Applied Electronics I

Lecture 03
Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

1
 Introduction

• IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN

• The physical structure of the bipolar transistor and how it
works.
• How the voltage between two terminals of the transistor
controls the current that flows through the third terminal,
and the equations that describe these current-voltage
relationships.
• How to analyze and design circuits that contain bipolar
transistors, resistors, and dc sources.
• How the transistor can be used to make an amplifier.
2
 Introduction

• IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL LEARN

• How to obtain linear amplification from the fundamentally
nonlinear BJT.
• The three basic ways for connecting a BJT to be able to
construct amplifiers with different properties.
• Practical circuits for bipolar-transistor amplifiers that can
be constructed by using discrete components.

3
 Introduction

• This chapter examines a three-terminal device.

• bipolar junction transistor
• BJT was invented in 1948 at Bell Telephone
Laboratories.
• Ushered in a new era of solid-state circuits.
• It was replaced by MOSFET as predominant
transistor used in modern electronics.
4
 Introduction
The First BJT Modern BJT

5
 Introduction

• Three-terminal devices are more useful than two-

terminal ones, such as the diodes, because they
can be used in a multitude of applications:
1. signal amplification
2. design of digital logic and memory circuits.
• The basic principle is the use of the voltage
between two terminals to control the current
flowing in the third terminal.

6
 Introduction
▪ A bipolar transistor essentially
consists of a pair of PN Junction
diodes that are joined back-to-
back.
▪ There are therefore two kinds of
BJT, the NPN and PNP varieties.
▪ The three layers of the sandwich
are conventionally called the
Collector, Base, and Emitter.

7
Introduction

8
Device Structure and Physical Operation

• Figure 3.1 shows simplified structure of BJT.

• Consists of three semiconductor regions:
• emitter region (n-type)
• base region (p-type)
• collector region (n-type)
• Type described above is referred to as npn.
• However, pnp types do exist.
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 Device Structure and Physical
Operation…

Figure 3.1: A simplified structure of the npn transistor.

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 6.1. Device Structure and Physical
Operation

Figure 6.2: A simplified structure of the pnp transistor.

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 Simplified Structure and Modes of
Operation
• Transistor consists of two pn-junctions:
• emitter-base junction (EBJ)
• collector-base junction (CBJ)
• Operating mode depends on biasing.
• active mode – used for amplification
• cutoff and saturation modes – used for switching.

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Device Structure and Physical Operation

13
 6.1.2. Operation of the npn-Transistor in the
Active Mode

• Active mode is the

“most important.”
• Two external voltage
sources are required for
biasing to achieve it.
• Refer to Figure 3.3.

Figure 3.3: Current flow in an npn transistor biased to operate in

the active mode. (Reverse current components due to drift of
thermally generated minority carriers are not shown.)
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Circuit Symbols

15
Circuit Configuration

16
 The Collector Current

▪ Electrons that diffuse across the base to

the CBJ junction are swept across the
CBJ depletion region to the collector
b/c of the higher potential applied to
the collector.

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 The Base Current

 = transistor parameter

iC
(eq6.5) iB =

−−−−−−−−−−−−
IS
(eq6.6) iB = evBE / VT

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 The Base Current

• common-emitter current gain (.) – is influenced

by two factors:
• width of base region (W)
• relative doping of base emitter regions (NA/ND)
• High Value of 
• thin base (small W in nano-meters)
• lightly doped base / heavily doped emitter (small
NA/ND)
β is in the range 50 to 200 19
 Emitter Current

• Emitter current is the sum of iC and iB

▪ a is called the common-base current gain

20
 Recapitulation and Equivalent-Circuit
Models
• Next slides present first-order BJT model.
• Assumes npn transistor in active mode.
• Basic relationship is collector current (iC) is related
exponentially to forward-bias voltage (vBE).
• It remains independent of vCB as long as this junction
remains reverse biased.
• vCB > 0
• Thus in the active mode the collector terminal behaves as
an ideal constant-current source where the value of the
current is determined by vBE.
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Thus α is called the
common-base current gain.

Thus β is called the

common-emitter current
gain.

Figure 6.4: Large-signal equivalent-circuit models of the npn BJT operating in the active
mode (a), (b) common base configuration. (c), (d) common emitter configuration.
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 6.1.4. Operation in Saturation Mode

• For BJT to operate in active mode, CBJ must be reverse biased.

• However, for small values of forward-bias, a pn-junction does not
operate effectively.
• As such, active mode operation of npn-transistor may be maintained for vCB
down to approximately -0.4V.
• Only after this point will “diode” begin to really conduct.

