C

E
 Transistors
• They are unidirectional current carrying devices
like diodes with capability to control the
current flowing through them
• Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT) control current
by current
• Field Effect Transistors (FET) control current by
voltage
• They can be used either as switches or as amplifiers
 • A transistor allows you to control the current, not just
block it in one direction.
• A good analogy for a transistor is a pipe with an
adjustable gate.

• A transistor has three terminals.

• The main path for current is between the collector and emitter.
• The base controls how much current flows, just like the gate
controls the flow of water in the pipe.
 BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR
• Two back to back P-N junctions
• Emitter
– Heavily doped
– Main function is to supply majority carriers to base
• Base
– Lightly doped as compared to emitter
– Thickness 10-6 m
• Collector
– Collect majority carriers from emitter through base
– Physically larger than the emitter region

N P N P N P
E C E C

B B
 The BJT – Bipolar Junction Transistor

The Two Types of BJT Transistors

npn pnp

E n p n C E p n p C

Cross Section C Cross Section C

B B
B B
Schematic Schematic
Symbol Symbol
E E
NPN Bipolar Junction
Transistor

LP4 6
PNP Bipolar Junction
Transistor

LP4 7
 STRUCTURE
• The collector surrounds the emitter region, making it
almost impossible for the electrons injected into the
base region to escape being collected, thus making the
resulting value of α very close to unity, and so, giving
the transistor a large β
• Energy Band diagram of an unbiased transistor
– N-region moves down and P-region moves up due to
diffusion of majority carriers across junction.
– The displacement of band and carrier migration stops
when Fermi levels in the three regions are equalized
Biasing of Transistor
– Base and emitter current when collector is open
• EB is forward biased- electron diffusion from emitter
to base and hole diffusion from base to emitter
• Hence IB will be large and is equal to IE
• Collector is open so no current flows into collector
• Base and Collector current when the Emitter
is open (ICBO)
• CB is reverse biased- electron from base flow into
collector region and holes from collector flow
into base
• This current is known as reverse saturation
current
• The base current IB will be small and is equal to
ICBO
• Four Ways of Transistor biasing
– Both EB and CB junctions are fwd biased- Huge
current flows through base. The transistor is said to
be operating in Saturation region (mode)
– Both EB and CB junctions are reverse biased- The
transistor is said to be operating in cut off region
(mode)
– EB junction is fwd biased and CB junction is reverse
biased. The collector current is controlled by emitter
current or base current- The transistor is said to
operate in Active region (mode)
– EB junction in reverse biased and CB junction in fwd
biased- inverted mode region (mode)
 Transistor Biasing-Active Region
When both Emitter and Collector are closed
• Emitter-base junction is forward biased
• Collector-base junction is reverse biased
• DC emitter supply voltage (VEE )- Negative terminal of VEE is connected
to emitter
• DC collector supply voltage (VCC )- Positive terminal of VCC is connected
to collector
• IB becomes very small and IC will be as large as IE

IE IC
N P N

VEE IB VCC
 Transistor currents
• Forward biasing from base to emitter narrows the BE depletion region
• Reverse biasing from base to collector widens the depletion CB region
• Conduction electrons diffuse into p-type base region
• Base is lightly doped and also very thin- so very few electron combine with available
hole and flow out of the base as valence electrons (small base electron current)

IE IC
N P N

VEE IB VCC
• Sufficient holes are not avail in base – remote possibility of
joining of electrons with holes
• Electron concentration is large on emitter side and nil on
collector
• Electrons swiftly move towards collector
• At CB junction they are acted upon by strong electric field due
to reverse bias and are swept into collector
 Transistor currents
• Most of the electrons diffuse into CB depletion region
• These electrons are pulled across the reverse biased CB junction by the
attraction of the collector supply voltage and form the collector electron current.
Therefore
IE= IC + IB
• 1-2% of emitter current goes to supply base current and 98-99% goes to supply
collector current
• Moreover, IE flows into the transistor and IB & IC flow out of transistor
• Current flowing in is taken as positive and currents flowing out are taken as
negative
• The ratio of the number of electrons arriving at collector to the number of
electrons emitted by the emitter is called base transportation factor α
 Important Biasing Rule
• Both collector and base are positive with respect to emitter
• But collector is more positive than base
• Different potentials have been designated by double subscripts as shown in the figure
• VCB (Collector is more positive than base) and VBE (base is more positive than emitter)

