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TRANSISTOR
COOKBOOK
RAY MARSTON
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF COM- the transistor is fully cut off; in
mon- emitter and common -base that state the output equals the
bipolar junction transistor base amplifier (Fig. 1 -c) circuits positive power supply voltage.
(BJT) amplifiers differ from provide high -voltage gain, so When the input is switched to
those of the common -collector they function primarily as volt- a positive value greater than 0.6
amplifier -and each other. age amplifiers. The common - volt (the value needed to for-
Those amplifiers are the sub- base circuit, for example, offers ward bias the base -emitter
jects of this article. Last month near unity current gain, so it junction of a 2N3904 tran-
the common -collector amplifier usually functions as a wide - sistor), the transistor turns on.
was discussed in detail in this band or high- frequency voltage Collector current flows in load
series, and many different prac- amplifier. resistor RL and "pulls" the out-
tical circuits were presented. The common -emitter circuit, put voltage toward zero.
Figure 1 shows the three basic on the other hand, offers both If the input voltage is high
bipolar transistor amplifier cir- high current gain and high volt- enough, the transistor is driven
cuits. It was reprinted from last age gain, making it an attrac- fully on, or into saturation.
month's article as was Table 1, tive high -gain power amplifier. Then the output voltage falls to
which compares the charac- This circuit, also known as a a saturation value of only 0.2 to
teristics of the three basic tran- grounded- emitter circuit, is 0.3 volt. As a result, the output
sistor amplifiers. Examination typically functions as a digital signal is an inverted version of
of Table 1 will reveal that the or analog amplifier. the input waveform.
common -collector amplifier In Fig. 2, resistor RB acts
(Fig. 1 -a) provides near-unity Digital circuitry principally as a protective de-
voltage gain, while presenting Figure 2 is a schematic for a vice to limit the base -drive cur-
high input and very low output simple NPN common -emitter rent to a non -destructive value.
impedance. amplifier that can function as a The input impedance of the cir-
Recall from last month's arti- digital amplifier, inverter, or cuit is slightly greater than the
cle that the common -collector switch. The input signal can be RB value. The value of resistor
amplifier is applied both as a either zero volts or a high RB is inversely related to the
unity-gain voltagefollower and positive value. (It should be waveform rise and fall times:
an impedance converter. By higher than 0.6 volt but less The higher its value, the slower
contrast, both the common - than the power supply voltage.) are those times.
66 emitter (Fig. 1 -b) and common- When the input is at zero volts, This circuit drawback can be
overcome by shunting RB with a TABLE 1
"speed -up" capacitor with a val- CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE BASIC TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS
ue of about 0.001 µF, as shown
dotted in Fig. 2. In practical ap- Parameters Common Common Common
plications, RB should have as Collector Emitter Base
low a value as practical, con- Input impedance ZIN High Medium Low
sistent with protecting the tran- ( hFE x RL) ( -1.0K) ( -4052)
sistor and input- impedance Output impedance ZOUT Very low --RL
requirements. However, it Voltage gain A High High
should neuer be greater than RL Current gain A, .`hFE
_`hFE
X hFE. Cutoff Frequency Medium Low High
Figure 3 is the schematic for a Voltage phase
PNP version of the digital inver- shift. 0° 180° 0°
ter or switch circuit. Here the
transistor is switched fully ON
when the input is zero volts. In +2 TO +20V
ferent way than that described
that condition, the output is for Fig. 4. When the input is at
about 0.2 volt less than the Cl
0.001
R zero volts, Q1 is cut off, which .
positive power supply value. 3.3K in turn, cuts off Q2 through re-
The 2N3906 transistor turns off sistors R2 and R3. Therefore,
only when the input rises to a +v the output value is zero volts.
value that is within 0.6 volt of o
However, when the input to
the supply value. The output OUTPUT
the base of Q1 goes high (above
then falls to zero volts. 0.6 volt), Q1 is driven on and
o
The ability of the circuits in obtains most of its collector cur-
Figs. 2 and 3 to respond to lower rent from the base of Q2
input signals (sensitivity) can FIG. 2-
DIGITAL INVERTER. SWITCH through R3. This action drives
be increased by replacing Q1 based on an NPN transistor. Q2 into saturation. When this
with two transistors in a happens, the output reaches a
Darlington pair. The circuits in value about 0.2 volt less than
both Figs. 4 and 5 are high - the positive supply voltage.
gain, non -inverting digital am- Figure 6 is a conceptual sche-
+3 TO +20V
+V
+0v
0
R
0 LI
.
