EEE 201 by KSM

Chapter 3 (Boylestad)/ Chapter 6 (Sedra & Smith) – Bipolar Junction Transistor

Introduction
- A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical
power. The transistor is a main building block of all modern electronic systems.

- It is composed of semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external
circuit.

Transistor

Bipolar Junction Field Effect

Transistor (BJT) Transistor (FET)

n-p-n p-n-p JFET MOSFET

- BJT consists of three terminal:

1. Collector (C): Lightly doped
2. Base (B): Very lightly doped
3. Emitter (E): Heavily doped

3.1.1 Simplified Structure and Modes of Operation (Sedra & Smith)

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- The active mode is the one used if the transistor is to operate as an amplifier. Switching applications
(e.g., logic circuits) utilize both the cutoff mode and the saturation mode.

3.1.2 Operation of npn Transistor in the active mode (Sedra & Smith)

- For npn transistor, emitter-base junction (EBJ) of transistor is forward biased and collector-base
junction (CBJ) is reverse biased during active mode.

- The forward bias on the emitter- base junction causes the free electrons in the n-type emitter to flow
towards the base region which produces the emitter current. Direction of conventional current is
opposite to the flow of electrons. Most of the emitter electrons diffuse right through the thin base into
the base-collector depletion region.

- The reverse bias CBJ prevents electrons (majority carrier) to flow from the n-type to p-type material
but allows only holes (minority carrier) to flow. The positive potential of VCB attracts the excess
electrons from the base region to the collector.

- Few electrons tend to combine with the holes after reaching the base region. This recombination
constitute the base current.

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- Most free electrons do not combine with the holes in the base because the base is extremely narrow,
and electrons do not have enough holes for recombination.

- Thus, most of the electrons will diffuse to the collector region and constitute the collector current. This
collector current is also called injected current because it is produced by electrons injected from the
emitter region.

3.1.6 Operation of pnp Transistor in the active mode (Sedra & Smith)

- The current within the PNP transistor is due to the movement of holes.

- In PNP transistor, its emitter-base junction (EBJ) is forward biased and collector-base junction (CBJ)
is reverse biased during the active mode.

- The forward bias on the EBJ causes the holes in the emitter region to flow towards the base region.
This constitutes the emitter current.

- Few holes tend to combine with the electrons after reaching the base region. This recombination
constitute the base current.

- Most free holes do not combine with the electrons in the base because the base is extremely narrow,
and holes do not have enough electrons for recombination.

- Thus, most of the holes will diffuse to the collector region and constitute the collector current.

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3.2.1 Circuit Symbols and Conventions

Applying KCL to the transistor: 𝑰𝑬 = 𝑰𝑪 + 𝑰𝑩

BJT Configuration
1. Common Base Configuration – has Voltage Gain but no Current Gain.
2. Common Emitter Configuration – has both Current Gain and Voltage Gain.
3. Common Collector Configuration – has Current Gain but no Voltage Gain.

3.4 Common Base Configuration (Boylestad)

- Base is common to both input and output.

- Base terminal is usually at ground potential.

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- To describe the behaviour of common-base amplifiers requires two set of characteristics:
i) Input or driving point characteristics
ii) Output or collector characteristics

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- From the output characteristics graph:

Cut-off region: Both emitter junction and collector junction are in reversed bias i.e. the transistor is
off. There is no conduction between the collector and the emitter.

Active region: The transistor is on. The collector current is proportional to and controlled by the base
current and relatively insensitive to 𝑉𝐶𝐸 . In this region the transistor can be an amplifier.

Saturation region: The transistor is on. The collector current varies very little with a change in the
base current in the saturation region. The collector current is strongly dependent on 𝑉𝐶𝐸 unlike in the
active region. It is desirable to operate transistor switches in or near the saturation region when in their
on state.

The curves clearly indicate that a first approximation to the relationship between 𝐼𝐸 and 𝐼𝐶 in the active
region is given by,
𝐼𝐶 ≈ 𝐼𝐸

Alpha (𝜶)
- Alpha, known as the common base current gain shows the efficiency by percentage of current flow
from the emitter to the collector. For practical devices alpha ranges from 0.90 to 0.998

- Once a transistor is in the “on” state, the base-to-emitter voltage will be assumed to be:
𝑉𝐵𝐸 ≈ 0.7𝑉

- In the dc mode the levels of 𝐼𝐶 and 𝐼𝐸 due to the majority carriers are related by a quantity called alpha:
𝐼𝐶
𝛼=
𝐼𝐸

- Therefore the new relationship between 𝐼𝐶 and 𝐼𝐸 becomes:𝐼𝐶 = 𝛼𝐼𝐸 + 𝐼𝐶𝐵𝑂 , where, 𝐼𝐶𝐵𝑂 is the
collector-to-base current with the emitter leg is open.

