EEE 3571 Electronic Engineering I

Lecture 3: Analog Electronics

Bipolar Junction Transistors

Dr. Daliso Banda [email protected]

Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Zambia
 Introduction

 On December 23, 1947, Dr.

S. William Shockley, Dr.
Walter H. Brattain and Dr.
John Bardeen demonstrated
the amplifying action of the
first transistor at the Bell
Telephone Laboratories.
 Note that this lecture
introduces a device with
three terminals. You will
find that all amplifiers have
at least three terminals, with
one controlling the flow or
potential between the other
two.

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 Introduction

 Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) are the main building blocks in electronic
systems and are used in both analogue and digital applications.
 BJTs get their name bipolar from the fact that the current is carried by both
polarities of charges, that is, by both electrons and holes, unlike Field Effect
Transistors (FETs) which are unipolar.

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 Introduction

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 Transistor Construction
 The transistor is a three-layer semiconductor device consisting of either two n-
and one p-type layers of material or two p- and one n-type layers of material.
 The former is called an npn transistor and the latter is called a pnp transistor.
 Fig. 1 shows both transistors with the proper dc biasing.
 In lecture 4, we will find that dc
biasing is necessary to establish the
proper region of operation for ac
amplification.
 The Emitter layer, E is heavily doped,
with Base, B and Collector, C only
lightly doped.
Figure 1: Types of transistors: (a) pnp;
 The lower doping level decreases the
(b) npn. conductivity of this material by
limiting the number of “free” carriers.

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 Transistor Construction
 Example transistor structure.

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 Transistor Construction
 Transistor based ICs are manufactured using Photolithography.
 Photolithography is an optical means of transferring a pattern on a substrate.

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 Transistor Operation
 We will describe the basic operation of the transistor using the pnp transistor of
Fig. 1a.
 Notice that the operation of npn transistor is exactly the same if the roles of
played by the electron and hole are interchanged.
 In Fig. 2a the pnp BJT is redrawn without the base-to-collector bias.
 Note the similarity with the forward-biased diode in lecture 1. The depletion
region has been reduced in width resulting in a heavy flow of majority carries
from p- to the n-type material.

Figure 1: Types of transistors: (a) pnp Figure 2: Biasing a transistor: (a) forward-bias

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 Transistor Operation
 Now remove the base-to-emitter bias of the pnp BJT of Fig. 1a as shown in
Fig. 2b.
 Notice the similarity with a reverse-biased diode, and recall that the flow of
majority carriers is zero and only minority-carrier flow is present.
 Simply put, One p-n junction of a transistor is reversed-biased, whereas the
other is forward-biased.

Figure 1: Types of transistors: (a) pnp Figure 2: Biasing a transistor (b) reverse-bias.

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 Transistor Operation Cont’d
 One p-n junction of a transistor is reversed-biased, whereas the other is
forward-biased.
 In Fig. 3 both biasing potentials have been applied with the resulting majority-
and minority-carrier flow indicated.
 Since the sandwiched n-type material (base) is very thin and has low
conductivity, a very small number of majority carriers will take this path of
high resistance to the base terminal.
 Magnitude of base current is typically on the order of microamperes compared
to milliamperes for Emitter and Collector current

Figure 3: Majority and minority carrier flow of a pnp BJT.

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 Transistor Operation Cont’d
 The bulk of the majority carriers will diffuse across the reverse-biased junction
with relative ease because these injected carries will appear as minority carriers
in the n-type material.
 Combining this with the fact that all minority carriers in the depletion region
will cross the reverse-biased junction of a diode accounts for the flow indicated
in Fig. 3.
 Applying Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) to the BJT of Fig. 3 as if it were a
single node yields
I E  IC  I B [1]

 Notice that the collector current has two components given by

IC  IC ,majority  ICO,minority [2]

 where IC is measured in milliamperes, and ICO also called leakage

current is measured in microamperes or nanoamperes.

