Subject Code : ECE 101/102

BASIC ELECTRONICS
COURSE MATERIAL For 1st & 2nd Semester B.E. (Revised Credit System) DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, INDIA

Bipolar Junction Transistor

Solid state transistor was invented by a team of scientists at Bell laboratories during 1947-48 Advantages of solid state transistor over vacuum devices: Smaller size, light weight No heating elements required Lower power consumption and operating voltages Low price

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Different transistor packages

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Introduction
Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) is a three layer, 2 junction semiconductor device It is a sandwich of one type of semiconductor material between two layers of another type Two kinds of BJT sandwiches are: NPN and PNP

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Introduction
The three layers of BJT are called Emitter, Base and Collector Base is narrower compared to the other two layers Base is lightly doped, Emitter is heavily doped and Collector is moderately doped NPN Emitter and Collector are made of N-type semiconductors; Base is P-type PNP Emitter and Collector are P-type, Base is N-type BJT has two junctions Emitter-Base (EB) Junction and Collector-Base (CB) Junction

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Introduction
The device is called bipolar junction transistor because current is due to the motion of two types of charge carriersfree electrons & holes Transistor symbols:

Note: Arrow direction from P to N (like diode) which indicates the direction of the flow of conventional current
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Transistor Operation
Operation of NPN transistor and PNP is similar with roles of free electrons and holes interchanged Depending upon the bias condition (forward or reverse) of each of the two junctions, different regions of operation for the BJT are obtained
Region

Active region- transistor operating as an amplifier and saturation & cutoff region- Switching applications, e.g. in logic circuits
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Transistor Operation

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Transistor Operation
C IB B E NPN IE IC IB B IE PNP C IC

Note the current directions in NPN and PNP transistors For both varieties: I E IC I B Collector current has two components: One due to injected charge carriers from emitter Another due to thermally generated minority carriers Therefore, I C dc I E I CBO
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Transistor Configurations
BJT has three terminals For two-port applications, one of the BJT terminals needs to be made common between input and output
Input 2-port device Output

Accordingly three configurations exist: Common Base (CB) configuration Common Emitter (CE) configuration Common Collector (CC) configuration

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Transistor Configurations
Common Base configuration

Base is common between input and output Input voltage: VEB Input current: IE Output voltage: VCB Output current: IC
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Transistor Operation
As the currents constituting the collector current are in the same direction, we can write IC as,

I C dc I E I CBO

Since ICBO value is very low, we can neglect it compared to IE and IC . Therefore, I C dc I E where dc is the fraction of charge carriers emitted from emitter, that enter into the collector region This parameter dc is called common base DC current gain Value of dc varies from 0.90 to 0.998 and is defined for the majority carriers IC Therefore, dc IE
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Transistor Configurations
CB Input characteristics A plot of IE versus VEB for various values of VCB It is similar to forward biased diode characteristics As VCB is increased, IE increases only slightly

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Base Width modulation

As the reverse bias voltage VCB is increased, the depletion region width at the C-B junction increases. Part of this depletion region lies in the base layer. So, effective base width decreases. Hence number of electron-hole combination at the base decreases. So base current reduces and collector current

increases. Since IEIC, emitter current also shoots up early.

This phenomenon is also called as the Early effect

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Transistor Configurations
CB Output characteristics A plot of IC versus VCB for various values of IE Three regions are identified: Active, Cutoff, Saturation

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Transistor Configurations
In case of Active region E-B junction forward biased C-B junction reverse biased IC increases with IE For given IE, IC is almost constant; increases only slightly with increase in VCB. This is due to base-width modulation In the cut off region, E-B and C-B junctions of the transistor are reverse biased Collector current is 0A In the saturation region, the E-B and C-B junctions of the transistor are forward biased
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Transistor Configurations
Common Emitter configuration

Emitter is common between input and output

Input voltage: VBE Output voltage: VCE Input current: IB Output current: IC

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Transistor Configurations
CE Input characteristics

Plot of IB versus VBE for various values of VCE . As VCE is increased, IB decreases slightly. This is due to base-width modulation
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Transistor Configurations
CE Output characteristics A plot of IC versus VCE for various values of IB Three regions identified: Active, Cut-off, Saturation

VCESat

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Transistor Configurations
Active region
Linear region in the output characteristics E-B junction forward biased C-B junction reverse biased IC increases with IB For given IB, IC increases slightly with increase in VCE; this is due to base-width modulation

Saturation region
IC decreases to zero at VCE =0

Cut off region

IB = 0, hence IC = ICEO
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Transistor Operation
IC Parameter dc is common emitter DC current gain dc IB
Therefore, collector current expression is: We have, I C dc I E I CBO Substituting for IE, we get