INPUT \\
OUTPUT
R1
+V-VSAT 10K
FIG. 3-DIGITALINVERTER/SWITCH
TO
1MEG \w VSAT
o-
+1
uration and pulls the base of Q2
down to only about 0.2 volt n ni R4
3.3K J
n - --+V
L0
+V-VSAT
1 o
put is at the full supply voltage.
FIG. 1- THREE. BASIC TRANSISTOR The circuit in Fig. 5, which FIG. 5- ALTERNATIVE NON -INVERTING
amplifiers: common- collector (a), com- includes one NPN and one PNP digital amplifier or switch with NPN and
mon- emitter (b), and common -base (c). transistor, operates in a dif- PNP transistors. 69
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REVERSE position, Q3 is biased a factor of about 200 (the nomi-
on through R4, and Q4 is driven nal hFE value of transistor Q1).
on through R6 and Q3. How- Resistor R1, which provides
ever, Q1 is cut off through Rl, base-drive protection, can have
and Q2 is cut off through R2 a larger value than the 1 kilohm
-
and R3. Therefore, the "live" shown in Fig. 7.
side of the motor is connected The relay can be turned on ei-
FORWARD
through Q4 to the negative ther by applying a DC input
OFF
power supply, and the motor voltage greater than 0.7 volt or
REVERSE
S1
runs in the reverse direction. by operating switch Si (shown
as a plug -in component con-
Relay drivers nected by dotted lines).
The basic digital circuits The circuit shown in Fig. 7 is
shown in Figs. 3 to 5 can drive a non -latching, but it can be
variety of resistive loads such as made self-latching by including
incandescent lamps and indica- another relay (RY2) between the
tors consisting of LEDs and re- collector and emitter of Q1, as
FIG. 6-DC -MOTOR DIRECTION CON- sistors without modification. shown in the diagram. The cir-
TROL circuit shown without component However, if they are to drive in- cuit's current sensitivity is lim-
values. ductive loads such as relay coils ited by the current gain of Q1,
+ 12V
y-0 or motors, a protective diode but it can be increased to about
I Si
ó LSi, o OUTPUT
will limit the high turn-off volt- 20,000 by replacing Ql with a
Darlington pair as shown in
RY1
D1
12V +12V
Fig. 8.
; 1N4001 In a practical application, the
vv R1
1K " >120(2
.ß-oo0
relay in the Fig. 8 circuit can be
actuated by shorting a pair of
01
y-0 PROBES
(SEE TEXT) zT^ OUTPUT stainless -steel probes, each
INPUT 2N8904 RY1 with a resistance value less than
RY2 R1
10K
12V
>120f1
a few megohms. Tap water and
12V
>120f2
human skin have resistance
vanes under a few megohms, so
this circuit can function as a
FIG. 7- SIMPLE RELAY-DRIVING circuit. FIG. 8-
RELAY-DRIVING CIRCUIT that water, or touch -operated relay
matic showing how the comple- can be actuated by human grasp or the switch.
mentary pair of transistors conduction of water. The relay will be actuated if
from Fig. 5 can be organized to the probes are grasped by the
form a DC -motor control circuit hands. It would also be actuated
with a dual power supply. This if the probes were immersed in
circuit could be operated by dig- water. Thus the circuit could be
ital logic, and has applications R1
2N3904
+.6K
Q3 is cut off through R4, and FIG. 9-ULTRA- SENSITIVE RELAY driv-
o
OUTPUT
o
Q4 is cut off by R5 and R6. Thus er needs a 0.7 -volt, 40- microampere in-
put.
the "live" side of the motor is FIG. 10-SIMPLE NPN COMMON -emitter
connected through Q2 to the age to a value that can be han- amplifier.
positive supply, and the motor dled safely by the transistor.
runs in a forward direction. Common-emitter amplifiers
When Si is in the OFF are more sensitive relay drivers +3 TO +20V
der this condition, the "live" Figure 7, for example, is the INPUT
2N3904
OUTPUT
side of the motor is open -cir- schematic for a simple but ver-
cuited so the motor does not satile single -transistor relay
run. driver. It increases the relay's FIG. 11- COMMON -EMITTER amplifier
70 Finally, when S1 is in the operating current sensitivity by with feedback biasing.
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The lower this resistance value, The input impedance into the
+3 TO +20V the higher will be the amplifier's transistor base is:
R2 R3 upper cut-off frequency. (This is ZIN= hFE x 25 /Ic
220K 5.6K due to the lower shunting = 200 x 25 = 5 kilohms .
at 1
effects of stray output capaci- mA (shunted by R1)
C3
10pF
tance on the effective imped- The voltage gain (A) of the
Cl
10µF1 ance of the load.) circuit in Fig. 10 is calculated as
Moreover, a low value of R2 follows:
INPUT
0- - ---
1 c2
T0.1
01
2N3904
o
OUT' UT
J
will cause a higher quiescent
operating current in Q1. In Fig.