++
C E - + C
VCB +

+
B +
VBE VCB
VBE
B
-
E
 Transistor circuit configuration
• There are of three types
– Common base (CB) OR grounded base
– Common emitter (CE) OR grounded emitter
– Common collector (CC) OR grounded collector
• Common is the term used to denote the electrode that is common to the
input and output circuits and it is generally grounded
• Common-Base Biasing (CB) : input = VBE & IE
• output = VCB & IC

• Common-Emitter Biasing (CE): input = VBE & IB

• output = VCE & IC

• Common-Collector Biasing (CC): input = VBC & IB

• output = VEC & IE
Common Base Configuration
• Input signal applied between emitter & base
• Output is taken from collector & base
• Ratio of collector current to emitter current
is called dc alpha (α dc ) of a transistor

E - ++ C

+
VBE VCB

B
 IC
αdc =
IE
OR
I C = αdc I E
• The subscript dc on α signifies that this ratio is defined from
dc values of IC and IE
• There is also an ac α which refers to the ratio of change in
collector current to the change in emitter current
• For all practical purposes α dc = α ac = α
• IE is taken as positive (flowing into transistor) and IC is taken
as negative (flowing out of transistor)
• α is the measure of quality of a transistor- higher its values,
better is the transistor
• Value ranges from 0.95 to 0.999
 Common Emitter Configuration
• The input signal is applied between the base and emitter
and the output signal is taken out from the collector and
the emitter
• Ratio of collector current to base current is called dc beta
(β dc ) of a transistor
IC
β=
IB
OR
I C = βI B C
Relation between α and β -

B +
IC IC
α= and β =
IE IB

E
 β IE
=
α IB
using I B=I E−I C then β = I C becomes
IB
IC IC / I E α
β= or β = =
I E − IC I E / I E − I C / I E 1 −α
β (1 − α ) = α or β = α (1 + β ) or α = β / (1 + β )
Common Collector Configuration
• The input signal is applied between the base and collector
and the output signal is taken out from the emitter-collector
circuit
• Ratio of emitter current to base current is
I E I E IC β β
= . = = = (1 + β )
I B I C I B α β / (1 + β )
From the figure
C
I E=I B+I C =I B+βI B= (1 + β ) I B

-
Output current=(1+β ) x Input current B +

Relation between transistor currents

E
I E:I B:I C
We know
I C = βI B = αI E
and
IC αI E ( β / 1 + β ) I E IE
IB = = = = = (1 − α ) I E
β β β 1+ β
because
β α 1
α= and β = We get 1 − α =
(1 + β ) 1 −α (1 + β )
Therefore
I E: (1 − α ) I E: αI E
1 : (1 − α ) : α
• This shows that emitter current initiated by the
forward biased emitter base junction is split
into two parts
• (1-α )IE which becomes base current in the
external circuit
∀ α IE which becomes collector current in the
external circuit
 Static Characteristics
• Common Base Static characteristics
– Input characteristics. IE varies with VBE when voltage VCB is held constant
• VCB is adjusted with the help of R1
• VBE is increased and corresponding values of IE are noted
• The plot gives input characteristics
• Similar to the forward characteristics of P-N diode
• This characteristics is used to find the input resistance of the transistor. Its value is given by
the reciprocal of its slope
Rin =∆ VBE / ∆ IE
 BJT Input Characteristics

