EXPERIMENT 7

Transistor Biasing is the process of setting a transistors DC operating voltage or current conditions to the
correct level so that any AC input signal can be amplified correctly by the transistor. The steady state
operation of a transistor depends a great deal on its base current, collector voltage, and collector
current values and therefore, if the transistor is to operate correctly as a linear amplifier, it must be
properly biased around its operating point.
Establishing the correct operating point requires the selection of bias resistors and load resistors to
provide the appropriate input current and collector voltage conditions. The correct biasing point for a
bipolar transistor, either NPN or PNP, generally lies somewhere between the two extremes of operation
with respect to it being either “fully-ON” or “fully-OFF” along its DC load line. This central operating
point is called the “Quiescent Operating Point”, or Q-point for short.
Transistors are one of the largely used semiconductor devices which are used for wide variety of
applications including amplification and switching. However to achieve these functions satisfactorily,
transistor has to be supplied with certain amount of current and/or voltage. The process of setting these
conditions for a transistor circuit is referred to as Transistor Biasing. This goal can be accomplished by
variety of techniques which give rise to different kinds of biasing circuits. However, all of these circuits
are based on the principle of providing right-amount of base current, I B and inturn the collector current,
IC from the supply voltage, VCC when no signal is present at the input.

The base-emitter junction has most characteristics of a diode in a sense that the emitter current
increases exponentially with the base-emitter voltage. The big difference is that, in the transistor, the
lion's share of the emitter current is redirected to the collector, as long as the voltage on the collector
(say, relative to the emitter) is reasonably high.

In a typical transistor circuit with a common emitter, there is a load, say, a resistor (RLRL on the diagram
below), in the collector circuit.

As the base-emitter voltage, VBEVBE, increases and, following it, the emitter current and, therefore, the
collector current increases, the voltage drop on the load resistor increases as well.

Since the total voltage of a battery is shared between the emitter-collector voltage and the load voltage
(VCC=VCE+VRLVCC=VCE+VRL), an increase of the voltage drop on the load leads to a decrease of the
voltage on the collector and, at some point, it becomes too low to support the redirection of the
electrons coming from the emitter to the base, after which the collector current will plateau.

If we kept maintaining a reasonably high voltage on the collector, the collector current would continue
growing with the base-emitter voltage, exponentially, until the transistor overheated and melted.

EXPERIMENT 8

Base bias the simplest way to bias a BJT transistor. Base bias ensures that the voltage fed to the base,
VBB, is the correct voltage, which then supplies the correct current so that the BJT has enough base
current to switch the transistor on.

Using the base biasing method, the collector current IC is dependent only on the values of βdc and IB.
βdc is the amplification factor by which the base current gets amplified by. So the total output current,
IC will be IC=βdc x IB.

Though base bias is one of the simplest and easiest methods to bias transistors, it is the least popular
way to do so. This is because the collector current, IC, is decided by purely by the βdc of the transistor.
βdc of a transistor is one of the most unstable and unpredictable parameters of a transistor. βdc can
vary largely across transistors even of the same exact model and type. Therefore, base bias can lead to
unpredictable actions if a transistor needs to be replaced and there are variations in the βdc of that
transistor. βdc is also susceptible to changes due to temperature, as it can vary pretty largely due to
ambient temperature. Base bias, then, can produce erratic circuit behavior due to transistor variations.
Therefore, transistors are not commonly biased in this way.
We will explore other methods of transistor biasing including voltage-divider bias and emitter-supply
bias, which provide more stability against the changes that may exist in β of a transistor.

Transistor biasing is the controlled amount of voltage and current that must go to a transistor for it to
produce the desired amplification or switching effect.

In other words, transistors must be fed the correct or appropriate levels of voltages and/or currents to
their various regions in order to function properly and amplify signals to the correct level. This
controlled amount of voltage and/or currents fed to the different junctions of a transistor is transistor
biasing.

Without appropriate transistor biasing, the transistor may not function at all or amplify very poorly, such
as produce clipping of the signal or produce too low of gain. Therefore, it's very important that a
transistor is biased correctly for it to produce the intended output effect.

For bipolar junction transistors and FET transistors, there are a plethora of different methods available
to ensure that transistors are biased correctly to produce proper amplification and/or switching.

The Bipolar Transistor basic construction consists of two PN-junctions producing three connecting

terminals with each terminal being given a name to identify it from the other two. These three terminals
are known and labelled as the Emitter ( E ), the Base ( B ) and the Collector ( C ) respectively.
Bipolar Transistors are current regulating devices that control the amount of current flowing through
them from the Emitter to the Collector terminals in proportion to the amount of biasing voltage applied
to their base terminal, thus acting like a current-controlled switch. As a small current flowing into the
base terminal controls a much larger collector current forming the basis of transistor action.
The principle of operation of the two transistor types PNP and NPN, is exactly the same the only
difference being in their biasing and the polarity of the power supply for each type.