I C dc I B

I C dc I C I B I CBO

(1 dc ) I C dc I B I CBO
=

dc I CBO IC IB (1 dc ) (1 dc )
dc (1 dc )

I C dc I B I CEO

where dc

and I CEO

I CBO dc 1I CBO (1 dc )

Values of dc and dc vary from transistor to transistor

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1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

A BJT has alpha value as 0.998 and ICBO of 1A. If emitter current is 5mA, calculate the collector and base currents. An npn transistor has collector current 4mA and base current 10 A. Calculate the alpha and beta value of the transistor neglecting the reverse saturation current ICBO. In a transistor, 99% of the carriers injected into the base cross over to the collector region. If collector current is 4mA and ICBO is 6 A, Calculate IE and IB. A Ge transistor with = 100 has ICBO = 5A. If the transistor is connected in common-emitter operation, find the collector current for base current (a) 0 A (b) 40 A. A Ge transistor has collector current of 51 mA when the base current is 0.4 mA. If = 125, then what is the value of ICEO?

Problems

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Transistor Biasing
What is meant by biasing the transistor? Applying external dc voltages to ensure that transistor operates in the desired region Which is the desired region? For amplifier application, transistor should operate in active region For switch application, it should operate in cut-off and saturation region What is meant by quiescent point (Q-point)? The point we get by plotting the dc values of IC , IB and VCE on the transistor characteristics

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Transistor Biasing
Transistor characteristics showing Q-point:

Q-point is in the middle of active region.

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Transistor Biasing
Types of biasing: Fixed bias or base resistor bias Self bias or voltage divider bias Fixed bias: The value of IB is fixed by choosing proper value for RB Equations to be considered are:
VCC V BE IB RB

VCE VCC I C RC
Fixed bias circuit
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Transistor Biasing
Load Line We have:

VCE VCC I C RC

This is an equation of straight line with points VCC/RC and VCC lying on y-axis and x-axis respectively This line is called Load line because it depends on resistor RC considered as Load and VCC Intersection of load line with the transistor characteristic curve is called Q-point or operating point for a particular value of IB, hence giving a common solution

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Transistor Biasing
If RB is varied, Q-point moves along the load line If RB is held constant and RC is varied, then slope of load line varies If RB & RC are held constant and VCC is varied, then load line shifts, maintaining same slope With reference to the graphs, with everything else held constant If RB is increased, transistor goes towards cut-off and if RB is decreased, transistor goes towards saturation If RC is increased, transistor goes towards saturation and if RC is decreased, transistor goes towards active region If VCC is increased, transistor goes towards active region and if VCC is decreased, transistor goes towards saturation
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Transistor Biasing
Variation in load line with circuit parameters RB , RC and VCC

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Transistor Biasing
Advantages of Fixed bias: Simple circuit to analyze and design Uses very few circuit components Disadvantages of Fixed bias: Q-point is unstable i.e. if temperature increases, then increases, hence ICQ and VCEQ varies. Effectively Q-point shifts If the transistor is replaced with another transistor having different value, then also Q-point shifts

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Problems on Fixed bias

1. For a fixed bias circuit using Si transistor, RB = 500 k, RC = 2k, VCC = 15 V, ICBO = 20 A and = 70. Find the collector current ICQ and VCEQ at Q-point. A Si transistor is biased for a constant base current. If = 80, VCEQ = 8 V, RC = 3 k and VCC = 15 V, find ICQ and the value of RB required. Repeat the problem if the transistor is a germanium device. 3. For a fixed bias circuit, VCC = 12 V and RC = 4 k. The Ge transistor used is characterized by = 50, ICEO = 0 A and VCE sat = 0.2 V. Find the value of RB that just results in saturation

2.

4.

A fixed bias circuit has VCC = 20 V, RC = 5 k and RB = 300 k. The Si transistor has ICBO = 0 and = 50. Find ICQ and VCEQ.

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, INDIA

Transistor Biasing
Voltage divider bias or Self bias Resistor RE connected between emitter and ground Voltage-divider resistors R1 & R2 replace RB Circuit can be analyzed in two methods: Exact method (using Thevenins theorem) Approximation method (neglecting base current) Self bias circuit
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Transistor Biasing
Exact method: Input side of self-bias circuit (Fig. a) is transformed into Thevenins equivalent circuit (Fig. b) where, RTH is the resistance looking into the terminals A & B (Fig. c)

VTH

V R CC 2 R1 R2

RTH

R1 R2 R1 || R2 R1 R2

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Transistor Biasing
Self-bias circuit redrawn with input side replaced by Thevenins equivalent :