- 𝐼𝐶𝐵𝑂 is usually so small that it is virtually undetectable, we can assume: 𝐼𝐶 = 𝛼𝐼𝐸

- For ac condition where the point of operation moves on the characteristic curve, an AC alpha is defined
by:
Δ𝐼𝐶
𝛼=
Δ𝐼𝐸

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3.5 Common Emitter (CE) Configuration (Boylestad)
- Emitter is common to both input and output.

- Emitter terminal is usually at ground potential.

- Almost all amplifier design is using connection of CE due to the high gain for current and voltage.

- To describe the behaviour of common-base amplifiers requires two set of characteristics:

i) Input (base terminal) characteristics
ii) Output (collector terminal) characteristics

(a) (b)

(a) Input characteristics (b) Output characteristics of CE configuration

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Beta (𝜷)
- Beta, known as common emitter current gain, is the ratio of DC collector current 𝐼𝐶 to the base
current 𝐼𝐵 . This denotes the DC gain where 𝐼𝐶 and 𝐼𝐵 are determined at a particular operating point,
Q (quiescent point).
𝐼𝐶
𝛽𝑑𝑐 =
𝐼𝐵

- On the specification sheets 𝛽𝑑𝑐 is usually included as ℎ𝐹𝐸 with the italic letter h derived from an ac
hybrid equivalent circuit and FE derived from forward current amplification and common-emitter
configuration respectively.

- For ac conditions an ac beta is defined as follows:

Δ𝐼𝐶
𝛽𝑎𝑐 = |
Δ𝐼𝐵 𝑉
𝐶𝐸 =𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

Relation between Alpha (𝜶) and Beta (𝜷)

A relationship can be developed between 𝛼 and 𝛽 using the basic relationships introduced thus far.
𝐼𝐶 𝐼𝐶
𝛽= => 𝐼𝐵 =
𝐼𝐵 𝛽
𝐼𝐶 𝐼𝐶
𝛼= => 𝐼𝐸 =
𝐼𝐸 𝛼

𝐼𝐸 = 𝐼𝐶 + 𝐼𝐵
𝐼𝐶 𝐼𝐶
= 𝐼𝐶 +
𝛼 𝛽

1 1
=1+
𝛼 𝛽

𝜷
𝜶=
𝜷+𝟏

𝜶
𝜷=
𝟏−𝜶

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BJT as a Switch

(a) (b)
Figure (a): An npn BJT operating in the cutoff Figure (b): An npn BJT operating in the saturation region
region acts like an open switch. acts like a closed switch.

- In figure (a), the transistor is in the cutoff region because the emitter-base junction is not in a forward-
biased condition. In this state, there is no connection between the emitter and collector of the transistor,
and it acts like an open switch.

- In figure (b), the transistor is in the saturation region, as both the emitter-base junction (EBJ) and the
collector-base junction (CBJ) are in a forward-biased state. The collector and emitter terminals act like
a closed switch. In reality, there is a small voltage drop across the collector and emitter terminals,
known as the saturation voltage, 𝑉𝐶𝐸(𝑠𝑎𝑡) .

Example:
+VCC In the figure above, the circuit that turns the LED on and
off is shown.
• A square wave with a cycle of two seconds is provided to
RC
the circuit as input.
• When the magnitude of the square signal is at zero volts,
the transistor is in the cutoff region.
• Due to the cutoff, no current flows through the collector,
ON ON
Vin RB and the LED will not glow.
• When the magnitude of the square signal is high, the
1s
OFF transistor is in the saturation region.
• This state makes the LED forward-biased, and current
flows through the LED, causing it to glow.
• Hence, the LED remains on for one second and off for
one second.

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BJT as an Amplifier

(c)
Figure (c): Basic transistor amplifier circuit with ac source voltage 𝑉𝑠 and dc bias voltage 𝑉𝐵𝐵 superimposed.

- BJT amplifier operates in the active region.

- A transistor amplifies current because the collector current equals the base current multiplied by the
current gain. The base current is much smaller than the collector and emitter currents.

- The AC input voltage produces an AC base current, resulting in a larger AC collector current. This
collector current produces an AC voltage across RC, creating an amplified but inverted reproduction
of the AC input voltage in the active region.

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