IE E C IC

VEE

+
VCC
R2 VCB R1
VBE

IE
8 mA

6 mA

4 mA

2 mA

0.7 V VBE
 Static Characteristics
Common Base Static characteristics
• Output characteristics. IC varies with VCB when IE is held constant
– VBE is adjusted with the help of R2 and IE is held constant
•
VCB is increased and corresponding values of IC are noted
•
The plot gives output characteristics
•
Then IE is increased to a value little higher and whole process is repeated
•
The output resistance of the transistor is given by
•
Rout =∆ VCB / ∆ IC

IE E C IC

VEE
+

VCC
R2 VCB R1
VBE

B
 BJT Output Characteristics
 IC flows even when VCB =0 for different values of IE(due to
internal junction voltage at CB junction)
 IC flows even when IE=0 (Collector leakage current or
reverse saturation current ICBO )
The output resistance is very high (500kΩ )
IC

Active Region
Saturation Region

IE

Cutoff
IE = 0
VCB
 Static Characteristics
– It can be seen that IC flows even when VCB is zero
– It is due to the fact that electrons are being injected into
base due to forward biased E-B junction and are collected by
collector due to action of internal junction voltage at C-B
junction
– Another important feature is that a small amount of collector
current flows even when the emitter current IE is zero called
collector leakage current (ICBO )
– When VCB is permitted to increase beyond a certain value, IC
increases rapidly due to avalanche breakdown
• This characteristics may be used to find α ac

α ac =∆ IC/ ∆ IE
 Common Emitter Configuration
• Transistor is biased in active region
• Called CE because emitter is common to both VBB and VCC
• VBB forward biases the EB junction and VCC reverse biases the CB

C IC
IB B

VBB E VCC
R2 VCE R1
VBE

Common Emitter(CE) Connection

LP4 30
 Static Characteristics
• Common Emitter Static characteristics
– Input characteristics. IB varies with VBE when voltage
VCE is held constant
• VCE is adjusted with the help of R1
• VBE is increased and corresponding values of IB are noted
• The plot gives input characteristics
• Procedure is repeated for different (constant) values of VCE
• This characteristics is used to find the input resistance of the
transistor. Its value is given by the reciprocal of its slope
Rin =∆ VBE / ∆ IB
IB

8 mA

6 mA

4 mA

2 mA

0.7 V VBE
 IB B CIC
Static Characteristics
VBB E VCC
R2 VCE R1
• Common Emitter Static characteristics V
B
B
– Output characteristics. IC varies with VCE when
E

IB is held constant
• IB is held constant
• VCE is increased and corresponding values of IC are
noted
• The plot gives output characteristics
• Then IB is increased to a value little higher and whole
process is repeated
• The output resistance in this case is very less as
compared to CB circuit and is given by
Rout =∆ VCE / ∆ IC
  As VCE increases from zero, IC rapidly increases to saturation level for a fixed value
of IB
 IC flows even when IB=0 (Collector leakage current or reverse saturation current
ICEO ), the transistor is said to be cutoff
When VCB is permitted to increase beyond a certain value, IC increases rapidly due to
avalanche breakdown

 This characteristics may be used to find β ac β ac =∆ IC/ ∆ IB

IC
Region of Description
Operation
Active
Active Small base current Region
controls a large collector
current
Saturation VCE(sat) ~ 0.2V, VCE IB
increases with IC

Cutoff Achieved by reducing IB to VCE

0, Ideally, IC will also
equal 0. Saturation Region
Cutoff Region
I =0
 Common Base
I E = IC + I B

IC
αdc = ⇒ I C = αdc I E
IE

where I E = 0, I C = I CBO (Reverse saturation current)

Therefore, in general I C = αdc I E + I CBO

Common Emitter
I E = IC + I B
IC
βdc = ⇒ I C = βdc I B
IB
where I B = 0, I C = I CEO (Reverse saturation current)

I C = βdc I B + I CEO

Relationship between α dc and β dc

β α
α= and β=
(1 + β ) (1 − α )
 Common Base Formulas
IE E C IC
RE RL
VEE
VCC
IB VCB
VBE

