiconductor. As there is very little minority carrier
injection from semiconductor into metal, Schottky diodes are also said to be majority carrier devices.
The diode is also referred to as hot carrier diode because when it is forward biased, conduction of
electrons on the N side gains sufficient energy to cross the junction and enter the metal. Since these electrons
plunge into the metal with large energy, they are commonly called as hot carriers.

VI Characteristics
The current in a PN junction diode is controlled by the diffusion of minority carriers whereas the current in
the Schottky diode results from the flow of majority carriers over the potential barrier at the metal-
semiconductor junction. The reverse saturation current for a Schottky diode is larger than that of a PN
junction diode. The storage time for a Schottky diode is theoretically zero. The Schottky diode has a smaller
turn-on voltage and shorter switching time than the PN junction diode.

Fig: 3.2 V-l characteristics of schottky barrier diode and PN junction diode

42
Application:
 Schottky diode can be used for rectification of signals of frequencies even exceeding 300 MHz.
 It is commonly used in switching power supplies at frequencies of 20 GHz.
 Its low noise figure finds application in sensitive communication receivers like radars.
 It is also used in clipping and clamping circuits and in computer gating.

3.2 VARACTOR DIODE

The varactor also called a varicap, tuning or voltage variable capacitor diode, is a junction
diode with a small impurity dose at its junction, which has the useful property that its junction or
transition capacitance is easily varied electronically.
When any diode is reverse biased, a depletion region is formed. The larger the reverse
bias applied across the diode, the width of the depletion layer "W" becomes wider. Conversely, by
decreasing the reverse bias voltage, the depletion region width "W" becomes narrower. This
depletion region is devoid of majority carriers and acts like an insulator preventing conduction
between the N and P regions of the diode, just like a dielectric, which separates the two plates of
a capacitor. The varactor diode with its symbol is shown in Fig 3.3 (b).

Fig: 3.3 (a) Deplection region in a reverse biased PN junction, (b) Circuit symbol of Varactor diode, (c)
Characteristics of Varator diode
As the capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance between the plates (C T 1/W),
the transition capacitance C T varies inversely with the reverse voltage as shown in Fig 3.3 (c).
Consequently, an increase in reverse bias voltage will result in an increase in the depletion region
width and a subsequent decrease in transition capacitance C T. At zero volt, the varactor depletion
region W is small and the capacitance is large at approximately 600 pF. When the reverse bias
voltage across the varactor is 15 V, the capacitance is 30 pF,

Application:
 The varactor diodes are used in FM radio and TV receivers, A FC circuits, self-adjusting
bridge circuits and adjustable bandpass filters.
 Tuning of LC resonant circuit in microwave frequency multipliers and in very low noise
microwave parametric amplifiers.

3.3 TUNNEL DIODE

The Tunnel or Esaki diode is a thin-junction diode which exhibits negative resistance under low
forward bias conditions.

43
Construction:
An ordinary PN junction diode has an impurity concentration of about 1 part in 108. With this
amount of doping the width of the depletion layer width is high (5 microns) and there exists a potential
barrier across the junction. Due to this, Majority carrier flow blocked.
Tunnel diode is constructed by adding one impurity atom for every 10 -3 semiconductor atoms. The
depletion layer width is inversely proportional to the square root of impurity concentration. So depletion
layer width is less than or equal to 100 A 0.

Tunneling Operation:
When the depletion layer is very thin electrons can move from filled state to empty state
without any additional energy. This is called tunneling.

Condition for Tunneling:

 Diode should be heavily doped.
 Depletion layer width should be very thin (100 A0).
 Filled state on one side and Empty state on other side.
 Filled and empty state should be on same energy level.

Symbol:

Fig: 3.4 Circuit symbol

VI Characteristics:

Fig: 3.5 V-I characteristics of Tunnel diode

When it is forward biased, the electrons in the N type starts tunneling to the P type semiconductor,
this is because of the energy levels of N type conduction band and P type valence band are equal shown in
fig 3.6 (a).

44
 With this minimum voltage tunnel diode starts conducting without the help on excess external
voltage which leads to current flow shown in VI characteristics fig from point O to A.
At some stage the electrons fully moved to the P side, no available free electron in the N side,
which leads to decreases in current value called negative resistance region. Further increase in external
voltage it acts as normal PN junction diode.
In reverse bias, It act as normal diode.

Fig: 3.6 Energy level diagram of Tunnel diode

Applications
1. Tunnel diode is used as an ultra-high speed switch with switching speed of the order of ns or ps
2. As logic memory storage device
3. As microwave oscillator
4. In relaxation oscillator circuit
5. As an amplifier.
Advantages
1. Low noise
2. Ease of operation
3. High speed
4. Low power
Disadvantages
1. Voltage range over which it can be operated is 1 V less
2. Being a two terminal device, there is no isolation between the input and
output circuit.
45
3.4 PIN DIODE
It is composed of three regions. In addition to the usual N and P regions, an intrinsic layer (I
region) is sandwiched between them, to form the PIN.
The intermediate layer offers relatively high resistance which gives it two advantages compared to
an ordinary PN diode. They are
(1) Decrease in capacitance between P and N regions as it is inversely proportional to the separation
between these regions. It allows a faster response time for the diode. Hence, PIN diodes are used at high
frequencies (more than 300 MHz).
(2) Possibility of greater electric field between the P and N junctions, so that the charge carriers drift
towards their majority carrier side. This enhances faster response of the diode.
It offers a variable resistance under forward bias condition as shown in Fig5.11 Forward resistance
offered is given by rac α 50/I, where I is the d.c, current in mA.
Hence, for large d.c. currents, the diode will look like a short. In reverse biased condition it looks
like an open, i.e. it offers an infinite resistance.
It is used as a switching diode for signal frequencies up to GHz range and as an AM modulator of
very high frequency signals.

Fig: 3.7 (a) Structure of PIN diode, (b) variation of forward resistance in PIN diode

3.5 CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)

The Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a PN junction device which emits light, when forward biased,
by a phenomenon called electroluminescence. In silicon and germanium, greater percentage of energy is
given out in the form of heat.
In other materials such as gallium phosphide (GaP) or gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP), the
number of photons of light energy emitted is sufficient to create a visible light source. Here, the charge
carrier recombination takes place when electrons from the N-side cross the junction and recombine with
the holes on the P-side.
In forward biased, the difference of energy between the conduction band and the valance band is
radiated in the form of light energy. Light is generated by recombination of electrons and holes whereby
their excess energy is transferred to an emitted photon. The brightness of the emitted light is directly
proportional to the forward bias current.
An N-type layer is grown on a substrate and a P-type is deposited on it by diffusion. Since
carrier recombination takes place in the P-layer, it is kept uppermost. The metal anode connections are
made at the outer edges of the P-layer so as to allow more central surface area for the light to escape.

46
 LEDs are manufactured with domed lenses in order to reduce the reabsorption problem. A metal
(gold) film is applied to the bottom of the substrate for reflecting as much light as possible to the surface
of the device and also to provide cathode connection.
The efficiency of generation of light increases with the increases in injected current and with a
decrease in temperature.
LEDs radiate different colours such as red, green, yellow, orange, blue and white. Some of the
LEDs emit infrared (invisible) light also.

Fig: 3.9 LED (a) under forward bias, (b) Symbol, and (c) Recombinations and emission of light

Color of the emitted light (Wavelength) depends on the type of material used is given as
follows.
Gallium arsenide (GaAs) – infrared radiation (invisible)
Gallium phosphide (GaP) – red or green
Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) - red or yellow
LEDs emit no light when reverse biased. LEDs operate at voltage levels from 1.5 to 3.3 V,
with the current of some tens of milliamperes.
Application:
 They are used in burglar alarm systems, picture phones, multimeters, calculators, digital
meters, microprocessors, digital computers, electronic telephone exchange, intercoms,
electronic panels, digital watches, solid state video displays and optical communication
systems.
 LED lamps.

3.5.1 INFRARED EMITTERS

The infrared emitting diodes arc PN junction gallium arsenide devices which emit a beam of
light when forward biased. When the junction is energized, electrons from the N-region will recombine
with the excess holes of the P-material in a specialty formed recombination region sandwiched
between the P- and N-type materials. This recombination, which tends to restore the equilibrium
carrier densities, can result in the emission of photons from the junction. The radiant energy from
the device is infrared with a typical peak at 0.9 µm. which ideally matches the response of silicon
photodiode and phototransistors.

3.6 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY (LCD)

The two liquid crystal materials which are commonly used in display technology are nematic
and cholesteric. This liquid components have the fluidity of a liquid and the optical property of a solid.
47
 Based on the construction. LCDs are classified into two types. They are
(3) Dynamic scattering LCD, and
(ii) Field effect LCD.

3.6.1 DYNAMIC SCATTERING TYPE

The display consists of two glass plates, each coated with tin oxide (SnO2) on the inside with
transparent electrodes separated by a liquid crystal layer, 5 to 50µm thick. Liquid crystal is
transparent, light can pass through the crystal.

Fig: 3.10 (a)Molecular arrangement of Unactivated Liquid C rystal, (b)Molecular arrangement

of Activated Liquid Crystal
When the liquid crystal is activated by applying an electric field, the carriers flowing
through the crystal will disturb the molecular arrangement and the molecules are randomly
oriented. Now the liquid crystal scatters the light in all direction and the activated area will
appear brighter. This phenomenon is called dynamic scattering.
Construction
A liquid crystal consists of a layer of liquid crystal material sandwiched between two
glass sheets. The inner side of the glass sheets is deposited with transparent metal film
electrodes. W hen both the glass sheets are transparent the LCD is called transmittive type
cell. W hen one glass in transparent and the other one is reflective, the LCD is calle d
reflective type cell.

Fig: 3.11 Structure of LCD

Operation of Transmittive type Cell

In transmittive type the light falls on the cell from the back side of the cell. W hen the
cell is not activated it is transparent so it allow light to pass through the cell. In this case the
cell will not appear bright.

48
 Fig: 3.12 (a)Unactivated Transmittive LCD, (b) Activated Transmittive LCD
When the cell is activated the incident light is scattered. In this case the cell will
appear bright.

Operation of Reflective Type Cell

In reflective type the light falls on the cell from the front side of the cell. W hen the cell
is unactivated the light passes through the crystal, the light is reflected by the back side
reflective glass and again pass through the crystal. In this case the cell will not appear
bright.

Fig: 3.13 (a)Unactivated Reflective LCD, (b) Activated Reflective LCD

When the cell is activated the incident light is scattered and reflected by the cell. In
this case the cell will appear bright.

3.6.2 FIELD EFFECT LCD

The construction of a field effect LCD display is similar to that of the dynamic
scattering type, with the exception that two thin polarising optical fillers arc placed at the inside of
each glass sheet. The LCD material is of twisted nematic type which twists the light (change in
direction of polarisation) passing through the cell when the latter is not energized. This allows light to
pass through the optical filters and the cell appears bright. When the cell is energized, no twisting of
light takes place and the cell appears dull.
Liquid crystal cells are of two types: (i) Transmittive type, and (ii) Reflective type. In the
transmittive type cell, both glass sheets are transparent so that light from a rear source is scattered in
the forward direction when the cell is activated.
The reflective type cell has a reflecting surface on one side of the glass sheet. The incident
light on the front surface of the cell is dynamically scattered by an activated cell.

49
Advantages of LCD
(i) The voltages required are small.
(ii) They have a low power consumption. A seven segment display requires about 140 W (20 W
per segment), whereas LEDs require about 40 mW per numeral.
{iii) They are economical.

Disadvantages of LCD
(i) LCDs are very slow devices. The turn ON and OFF times are quite large. The turn ON time
is typically of the order of a few ms, while the turn OFF is 10 ms.
(ii) When used on d.c, their life span is quite small. Therefore, they are used with a.c supplies
having a frequency less than 50 Hz.
(iii) They occupy a large area.

3.7 DIAC (DIODE A.C. SWITCH)

DIAC is a three layer, two terminal semiconductor device. MT 1 and MT 2 are the two main
terminals which are interchangeable, It acts as a bidirectional Avalanche diode. It does not have any
control terminal. It has two junctions J 1 andJ2. The structure of DIAC is like a transistor. Doping
concentration of three layers of DIAC is identical.
At voltage less than the breakover voltage, a very small amount of current called the leakage
current flows through the device and the device remains in OFF state. When the voltage level
reaches the breakover voltage, the device starts conducting and it exhibits negative resistance
characteristics, i.e. the current flowing in the device starts increasing and the voltage across it starts
decreasing.

Fig. 3.14 Diac(a)Basic structure and (b)circuit symbol

Fig: 3.15 Characteristics of DIAC

The Diac is not a control device. It is used as triggering device in Triac phase control
circuits used for light dimming, motor speed control and heater control.
50
3.8 SILICON CONTROLLED RECTIFIER (SCR)
Diode and transistor cannot be used as switch in high current. Thyristors (SCR, DIAC & TRIAC)
are semiconductor switch, made to operate in high current application.

Construction
SCR is a four layer semiconductor device, which consist of alternate P type and N type silicon.
SCR consists of three junctions J1, J2 and J3 and three terminals known as anode A, cathode K and Gate
G.
The function of gate is to control the firing of SCR. SCR conducts only in one direction i.e., from
anode to cathode and hence it is called unidirectional switch.

Symbol & Structure

Fig: 3.16 (a) Symbol of SCR, (b) structure of SCR

Two Transistor analogy of SCR

The operation of SCR may be explained by dividing it into two transistors: a PNP
transistor T 1 and another NPN transistor T 2. Collector of each transistor is coupled to the base
of the other transistor.

Fig: 3.17 Two transistor model of SCR

When gate is open and V AK is positive and less than the break over voltage VBO,
transistors T 1 and T 2 remain in cutoff. Therefore, no current flows through the SCR. When the
gate is made positive, a small gate current flow through the base of T 2 . This increase its
51
collector current. As the collector current of T 2 is the base current of T 1 , T 1 is switched ON and
its collector current increases. The collector current of T 1 is base current of T 2 . Therefore an
increase in current of one transistor causes an increase in current of the other tr ansistor. This
process goes in an accumulative way and both transistors are driven into saturation. Now a
heavy current flow through the load. The SCR is in ON condition.

Operation of SCR
SCR can be operated with gate open or with positive voltage at the gate. In SCR a load
is connected in series with anode and anode is kept at positive potential with respect to
cathode with the help of a battery.

I G =0 and V AK is positive
W hen no voltage is applied at the gate(I G =0) and V AK is positive, junctions J 1 and J 2
are forward biased while the junction J 2 is reverse biased. Due to the reverse bias of the
junction J 2 , no current flows through the load R L . The current flowing through the SCR is very
small reverse saturation current. SCR is said to be in cut -off condition.