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 Common-Base Configuration
 Fig. 4 shows the BJT notation and symbols commonly used in practice for the
common-base configuration with pnp and npn transistors.
 Common base terminology refers to the fact that the base is common to both
the input and output. In addition the base is usually the terminal closest to
ground potential.
 Throughout our lecture all current
directions will refer to conventional
(hole) flow rather than electron
flow.
 For the BJT the arrow in the graphic
symbol defines the direction of
emitter current (conventional flow)
through the device.

Figure 4: Common-base Configuration:

(a) pnp transistor; (b) npn transistor.

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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d
 To describe the behavior of the common-base amplifier of Fig. 4 two sets of
characteristics are required.
 One for the driving point or input parameters and the other for the output side.
 The input set as shown in Fig. 5 relates an input current  I E to an input
voltage  VBE  for various levels of output voltage  VCB  .

Figure 5: Input or driving point

characteristics for a common-base silicon
transistor amplifier.

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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d
 The output set
relates an output
current  IC  to an
output voltage  VCB 
for various input
current  I E  as
shown in Fig. 6.
 The output or
collector set of
characteristics has
three basic regions
namely: the active,
cutoff, and
saturation regions.
Figure 6: Output or collector characteristics for
a common-base transistor amplifier.

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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d
 In the active region the base-emitter junction is forward biased, whereas the
collector base junction is reverse-biased.
 The notation most frequently used for ICO on data and specification sheets
is I CBO (the collector-to-base current with the emitter leg open).
 Fig. 3.6 shows that as I E  above zero, the IC  to a magnitude essentially
equal to that of I E as determined by basic BJT current relations. Thus, we
have the approximation in the active region of
IC  I E [3]
 In the cutoff region the base-emitter and collector-base junctions of a transistor
are both reverse-biased. Thus, IC  0 A .
 The saturation region is that region of the characteristics to the left of VCB  0 V .
 In the saturation region the base-emitter and collector-base junctions are
forward-biased.

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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d
 Notice that drive-point characteristics of Fig. 5 are affected very little by
increase in  VCB  . Thus, like the diode, approximate models can be used

Figure 7: Equivalent model to be employed for the base-to-emitter region

of an amplifier in the dc mode.
 Once a transistor is in the “on” state, the base-to-emitter voltage will be
assumed to be VBE  0.7 V [4]

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 Example Common-Base Configuration
a) Using the characteristics of Fig. 6, determine the resulting collector current if
I E  3 mA and VCB  10 V .
b) Using the characteristics of Fig. 6, determine the resulting collector current if
I E remains at 3 mA but VCB is reduced to 2 V .
c) Using the characteristics of Fig. 5 and 6, determine VBE if IC  4 mA and
VCB  20 V
b) Repeat part (c) using the characteristics of Fig. 6 and 7c.
[Solution]
a) The characteristics clearly indicate that IC  I E  3 mA .
b) The effect of changing VCB is negligible and IC continues to be 3 mA .
c) From Fig. 3.6, I E  IC  4 mA . On Fig. 5 the resulting level of VBE is
about 0.74 V .
d) Again from Fig. 3.6, I E  IC  4 mA . However, on Fig. 7c, VBE is 0.7 V
for any level of emitter current.

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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d
Alpha  
 DC Mode In dc mode the levels of IC and I E due to the majority carriers
are related by a quantity called alpha and defined by the following equation:
IC
 dc  [5]
IE

 where IC and I E are levels of current at the point of operation.

 Much as Fig. 6 suggests that   1, practical devices have 0.90    0.998.
 Since alpha is defined solely for majority carriers, Eq. (2) becomes
IC   I E  ICBO [6]
 AC Mode For ac situations where the point of operation moves on the
characteristic curve, an ac alpha (common-base, short-circuit, amplification
factor) is defined by
I
 ac  C [7]
I E V constant
CB

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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d
Biasing
 Proper biasing of common-base configuration in the active region can be
determined quickly using IC  I E and assuming for the moment that I B  0  A
. This results in Fig. 8.

