UNIT-III

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTORS(BJTs)

TOPICS:

Transistor structure, Basic transistor operation, Transistor Characteristics and Parameters, the transistor as an
Amplifier, The transistor as a Switch.

3. INTRODUCTION
 The transistor was invented by a team of three men at Bell Laboratories in 1947.
 Although this first transistor was not a bipolar junction device, it was the beginning of a technological
revolution that is still continuing.
 The transistor was invented in 1947 by a team of scientists from Bell Laboratories. William Shockley, Walter
Brattain, and John Bardeen developed the solid-state device that replaced the vacuum tube.
 Each received the Nobel prize in 1956. The transistor is arguably the most significant invention of the
twentieth century
 Two basic types of transistors are the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and the field effect transistor.
 The BJT is used in two broad areas- as a linear amplifier to boost or amplify an electrical signal and as an
electronic switch.

3.1 TRANSISTOR STRUCTURE

 The BJT is constructed with three doped semiconductor regions separated by two pn junctions, as shown in
the epitaxial planar structure in Figure 4–1(a).
 The three regions are called emitter, base, and collector. Physical representations of the two types of BJTs are
shown in Figure 4–1(b) and (c).
 One type consists of two n regions separated by a p region (npn), and the other type consists of two p regions
separated by an n region (pnp).
 The term bipolar refers to the use of both holes and electrons as current carriers in the transistor structure.

 The pn junction joining the base region and the emitter region is called the base-emitter junction.
 The pn junction joining the base region and the collector region is called the base-collector junction, as
indicated in Figure 4–1(b).
 A wire lead connects to each of the three regions, as shown. These leads are labeled E, B, and C for emitter,
base, and collector, respectively.
 The base region is lightly doped and very thin compared to the heavily doped emitter and the moderately
doped collector regions.
 Figure 4–2 shows the schematic symbols for the npn and pnp bipolar junction transistors.

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3.2 BASIC TRANSISTOR OPERATION
In order for a BJT to operate properly as an amplifier, the two pn junctions must be correctly biased with external dc
voltages.
Biasing
Figure 4–3 shows a bias arrangement for both npn and pnp BJTs for operation as an amplifier. Notice that in both
cases the base-emitter (BE) junction is forward-biased and the base-collector (BC) junction is reverse-biased. This
condition is called forward-reverse bias.

Operation
 To understand how a transistor operates, let’s examine what happens inside the npn structure.
 The heavily doped n-type emitter region has a very high density of conduction-band (free) electrons, as
indicated in Figure 4–4.

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  These free electrons easily diffuse through the forward based BE junction into the lightly doped and very thin
p-type base region, as indicated by the wide arrow.
 The base has a low density of holes, which are the majority carriers, as represented by the white circles.
 A small percentage of the total number of free electrons injected into the base region recombine with holes
and move as valence electrons through the base region and into the emitter region as hole current, indicated
by the red arrows.

 When the electrons that have recombined with holes as valence electrons leave the crystalline structure of the
base, they become free electrons in the metallic base lead and produce the external base current.
 Most of the free electrons that have entered the base do not recombine with holes because the base is very
thin.
 As the free electrons move toward the reverse-biased BC junction, they are swept across into the collector
region by the attraction of the positive collector supply voltage.
 The free electrons move through the collector region, into the external circuit, and then return into the emitter
region along with the base current, as indicated.
 The emitter current is slightly greater than the collector current because of the small base current that splits off
from the total current injected into the base region from the emitter.
Transistor Currents
 The directions of the currents in an npn transistor and its schematic symbol are as shown in Figure 4–5(a);
those for a pnp transistor are shown in Figure 4–5(b).
 Notice that the arrow on the emitter inside the transistor symbols points in the direction of conventional
current.
 These diagrams show that the emitter current (I E) is the sum of the collector current (I C) and the base current
(IB), expressed as follows:

As mentioned before, IB is very small compared to IE or IC. The capital-letter subscripts indicate dc values.

3.4 BJT CHARACTERISTICS AND PARAMETERS

Two important parameters, βDC (dc current gain) and αDC are introduced and used to analyse a BJT circuit.
 When a transistor is connected to dc bias voltages, as shown in Figure 4–6 for both npn and pnp types, VBB
forward-biases the base-emitter junction, and VCC reverse-biases the base-collector junction.
 Although in this chapter we are using separate battery symbols to represent the bias voltages, in practice the
voltages are often derived from a single dc power supply.
 For example, VCC is normally taken directly from the power supply output and V BB (which is smaller) can be
produced with a voltage divider.

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Transistor DC Model
 View the unsaturated BJT as a device with a current input and a dependent current source in the output
circuit, as shown in Figure 4–7 for an npn.
 The input circuit is a forward-biased diode through which there is base current.
 The output circuit is a dependent current source (diamond-shaped element) with a value that is dependent on
the base current, IB, and equal to βDCIB.
 Recall that independent current source symbols have a circular shape.