Fig: 3.18 SCR with open Gate

When positive voltage at the anode is increased, the reverse bias at the junction J 2 is
also increases and at a particular voltage the junction J 2 breaks down. Now the SCR conducts
heavily and is said to be in ON st ate. The resistance of SCR become low (0.01Ω to 1Ω)
therefore the voltage across the SCR decreases.
The anode voltage at which the SCR start conducting is called break over voltage. The
current at which SCR is switched ON is called the holding current I H . Holding current is the
minimum current required to keep the SCR in ON condition.
SCR can be used as a switch with V AK positive.

I G >0 and V AK is positive

When V AK is positive, junction J 1 and J 3 are forward biased while the junction J 2 is
reverse biased. When the gate is made positive with respect to cathode, the gate voltage
forward biases junction J 3 . Electrons from N type material cross the junction J 3 and move into
P type material, holes from P type material cross the junction J 3 and move in to the N type
material. Electrons are the majority carriers in the P type material, which can cross the reverse
biased junction J 2 . More electrons that get energy from the positive voltage can create more
carriers and break the junction J 2 for a low V AK , and SCR conducts heavily. Once SCR starts
conducting, the gate loses its control, SCR cannot be switched off by the gate voltage.
52
 Fig: 3.19 VI characteristics of SCR

V AK is negative
When V AK is negative, junction J 1 and J 3 are reverse biased while the junction J 2 is
forward biased. Due to the reverse bias of junction J 1 and J 3 , no current flows through the load
R L . The current flowing through the SCR is very small reverse saturation current. W hen the
negative voltage at the anode is increased, break down of juncti ons happens similar to zener
breakdown which damages SCR. SCR cannot be used as switch with negative V AK .

SCR Properties
 SCR can be switched ON by positive anode voltage.
 Positive gate voltage makes SCR to switch ON at lower positive anode voltages.
 When SCR is in ON condition it cannot be switched OFF by gate voltage.
 The anode voltage is to be reduced, to reduce the current below holding current in
order to switch OFF the SCR.
 SCR cannot be used with negative anode voltage.
 SCR is unidirectional switch.

3.9 TRIAC (TRIODE A.C, SWITCH)

SCR can conduct current in one direction. Triac is the combination of 2 SCR in opposite
direction. TRIAC is a three terminal, bidirectional semiconductor device.

Construction
TRIAC is a four layer semiconductor device with 3 terminals Anode1, Anode2 and gate. A positive or
negative voltage at the gate can switch a triac from off state to on state.
(a) Two SCR model of Triac, (b) Structure of Triac and (c) symbol

Operation and characteristics:

o Positive bias
o Negative bias

53
 Fig: 3.20 VI characteristics

Positive Bias
When a positive voltage is applied between anode 1 and anode 2.

Fig: 3.21 (a) Two SCR structure, (b) Triac structure & (c) Triac Symbol
The P1N1 and P2N2 junctions are forward biased and P2N1 junction is reverse biased. When the
positive voltage is increased above breakdown voltage VBO the P2N1 junction breaks and the triac is
switched ON and conduct current from anode1 to anode2. Triac can also be switched ON by applying
positive voltage at the gate. When a positive voltage is applied at the gate, triac can switch ON for lower
anode voltages.

Negative Bias
When a negative voltage is applied between anode 1 and anode 2. The P 3N2 and P2N1 junctions
are forward biased and P2N2 junction is reverse biased. When the negative voltage is increased above
breakdown voltage VBO the P2N2 junction breaks and the triac is switched ON and conduct current from
anode2 to anode1. Triac can also be switched ON by applying a positive voltage at the gate. When a
positive voltage is applied at the gate, triac switch ON for lower anode voltages.

54
3.10 UJT (UNIJUNCTION TRANSISTOR)
UJT is a three terminal semiconductor switching device. As it has only one PN junction
and three leads, it is commonly called as Unijunction transistor.
The basic structure of UJT is shown in Fig. 4.19 (a). It consists of a lightly doped N-type Silicon
bar with a heavily doped P-type material alloyed to its one side closer to B 2 for producing single
PN junction. The circuit symbol of UJT is shown in Fig, 4.19 (b). Here the emitter leg is drawn at an
angle to the vertical and the arrow indicates the direction of the conventional current.

Fig: 3.22 UJT (a) Basic structure, (b) Circuit symbol and (c) Equivalent circuit

CHARACTERISTICS OF UJT
Referring to Fig. 3.22(c), the interbase resistance between B2 and B1 of the silicon bar is
RBB=RB1+RB2.With emitter terminal open, if voltage VBB is applied between the two bases, a voltage
gradient is established along the N-type bar.
The voltage drop across R B1 is given by V1=,ηVBB where the intrinsic stand-off ratio

The typical value of η ranges from 0.56 to 0.75. This voltage V 1 reverse biases the PN junction
and emitter current is cut-off. But a small leakage current flows from B 2 to emitter due to minority
carriers. If a positive voltage V E is applied to the emitter the PN junction will remain reverse
biased so long as VE is less than V1. If VE exceeds V1 by the cut-in voltage V γ, the diode becomes
forward biased. Under this condition, holes are injected into N-type bar. These holes are repelled
by the terminal B 2 and are attracted by the terminal B1 Accumulation of holes in E to B1, region
reduces the resistance in this section and hence emitter current IE is increased and is limited by VE. The
device is now in the ‘ON' state.
If a negative voltage is applied to the emitter PN junction remains reverse biased and the
emitter current is cut off. The device is now in the ‘OFF state.
Fig 3.23 shows a family of input characteristics of UJT, Here, up to the peak point P, the
diode is reverse biased and hence, the region to the left of the peak point is called cut-off region.
The UJT has a stable firing voltage Vp which depends linearly on V BB and a small firing current Ip (≈
25 µA). At P, the peak voltage Vp = the diode starts conducting and holes are injected
into N-layer Hence, resistance decreases thereby decreasing VE For the increase in IE So, there is a
negative resistance region from peak point P to valley point V. After the valley point, the device is
driven into saturation and behaves like a conventional forward biased PN junction diode. The region
to the right of the valley point is called saturation region. In the valley point, the resistance changes
from negative to positive. The resistance remains positive in the saturation region. For very large I E,
the characteristic asymptotically approaches the curve for IB2 = 0.

55
 Fig: 3.23 Input characteristics of UJT
A unique characteristic of UJT is, when it is triggered, the emitter current increases regenerative
until it is limited by emitter power supply. Due to this negative resistance properly, a UJT can be
employed in a variety of applications, viz. sawtooth wave generator, pulse generator, switching, timing
and phase control circuits.

3.11 UJT RELAXATION OSCILLATOR

The relaxation oscillator using UJT which is meant for generating sawtooth waveform is
shown in Fig. 3.24. It consists of a UJT and a capacitor CE which is charged through RE as the supply
voltage VBB is switched ON

56
 Fig: 3.24 UJT relaxation oscillator
The voltage across the capacitor increases exponentially and when the capacitor voltage
reaches the peak point voltage Vp the UJT starts conducting and the capacitor voltage is discharged
rapidly through EB1 and R1. After the peak point voltage of UJT is reached, it provides negative
resistance to the discharge path which is useful in the working of the relaxation oscillator. As the
capacitor voltage reaches zero, the device then cuts off and capac itor CE starts to charge again. This
cycle is repeated continuously generating a sawtooth waveform across CE.
The inclusion of external resistors R2 and R1 in series with B2 and B1 provides spike
waveforms. When the UJT fires, the sudden surge of current through B 1 causes drop across R 1,
which provides positive going spikes. Also, at the time of firing, fall of VEB1 causes I2 to increase
rapidly which generates negative going spikes across R2
By changing the values of capacitance CE or resistance R E, frequency of the output
waveform can be changed as desired, since these values control the time constant RE CE of the
capacitor changing circuit.

Frequency of Oscillation
Assuming that the capacitor is initially uncharged, the voltage Vc across the capacitor prior to
breakdown is given by

57
3.12 PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY
When light in the form of photons strikes the semiconductor, each photon delivers energy to the
electrons. If the photon energy is greater than the energy hand gap of the semiconductor, free mobile
charge carriers are liberated and, as a result, resistivity of the semiconductor is decreased, so
conduction starts. This Process of generating electric current from incident light is called
photoconductivity.

3.13 LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR(LDR) OR PHOTORESISTOR:

It is a semiconductor device whose resistance varies inversely with the intensity of light falls upon
it. It is also known as photoresistive cell or photoresistor because it operates on the principle of
photoresistivity.
when light in the form of photons strikes the semiconductor, each photon delivers energy to the
electrons. If the photon energy is greater than the energy hand gap of the semiconductor, free mobile
charge carriers are liberated and, as a result, resistivity of the semiconductor is decreased, so
conduction starts.
Photoconductive cells are generally made of cadmium compounds such as cadmium sulphide
{CdS) and cadmium selenide (CdSe).

Fig: 3.25 circuit Symbol

A photoconductive cell is an inexpensive and simple detector which is widely used in OFF/ON
circuits, light-measurement and light-detecting circuits.

58
 Fig: 3.26 (a) Characteristics curve of LDR, (b) Basic structure of LDR
There are two types of LDR
 Intrinsic photo resistor(Pure semiconductors are used for construction)
 Extrinsic photo resistor(Doped semiconductors are used for construction)

Application
 Light detector

3.14 PHOTODIODES
A photodiode is a type of photodetector capable of converting light into either current or voltage.
A photodiode is a two terminal PN junction device, which operates in a reverse bias. It has a small
transparent window, which allows light to strike the PN junction.

Fig: 3.27 Photodiode

Photodiode produces reverse current in the reverse bias by thermally generated electron-hole
pairs in the depletion layer, which are swept across the junction by the electric field created by the reverse
voltage.
Its reverse current increases with the light intensity at the PN junction When there is no incident
light, the reverse current is almost negligible and is called the dark current. An increase in the amount
of light energy produces an increase in the reverse current for a given value of reverse-bias voltage.

59
 Fig: 3.28 Characteristic curve of a photodiode
Applications
1. Used in consumer electronic device such as compact disc (CD) players, smoke detectors, and the
receivers for infrared remote control equipments from televisions to air-conditioners,
2. Used or accurate measurement of light intensity in science and industry. The photodiodes have
more linear response than photo-conductors.
3. Widely used in medical applications such as detectors for computer tomography, instruments to
analyze samples pulse oximeters.
4. Because of their fast switching speed, used for optical communication and in lighting regulation.
5. Optical communication systems
6. Character recognition
7. Encoders etc.

3.15 AVALANCHE PHOTO DIODE (APD)

ADP is used in optical communication for detection of light at the receiving end. It converts the input light
energy into electrical energy.
It essentially consist of reverse biased PN junction. The depletion region in the reverse biased
PN junction is formed by immobile positively charged donor atoms in the N-type semiconductor material
and immobile negative charged acceptor atoms in the P-type material. The electric field in this depletion
region is very high where most of the photons are absorbed and primary charge carriers (electron-hole
pair) generated. There charge carriers acquire sufficient energy from the electric field to excite new
electron hole pair by this process known as impact ionization.
These new carriers created by impact ionization can themselves produce additional carriers by
the same mechanism. For this process, APD requires a high reverse bias voltage in the order of 100-
400 V. carrier multiplication factors as greater as 104 may be obtained using defect free materials.
Electron-hole pair thus generated separate and drift under the influence of the electric field in the
depletion region and diffuse outside the depletion region so that they are finally collected in the detector
terminals. This leads to a flow of current in the external circuit whose magnitude is proportional to the
intensity of light incident on APD.

60
 Fig: 3.29 Structure of APD

Due to the internal gain mechanism in an APD, a large electrical response is obtained even for a
weak input signal. Quantum efficiency closer to 100% in the working region can be obtained.

3.16 PHOTOTRANSISTOR
It is light-sensitive transistor and is similar to an ordinary bipolar junction transistor (BJT) except
that it has no connection to the base terminal. Its operation is based on the photodiode that exists at the
CB junction. Instead of the base current, the input to the transistor is provided in the form of light.
Silicon NPN are mostly used as phototransistor. The device is usually packed with a lens on top
although it is sometimes encapsulated in clear plastic. When there is no incident light on the CB junction,
there is a small thermally-generated collector-to-emitter leakage current ICEO which, in this case, is called
dark current and is in the nA range
When light is incident on the CB junction, a base current I λ is produced which is directly
proportional to the light intensity. Hence, collector current IC=βI λ
The photo-transistor has the advantages of greater sensitivity and current capacity than
photodiodes, However, photodiodes are faster of the two switching in less than a nanosecond.

Fig: 3.30 (a) structure of phototransistor, (b) characteristic curve of Phototransistor

3.17 OPTOCOUPLER
An optocoupler is a solid-slate component in which the Light emitter, the light path and the
light detector are all enclosed within the component and cannot be changed externally. As the
61
 optocoupler provides electrical isolation between circuits, it is also called optoisolator. An
optoisolator allows signal transfer without coupling wires, capacitors or transformers. It can
couple digital (ON/OFF) or analog (variable) signals.

Fig: 3.31 Schematic representation of the optocoupler

Optoisolator consists of an infrared LED and a photodetector such as PIN photodiode for fast
switching.
Optoisolators transduce input voltage to proportional light intensity by using LEDs. The light is
transduced back to output voltage using light sensitive devices, GaAs.
The wavelength response of each device is made to be as identical as possible to permit the
highest measure of coupling possible. There is a transparent insulating cap between each set' of
elements embedded in the structure (not visible) permit the passage of light. They are designed
with very small response times in such a way that they can be used to transmit data in the MHz
range.
Optoisolator is used as an interface between high voltage and low voltage systems.
Application for this device includes the interfacing of different types of logic circuits and their use in
level-and- position-sensing circuits.
The switching time of an optoisolator decreases with increased current, while for many devices
it is exactly the reverse.

3.18 SOLAR CELL

When sunlight is incident on a photovoltaic cell, it is converted into electric energy. Such an energy
converter is called solar cell or solar. This cell consists of a single semiconductor crystal which has been
doped with both P- and N-type impurities, thereby forming a PN junction.
An incident light photon at the junction may collide with a valence electron and impart
sufficient energy to make a transition to the conduction band.