Figure 8: Establishing the proper biasing management for a common-base pnp

transistor in the active region.
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 Common-Base Configuration Cont’d

Breakdown Region
 As applied voltage VCB increases there is a
point where the curves take a dramatic
upswing in Fig. 6.
 This is primarily due to an avalanche effect
similar to that described for the diode in
lecture 1.
 The largest permissible base-to-collector
voltage is labeled BVCBO as shown in Fig.
6. It is also referred to as V BR CBO.
 Note that this limitation is only for the
common-base configuration.

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 Common-Emitter Configuration

Figure 9:
Common-emitter configuration:
(a) npn transistor; (b) pnp transistor.

 Common-emitter configuration because the emitter is common to both the input

(base) and output (collector) terminals.
 Two sets of characteristics are once again necessary to describe fully its
behavior: one for the input or base-emitter circuit and one for the output or
collector-emitter circuit.
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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d

Figure 10: Characteristics of a silicon BJT in the common-emitter

configuration: (a) collector characteristics; (b) base characteristics.

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 Notice that applying Kirchhoff’s current law to Fig. 9 yields, I E  IC  I B
and IC   I E , like was found in the common-base configuration.
 Here the output characteristics are a plot of output current  IC  versus output
voltage VCE  for a range of values of input current  I B .
 The input characteristics are a plot of input current  I B  versus the input
voltage VBE  for a range of values of the output voltage VCE  .

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 Note that the magnitude of I B is in microamperes, compared to milliamperes
of IC .
 Furthermore, the curves of I B in Fig. 10a are not horizontal which entails that VCE
will influence the magnitude of collector current.
 In the active region of a common-emitter amplifier, the base-emitter junction is
forward-biased, whereas the collector-base junction is reverse-biased.
 The active region of the common-emitter configuration can be employed for
voltage, current, or power amplification.

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 The cutoff region for the common-emitter configuration is not as well defined
as for the common-base configuration.
 Note on the collector characteristic of Fig. 3.10 that IC  0 A when I B  0 A .
 The collector characteristics can thus be derived through manipulation of Eqs.
[1] and [6]. That is,
Eq. [3.6]: IC   I E  I CBO
Substitution gives Eq. [3.1]: IC    IC  I B   ICBO ;

    1  [8]
Rearranging yields IC   I 
 B 1    I CBO
1     
 Now we let I B  0 A , and substitute a typical value   0.996 , this yields,
    1  ICBO
IC     0 A     I CBO ;  I   250 ICBO
1     1  0.996 
C
0.004
 If we let ICBO  1  A , the resulting collector current with I B  0 A would be
ICBO  250 1  A   0.25 mA , as shown in Fig. 10.
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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 Thus for future reference, note that the collector current for I B  0  A is given
by
I CBO
I CEO  [9]
1   I B 0  A

 For linear (least distortion) amplification

purposes, cutoff for the common-emitter
configuration will be defined by IC  ICEO .
 When employed as a switch in the logic
circuitry of a computer, a transistor will have
two points of operation of interest: one in the
cutoff and one in the saturation region.
 For the common-emitter configuration the
input set of characteristics can be
approximated by a straight-line equivalent
depicted in Fig. 3.11. Figure 11 Piecewise-linear equivalent
for the diode characteristics.
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 Example Common-Emitter Configuration
a) Using the characteristics of Fig. 10, determine IC at I B  30  A and
VCE  10 V .
b) Using the characteristics of Fig. 10, determine IC at VBE  0.7 V and
VCE  15 V

[Solution]
a) At the intersection of I B  30  A and VCE  10 V , IC  3.4 mA
b) Using Fig. 3.10b, we obtained I B  20  A at the intersection of VBE  0.7 V
and VCE  15 V . From Fig. 3.10a we find that IC  2.5 mA at the
intersection of I B  20  A and VCE  15 V .