BJT Circuit Analysis

Consider the basic transistor bias circuit configuration in Figure 4–8. Three transistor dc currents and three dc
voltages can be identified.
IB: dc base current
IE: dc emitter current

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 IC: dc collector current
VBE: dc voltage at base with respect to emitter
VCB: dc voltage at collector with respect to base
VCE: dc voltage at collector with respect to emitter

The base-bias voltage source, VBB, forward-biases the base-emitter junction, and the collector-bias
voltage source, VCC, reverse-biases the base-collector junction. When the base-emitter junction is forward-
biased, it is like a forward-biased diode and has a nominal forward voltage drop of

Although in an actual transistor VBE can be as high as 0.9 V and is dependent on current, we will use
0.7 V throughout this text in order to simplify the analysis of the basic concepts. Keep in mind that the
characteristic of the base-emitter junction is the same as a normal diode curve like the one in Figure 2-12.
Since the emitter is at ground (0 V), by Kirchhoff’s voltage law, the voltage across RB is

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Collector Characteristic Curves
 Using a circuit like that shown in Figure 4–10(a), a set of collector characteristic curves can be generated that
show how the collector current, IC, varies with the collector-to-emitter voltage, VCE, for specified values of
base current, IB.
 Notice in the circuit diagram that both VBB and VCC are variable sources of voltage. Assume that VBB is set to
produce a certain value of IB and VCC is zero.
 For this condition, both the base-emitter junction and the base-collector junction are forward-biased because
the base is at approximately 0.7 V while the emitter and the collector are at 0 V.
 The base current is through the base-emitter junction because of the low impedance path to ground and,
therefore, IC is zero.
 When both junctions are forward-biased, the transistor is in the saturation region of its operation. Saturation
is the state of a BJT in which the collector current has reached a maximum and is independent of the base
current.
 As VCC is increased, VCE increases as the collector current increases. This is indicated by the portion of the
characteristic curve between points A and B in Figure 4–10(b).
 IC increases as VCC is increased because VCE remains less than 0.7 V due to the forward-biased base-collector
junction.
 Ideally, when VCE exceeds 0.7 V, the base-collector junction becomes reverse-biased and the transistor goes
into the active, or linear, region of its operation.
 Once the base collector junction is reverse-biased, IC levels off and remains essentially constant for a given
value of IB as VCE continues to increase.
 Actually, IC increases very slightly as VCE increases due to widening of the base-collector depletion region.
This results in fewer holes for recombination in the base region which effectively causes a slight increase in
βDC.
 This is shown by the portion of the characteristic curve between points B and C in Figure 4–10(b). For this
portion of the characteristic curve, the value of I C is determined only by the relationship expressed as
IC=βDCIB.

 When VCE reaches a sufficiently high voltage, the reverse-biased base-collector junction goes into breakdown;
and the collector current increases rapidly as indicated by the part of the curve to the right of point C in Figure
4–10(b).
 A transistor should never be operated in this breakdown region. A family of collector characteristic curves is
produced when IC versus VCE is plotted for several values of IB, as illustrated in Figure 4–10(c).
 When IB =0, the transistor is in the cutoff region although there is a very small collector leakage current as
indicated.

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  Cutoff is the nonconducting state of a transistor. The amount of collector leakage current for I B = 0 is
exaggerated on the graph for illustration.

Cutoff
 As previously mentioned, when IB= 0, the transistor is in the cutoff region of its operation. This is shown in
Figure 4–13 with the base lead open, resulting in a base current of zero.
 Under this condition, there is a very small amount of collector leakage current, I CEO, due mainly to thermally
produced carriers. Because ICEO is extremely small, it will usually be neglected in circuit analysis so that V CE
=VCC.
 In cutoff, neither the base-emitter nor the base-collector junctions are forward-biased. The subscript CEO
represents collector-to-emitter with the base open.

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Saturation
 When the base-emitter junction becomes forward-biased and the base current is increased, the collector
current also increases (IC= βDCIB) and VCE decreases as a result of more drop across the collector resistor (V CE
=VCC - ICRC).
 This is illustrated in Figure 4–14. When VCE reaches its saturation value, VCE (sat), the base-collector junction
becomes forward-biased and IC can increase no further even with a continued increase in IB.
 At the point of saturation, the relation I C= βDCIB is no longer valid.VCE(sat) for a transistor occurs somewhere
below the knee of the collector curves, and it is usually only a few tenths of a volt.

DC Load Line
 Cutoff and saturation can be illustrated in relation to the collector characteristic curves by the use of a load
line.
 Figure 4–15 shows a dc load line drawn on a family of curves connecting the cutoff point and the saturation
point.
 The bottom of the load line is at ideal cutoff where IC=0 and VCE= VCC. The top of the load line is at
saturation where IC =IC(sat) and VCE =VCE(sat).
 In between cutoff and saturation along the load line is the active region of the transistor’s operation.

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 Maximum Transistor Ratings
 Maximum transistor ratings are given for collector-to-base voltage, collector-to-emitter voltage, emitter-to-
base voltage, collector current, and power dissipation.
 The product of VCE and IC must not exceed the maximum power dissipation. Both VCE and IC cannot be
maximum at the same time.
 If VCE is maximum, IC can be calculated as

If IC is maximum, VCE can be calculated by rearranging the previous equation as follows:

 For any given transistor, a maximum power dissipation curve can be plotted on the collector characteristic
curves, as shown in Figure 4–18(a).
 These values are tabulated in Figure 4–18(b).
 Assume PD(max) is 500 mW, VCE(max) is 20 V, and IC(max) is 50 mA. The curve shows that this particular
transistor cannot be operated in the shaded portion of the graph.
 IC(max) is the limiting rating between points A and B, PD(max) is the limiting rating between points B and C, and
VCE(max) is the limiting rating between points C and D.
Derating PD(max)
 PD(max) is usually specified at 25°C. For higher temperatures, P D(max) is less. Datasheets often give derating
factors for determining PD(max) at any temperature above 25°C.
 For example, a derating factor of 2 mW/°C indicates that the maximum power dissipation is reduced 2
mW for each degree Celsius increase in temperature.

3.4 THE BJT AS AN AMPLIFIER

Amplification is the process of linearly increasing the amplitude of an electrical signal and is one of the major
properties of a transistor.
DC and AC Quantities