Fig: 3.32 Basic construction of a PN junction solar cell

62
 As a result, an electron-hole pair is formed. The newly formed electrons are minority carriers
in the P-region. They move freely across the junction. Similarly, holes formed in the N-region
cross the junction in the opposite direction, The flow of these electrons and holes across the
junction is in a direction opposite to the conventional forward current in a PN junction. Further, it leads
to the accumulation of a majority carriers on both sides of the junction. This gives rise to a
photovoltaic voltage across the junction in the open circuit condition. This voltage is a logarith mic
function of illumination.
To increase the power output, large banks of cells are used in series and parallel
combinations. The efficiency of the solar cell is measured by the ratio of electric energy output to the
light energy input expressed as a percentage. Silicon and selenium arc the materials used widely in
solar cells because of their excellent temperature characteristics.

3.19 LASER DIODE

Laser is a narrow beam of Photons emitted by specially made laser diodes. Laser diode is
similar to an ordinary LED, but it generates a beam of high intensity light. A laser is a device in which a
number of atoms vibrate to produce a beam of radiation in which all the waves have single wavelength
and are in Phase with each other.
Laser light is Monochromatic and can be focused as a pencil beam The beam of a typical
laser has 4×0.6mm widening at a distance of 15 meters. Like an LED, laser diode converts electrical
energy into light energy.

Working
The most common laser diode generates semiconductor or injection laser. In these lasers,
a population of Inversion Electrons is produced by applying a voltage across its p-n junction. Laser beam
is then available from the semiconductor region. The p-n junction of laser diode has polished ends so
that, the emitted photons reflect back and forth and creates more electron-hole pairs. The photons
thus generated will be in phase with the previous photons. This will give a Pencil Beam and all the
photons in the beam are Coherent and in phase.

Fig: 3.33 LASER diode

Laser is a high intensity penetrating beam and is extremely dangerous when focused on to the
Eye. A Laser pointer with output power higher than 5 mW is harmful.

Applications
Optical memories, Fiber optic communications, Military applications, surgical procedures, CD
players, Printers etc.,

63
 UNIT IV
BIASING AND STABILIZATION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
BIASING
In order to operate transistor in the desired region, external DC voltage is applied with correct
polarity and magnitude to the two junctions of the transistor. The process of applying the DC voltage to
the transistor is called Biasing or DC biasing.

Q-POINT OR OPERATING POINT(IC AND VCE)

Certain voltage and current conditions are required to bias a transistor. These conditions are
known as DC operating point or quiescent point (Q- point). Eg. IC = 0.5 A, VCE = 12 V.
The operating point must be stable for proper operation of the transistor. However, the operating
point shifts with changes in transistor parameters such as β, I CO and VBE. As transistor parameters are
temperature dependent, the operating point also varies with change in temperature.
To maintain the operating point stable two techniques are there. They are
(i) Stabilization techniques- refers to the use of resistive biasing circuits which allow I B to vary so
as to keep IC relatively constant with variation in ICO, β and VBE.
(ii) Compensation techniques- refers to the use of temperature-sensitive devices such as diodes,
transistors, thermistors, etc., which provide compensating voltages and currents to maintain the
operating point stable.

4.2 STABILITY FACTOR (S)

The extent to which the collector current Ic is stabilised with varying IC0 is measured by a stability
factor S. It is defined as the rate of change of collector current Ic with respect to the collector-base leakage
current ICO, keeping both the current IB and the current gain 𝞫 constant.

For CE configuration, collector current is given as,

I C   I B  I CEO or I C   I B  (1   ) I CBO
Differentiating the above equation with respect to IC, we get
I B I
1   (1   ) CBO
I C IC
 I 
1   B 
I CBO
  I C 
I C (1   )
I C (1   )
S  
I CBO  I 
1   B 
 I C 
ADDITIONAL STABILITY FACTORS

64
NEED FOR BIASING:
 To operate the transistor in the desired (Active) region.
 To get the output signal power greater than the input signal power. (i.e., Amplification of Transistor).

4.3 DC EQUIVALENT MODEL, LOAD LINE AND OPERATING POINT

DC LOAD LINE
CE configured circuit shown in fig 4.1 (a) with base emitter junction forward biased and collector
base junction reverse biased.

Fig: 4.1 (a) CE amplifier, (b) Equivalent circuit when AC signal is absent
When AC signal is absent the capacitor provides high impedance i.e., open circuit. Therefore the
equivalent circuit is show in fig: 4.1(b). Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage law to the collector circuit (b)

Compared to equation of straight line y=mx+c, m (-1/Rdc) is slope and c (VCC/Rdc) is the intercept
of Y axis.
When VCE=VCC ; IC=0 and we get a point A. When VCE=0 ; IC= VCC/Rdc and we get a point B.
The line drawn between points A and B is called dc load line(Plot IC Vs VCE). Knowing any one
of IC, IB or VCE it is easy to determine the other two from the load line.
Applying kirchhoff’s law to the base circuit,

65
 Fig: 4.2 Common emitter output characteristics with dc load line

As VCC >> VCE

The intersection point of characteristic curve for IB and dc load line is called operating point. For
different values of IB, different operating points P, Q and R are obtained. All these are Q points.

4.3.1 CRITERIA FOR FIXING OPERATING POINT

The operating points are selected in three different cases with respect of dc load line,

Fig: 4.3 (a) case 1: Operation point near saturation region, (b) case 2: operating point near cut-off region

Case 1: Operating point Near saturation region at point P, gives clipping at the positive peaks, so
eventhough base current varies, collector current is not useful sinusoidal waveform (distortion is present at
the output). Therefore point P is not a suitable operating point.
Case 2: Operating point Near cut-off region at point R, gives clipping at negative peak, point R is also not
suitable operating point.
Case 3: Operating point At center of (active region) Q, the output signal is sinusoidal waveform without any
distortion. Thus point Q is the best operating point.

66
 Fig: 4.3 (c) case 3: operating point at the center of active region

4.4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF BJT BIASING

It is always convenient and preferable to have an electronic circuit that works on a single battery.
There are several biasing circuits are there. In particular
 Fixed or base bias
 Collector to base bias or base bias with collector feedback
 Self bias or voltage divider bias

4.5 FIXED BIAS OR BASE BIAS

Applying kirchhoff’s law to the base circuit,

The supply voltage VCC is of fixed value. Once the resistance RB is

selected, IB is also fixed. Hence this circuit is called “Fixed bias circuit”.

Fig: 4.4 Fixed bias circuit Applying kirchhoff’s voltage law to the collector current,

Voltage drop across RC can never be more than VCC.

If the transistor is replaced by another transistor, even though the type is same, their characteristic
may differ slightly. In fixed bias circuit, the change in the characteristic of transistor changes the operating
point.

67
 So the fixed bias circuit is unsatisfactory if the transistor is replaced by another of the same type.

4.5.1 STABILITY FACTOR FOR FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT

(1   )
S
 I 
1   B 
 I C 
Collector current in CE configuration is given as
I C   I B  I CEO or I C   I B since  I B I CEO
VCC
From fixed bias IC is given by IC   IB
RB
I B
Differentiate IB with respect to IC,  0 , change in IB will not affect VCC and VBE
I C
(1   )
Substituting this value in S, S
1 0
S  1 

Advantages
 Simple circuit with few components
 Operating point is fixed anywhere in the active region by simply changing the RB value. Thus it
provides maximum flexibility in design.

Disadvantages
 Thermal stability is not provided by this circuit. So the operating point is not maintained.
 IC depends on β, thus stabilization of operating point is very poor.

4.6 COLLECTOR TO BASE BIAS CIRCUIT OR BASE BIAS WITH COLLECTOR FEEDBACK
Because of poor stability in operating point, RB is connected between
collector and base. Hence the circuit is called “collector to base bias circuit”.
Thus IB flows through RB and (IC + IB) flows through the RC.
Applying voltage law to the base circuit,

Fig: 4.5 Collector to base bias circuit

Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage law to the collector circuit,

68
 Substituting this value of VCC – IC RC in IB equation,

Change in β and ICO due to temperature, then IC tends to increase, since IC = β IB + ICEO. As a result,
voltage drop across RC increases. Since VCC is constant VCE decreases. Due to VCE reduction, IB reduces.
As IC depends on IB, decrease in IB reduces the original increase in IC. The result is that the circuit tends to
maintain a stable value of IC, keeping the Q point fixed.
A part of the output is fed back to the input through RB, and increase in collector current decreases
the base current. Thus negative feedback exists in the circuit, so this circuit is also called Voltage feedback
bias circuit.

4.6.1 STABILITY FACTOR FOR COLLECTOR TO BASE BIAS CIRCUIT

From collector to base bias circuit,

Differentiate the above equation with respect to I C,

Collector to base bias having less stability factor than fixed bias circuit. Hence this circuit provides
better stability than fixed bias circuit.

4.6.2 STABILIZATION WITH CHANGES IN β

Stability factor S depends on β. But if we design the circuit with condition  RC RB then we can
make stability factor independent of β.
We know that, I C   I B  1    ICBO
I C  1    I CO
Therefore, IB 

Applying KVL to base circuit, VCC   I B  IC  RC  I B RB  VBE  0

69
 VCC  I B  RC  RB   I C RC  VBE  0
Substituting the value of IB in above equation
 I  1    I CO 
VCC   C   RC  RB   I C RC  VBE  0
  
Multiplying by β on both side we get,
VCC  IC  RC  RB   1    ICO  RC  RB    IC RC  VBE  0
IC  RC  RB   RC    VCC  1    ICO  RC  RB   VBE 
As β >> 1, 1+ β ≈ β

Here βRC >> RB, therefore

The collector current has become independent of β and hence stabilized against change in β.
If we provide stability against ICO variations, we get stability against β variations also.

4.7 SELF BIAS OR VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS OR EMITTER BIAS

In this circuit, the biasing is provided by three resistors R1, R2 and RE. The resistors R1 and R2 act
as a potential divider giving a fixed voltage to point B which is base. If collector current increases due to
change in temperature or change in β, the emitter current IE also increases and VBE.Due to reduction in
VBE, base current IB and hence collector current IC also reduces. Therefore,
we can say that negative feedback exists in the emitter current I C
compensates for the original change in IC.
Voltage across R2 is the base voltage VB. Applying the voltage divider
theorem to find VB,

Voltage across RE (VE) can be obtained as,

VE  I E RE  VB  VBE
VB  VBE
IE 
RE
Fig: 4.6 Voltage Divider Bias Circuit Applying KVL to the collector circuit,
VCC  I C RC  VCE  I E RE  0
VCE  VCC  I C RC  I E RE

70
4.7.1 STABILITY FACTOR FOR VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS

Here thevenin’s equivalent voltage VT is given by,

and
Applying KVL to the base circuit,

Fig: 4.7 Thevenin’s equivalent circuit for voltage divider bias

Differentiate w.r.t IC,

By simplifying the above

S
1    RE  RB 
RB  1    RE
Dividing each term by RE we get,
RB
1
RE
S  1   
1     RB
RE
From this equation
RB RB
1. The ratio controls value of stability factor S. if << 1 then the above equation reduces
RE RE
1
to S  1    . 1
1   
RB  0. For better stability factor, keep the ratio
RB
Practically as small as possible.
RE RE
RB
2. To keep small, it is necessary to keep RB small. This means that R1║R2 must be small.
RE
Due to small value of R1 and R2, potential divider circuit will draw more current from VCC reducing
the life of the battery. So while designing if we make R2 much smaller than R1 then parallel
combination results small RB without drawing more current through VCC. Another important aspect
is that reducing RB will reduce input impedance of the circuit, since RB comes in parallel with the

71
 input. This reduction of input impedance in amplifier circuits is not desirable and hence RB cannot
be made very small.
RB
3. Emitter resistance RE is the another parameter we can use to decrease ratio . By increasing
RE
RB
RE we can make small. But as we increase RE, drop IE RE will also increase and since
RE
VCC is constant, drop across RC will reduce. This shifts the operating point Q which is not
desirable and hence there is limit for increasing RE.
Thus while designing voltage divider bias circuit we have to find compromising values:
S – Small
RB - Reasonably small
RE - not very large
RB
4. If ratio is fixed, S increases with β. Therefore stability decreases with increasing β.
RE
5. Stability factor S is essentially independent of β for small value of S.

Stability factor S for voltage divider bias or self bias is less as compared to other biasing circuits
studied. So this circuit is most commonly used.

4.8 BIAS COMPENSATION

The various biasing circuits considered in the previous sections used some types of negative
feedback to stabilise the operation point. Also, diodes, thermistors and sensistors can be used to
compensate for variations in current.

4.8.1 DIODE COMPENSATION

Figure 4.8 shows a transistor amplifier with a diode d
connected across the base-emitter junction for
compensation of change in collector saturation current I Co.
The diode is of the same material as the transistor and it is
reverse biased by the base-emitter junction voltage VBE,
allowing the diode reverse saturation current I 0 to flow
through diode D. The base current I B =I-I 0
As long as temperature is constant, diode
D operates as a resistor. As the temperature increases, Ico of
the transistor increases-Hence, to compensate for this, the
base current IB should be decreased.

Fig: 4.8 Diode bias compensation

The increase in temperature will also cause the leakage current Io through D to increase and
thereby decreasing the base current IB. This is the required action to keep Ic constant.
This method of bias compensation does not need a change in IC to effect the change in IB. as
both Io and Ico can track almost equally according to the change in temperature.

72
4.8.2 THERMISTOR COMPENSATION

In Fig. 4.9, a thermistor, RT, having a

negative temperature coefficient is connected
in parallel with R 2. The resistance of
thermistor decreases exponentially with in-
crease of temperature. An increase in
temperature will decrease the base voltage
VBE, reducing IB and Ic. Bias stabilisation is
also provided by RE and CE.

Fig: 4.9 Thermistor bias compensation

4.8.3 SENSISTOR COMPENSATION

In Fig. 4.10, a sensistor, Rs, having a positive
temperature coefficient is connected across R1 (or RE). Rs
increases with temperature. As temperature increases, the
equivalent resistance of the parallel combination of R 1 and
Rs also increases and hence the base voltage VBE
decreases, reducing IB and Ic. This reduced Ic compensates
for the increased I c caused by the increase in IC0, VBE and
𝞫 due to temperature rise.

Fig: 4.10 Sensistor bias compensation

4.9 BIASING IN JFET

 Fixed or gate bias
 Voltage divider bias
 Self bias
4.9.1 FIXED-BIAS CIRCUIT

This is the simplest biasing arrangement. To make

gate-source junction reverse-biased, a separate supply VGG is
connected such that gate is more negative than the source.
For DC analysis coupling capacitors are open circuits.
IG = 0 A, So RG is open circuit, shown in simplified fixed bias
circuit.

Fig: 4.11 Fixed bias circuit for N-channel JFET

73
Applying KVL to the input circuit, VGS + VGG = 0
VGS = -VGG
Since VGG is a fixed DC supply, the voltage VGS is fixed in
magnitude and hence the name fixed bias circuit.