VEE −VBE
VEE − I E RE −VBE = 0 ⇒ IE =
RE
and

VCC − I C RL −VCB = 0 ⇒ VCB = VCC − I C RL

Where VBE =0.3 V for Ge and 0.7 V for Si
Generally VEE >>VBE so IE=VEE /RE
 Common Emitter Formulas
IC
IB E C
RB RL
VBB
VCC
IE VCE
VBE

VBB −VBE
VBB − I B RB −VBE = 0 ⇒ IE =
RB
and
VCC − I C RL −VCE = 0 ⇒ VCE = VCC − I C RL
 DC  and DC α
 = Common-emitter current gain
α = Common-base current gain
 = IC α = IC
IB IE

The relationships between the two parameters are:

α =  = α
+1 1-α

Note: α and  are sometimes referred to as α dc and dc

because the relationships being dealt with in the BJT
are DC.
 BJT Example
Using Common-Base NPN Circuit Configuration
C
Given: IB = 50 µ A , IC = 1 mA

VCB +
_ IC Find: IE ,  , and α

IB
B
Solution:

VBE +
_ IE IE = IB + IC = 0.05 mA + 1 mA = 1.05 mA

 = IC / IB = 1 mA / 0.05 mA = 20
E
α = IC / IE = 1 mA / 1.05 mA = 0.95238

α could also be calculated using the value of 

with the formula from the previous slide.

α =  = 20 = 0.95238
+1 21
Transistor as an amplifier
 Transistor as an amplifier
• An electronic circuit that causes an increase in the
voltage or power level of a signal
• It is defined as the ratio of the output signal voltage to
the input signal voltage
OutputVolt age vo
G= =
InputVolta ge vi

IE IC

VEE IB VCC RL
 In the figure we see that an output voltage is developed
across RL
 The dc voltage VEE is a fixed voltage and causes a dc
current IE to flow through EB junction
 When the ac voltage Vi is super-imposed on VEE , the emitter
base voltage varies with time
 Say if VEE =10V and the peak voltage of Vi is is 1V, the EB
voltage swings from 9V to 11V
 The causes corresponding variations in IE and IC which gives
Vo
 The emitter variation due to EB voltage variation can be
expressed as

vi
∆I E =
ri
 The collector current IC changes by

∆I C = αdc ∆I E
 This current ∆ IC flows through RL causing a voltage drop

vo = ( ∆I C ) RL
vo = αdc ( ∆I E ) RL
vo = αdc ( vi / ri ) RL
 Hence

G = vo / vi = αdc ( RL / ri ) as αdc ≅ 1
 Where ri is very small (100 Ω ) and RL is of the order of kilo-
ohms. It means Vo is larger than Vi indicating that the
transistor has amplified small Vi to a larger Vo
 Problems
• In the CE Transistor circuit VBB= 5V, RBB= 107.5
kΩ , RCC = 1 kΩ , VCC = 10V. Find IB, IC, VCE, β
and the transistor power dissipation
In the CE Transistor circuit shown earlier VBB = 5V, RBB = 107.5 kΩ ,
RCC = 1 kΩ , VCC = 10V. Find IB, IC, VCE , β and the transistor power
dissipation using the characteristics as shown below
By Applying KVL to the base emitter circuit

VBB − VBE
IB =
RBB
By using this equation along with the iB /
vBE characteristics of the base emitter
junction, IB = 40 µ A
By Applying KVL to the collector emitter
circuit
VCC − VCE
IC =
R CC
By using this equation along with the iC / vCE characteristics of the
base collector junction, iC = 4 mA, VCE = 6V
 I C 4mA
β= = = 100
I B 40µA
Transistor power dissipation = VCE IC = 24 mW
We can also solve the problem without using the characteristics
if β and VBE values are known

iB iC
100 µ A
100 µ A 10 mA
80 µ A
60 µ A
40 µ A
20 µ A
0 0
5V vBE vCE

Input Characteristics Output Characteristics