Figure 6.5 Modeling the operation of an npn transistor in

saturation by augmenting the model of Fig. 6.5(c) with a
forward conducting diode DC. Note that the current
through DC increases iB and reduces iC.
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6.1.4. Operation in Saturation Mode

ISC =
collector current
(eq6.14) : iC = IS evBE / VT − ISC evBC / VT
in saturation region
this terms
plays bigger
role as vBC
exceeds 0.4V

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
base current I
(eq6.15) : iB = S evBE / VT + ISC evBC / VT
in saturation region 
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
iC
(eq6.16) forced  :  forced = 
iB saturation
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As vBC is increased, the value of  is forced lower and lower.
 6.1.4. Operation in Saturation Mode

• Two questions must be asked to determine whether BJT is in

saturation mode, or not:
• Is the CBJ forward-biased by more than 0.4V?
• Is the ratio iC/iB less than .?
• The collector-to-emitter voltage 𝑣𝐶𝐸 of a saturated transistor
can be found from Fig. 6.9 as the difference between the
forward-bias voltages of the EBJ and the CBJ,
VCEsat = VBE – VBC
• Recalling that the CBJ has a much larger area than the EBJ, VBC
will be smaller than VBE by 0.1 to 0.3 V. Thus,
𝑉𝐶𝐸𝑠𝑎𝑡 ≃ 0.1 𝑡𝑜 0.3 V
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BJT regions of operation

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27
BJT applications

NPN BJT switch circuit

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 BJT applications

NPN BJT switch circuit

Use relay to separate the control circuit from the high current/voltage electrical 29
circuit
 BJT applications
Transistor to Drive the Motor
• A transistor can also used to drive and regulate the speed of the DC
motor in a unidirectional way by switching the transistor in regular
intervals of time.
• the DC motor is also an inductive load so we have to place a
freewheeling diode across it to protect the circuit.
• By switching the transistor in cutoff and saturation regions, we can
turn ON and OFF the motor repeatedly.
• It is also possible to regulate the speed of the motor from standstill to
full speed by switching the transistor at variable frequencies. We can get
the switching frequency from control device or IC like microcontroller.
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 BJT applications

Control the speed of motor using Pulse Width Modulation

The duty cycle of input digital signal controls the DC level applied to the motor
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 BJT applications

Vcc

Vcc
0V
0V

Basic BJT inverter circuit

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BJT Specs

PD=IC x VCE
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BJT Specs

Why holes
To fix heat sink for cooling
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Circuit Symbols and Conventions

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EXAMPLE 3.1

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 EXAMPLE 3.1 - Sol
since we are required to design for VC = +5 V, the CBJ will be reverse biased and the
BJT will be operating in the active mode. To obtain a voltage VC = +5 V, the voltage
drop across RC must be 15 – 5 = 10 V.

since IC = 2 mA, the value of RC should be selected according to

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 EXAMPLE 3.2

In the circuit shown in the figure, the voltage at

the emitter was measured and found to be –0.7 V.
If β = 50, find IE, IB, IC, and VC.

Ans. 0.93 mA; 18.2 μA; 0.91 mA; +5.45 V

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EXERCISE 3.2 - Sol

39
Example 3.3

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Example 3.3 - Sol

41
Example 6.3 - Sol

42
 Summary

• Depending on the bias condition on its two junctions, the BJT can
operate in one of three possible modes:
• cut-off (both junctions reverse biased)
• active (the EBJ forward-biased and CBJ reversed)
• saturation (both junctions forward biased)
• For amplifier applications, the BJT is operated in the active mode.
Switching applications make use of the cutoff and saturation modes.
• A BJT operating in the active mode provides a collector current iC =
ISexp{vBE/VT}. The base current iB = iC/, and emitter current iE =
iC + iB.
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 Summary

• To ensure operation in the active mode, the collector voltage of an npn-

transistor must be kept higher than approximately 0.4V below the base
voltage. For a pnp-transistor, the collector voltage must be lower than
approximately 0.4V above the base voltage. Otherwise, the CBJ
becomes forward-biased and the transistor will enter saturation.
• At a constant collector current, the magnitude of the base emitter
voltage decreases by about 2mV for every 1OC rise in temperature.
• The BJT will be at the edge of saturation when |vCE| is reduced to
about 0.3V.

44
 Summary

• In the active mode, iC shows a slight dependence on vCE. This

phenomenon, known as the Early Effect, is modeled by
ascribing a finite output resistance to the BJT: ro = |VA|/I’C
where VA is the Early Voltage and I’C is the dc collector current
without the Early Effect taken into account.
• The dc analysis of transistor circuits is generally simplified by
assuming |VBE| = 0.7V.

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