Drain current is given by

The drain to source voltage of output circuit can be
determined by applying KVL.
VDS + ID RD – VDD =0
VDS = VDD –ID RD

Fig: 4.12 Simplified Fixed Bias Circuit

The Q point of the JFET amplifier with fixed bias circuit is given by:

4.9.2 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

The voltage at the source of the JFET must be more positive
than the voltage at the gate in order to keep the gate-source junction
reverse-biased. The source voltage is
VS = ID RS
The gate voltage is set by resistors R1 and R2 as expressed
by the following equation using the voltage divider formula:

Fig: 4.13 Voltage divider bias for N-channel JFET

Applying KVL to the input circuit of simplified voltage divider bias circuit,

Fig: 4.14 simplified voltage

Divider bias circuit
Applying KVL to the output circuit,

The Q point of a JFET amplifier using the voltage divider bias is given by:
74
4.9.3 SELF BIAS CIRCUIT
JFET must be operated such that the gate source junction is always reverse-biased. This
condition requires a negative VGS for an N-channel JFET and a positive VGS for P- channel JFET. This
can be achieved using the self bias arrangement shown in fig: . The gate resistor, R C does not affect the
bias because it has essentially no voltage drop across it; and therefore the gate remains at 0 V. R G is
necessarry only to isolate an AC signal from ground in amplifier applications. The voltage drop across
resistor, RS makes gate source junction reverse biased.

Fig: 4.15 Self Bias Circuit for JFET

For the N-channel FET in fig: 4.15 (a), IS produces a voltage drop across RS and makes the
source positive with respect to ground. Since IS = ID and VG = 0, then VS = IS RS = ID RS. The gate to
source voltage is,

For the P-channel FET in fig: 4.15 (b), IS produces a voltage drop across RS and makes the
source negative with respect to ground. Since IS = ID and VG = 0, then VS = - IS RS = - ID RS. The gate to
source voltage is,

For DC analysis, capacitors are open circuited and R G is short circuited,

since IG = 0.
The relation between ID and VGS is given by

Substituting the value of VGS in the above equation,

Applying KVL to the output circuit,

Fig: 4.16 Simplified self-bias
circuit for DC analysis
75
4.10 BIASING OF MOSFET
BIASING FOR DEPLETION TYPE MOSFET
Biasing circuits for depletion type MOSFET are quite similar to the circuits used for JFET biasing.
The primary difference between the two is the fact that depletion type MOSFETs also permit operating
points with positive value of VGS for N-channel and negative values of VGS for P-channel MOSFET. To
have positive value of VGS for N-channel and negative value of VGS for P-channel self bias is unsuitable.

4.11 BIASING FOR ENHANCEMENT TYPE MOSFET

Biasing circuits for enhancement type MOSFET are similar to the circuit used for JEFT biasing.
The primary difference between two is the fact that enhancement type MOSFET only permits operating
points with positive values of VGS for N-channel and negative values or VGS for P-channel, for this self
bias is unsuitable.
 Feedback bias
 Voltage divider bias

4.11.1 FEEDBACK BIAS CIRCUIT:

Fig: 4.17 (a) Feedback bias circuit, (b) simplified feedback circuit for DC analysis
For DC analysis, capacitors are open circuited and RG is short circuited, since IG = 0.
As drain and gate terminals are shorted

Applying KVL to output circuit,

76
4.11.2 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS
Here the biasing resistors R1 and R2 are designed to provide gate to source
voltage.

Fig: 4.18 Voltage Divider Bias

77
 UNIT V
POWER SUPPLIES

5.1 RECTIFIERS
Rectifier is defined as an electronic device used for converting (A.C) voltage into unidirectional
voltage (D.C). i.e. A.C. voltage into a pulsating D.C. voltage
 Half wave Rectifier
 Full wave Rectifier

5.2 HALF-WAVE RECTIFIER (A.C. voltage into a pulsating D.C. voltage)

Fig: 5.1 (a) Basic structure of half-wave rectifier, and (b) input output waveforms of half wave rectifier
Let Vi be the voltage to the primary of the transformer and given by the equation

where Vγ is the cut-in voltage of the diode.

During positive half cycle, the diode D is in Forward bias condition. Diode conduct.
During negative half cycle, the diode D is in reverse bias condition. Diode does not conduct.

78
The rms voltage at the load resistance can be calculated as

79
Peak Factor

5.3 FULL-WAVE RECTIFIER (A.C. voltage into a pulsating D.C. voltage)

It uses two diodes of which one conducts during one half-cycle while the other diode conducts
during the other half-cycle of the applied ac voltage. There are two types of full-wave rectifiers viz. (i)
center tapped transformer full-wave rectifier and (ii) bridge rectifier.
During positive half-cycle, diode D 1 forward bias, conducts current and diode D2 reverse bias,
does not conduct.
During negative half-cycle, diode D 2 forward bias, conducts current and diode D1 reverse bias,
does not conduct.

Fig: 5.2 (a) Full-wave Rectifier, (b) input and output waveform

RIPPLE FACTOR (Г)

2
V 
   rms   1
 Vdc 
The average voltage or dc voltage available across the load resistance is


Vm
 cost 0  
2Vm
 

80
 1  2  V
Vrms    Vm sin 2 td t   m
 0  2

Therefore,
2
Vm / 2  2
   1   1  0.482
 2V m /   8
Efficiency (η): The ratio of dc output power to ac input power is known as rectifier efficiency (η)
dcoutputpower Pdc
 
acinputpower Pac
2
 2Vm 
V  / R     8  0.812  81.2%
2

 dc 2 L  
Vrms  / RL  Vm  2  2
 
 2
The maximum efficiency of a full-wave rectifier is 81.2%
Vdc 2Vm 2I m Im
I dc    and I rms 
RL RL  2
If the diode forward resistance (rf) and the transformer secondary winding resistance (r s) are
included in the analysis, then

 I dc rs  r f 
2Vm
Vdc 

Vdc 2Vm
I dc  
rs  rf   RL  (rs  rf  RL )
Transformer Utilisation Factor (TUF) The average TUF in a full-wave rectifying circuit is determined by
considering the primary and secondary winding separately and it gives a value of 0.693
Form factor

Form factor =

Vm / 2 
   1.11
2Vm /  2 2
Peak factor

Peak factor=

Peak inverse voltage for full-wave rectifier is 2Vm because the entire secondary voltage appears
across the non-conducting diode.

81
5.4 BRIDGE RECTIFIER (A.C. voltage into a pulsating D.C. voltage)
The need for a center tapped transformer in a full-wave rectifier is eliminated in the bridge rectifier.
For the positive half-cycle of the input ac voltage, diodes D1, and D3 conduct, whereas diodes D2
and D4 do not conduct. The conducting diodes will be in series through the load resistance RL. So the
load current flows through RL.

Fig: 5.3 (a) Bridge rectifier, (b) input and output waveforms
During the negative half-cycle of the input ac voltage, diodes D2 and D4 conduct, whereas diodes
D1 and D3 do not conduct. The conducting diode D2 and D4 will be in series through the load RL and the
current flows through RL in the same direction as in the previous half-cycle. Thus a bidirectional wave is
converted into a unidirectional one.
The average values of output voltage and load current for bridge rectifier are the same as for a
center-tapped full wave rectifier. Hence,

If the values of the transformer secondary winding resistance (rs) and diode forward resistance (rf)
are considered in the analysis, then

The maximum efficiency of a bridge rectifier is 81.2% and the ripple factor is 0.48. The PIV
is V m

Advantages of the bridge rectifier

The ripple factor and efficiency of the rectification are the same as the full-wave rectifier. The
bulky center tapped transformer is not required. Transformer utilization factor is considerably high. Since
the current flowing in the transformer secondary is purely alternating, the TUF increases to 0.812.
Disadvantage is it requires four. But the diodes are cheaper. Apart from this, the PIV rating
required for the diodes in a bridge rectifier is only half of that for a center tapped full-wave rectifier,
this is a great advantage.

82
5.5 FILTERS
The ripple in the rectified (contains dc and ac component) wave being very high, the
factor being 48% in the full-wave rectifier; majority of the applications which cannot tolerate
this. Filters are used to minimise the undesirable ac, i.e. ripple leaving only the dc compo nent
to appear at the output.
The full wave rectified output voltage is applied at filters input. The output of a filter is
not exactly a constant dc level. But it also contains a small amount of ac component. Some
important filters arc:
(a) Inductor filter
(b) Capacitor filter
(c) LC or L-section filter,
(d) and CLC or π-type filter

83
 Fig: 5.4 concept of filter

5.6 INDUCTOR FILTER

When the output of the rectifier passes through an inductor, it blocks the ac component and
allows only the dc component to reach the load.
The ripple factor of the Inductor filter is given by

Fig: 5.5 Inductor Filter

It shows that the ripple factor will decrease when L is increased and RL is decreased. Clearly, the
inductor filter is more effective only when the load current is high (small RL). The larger value of the inductor can
reduce the ripple and al the same time the output dc voltage will be lowered as the inductor has a higher dc
resistance.
The operation of the inductor filter depends on its well known fundamental property to oppose any
change of current passing through it.
To analyse this filter for a full-wave, the Fourier series can be written as

84
85
5.7 CAPACITOR FILTER
An inexpensive filter for light loads is found in the capacitor filter which is connected directly across the
load, as shown in Fig. 5.6 (a). The property of a capacitor is that it allows ac component and blocks the dc
component.
During the positive half-cycle, the capacitor charges up to the peak value of the transformer secondary
voltage, Vm, and will try to maintain this value as the full-wave input drops to zero. The capacitor will discharge
through RL slowly until the transformer secondary voltage again increases to a value greater than the capacitor
voltage. The diode conducts for a period which depends on the capacitor voltage (equal to the load voltage). The
diode will conduct when the transformer secondary voltage becomes more than the 'cut-in’ voltage of the diode.
The diode stops conducting when the transformer voltage becomes less than the diode voltage. This is called cut-
out voltage.
From the cut-in point to the cut-out point, what-ever charge the capacitor acquires is equal to the
charge the capacitor has lost during the period of non-conduction.

Fig: 5.6 (a) Capacitor filter, (b) Ripple voltage triangular waveform

If the value of the capacitor is fairly large, or the value of the load resistance is very large,
then it can be assumed that the time T2 is equal to half the periodic time of the waveform .i.e.

With the assumptions made above, the ripple waveform will be triangular in nature and the
rms value of the ripple is given by

86
5.8 L-SECTION OR LC FILTER
We know that the ripple factor is directly proportional to the load resistance R L in the
inductor filter and inversely proportional to R L in the capacitor filter. Therefore, if these two filters
are combined as LC filter or L-section filter, the ripple factor will be independent of R L

Fig: 5.7 LC filter

If the value of the inductance is increased, it will increase the time of conduction. At some
critical value of inductance, one diode, either D1 or D2 in full-wave rectifier, will always be conducting.
From Fourier series, the output voltage can be expressed as

87
 LC filter with Bleeder resistor It was assumed in the analysis given above that for a critical value
of inductor, either of the diodes is always conducting, i.e. current does not fall to zero. The incoming
current consists of two components:
(a) Idc= and (b) a sinusoidal varying components with peak value of . The negative peak

Vdc
of the ac current must always be less than dc, i.e., 2 I rms 
RL
2 Vdc
We know that for LC filter, I rms  ,
3 XL
2Vdc Vdc 2
Hence  , i.e. X L  RL
3 X L RL 3
RL
LC 
i.e.,
3 , where LC is the critical inductance.

It should be noted that the condition XL ≥ 2/3 RL cannot be satisfied for all
load requirements. At no load, i.e. when the load resistance is infinity, the value of the inductance will also tend to
be infinity. To overcome this problem, a bleeder resistor RB, is connected in parallel with the load resistance as
shown in Fig. 5.8
Therefore, a minimum current will always be present for optimum operation of the inductor. It improves
voltage regulation of the supply by acting as the pre-load on the supply. Also, it provides safety by acting as a
discharging path for capacitor.

Fig: 5.8 Bleeder Resistor connected at the LC filter output

88
5. 9 CLC OR -SECTION FILTER
Fig: 5.9 Shows the CLC or -type filter which basically consists of a capacitor filter followed by an LC
section.
This filter offers a fairly smooth output, and is characterized by a highly peaked diode currents
and poor regulation. Proceeding the analysis in the same ways as that for the single L-section filter, we
obtain

Fig: 5.9 CLC or π- type Filter

COMPARISON OF FILTERS

5.10 VOLTAGE REGULATION USING ZENER DIODE (Gives Constant Output Voltage)
A voltage regulator is an electronic circuit that provides a stable DC voltage
independent of the load current, temperature and ac line voltage variation s.
The quality of the regulation specified by (i) Line regulation and (ii) Load regulation.
For a good regulator the line and load regulation should be minimum value.

LINE REGULATION
A change in input voltage to a regulator will cause a change in its output of load
voltage. Line regulation is defined as the change in output voltage for a change in line supply
voltage keeping the load current and temperature constant. Line regulation is given by

89
LOAD REGULATION
Voltage regulator will experience a slight change in output voltage when there is a change in load
current demand (i.e., Full load voltage).

5.11 TYPES OF VOLTAGE REGULATORS: There are two types of voltage regulators available namely,
i) Shunt voltage regulator
ii) Series voltage regulator

5.12 SHUNT VOLTAGE REGULATOR: The heart of any voltage regulator circuit is a control element. If
such a control element is connected in shunt with the load, the regulator circuit is called shunt voltage
regulator.

Fig: 5.10 Block diagram of shunt voltage regulator

The unregulated input voltage Vin, tries to provide the load current. But part of the current is
taken by the control element, to maintain the constant voltage across the load. If there is any change in
the load voltage, the sampling circuit provides a feedback signal to the comparator circuit. The
comparator circuit compares the feedback signal with the reference voltage and generates a control
signal which decides the amount of current required to be shunted to keep the load voltage constant.

5.12.1 ZENER DIODE SHUNT REGULATOR

The zener diode is selected with V z equal to the voltage desired across the load. The zener
diode has a characteristic that under reverse bias condition, the voltage across it practically remains
constant, even if the current through it changes by a large extent. Under normal conditions, the
input current Ii =IL +I Z flows through resistor R. The input voltage V i can be written as
Vi=IiR+VZ= (IL+IZ)R+VZ

90
 Fig: 5.11 Zener voltage Regulator
When the input voltage Vi increases (say due to supply voltage variations), as the voltage across
zener diode remains constant, the drop across resistor R will increase with a corresponding increase
in IL + Iz. As Vz is a constant, the voltage across the load will also remain constant and hence, IL will
be a constant. Therefore, an increase in I L + IZ will result in an increase in Iz which will not alter the
voltage across the load.
It must be ensured that the reverse voltage applied to the zener diode never exceeds PIV of the diode
and at the same time, the applied input voltage must be greater than the breakdown voltage of the zener
diode for its operation. The zener diodes can be used as 'stand-alone' regulator circuits and also as
reference voltage sources.