10, resistor R2 has a value of 5.6
kilohms, a compromise that will
A, = R2 /25/Ic = 5600/25
= 200 at 1 mA
This gain figure (which trans-
lates into approximately 46 dB,
FIG. 12- COMMON -EMITTER amplifier amplify a frequency of about also determines the theoretical
with AC- decoupled feedback biasing.
120 kHz and draw about a milli- maximum attainable upper fre-
ampere of quiescent current quency response, measured at
+3 TO +20V
from a 12 -volt supply. To bias the -3 -dB point of the frequen-
the output to half the supply cy response curve. It equals f,-/
R1 R4 C3
voltage, RI must have a value of A where fT is the transit time
Cl
180K =2/3
ti
+V 5.6K 10µF
(--o
limit of minority carriers across
the base region. (fT is the fre-
OOµ+IE OUTPUT
+3 TO +20V quency at which hFE decreases
+V-
INPUT
Q1
=1/3
0.6V R1 R4 C3 to unity, and is the measure of
+V 2N3904 180K 5.6K 10µF the transistor's high- frequency
02
47µF
+(-o performance.) The fT of the
R2 R3
o +(
OUTPUT 2N3904 is about 300 MHz.
100K 5.6K
INPUT Cl o Therefore, the maximum fre-
10µF
2N3904
1 C2 quency response of the circuit
FIG. 13- COMMON -EMITTER amplifier
47µF in Fig. 10 (ignoring the effects of
with voltage- divider biasing. R2 R3 R5
stray capacitance) is 300
100K 5.6K 56051 MHz/200 = 1.5 MHz.
part of a water -level alarm cir- shortcoming of the Fig. 10
A
cuit. The relay can actuate an circuit is that its quiescent
auxiliary alarm circuit if rising FIG. 14- COMMON- EMITTER amplifier
water shorts the probes. with a fixed gain of 10.
Figure 9 is a schematic for an- +3 TO + 20V
other ultra-sensitive, dual -tran- R4
C3
sistor relay driver (based on Fig. C2
.47
5.6K
10µF
5). An input of about 0.7 volt at
40 microamperes is needed to R2 o
actuate the relay. The 22-kilohm 100K
OUTPUT
resistor between the base and Cl
1µF
the emitter of Q1 ensures that Q1
to accommodate high AC out- gain for this circuit are both de- R1
02
put swings without distorting termined by the impedance of Cl
10µF
1.2MEG
them. The AC -input signal is transistor Q1's internal base -to- OUTPUT
applied between the base and emitter junction. For a 2N3904,
ground of Q1, and the AC -out- this value will be about 25 /Ic, INPUT Q1 R3
put signal is taken between the where le is the collector current o
2N3904 3.3K
collector and ground. value in milliamperes. (This im-
lb design an AC amplifier as pedance is 25 ohms at 1 mA,
shown in Fig. 10, first decide on 12.5 ohms at 2 mA, or 50 ohms FIG. 17-WIDEBAND, TWO -STAGE com-
the value of load resistor R2. at 0.5 mA.) mon- emitter amplifier. 71
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+6TO
+20V
C3
R5 .
10
118
Cl C2
1µF 1µF
R2
INPUT 1 100K INPUT 2
+6 T0
+20V
R3
4.7K +6 TO +20V
C2
47µF
R1 ! R5 ; R6
' 3.3K
R3
180K
C3 1800' 3.3K:
10µF OUTPUTS
-o- o- R8
1 2 10K
Cl (EAU ' C2
OUTPUT 1µF 10µF
INPUT 01
2N3904 +I(
01 Q2
2N3904 2N3904
R2 3 R7 R4
FIG. 19-ALTERNATIVE HIGH -GAIN two - INPUT 1 100K 7' J 1.5K '100K
stage amplifier.
o
+6 TO
+20V
R4 FIG. 23- PHASE- SPLITTER based on the differential amplifier.
4.7K
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