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
Beta   
 DC Mode In the dc mode the levels of IC and I B are related by a
quantity called beta and defined by
IC
dc  [10]
IB

 Where IC and I B are determined at a particular operating point on the

characteristics.
 Typical values fall in the range 50    400 .
 On the specification sheets  dc is usually included as hFE with h derived from
an ac hybrid equivalent circuit to be discussed latter.
 AC Mode For ac situations an ac beta is defined as follows:
I C
 ac  [11]
I B V  constant
CE

  ac  hfe is common-emitter, forward-current, amplification factor.

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 Let us determine ac for a region of the characteristics defined by a Q-point
of I B  25  A and VCE  7.5 V , as indicated in Fig. 3.12. Clearly
I
ac  C
I B V constant
CE


I C2  I C1

3.2  2.2  mA ;
I B2  I B1 30  20   A
ac  100
 At the Q-point,
I 2.7mA
dc  C   108
I B 25  A

Figure 12 Determining
ac and dc from
collector characteristics.
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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 A relationship between  and  is developed as follows. Recall that,
  IC I B ;  I B  IC  and   IC I E ;  I E  IC 

 Substituting into I E  IC  I B
IC IC 1 1
yields  IC  ;  1 ;
   

thus,  [12]
 1


1  [13]
ICBO
 Furthermore, recall that ICEO  ;  ICEO    1 ICBO ;
1 
ICEO   ICBO [14]

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
 Notice that beta is an important parameter in that it relates input and output
currents for a common-emitter configuration. That is,
IC   I B [15]

and since I E  IC  I B ;  IE   IB  IB

thus, I E    1 I B [16]

Biasing
 Proper biasing of a common-emitter
amplifier for an npn transistor is such that
currents flow as shown in Fig. 3.13.

Figure 13 Proper
biasing for common-
emitter npn transistor
configuration.

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 Common-Emitter Configuration Cont’d
Breakdown Region
 There is a maximum VCE
that can be applied and still
remain in the active stable
region of operation
 Noteworthy is the region of
negative resistance where
an increase in current is
resulting in a drop in
voltage against all odds for
resistive elements.
 The breakdown voltage is
labeled BVCEO or V BR CEO
beyond which avalanche
Figure 14 Examining breakdown region of BJT breakdown and punch-
in common-emitter configuration. through occur.

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 Common-Collector Configuration
 Use primarily for impedance-matching purposes since it has high input
impedance and low output impedance.  From a design perspective,
there is no need for a set of
common-collector
characteristics as the output
characteristics are the same
as for the common-emitter
configuration.
 Here the horizontal voltage
axis is obtained by simply
changing the sign of VCE of
the common-emitter
characteristics.
 I C and I E can be
Figure 15 Common-collector configuration: (a) interchanged on the vertical
pnp transistor; (b) npn transistor. axis without any difference.

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 Limits of Operation
 Some of the limits of operation are self-explanatory, such as maximum
collector current (continuous collector current) and maximum collector-to-
emitter voltage ( BVCEO or V BR CEO ).
 The maximum dissipation level is defined by the following equation:
PC ,max  VCE IC [17]
 If characteristics curves are
unavailable, simply ensure
I CEO  I C  I C ,max
VCE ,sat  VCE  VCE ,max [18]
VCE I C  PC ,max

PC ,max  VCB IC [19]

Figure 16 Defining the linear
(undistorted) region of operation
for a transistor.
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 Transistor Specification Sheet
 It is the
communication link
between the
manufacturer and
user.
 Page 146 of [2]
shows an example of
specification sheet
provided by Fairchild
Semiconductor
Corporation for
2N4123 npn
transistor.

Figure 17 Transistor specification sheet.

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 Transistor Casing and Terminal
Identification

Figure 18 General-purpose or switching transistors (a) low power; (b) medium

power; (c) medium to high power.

Figure 19 Transistor terminal identification.

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