5.12.2 EMITTER-FOLLOWER TYPE REGULATOR

In the Zener voltage regulator, the zener current varies over a wide range as the input
voltage and load current vary. As a result, the output voltage which is equal to VZ also changes by a
small amount. This change in the output voltage can be minimised by reducing the change in the
zener current with the help of a circuit called emitter-follower type regulator.
Here, the load resistance, RL, is not connected across the zener directly as in the zener
regulator, but is connected through an amplifier/buffer circuit.

Fig: 5.12 Emitter Follower Typer Regulator

Transistor is connected as an emitter-follower. As can be seen, the output voltage, V 0= (VZ-VBE)
However, the load current I L is supplied by the transistor from the input voltage V in,
deriving its base current from the zener circuit. The base current IB is equal to
Where β is the current-gain of the transistor. As far as the zener circuit is concerned, it is
supplying only the base current. Any change in the load current is reduced by β times i.e. change in
the zener current.

5.12.3 TRANSISTORISED SHUNT REGULATOR

In the transistorised shunt voltage regulator shown in Fig. 5.13, the output voltage is
determined by the voltage drop across series resistor R s. If IL increases due to a load change, V0 will tend
91
to decrease. However, the voltage across R2 will also decrease, thereby reducing the forward bias on the
transistor and driving it to cut-off. This results in less current flow through the transistor, thereby
maintaining Is almost constant, which keeps the voltage drop across Rs relatively unchanged. Thus,
for a given input voltage, output voltage V0=Vi-IsRs, remains substantially constant. The major
drawback in this circuit is the large amount of power dissipated in Rs,

Fig: 5.13 Transistorised shunt Regulator

5.13 SERIES VOLTAGE REGULATOR:

If in a voltage regulator circuit, the control element is connected in series with the load, the circuit
is called series voltage regulator circuit.

Fig: 5.14. Block diagram of series voltage regulator

The control element controls the amount of the input voltage that gets to the output. The sampling
circuit provides the necessary feedback signal. The comparator circuit compares the feedback with the
reference voltage to generate the appropriate control signal.

5.13.1 TRANSISTORISED SERIES REGULATOR

If Rs is replaced by a transistor as shown in Fig. 5.15, a more efficient circuit results which is
more sensitive to voltage changes and provides better regulation.

92
 Fig: 5.15 Transistorised Series Regulator
Transistor Q2, actually serves as a differential amplifier in which the fraction of the output
voltage 𝞫Vo is compared with reference voltage Vz.. The difference (𝞫V0-VZ) is amplified by Q 2 and
appears at the base of Q1. This in turn determines the voltage drop that will occur across Q1 . Because
of the gain of Q2, it requires only a small change in Vo to have a large effect on Q1. Further, the output
voltage may be varied over wide range using R 2 .The zener diode and transistor Q2 can be chosen so
that the temperature coefficients practically cancel.
If R2 is adjusted for a lower output voltage, a greater voltage drop occurs across Q1 Maximum
dissipation in Q1 thus takes place at high load currents and low output voltage in variable regulated power
supplier employing a series regulator.

Drawback of transistorised series regulator

The output voltage available is restricted by the VCEO of the series transistor used. The power
rating of the transistor used, as a series loser, depends on the voltage difference between the input and
output voltages. This difficulty can be minimised to a great extent by using thyristors. Thyristors have the
ability to control large power with minimal control power, and this control power does not have to remain
continuous as in the case of the base current of a transistor.

5.13.2 SHORT CIRCUIT PROTECTION OR OVERLOAD PROTECTION:

Fig: 5.16 (a) shows overload protection circuit in which a small sensing resistance Rsc is added in
series with the load resistance and two diodes are connected from the base of the transistor to the output.
The emitter voltage is equal to (VZ - VBE). The voltage drop across the sensing resistance Rsc is equal to
(IL X RSC) As long as the voltage drop across RSC is less than twice the cut-in voltage of the diode, the
diodes are effectively as good as not connected in the circuit.

Fig: 5.16 (a) and (b) Overload Protection Circuit

93
 If the voltage drop across Rsc increases suddenly due to over current in the load, then the diodes
will be forward biased and will start conducting. This will divert apart of the base current, which will be
directly led to the output, thus restricting the base current and hence, the transistor current. With a proper
design, the transistor can be turned-off in the case of a short circuit.
The protective diodes can be replaced by another transistor Q2 as shown in Fig. 5.16 (b). In this
case, the voltage across Rsc is used in turning ON transistor Q2, giving the same effect as before.

5.14 CURRENT LIMITING CIRCUIT OR TRANSISTOR CURRENT REGULATOR

The main function of a current regulator is to maintain a fixed current through the load despite
variations in the terminal voltage. Such a circuit employing a zener diode and PNP transistor is shown in
fig: 5.17.
Suppose due to drop in VL, current IL(IC) is decreased, then IE (≈IC) will also decrease. Hence
drop across RE, i.e., VBE will decrease,
-VRE - VBE +VZ = 0 or VBE=VZ-VRE
Hence a decrease in VRE will decrease VBE and therefore the conductivity of the transistor will
also decrease. This process keeps IL at a fixed level.

Fig: 5.17 Transistor current regulator circuit

5.15 LINEAR VOLTAGE REGULATOR

If the control element of a regulator operates in its linear region, then the regulator is called a
linear regulator. Linear regulators are generally of series mode type. The regulator circuit using Zener
diode is vulnerable to the variations in supply voltage since the current through the Zener diode also
changes correspondingly.
Hence the linear regulator uses an op-amp as an error amplifier, and a pass transistor as a control
element. The error output from the op-amp drives the control element, which allows current to the load
accordingly and keeps the output voltage constant.

5.16 OP-AMP VOLTAGE REGULATOR

 Op-Amp Series Regulator
 Op-Amp Shunt Regulator

5.16.1 OP-AMP SERIES REGULATOR

The basic circuit of a linear voltage regulator or Op-Amp series Regulator is shown in Fig- 5.18.
The regulating circuit consists of a voltage reference (Vref), a differential amplifier called error amplifier
using op-amp and a series regulating clement Q1 connected as an emitter follower.
The output voltage is sampled and fed back to the inverting input of the error amplifier through
the potential divider R2-R3. The error amplifier produces an output voltage that in proportional to the

94
 difference between the reference voltage and the sampled output voltage and it may be written as
V0’=A[Vref-𝞫V0],
where A is the gain of the amplifier and 𝞫 is the feedback factor which is equal to R3/(R2 + R3).
Since the drop across the base-emitter junction of transistor Q1 is small, the output V0 can be
approximated to V'0.

This equation implies that the output voltage is determined by the reference voltage and the
feedback factor. The output voltage thus obtained is kept at a constant level by the control of series
element connected with the error amplifier. For instance, an increase in output voltage causes a
corresponding decrease in the error amplifier output, which biases the series control transistor with
reduced base current. This action causes an increase in collector-to-emitter voltage and thus the
increase in the output is reduced.
On the other hand, when the output voltage reduces, the output of the differential amplifier
increases. Then, the series transistor is biased heavily at its base and as a consequence, the collector-to-
emitter voltage decreases.
Thus the reduction in output is compensated and the output voltage is maintained constant.

Fig: 5.18 Basic Circuit of a Op-Amp series Regulator

5.16.2 OP-AMP SHUNT REGULATOR

Here the control element is a series resistor R2 and a transistor Q1 in parallel with the load. In
such a regulator, regulation is achieved by controlling the current through Q 1.
When output voltage tries to decrease due to change in either the input voltage or load current or
temperature, the attempted decrease is sensed by R3 and R4 and applied to the non-inverting input of the
op-amp. The resulting difference in voltage reduces the op-amp’s output, driving Q1 less thus reducing its
collector current (shunt current), and increasing its collector-to-emitter resistance. Since collector-to
emitter resistance act as a voltage divider with R1, this action offsets the attempted decrease in output
voltage and hence, maintains it at a constant value. The opposite action occurs when output voltage tries
to increase. The shunt regulator is less efficient than the series type but offers inherent short-circuit
protection.

95
 Fig: 5.19 Op-Amp shunt Regulator

5.17 SWITCHING REGULATOR

In the linear regulators considered so far, the control element i.e., the transistor conducts all the
time, the amount of conduction varying with changes in output voltage or current. Due to continuous
power loss, the efficiency of such a regulator is reduced to 50% or less.
A switching regulator is different because its control element operates like a switch i.e., either it is
saturation (closed) or cut-off (open). Hence there is no unnecessary wastage of power which results in
higher efficiency of 90% or more. There are three types.
(a) Step- down regulator
(b) Step- up regulator
(c) Inverting switching regulator

5.17.1 STEP- DOWN REGULATOR

In this regulator, Vout is always less than VS. an unregulated positive DC voltage is applied to the
collector of the NPN transistor. A series of pulse from oscillator is sent to the base of transistor T which
gets saturated (closed) on each of the positive pulse. It is so because NPN transistor needs a positive
voltage pulse on its base in order to turn ON. A saturated transistor acts as a closed switch, hence it
allows VS to send current through L and charge C to the value of output voltage during the on-time (TON)
of the pulse. The diode D1 is reverse- biased at this point and hence, does not conduct.
Eventually when positive pulse turns to zero, Q is cut-off and acts like an open switch during the
off period (TOFF) of the pulse. The collapsing magnetic field of the coil produces self-induced voltage and
keeps the current flowing by returning energy to the circuit.

Fig: 5.20 Step- Down Regulator

96
 The value of output voltage depends on input voltage and pulse width i.e., on-time of the
transistor. When on time is increased relative to off- time, C charges more thus increasing Vout. When TON
is decrease, C discharges more thus decreasing Vout. By adjusting the duty cycle (T ON/T) of the transistor,
Vout can be varied.
Vout = VS (TON/T)
Where T is the period of the ON-OFF cycle of the transistor and is related to frequency by T= 1/f.
Also, T = TON + TOFF and the ratio (TON/T) is called the duty cycle.
The regulating action of the circuit is explained as follows:
When Vout tries to decrease, on-time of the transistor is increased causing an addition charge on
the capacitor C to offset the attempted decrease. When Vout tries to increase, TON of the transistor is
decreased causing C to discharge enough to offset the attempted increase.

5.17.2 STEP- UP REGULATOR

When the transistor Q turns ON on the arrival of the positive pulse at its base, voltage across L
increases quickly to VS-VCE(sat) and magnetic field of L expands quickly. During on-time of the transistor,
VL keeps decreasing from its initial maximum value. The longer transistor is ON, the smaller VL becomes.
When the transistor turns OFF, magnetic field of L collapses and its polarity reverses so that its
voltage adds to the input voltage thus producing an output voltage greater than the input voltage. During
Off- time of the transistor, D2 is forward-biased and allows C to charge. The variations in Vout due to
charging and discharging action are sufficiently smoothed by filtering action of L and C.

Fig: 5.21 Step-Up Regulator

It may be noted that shorter the on-time of the transistor, greater the inductor voltage and hence
greater VL adds to VS. On the other hand, the longer the on-time, the smaller the inductor voltage and
hence, lesser the output voltage (because smaller VL adds to VS).
The regulating action may be explained as follows:
When Vout tries to decrease (because of either increasing load or decreasing V S), transistor on
time decreases thereby offsetting attempted decrease in Vout, when Vout tries to increase, on time increase
and attempted increase in Vout is offset.
As seen, the output voltage is inversely related to the duty cycle.
Vout = Vs (T/TON)

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 2 MARKS QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
UNIT -I
1. What is Intrinsic Semiconductor?
Pure form of semiconductors are said to be intrinsic semiconductor. Ex: germanium, silicon.

2. What is P-type Semiconductor?

The Semiconductor which are obtained by introducing penta valent impurity atom (phosphorous,
antimony) are known as P-type Semiconductor.

3. What is N-type Semiconductor?

The Semiconductor which is obtained by introducing trivalent impurity atom (gallium, indium) are known
as N-type Semiconductor.

4. Define Hall Effect.

If a metal or semiconductor carrying current I is placed in a transverse magnetic field B, an electric field E
is induced in the direction perpendicular to both I and B, This phenomenon is known as Hall Effect.

5. Give the expression for diffusion current density due to electron.

Where Jn - diffusion current density due to electron

q - Charge of an electron
Dn – diffusion constant for electron
dn /dx – concentration gradient

6. What are conductors? Give examples.

Conductors are materials in which the valence and conduction band overlap each other so there is a
swift movement of electrons which leads to conduction. Ex. Copper, silver.

7. What are insulators? Give examples.

Insulators are materials in which the valence and conduction band are far away from each other. So no
movement of free electrons and thus no conduction. Ex glass, plastic.

8. What are Semiconductors? Give examples.

The materials whose electrical property lies between those of conductors & insulators are known
as Semiconductors. Ex: germanium, silicon.

9. What are the types of Semiconductor?

 Intrinsic semiconductor
 Extrinsic semiconductor.

10. Give the expression for diffusion current density due to holes.

Where
Jp - diffusion current density due to holes
q - Charge of a hole
Dp – diffusion constant for hole

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 dn / dx – concentration gradient

11. What is depletion region in PN junction?

The region around the junction from which the mobile charge carriers are depleted is called as
depletion region. since this region has immobile ions, which are electrically charged , the depletion region
is also known as space charge region.

12. What is meant by biasing a PN junction?

Connecting a PN junction to an external voltage source is biasing a PN junction.

13. What is forward bias and reverse bias in a PN junction?

 When positive terminal of the external supply is connected to P region and negative terminal to N
region ,the PN junction is said to be forward biased.
 Under forward biased condition the PN region offers a very low resistance and a large amount of
current flows through it.

14. What is the total current at the junction of PN junction diode?

The total in the junction is due to the hole current entering the n material and the electron current entering
the p material. Total current is given by

Where,
I – Total current
Ipn(0) - hole current entering the n material
Inp(0) - electron current entering the p material.

15. What are break down diodes?

Diodes which are designed with adequate power dissipation capabilities to operate in the break down region
are called as break down or zener diodes.