Equations to be considered:
IB VTH V BE RTH ( 1) R E

Since >> 1 and (+1)RE >> RTH

VTH V BE IB RE
VTH VBE IC I B RE

Since IC is almost independent of , Q-point is stable

VCE VCC I C RC I E RE
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Transistor Biasing
Advantages of Self bias: The collector current and hence the Q-point is independent of variation in temperature and replacement of transistor Disadvantages of Self bias: More circuit components are required Analysis and design are complex

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Problems on Self bias

1. For a self bias circuit, the transistor is a Si device, RE = 200 , R1 = 10R2 = 10 k, RC = 2 k, = 100 and VCC = 15 V. Determine the values of ICQ and VCEQ. Suppose if the transistor used in problem 1 failed and was replaced with a new transistor with = 75, is the new transistor still biased for active region operation? A self bias circuit uses Silicon transistor with RC = 3.3K , RE = 1K, R1 = 39K , R2 = 8.2K , = 120 and VCC = 18 V. Determine the values of IB , ICQ and VCEQ.

2.

3.

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Transistor Amplifier
Amplifier Circuit which increases the magnitude of the input signal applied BJT basically amplifies current: Collector current equals beta times Base current By suitably designing the transistor circuit, we can get voltage amplification and power amplification For faithful amplification (with no distortion), BJT should operate in Active region throughout the input cycle This is achieved by proper use of biasing circuit Biasing circuit fixes the operating point in the middle of active region

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Transistor Amplifier
As vin varies, iin varies, thus base current iB varies This variation in base current is amplified beta times to get variation in collector current iC Output voltage vout is VCC iC RC If vin increases, there is proportional decrease in vout Similarly if vin decreases, vout increases proportionally Thus output voltage of CE amplifier is 180o out of phase with input voltage CE amplifier circuit with fixed bias
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Transistor Amplifier
Voltage gain or voltage amplification factor is vout /vin which is dependent on , RC and other physical parameters of the transistor Figure shows input and output waveforms for the amplifier circuit shown previously Note the dc shift in the output voltage waveform. i.e., when vin = 0, vout = VCEQ

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Transistor Amplifier
Gain of the amplifier is usually expressed in decibels (AV)dB = 20 log10 | AV | Usually a gain of 100 (i.e. 40 dB) can be obtained using single transistor. For higher gain requirement, two or more amplifier stages are to be cascaded Overall gain is product of individual gains, but when expressed in dB, overall gain is sum of individual gains (in dB)

AV AV 1 . AV 2 ....... AVN
( AV ) dB ( AV 1 ) dB ( AV 2 ) dB ....... ( AVN ) dB

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Transistor Amplifier
RC Coupled Amplifier

CE amplifier employing self bias

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Transistor Amplifier
Additional components used are CC and CE CC is called coupling capacitor used to prevent dc component from entering or leaving amplifier stage CE is called emitter bypass capacitor used to bypass the ac emitter current preventing it from flowing through RE If ac emitter current is allowed to pass through RE, then vBE reduces and hence output voltage reduces Frequency response of amplifier It is important to know the behavior of the amplifier at different frequencies Gain is NOT constant at all frequencies depends on various factors Frequency response is a plot of gain versus frequency
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Transistor Amplifier
Figure shows frequency response plot At lower and higher frequencies, gain is less Gain attains constant value at mid frequencies Bandwidth of amplifier is range of frequencies over which gain is not less than 3 dB of maximum gain

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, INDIA

Transistor Amplifier
Analysis of frequency response curve
At very low frequencies, reactance of coupling capacitors is high, hence there is loss of signal voltage across capacitors, resulting in reduced gain Also at low frequencies, emitter bypass capacitor does not fully bypass the ac emitter current, hence ac voltage drop develops across RE, resulting in reduced gain At very high frequencies, shunt capacitances due to wiring and inter-layer junction capacitances will be prominent, hence resulting in signal loss At mid frequencies, gain is maximum and constant

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, INDIA

Transistor Amplifier
Advantages
Cost is low Offers high fidelity in audio frequency range (20 - 20KHz) Circuit is quite compact

Disadvantages
Tends to be noisier with age Gain is less

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Problems on Amplifiers
1. A three-stage amplifier circuit has first stage gain of 45 dB, second stage gain of 50 dB and third stage gain of 5 dB. What is the overall gain? If input to the first stage is 0.1mV, what is the output of final stage? An amplifier has maximum gain of 200 and bandwidth of 500 kHz. If lower cutoff frequency is 50 Hz, what is the upper cutoff frequency and gain at this frequency? The voltage amplifier has a voltage gain = 200 at the cut off frequencies. Find the maximum voltage gain?

2.

3.

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End of Module 6

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