16. What is break down? What are its types?

o When the reverse voltage across the PN junction is increased rapidly at a voltage the junction breaks
down leading to a current flow across the device.
o This phenomenon is called as break down and the voltage is break down voltage. The types of break
down are

i) zener break down

ii) Avalanche breakdown
17. What is an ideal diode?
An ideal diode is one which offers zero resistance when forward biased and infinite resistance
when reverse biased.
18. What is depletion region in PN junction?
The region around the junction from which the mobile charge carriers (electrons and holes) are
depleted is called as depletion region. Since this region has immobile ions, which are electrically charged,
the depletion region is also known as space charge region.
19. What is Reverse saturation current?
The current due to the minority carriers in reverse bias is said to be reverse saturation
current. This current is independent of the value of the reverse bias voltage.
20. Compare ideal diode as a switch.
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 An ideal diode when forward biased is equivalent a closed (ON) switch and when reverse biased,
it is equivalent to an open (OFF) switch.
State the mathematical equation which relates voltage applied across the PN junction diode and current
flowing through it.
 VV 1 
I  I0  e T 
 
 
21. Define knee/cut-in/threshold voltage of a PN diode.
It is the forward voltage applied across the PN diode below which Practically no current flows.
22. Define breakdown voltage.
It is the reverse voltage of a PN junction diode at which the junction breaks
Down with sudden rise in the reverse current.
23. Define Zener diode.
A zener diode is a properly doped crystal diode which has a sharp breakdown
Voltage.
24. What is the effect of junction temperature on cut-in voltage of a PN diode?
Cut-in voltage of a PN diode decreases as junction temperature increases.
25. What is the effect of junction temperature on forward current and reverse current of a PN diode
For the same forward voltage, the forward current of a PN diode increases and reverse saturation
current increases with increase in junction temperature.
26. Differentiate between breakdown voltage and PIV of a PN diode.
The breakdown voltage of a PN diode is the reverse voltage applied to it at which the PN junction
breaks down with sudden rise in reverse current. Whereas, the peak inverse voltage (PIV) is the
maximum reverse voltage that can be applied to the PN junction without damage to the junction.
27. Differentiate avalanche and zener breakdowns.
Zener Breakdown Avalanche Breakdown
 Breaking of covalent bonds is due to  collision of thermally generated charge carriers
intense electric field across the narrow having high velocity and kinetic energy with
depletion region it generates large number of adjacent atom, this process is a cumulative
free electrons to cause breakdown process hence the charge carriers are multiplied
hence it is known as carrier multiplication or
avalanche multiplication.
 The temperature coefficient is negative  The temperature Coefficients is positive
 This occurs with breakdown voltage 6V or less  This occurs with breakdown voltage above 6V
than it.

 
The reverse characteristics is very sharp in The reverse characteristics is not sharp in
breakdown region breakdown region.

 Breakdown occurs due to heavily doped  Breakdown occurs due to avalanche

junction and applied strong electric field multiplication between thermally generated ions.
 Doping level is high.  Doping level is low.
 Breakdown occurs at lower voltage compared  Breakdown occurs at higher voltage.
to avalanche breakdown

28. Draw the V-I characteristics of an ideal diode.

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29. Define drift current?
When an electric field is applied across the semiconductor, the holes move towards the negative
terminal of the battery and electron move towards the positive terminal of the battery. This drift
movement of charge carriers will result in a current termed as drift current.
30. Define the term diffusion current?
A concentration gradient exists, if the number of either electrons or holes is greater in one region
of a semiconductor as compared to the rest of the region. The holes and electron tend to move from
region of higher concentration to the region of lower concentration. This process in called diffusion and
the current produced due this movement is diffusion current.
31. What is depletion region.?
The region around the junction from which the charge carriers are completely depleted is known
as depletion region. Since this region has immobile ions, which are electrically charged. This depletion
region is known as space charge region.
32. List the uses of zener diode.
 It can be used as voltage regulator.
 It can be used as limiter in wave shaping circuits.
 It can be used in protection circuit against damage from accidental over voltage.
 It can be used as a fixed reference voltage in a network for calibrating voltmeters
33. Distinguish junction diode from Zener diode.
junction diode Zener diode
 It is never intentionally operated in the  It is operated in the breakdown region.
breakdown region because it may damage
 It have thick junction  It have thin junction

 Power dissipation is less  Power dissipation is HIGH

 Dynamic resistance is very small in  Dynamic resistance is very high in reverse bias
 reverse bias

 Used as rectifiers, voltage 

multipliers, Used as voltage regulators, limiters etc.,
clippers and clampers

34. Differentiate between drift and diffusion currents.

Drift Current Diffusion Current
 It is developed due to potential gradient.  It is developed to charge concentration gradient.

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  
This phenomenon is found both in metals It is found only in semiconductors.
and semiconductors.

35. List the PN diode parameters.

 Bulk Resistance.
 Static Resistance/Junction Resistance (or) DC Forward Resistance or
 Dynamic Resistance (or) AC Forward Resistance
 Reverse Resistance
 Knee Voltage
 Breakdown Voltage
 Reverse Current (or) Leakage Current
 State the PN diode ratings.
 Even PN-Junction has limiting values of maximum forward current,
 peak inverse voltage and maximum power rating.
36. Define reverse recovery time.
It is maximum time taken by the device to switch from ON to OFF stage.
38. List the PN diode switching times.
 Recovery Time
 Forward Recovery Time
 Reverse Recovery Time
 Storage and Transition Times

UNIT-II
1. What is a FET?
A field effect transistor is a three terminal semiconductor device in which current conduction takes place
by one type of carriers either the holes or electrons and is controlled by an electric field.

2. Why FET is called as unipolar device?

The operation of FET depends upon the flow of majority carriers only either holes or electrons and hence
FET is said to be unipolar device.

3. Define pinch off voltage.

It is the voltage at which the channel is pinched off, (i.e) all the free charges from the channel get
removed.

4. Compare N-channel and P-channel JFET.

N-Channel JFET P-channel JFET
Current carriers are electrons Current-carriers are holes
Low input noise High input noise
High transconductance Low transconductance
Mobility of electrons Mobility of holes

5. What is a MOSFET?
MOSFET is metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor. It is a three terminal semiconductor devices
similar to FET with gate insulated from the channel.

102
6. Draw the current symbol for enhancement type MOSFET.

7. What is the application of MOSFET?

 It can be used as, input amplifiers -in oscilloscope, electronic voltmeters
 In computer memories.
 In logic circuits ,
 Phase shift oscillators,&
 In FM and TV receiver.

8. What is a bipolar junction transistor?

A bipolar junction transistor is a three terminal semiconductor deice in which the operation depends on
the interaction of both majority and minority carriers.

9. Define the different operating regions of transistor.

Active Region: It is defined in which transistor function is biased in reverse direction and emitter function
in forward direction.
Cutoff Region: The region in which the collector and emitter functions are both reverse biased.
Saturation Region: The region in which both the collector and emitter functions are forward biased.

10. Define NPN and PNP transistor.

NPN Transistor: In NPN transistor, P-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two n-type
semiconductors. The emitter region is made up of n-type semiconductor base region is made of p-type
semiconductor, collector region is made of n-type semiconductor.
PNP Transistor: In PNP transistor, n-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two P-type
semiconductor. Emitter region is made of P-type, collector region is made of P-type and the base region
is made of n-type, semiconductor.

11. What are the three types of configuration in transistors?

Depending on the input, output and .common terminal a transistor are connected in 3configurations;
 Common base configuration
 Common emitter configuration
 Common collector-Configuration.

12. What are early effect or base and the modulation?

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 As the collector by voltage Vcc is made to increase the reverse bias, the space charge width between
collector and base tends to increase with the result that the effective width of the base decreases. This
dependency of base width on collector to emitter -voltage is known as early effect.

13. What is thermal runaway?

The continuous increase in collector current due to poor-biasing causes the temperature at collector
terminal to increase. If no stabilization i.e., done, the collector leakage current also increases. This further
increases the temperature. This action becomes cumulative and. ultimately the transistor turns out. The
self destruction of an unstabilized transistor ' is known as thermal runaway.
14. What are the types of breakdown in transistor?
The different types of breakdown in transistor are
 Avalanche multiplication,
 Reach through (or) Punch through.
15. Difference between BJT and FET?
FET BJT

1. Voltage controlled device 1. Current controlled device

2. Unipolar device ;because in main current now only
2. Bipolar device . it means current is due to both
majority carrier participates majority and minority current
3. Higher frequency response 3. frequency variation affects the performance
4. Good thermal stability because of Absence of
4. temperature dependent, thermal runaway may
minority carriers cause

5. Costlier than bjt 5. relatively cheaper

6. No offset voltage, so it works better as a switch or

6. there is always an offset voltage before switching
chopper.
7. Small gain bandwidth product 7. greater than FET
8. Fet has very high input impedance 8. Bjt has low input input impedance

9. Very less noisy in comparison to bjt 9. Noisy

10. Doesn’t require any threshold so it is a better
10. Requires a threshold voltage to operate so cannot
chopper circuit work as a good chopper
11. Due to very high rd resistance as a switch it is not
11. Due to very less very low internal resistance so as
preferred a switch it performs better.
12. At low frequencies, FET is an ideal amplifier but at
12. At high frequencies BJT is a good amplifier
high frequencies, its gain decreases rapidly with
frequencies

13. In the FET we don’t see the thermal runaway 13. Due to minority charge carriers and low input
impedance it suffers form thermal runaway
16. List the static characteristic of FET?
 Three terminal device ( source (S), drain(D) , gate(G) )
 Current carried by one type of charge practical so it is unipolar devices
 Temperature dependent
 Very high input impedance

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 Current control device
 It requires very less space compared to BJT
 Used as amplifier or switch
17. What is the active region in the transistor CB configuration?
When emitter to base junction is in forward bias and collector to base junction is in reverse bias the
region of operation is active region.
18. What are the benefits of the h-parameters?
1. Real numbers at audio frequencies.
2. Easy to measure.
3. Can be obtained from the transistor static characteristic curves.
4. Convenient to use in circuit analysis and design.
5. Most of the transistor manufactures specify the h- parameters.
19. Define Transistor.
It consists of two PN Junctions formed by sandwiching either p-type or n-type semiconductor between
a pair of opposite types.
20. Mention the types of transistor?
1. NPN Transistor
2. PNP Transistor
21. Define current amplification factor.
The ratio of change in output current to the change in input current at constant other side voltage is
called current amplification factor.
22. Explain the input characteristics of transistor.
It is a graph drawn between output voltage and input current keeping other side voltage as constant.
23. Explain the output characteristics of transistor.
It is a graph drawn between output voltages and output current keeping other side current (I/P) as
constant.
24. Mention the types of connection in a transistor.
1. Common base connection.
2. Common emitter connection
3. Common collector connection.
25. What are the biasing conditions to operate transistor in active region?
Emitter-base junction has to be forward biased and collector-base junction to be reverse biased.
26. In a transistor operating in the active region although the collector junction is reverse biased, the
collector current is quite large. Explain.
Forward biasing the input side and reverse biasing the output side are the requirements of a
transistor in the active region. The collector current is experimentally equal to the emitter current.
Therefore the collector current will be large as emitter current is large on the other hand, in CE operation
I B is multiplied by β, hence we get large collector current.
27. Why CE configuration is considered to be the most versatile one?
The common emitter configuration provides very good voltage gain about 500CE configuration finds
excellent usage in audio frequency applications, hence used in receivers and transmitter.

28. Write the junction transistor operation may be drawn from the analysis.
1. The major charge carriers in the PNP junction transistor are holes.
2. The major charge carriers in the NPN junction transistor are electrons.
29. Why transistor (BJT) is called current controlled device?
The output voltage, current or power is controlled by the input current in a transistor. So, it is
called the current controlled device.
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30. Why silicon type transistors are more often used than Germanium type?
Because silicon has smaller cut-off current ICBO , small variations in I CBO due to variations in
temperature and high operating temperature as compared to those in case of Germanium.
31. Why collector is made larger than emitter and base?
Collector is made physically larger than emitter and base because collector is to dissipate much
power.
32. Why the width of the base region of a transistor is kept very small as compared to other regions?
Base region of a transistor is kept very small and lightly doped so as to pass most of the injected
charge carriers to the collector.
33. Why emitter is always forward biased with respect to base?
To supply majority charge carrier to the base.
34. Why collector is always reverse biased with respect to base?
To remove the charge carriers away from the collector-base junction.
35. Why CE configuration is most popular in amplifier circuits?
Because it’s current, voltage and power gains are quite high and the ratio of output impedance and
input impedance are quite moderate
36. Why emitter is always forward biased with respect to base?
To supply majority charge carrier to the base.
37. Why collector is always reverse biased with respect to base?
To remove the charge carriers away from the collector-base junction.
38. Why CE configuration is most popular in amplifier circuits?
Because it’s current, voltage and power gains are quite high and the ratio of output impedance and
input impedance are quite moderate
39. Why is CC configuration seldom used?
Because its voltage gain is always less than unity.
40. Which of the BJT configuration is suitable for impedance matching application and why?
CC configuration is suitable for impedance matching applications because of very high input
impedance and low output impedance.
41. Why field effect transistor is called unipolar transistors?
Because current conduction is by only one type of majority carriers.
42. Why FET’s are so called? (or) Why FETs are voltage controlled devices?
The output characteristics of a FET can be controlled by the applied electric field (voltage) and hence
the name FET and are voltage controlled devices.
43. How is drain current controlled in a JFET?
By controlling the reverse bias given to its gate, i.e., VGS
44. What is the pinch-off voltage in a JFET?
The value of VDS at which the channel is pinched-off, i.e., all the free charges from the channel get
removed, is called the pinch-off voltage in a JFET.

45. What are the parameters that control the pinch-off voltage of JFET?
Electron charge, donor/acceptor concentration density, permittivity of channel material and half-width
of channel bar.
How does the FET behave (i) for small values of |VDS | and (ii) for large values of
|VDS |?
(i) FET behaves as an ordinary resistor for small values of |V DS |, i.e., in ohmic region.
(ii) FET behaves as a constant current source for large values of |V DS | till breakdown occurs.
46. What is meant by saturation region?

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 The region of drain characteristic of a FET in which drain current remains fairly constant is called the
saturation or pinch-off region.
47. What is meant by drain-source saturation current IDSS?
The drain current in pinch-off region with VDS = 0 is called IDSS.
48. Why is the input impedance of FET very high?
Because it’s input circuit (gate-to-source) is reverse biased and the input gate current is very small
(nA).
49. Differentiate BJT and UJT.
BJT UJT
1. It has two PN junctions 1. It has only one PN junctions
2. three terminals present are emitter, 2. three terminals present are emitter,
base,collector base1,base2
3. basically a amplifying device 3. basically a switching device

UNIT-III

1. What is a varactor diode?

A diode which is based on the voltage variable capacitance of the reverse biased p-n
Junction is said to be varactor diode. It has other names such as varicaps, voltacaps.

2. What is a tunnel diode?

The tunnel diode is a pn junction diode in which the impurity concentration is greatly Increased about
1000 times higher than a conventional PN junction diode thus yielding very thin depletion layer. This
diode utilizes a phenomenon called tunneling and hence the diode is referred as tunnel diode.

3. What is tunneling phenomenon?

The phenomenon of penetration of the charge carriers directly though the potential barrier instead of
climbing over it is called as tunneling.

4. What is backward diode?

The backward diode is a diode in which the doping level is moderate. The forward current in this case is
very small, very much similar to that of the reverse current in the conventional diode.

5. what is a LED?
A PN junction diode which emits light when forward biased is known as Light emitting
diode (LED).

6. Explain the Advantages of photodiode?

a. can be used as variable resistance device.
b. Highly sensitive to the light.
c. The speed of the operation is very high . the switching of current and hence the resistance
value from high to low or other wise is very fast .

7. Explain the Disadvantages of photodiode?

(i) The dark current is temperature dependent .
(ii) The overall photo diode characteristics are temperature dependent
Hence have poor temperature stability
(iii) The current and change in current is in the range of TA which may not
107
 be sufficient to drive other circuits. Hence amplification is necessary

6. What is Pin diode ?

Pin diode is a high speed switching device, because its highly improved switching time in
comparison with a PN diode. In this diode high resistivity intrinsic layer is sandwiched between the heavily
doped P and N regions thus it is named as PIN diode.

7. What is a varactor diode ?

The varactor diode is a semiconductor, voltage dependent variable capacitor diode. This special
diode which is made for the application utilization of voltage variable properly hence it is called varactor
diode or Varicaps (or) voltage cap.It is operated under reverse biased conditions so as to yield a variable
junction capacitance.

8. What is the significance of varactor diode ?

The varactor diode is a semiconductor, voltage deprndent ,variable capacitors
diode.Their mode of operation depends on the capacitance that exists at the PN junction when it is
reverse biased.

9. Why germanium instead of silicon is used for construction of SCR?

For the construction of SCR germanium is preferred than silicon because, more silicon per
ampere current is required. Hence the current rating is increased, it require more silicon.

12. Write an two different characteristics of SCR ?

1. Forward characteristics
2. Reverse characteristics

13. Mention the application of SCR.

(i) It can be used as a speed control element in DC and Ac motors.
(ii)It can be used as an inverter.
(iii) It can be used as an Converter.

14. Define breakdown voltage of SCR.

It can be defined as the minimum forward voltage at which the SCR starts conducting heavily.

15. Define latching current.

It can be defined as the maximum anode current that an SCR capable of passing without
destruction.

16. Define holding current of an SCR .

It can be defined as the minimum value of anode current required to keep the SCR in ON
position.

17. What is DIAC ?

Diac is a two terminal ,bi-directional semiconductor switching depending upon the polarity of the
voltage applied across its main terminals .In operation ,diac is equivalent to two 4 layer diodes connected
in antiparallel.
18. List out the applications of DIAC.
(i) It is used as a trigger device in TRIAC power control systems.
108
 (ii) It is used in lamp dimmer circuits
(iii) It is used in heater control circuits
(iv) It is used for speed control of universal motor.

19. A triac is considered as two SCRs connected in reverse parallel.Why?

The TRIAC is a bidirectional device.,i.e it conducts in both direction ,In order to achieve this
characteristics two SCRs are connected in reverse and parallel.
20. Compare SCR with TRIAC.
SCR TRIAC
It is a unidirectional device It is a bidirectional device
It is triggered by a narrow positive pulse It is triggered by a narrow pulse of the
applied at the gate either polarity to the gate.

SCR are available only with large current Triac are available for both lower current
rating. and large current rating.

It has fast turn off The turn off time is less than SCR

UJT is used for triggering Diac is used for triggering

Applications: Phase control, Protection of Applications: Phase control, light dimmer
power suppliers

21. What is TRIAC ?

TRIAC is a three terminal bi-directional semiconductor switching device. It can conduct in both
the directions for any desired period.In operation it is equivalent to two SCRs connected in antiparallel .
22. Give the applications of UJT.
(i) It is used in timing circuits
(ii)It is used in switching circuits.
(iii) It is used in phase control circuits.
(iv) It is used in saw –tooth generators.
(v)It is used in pulse generation.
23. Define dark current of a photo diode .
When there is no light ,the reverse biased photodiode carriers a current which is very small and is
called as dark current.
24. What is photodiode ?
It is a light sensitive device used to convert light signal into electrical signal.

25. What is mean by solar cell ?

A solar cell is basically a PN junction diode which converts solar energy into electric energy. It is
also called a solar energy converter.
26. What is Photo voltaic effect?
When the light is incident on the photodiode ,an internal voltage is generated, it causes the
current flow through internal circuit even though no external source is applied. this generated emf is
proportional to the frequency and the intensity of the incident light. This phenomenon is called photo
voltaic effect.
27. What is known as photo conductive effect?
This is the absorption of incident light by an semiconductor resulting in increase in conductivity.
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28. What is an LCD ?
LCD is a passive type display devices used for display of numeric and alphanumeric character in
dot matrix and seven segment display. The main advantage of LCD is the low power consumption
because no light generation is required .
29. On what factor does the color of the light emitted by a LED depend ?
(i) Energy gap of the material
(ii) The colour of the emitted light depends on the type of the material used.
30. Explain the Advantages of LED?
The various advantages of LED are.
(i) LED are small in size , and hence can be regarded as point source of light . because of their
small size , several thousand of LEDs can be packed in one sq .metre area
(ii)The brightness of light emitted by LED depends on the current flowing through LED. hence the
brightness of light can be smoothly controlled by varying the current. This makes possible to operate LED
displays under different ambient lighting conditions.
31. Explain the Disadvantages of LED ?
a. It draws considerable current requiring frequent replacement of battery in low power battery
operated devices.
b. Luminous efficiency of LEDs is low which is about 1.5 lumen/watt.
c. The characteristics are affected by temperature
d. Need large power for the operation compared to normal p-n junction.
32. Write an application of LED?
a. All kind of visual display. In seven segment displays and alpha numeric displays. Such displays
are commonly used in watches and calculators.
b. In the optical devices such as optocouplers .
c. As ON-OFF indicator in various types of electronic circuits.
d. LEDs useful in remote controls.
33. Different types of LCD ?
1. Dynamic scattering LCD
2. Field effect LCD
34. What does UJT stands for? Justify the name UJT..
UJT stands for unijunction transistor. The UJT is a three terminal semiconductor device having
two doped regions. It has one emitter terminal (E) and two base terminals (B1andB2 ). It has only one
junction, moreover from the out look, it resembles to a transistor hence the name unijunction transistor.
35. What is interbase resistance of UJT?
The resistance between the two bases (B1and B2) of UJT is called as interbase resistance.
Interbase resistance = RB1 + RB2
RB1- resistance of silicon bar between B1 and emitter junction.
RB2 - resistance of silicon bar between B2 and emitter junction
36. What are the regions in the VI characteristics of UJT?
1. Cut-off region
2. Negative resistance region.
3. Saturation region
37. What is meant by negative resistance region of UJT?
In a UJT when the emitter voltage reaches the peak point voltage, emitter current starts flowing.
After the peak point any effort to increase in emitter voltage further leads to sudden increase in the
emitter current with corresponding decrease in emitter voltage, exhibiting negative resistance. This takes
place until the valley point is reached. This region between the peak point and valley point is called
negative resistance region.
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38. Mention the applications of UJT.
1. It is used in timing circuits
2. It is used in switching circuits
3. It is used in phase control circuits
4. It can be used as trigger device for SCR and triac.
5. It is used in saw tooth generator.
6. It is used for pulse generation.
39. What is a TRIAC?
TRIAC is a three terminal bidirectional semiconductor switching device. It can conduct in both the
directions for any desired period. In operation it is equivalent to two SCR’s connected in antiparallel.
40. Give the application of TRIAC.
1. Heater control
2. Motor speed control
3. Phase control
4. Static switches
41. What are the different operating modes of TRIAC?
1. Keeping MT2 and G positive
2. Keeping MT2 and G negative.
3. Keeping MT2 positive and G negative.
4. Keeping MT2 negative and G positive.
42. What is a DIAC?
DIAC is a two terminal bidirectional semiconductor switching device. . It can conduct in either direction
depending upon the polarity of the voltage applied across its main Terminals. In operation DIAC is
equivalent to two 4 layer diodes connected in antiparallel.
43. Give some applications of DIAC.
1. To trigger TRIAC
2. Motor speed control
3. Heat control
4. Light dimmer circuits
44. What is a SCR?
A silicon controller rectifier (SCR) is a three terminal, three junction semiconductor device that
acts as a true electronic switch. It is a unidirectional device. It converts alternating current into direct
current and controls the amount of power fed to the load.
45. Define break over voltage of SCR.
Break over voltage is defined as the minimum forward voltage with gate open at which the SCR starts
conducting heavily.
46. Why SCR cannot be used as a bidirectional switch.
SCR can do conduction only when anode is positive with respect to cathode with proper gate current.
Therefore, SCR operates only in one direction and cannot be used as bidirectional switch.
47. How turning on of SCR is done?
1. By increasing the voltage across SCR above forward break over voltage.
2. By applying a small positive voltage at gate.
3. By rapidly increasing the anode to cathode voltage.
4. By irradiating SCR with light.
48. How turning off of SCR is done?
1. By reversing the polarity of anode to cathode voltage.
2. By reducing the current through the SCR below holding current.
3.By interrupting anode current by means of momentarily series or parallel switching
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49. Define holding current in a SCR.
Holding current is defined as the minimum value of anode current to keep the SCR ON.
50. List the advantages of SCR.
1. SCR can handle and control large currents.
2. Its switching speed is very high
3. It has no moving parts, therefore it gives noiseless operation.
4. Its operating efficiency is high.
51. List the application of SCR.
1. It can be used as a speed controller in DC and AC motors.
2. It can be used as an inverter.
3. It can be used as a converter
4. It is used in battery chargers.
5. It is used for phase control and heater control.
6. It is used in light dimming control circuits.
52. What is meant by latching.
The ability of SCR to remain conducting even when the gate signal is removed is called as latching.
53. Define forward current rating of a SCR.
Forward current rating of a SCR is the maximum anode current that it can handle without destruction.
54. List the important ratings of SCR.
1. Forward break over voltage
2. Holding current
3. Gate trigger current
4. Average forward current
5. Reverse break down voltage.
55. Compare SCR with TRIAC.
SCR TRIAC
1. unidirectional current 1. bidirectional current
2. triggered by positive pulse 2. triggered by pulse of positive or
at gate negative at gate
3. fast turn off time 3. Longer turn off time
4. large current ratings 4. lower current ratings

56. Give the various triggering devices for thyristors.

1. SCR
2. UJT
3. DIAC
4. TRIAC
57. Comparison between LED and LCD

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 UNIT IV
1. What are the transistor parameters that vary with the temperature?
β, ICO, VBeo are the parameters varying with the temperature.

2. What is Bias? What is the need for biasing?

 The proper flow of zero signal collector current and the maintenance of proper collector emitter voltage
during the passage of signal is know as transistor biasing.

 When a transistor is biased properly, it works efficiently and produces no distortion in the output
signal and thus operating point can be maintained stable.

3. What do you understand by DC & AC load line?

DC Load Line

It is the line on the output characteristics of a transistor circuit which gives the values of Ic & Vce
corresponding to zero signal.
4.
AC Load Line

This is the line on the output characteristics of a transistor circuit which gives the values of Ic & Vce when
signal is applied.

4. What is the meant by operating point Q?

The zero signal values of Ic & Vce are known as operating point. It is also called so because the variations
of Ic and Vce take place about this point, when the signal is applied.

5. What are the types of biasing?

The different types of biasing are
 Fixed bias

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  Collector to Base bias (or) Feedback bias
 Self bias (or) Voltage divider bias

6. Define stability factor ‘S’.

The stability factor is defined as the rate of change of collector current Ic with respect to the reverse
saturation collector current Ico, keeping ‘Vbe’ and β constant.

7. What are the disadvantages of collector feedback bias?

 The collector current is high.
 If AC signal voltage gain feedback into the resistor Re, it will reduce the gain of the amplifier.

8. Define the stability factors S’ and S’’.

The Stability factor S’ is defined as the rate of change of Ic with VBE keeping ICO and constant.

The Stability factor S’’ is defined as the rate of change of Ic with VBE keeping ICO and constant.

9. Give the stability factor S for the fixed bias circuit.

The stability factor for the fixed bias circuit is,

10. Give the stability factor S for the Collector to base bias circuit.
The stability factor for the Collector to base bias circuit is,

11. Give the stability factor S for the Voltage divider bias circuit.
The stability factor for the Voltage divider bias circuit is,

12. Why fixed bias circuit is not used in practice?

The stability of the fixed bias circuit is very less. Since the stability factor
S=1+β is a large quantity, therefore stability is less. So, it is not used in amplifier circuits.

13. What is all the compensation techniques used for bias stability?
Along with the negative feedback, the following techniques are used for the Q point stability.
 Diode compensation,
 Thermistor compensation,
 Sensistor compensation.

14. How FET is known as Voltage variable resistor?

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 In the region before pinch off, where VDS small, the drain to source resistance rd can be controlled by the
bias voltage VGS.Therefore FET is useful as voltage variable resistor (VVR)or Voltage dependent Resistor
(VDR).

15. List the advantages of fixed bias method.

The advantages of fixed bias method are,
 The stability of the operating point is greatly improved when compared with the other circuits.
 Less cost and simple circuit.

UNIT V
1. What is a power supply?
Equipment, which converts the alternating waveform from the power lines into an essentially direct voltage,
is known as power supply.

2. What are all the subsystems in a power supply?

A power supply consists of following three subsystems.
 Rectifier.
 Filter
 Voltage regulator.

3. What is the function of rectifier?

Rectifier is capable of converting a sinusoidal input waveform. Its average value is zero, into a unidirectional
waveform, with a non-zero average component.

4. What is half – wave rectifier?

The rectifier circuit which converts only the positive half cycle of the AC input voltage input voltage into
useful DC output voltage is known as half-wave rectifier.

5. Write down the average DC voltage across the load in a half-wave rectifier circuit.
The average DC voltage is given by,

Rf = Diode forward resistance RL= Load resistance

Vm = Maximum amplitude

6. Define ripple factor.

A measure of the purity of the DC output of a rectifier circuit is called the ripple factor ‘r’ and is defined
as,
r = RMS value of AC components
Average value of wave

7. What is meant by peak inverse voltage?

The maximum reverse voltage capability of a diode is known as peak inverse voltage.

8. What is full-wave rectifier?

A rectifier circuit, which converts both positive and negative half cycle of the input
AC voltage into useful DC voltage, is known as full wave rectifier.

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9. What are all the drawbacks of a full wave rectifier?
The draw backs of full wave rectifier are,
 Centre tapped transformer is required.

 Diodes having twice the PIV rating are necessary in this rectifier.

10. What are all the advantages of bridge rectifier circuit?

The advantages of bridge rectifier circuit are,
 The transformer utilization factor is high (0.812)
 It is suitable for large amount of DC power circuits.
 The peak inverse voltage across each diode is the peak V m only not 2Vm as in the case of two diode
rectifier.

11. Define rectifier efficiency.

It is defined as the ratio of DC power output to the applied AC power in put Rectifier efficiency.

12. What is the need for a filter in rectifier?

 Most of the rectifier circuits make use of transformer whose secondary feeds the AC power. The
transformer rating is necessary to design a power supply.
 Transformer utilization factor (TF) defined as the ratio of DC power delivered to the load to the AC power
rating of transformer secondary.

13. What is a rectifier-filter?

A filter circuit is a device which removes the AC component but allows the DC
components of the rectifier to reach the load. Ripples can be removed by one of the following filtering
methods.
o A capacitor, in parallel to the load, provides a easier by pass for the ripples due to low impedance to AC
at ripple frequency and leave the DC appear across the load.
o An inductor, in series with the load, prevents the passage of ripples due to high impedance at ripple
frequency, while allowing the DC due to low resistance to DC.

14. List some advantages and disadvantages of CLC filters.

 It can be used with both HWRs and FWRs.
 More output is obtained
 Output is almost pure DC.

15. What is the need for voltage regulators? What are the drawbacks of unregulated power supply?
An ordinary (unregulated) power supply from the following
Drawbacks: Poor regulation
o The DC output voltage varies with temperature, in case semiconductors are used.
o For certain applications the output of the filter even with small
amount of ripples is not acceptable.

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 QUESTION BANK

UNIT-I

TWO MARKS

1. What is meant by semiconductor diodes?

2. What is the classification of semiconductor devices?
3. What is meant by Intrinsic semiconductor diodes?
4. What is meant by Extrinsic semiconductor?
5. What are the types of Extrinsic semiconductor?
6. What is meant by N-type semiconductor?
6. What is meant by N-type semiconductor?
7. How will you get P-type semiconductor?
8. Write about donor impurities?
9. Write about acceptor impurities?
10. What is meant by continuity equation?
12. Name the current that flows through a PN Junction diode?
13. What is meant by PN Junction diode?
14. What is meant by diffusion?
15. What is meant by depletion region?
16. What is meant by drift current?
17. What is meant by diffusion current?
18. Define-Reverse Resistance?
19. What is meant by diffusion capacitance (CD)?
20. What is the effect of Temperature on PN Junction diode?
21. What is a zener diode?
22. What is zener breakdown?
23. Write the equation used to find the change in Zener potential due to temperature change.
24. At a temperature of 27 degree C, Determine the thermal voltage V T.
25. if the reverse saturation current in a PN junction silicon diode in 1 nA, Find the applied voltage for a
forward current of 0.5 uA.
26. Explain how diode, act as a switch.
27. Draw the equivalent circuits of a forward biased diode.
28. Write a short note on Avalanche breakdown.
29. what is the effect of temperature on the conductivity of a semiconductor?
30. Differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductor.
31. What is reverse recovery time in diode?
32. write any two difference between Zener breakdown and avalanche breakdown.

11 MARKS
1. Describe the operation of PN junction diode.
2. Explain about the energy band structure of insulator, semiconductors and conductors
3. Explain about in detail HALL EFFECT?
4. Explain about
a) Drift and diffusion currents
b) Fermi levels in extrinsic semiconductors
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 c) Explain in detail of intrinsic semiconductors and extrinsic semiconductors.
5. Explain in details
a) Diode equivalent circuit
b) Diode switching times
6. Explain forward and reverse bias in PN junction and drift current.
7. Explain transition and diffusion capacitance.
8. Explain about Fermi Dirac distribution and energy band diagram.
9. Discuss about Transition and Diffusion capacitance
10. Explain in detail of intrinsic semiconductors and extrinsic semiconductors.
11. Explain various diode equivalent circuits in detail.
12. Explain in detail about the switching characteristics on PN junction diode with neat sketch.
13. Derive the diode equation which relates the current and voltage.
14. Explain the diffusion capacitance with necessary equations.
15. Differentiate between Avalanche Breakdown and Zener Breakdown. Also explain the V-I
characteristics of Zener Diode.
16. With a circuit diagram, explain the procedure to plot the forward and reverse characteristics of a PN
junction diode. Explain the characteristics.
17. Briefly explain the following:
a. Transition capacitance
b. Diffusion capacitance
c. Diode equations
d. Diode Equivalent circuit
18. For the characteristics of the following figure
a.) Determine the ac resistance at ID = 2 mA.
b.) Determine the ac resistance at ID = 25 mA.
c.) Compare the results of parts (a) and (b) to the dc resistances at each current level.

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 UNIT-II
TWO MARKS
1. What is a bipolar junction transistor?
2. Define the different operating regions of transistor.
3. Define NPN and PNP transistor.
4. Define Transistor current.
5. What are the three types of configuration in transistors?
6. What is early effect or base and the modulation?
8. What are the consequence effects of base width modulation?
9. What is thermal runaway?
10. List the uses of emitter follower circuit.
11. What are the types of breakdown in transistor?
12. What is a FET?
13. Why FET is called as unipolar device?
14. Define pinch off voltage.
15. What are the characteristic parameters of JFET?
16. What-are the applications of JFET.
17. What is a MOSFET?
18. Write short on the working principle of a MOSFET.
19. How the MOSFET's are protected from overload voltage?
20. What are the application of MOSFET?
21. Differentiate FET and BJT.
22. Sketch the transfer curve for a P-channel device with IDSS=4m and Vp=3V.
23. A common Emitter Configuration Transistor has β=100 and IB = 50 uA. Calculate the values of α Ic
and IE.
24. Define pinch off Voltage.
25. What is meant by early effect in BJT?
26. with a circuit diagram explain the operation of a NPN transistor as a switch.
27. what is the significance of h-Parameters?
28. Define drain resistance and transconductance in JFET.
29. What are the different types of MOSFET?

11 MARKS
1. Explain eber’s moll equations with circuit diagram.
2. Discuss about
(a) the difference between MOSFET and JFET.
(b) The pinch off voltage.
3. Draw and Explain about enhancement mode of operation in MOSFET.
4. Explain about the EMOSFET, DMOSFET and VMOSFET.
5. Explain JFET with drain and transfer characteristics.
6. Explain early effect.
7. Explain characteristics of transistor in CB or CE or CC configurations.
8. Explain PNP or NPN transistor.
9. A FET has a drain current of 4 mA. If IDSS= 8 mA and VGS(off) = -6 V. Find the values of VGS and VP.
10. Explain in detail about VMOS with a neat sketch of its construction.
11. Draw and explain the input and output characteristics of a transistor in CB configuration.
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12. Explain the working of a P channel JFET and draw the VI characteristics of it.
13. Describe the operation and characteristics of the enhancement mode n-channel MOSFET. How does
this differ from depletion mode type?
14. Explain the working principle and operation of transistor action, input and output characteristic of
common emitter configuration.
15. With a circuit diagram, explain the procedure to plot the input and output characteristics of a CE
transistor. Explain the characteristics.
16. Explain the working of a transistor as an amplifier with an example?
17. Explain the construction and characteristics of CMOS.
18. Write detailed notes on common-emitter configuration with necessary diagrams.

UNIT -III
TWO MARKS
1. What is a TRIAC?
2. Give the symbol and structure of TRIAC.
3. Give the equivalent circuit of TRIAC
4. Give the application of TRIAC.
5. What are the different operating modes of TRIAC?
6. Give the VI characteristics of TRIAC.
7. What is a DIAC?
8. Give some applications of DIAC
9. Give the VI characteristics of DIAC.
10. Give the basic construction and symbol of DIAC.
11. What is a SCR?
12. Define break over voltage of SCR.
13. Why SCR cannot be used as a bidirectional switch.
14. Give the construction and symbol of SCR.
15. How turning on of SCR is done?
16. How turning off of SCR is done?
17. Construction symbol of DIAC
18. Give the equivalent circuit of DIAC
19. Define holding current in a SCR.
20. List the advantages of SCR.
21. List the application of SCR.
22. What is meant by latching.
23. Define forward current rating of a SCR.
24. List the important ratings of SCR.
25. Compare SCR with TRIAC
26. What is Shockley diode (PNPN diode)?
27. What is a thyristor? What are the types of thyristors?
28. Give the various triggering devices for thyristors.
29. Define MESFET. State the major difference between MOSFET and MESFET.
30. List out the applications of VARACTOR diode.
31. How is photodiode different from photo voltaic cell?
32. Draw the transistor model of a SCR.
33. DIAC is bidirectional device. Explain
34. Differentiate between DIAC and TRIAC.
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35. Write a short note on Schottky diode.
36. Give the basic construction and symbol of DIAC.
37. Compare SCR with TRIAC.
38. State any two applications of LCDs.
11 MARKS
1. Construction, principle of operation and characteristics of
(a) Schottky barrier diode
(b) Varactor diode
(c) Tunnel diode
(d) SCR
(e) DIAC
(f) TRIAC
2. Explain PIN, LCD, Tunnel diode and LED.
3. Explain photodiode, optocoupler, solar cell.
4. Explain the construction, operation, VI- charcteristics and application of SCR.
5. Explain the construction, operation, VI characteristics and application of DIAC.
6. Explain the alpha numeric display configuration using LEDs and describe its working.
7. Explain the operation of tunnel diode and draw its equivalent circuit.
8. Explain briefly about the following:
a. Construction and working of SCR
b. Phase control using SCR
9. Explain briefly about the following:
a. Characteristics of UJT
b. With a circuit diagram working of UJT relaxation oscillator.
10. With necessary diagrams explain solar cells in detail.
11. Briefly explain the following:
a. Photo conductivity.
b. Photo diode.
c. Photo Transistor.
12. Given the Relaxation oscillator of the following figure:
d. Determine RB1 and RB2 at IE =OA.
e. Calculate VP, the voltage necessary to turn on the UJT.
f. Determine whether R1 is within the permissible range of values determined by to ensure
firing of the UJT.
g. Determine the frequency of oscillation if RB1=100 ohm during discharge phase.
h. Sketch the waveform of VC for full cycle.
i. Sketch the waveform of VR2 for full cycle.
RBB=5 Kohm, η=0.6, VV=1V, IV=10mA, IP=10 uA, RBI=100 ohm during discharge phase.

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 UNIT – IV
TWO MARKS
1. What is Bias? What is the need for biasing?
2. What do you understand by DC& AC load line?
3. What is the meant by operating point Q?
4. What are the types of biasing?
5. What are all the factors that affect the stability of the operating point?
6. Define stability factor ‘S’?
7. What are the disadvantages of collector feedback bias?
8. Why voltage divider bias is commonly used in amplifier circuit?
9. Define the stability factors S’ and S’’ ?
10. Give the stability factor S for the fixed bias circuit, Collector to base bias and Voltage divider bias.
11. Why fixed bias circuit is not used in practice?
12. why we go for compensation? What are all the compensation techniques used for bias stability?
13. Why the input impedance of FET is more than that of a BJT?
14. How FET is known as Voltage variable resistor?
15. List the advantages of Fixed bias method?
16. How self-bias circuit is used as constant current source?
17. What is Thermal runaway?
18. What are the consideration factors that are used for the selection of an operating point for an FET
amplifier?
19. Write the different types of FET biasing circuits.
20. What is meant by stabilization?
21. Define Stabilization and compensation techniques.
22. Explain the two conditions to bias BJT in its linear operating region.

11 MARKS
1. Explain
a. DC load line and Q-point
b. Need for biasing
2. Explain types of BJT Biasing techniques.
3. Explain types of FET biasing techniques.

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4. Explain MOSFET biasing.
5. Explain stability factor and bias compensation techniques.
6. Explain in detail about fixed bias configuration.
7. Determine the following for the network given in figure below:
a) IDQ and VGSQ
b) VD,
c) VS,
d) VDS,
e) VDG.

UNIT- V
TWO MARKS
1. Define rectifier.
2. Types of rectifiers.
3. What are the basic elements of regulated power supply?
4. What is ripple factor(γ)?
5. What is a rectifier?
6. Define or what is Transformer utilization factor?
7. What is a filter and state its types?
8. What is regulated power supply?
9. What is the function of a voltage regulator?
10. What is the need of foldback current limiting?
11. Why series regulator called as linear voltage regulators?
12. What is switching regulator? List the four major components of the switching regulator.
13. Define PIV.
14. What is bleeder resistor?
15. Using a dc and ac voltmeter to measure the output signal from a filter circuit, readings obtained are
25V dc and 1.5 rms. Calculate the ripple of the filter output voltage.
16. For an op-amp having slew rate of SR=2 V/uS, What is the maximum closed loop voltage gain that
can be used when the input signal varies by 0.5 V in 10 uS.
11 MARKS
1. Explain in detail, the working of Bridge rectifiers with resistive load with necessary waveforms.
2. Explain the operation of FWR with a neat circuit diagram & waveforms and derive Idc, Irms, Vdc, Vrms
3. Define Irms, Vdc, Vrms, ripple factor, regulation, efficiency, PIV & TUF.

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4. Explain foldback limiting.
5. Explain switching regulator.
6. Explain series and shunt voltage regulators.
7. Explain Half wave rectifier with necessary diagrams and derivation.
8. Explain Full wave with necessary diagram and derivation.
9. Explain bridge rectifier with necessary diagram and derivation.
10. With a neat block diagram explain the following:
a.) Series voltage regulation
b.) Shunt voltage regulation.
11. Derive the ripple factor of half-wave and full-wave rectified signal.

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UNIVERSITY QUESTION PAPERS

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 REFERENCE
1. R.L.Boylestad and L.Nashelsky, - Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, Pearson Education, Tenth
Edition, 2009.
2. A. P. Godse and U. A. Bakshi “Electronic Devices and Circuits”, Technical publications Pune, First
edition 2007.
3. S. Salivahanan, N.Suresh Kumar and A.Vallavaraj, Electronic Devices and Circuits, 2 nd Edition, TMH,
2007.
4. R.S. Sedha, Applied Electronics, Chand Publication.

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