Electrical Science

Lecture-18-20: Ideal Zener diodes and BJT

BITS Pilani Dr. Navneet Gupta

Pilani Campus Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
 Lecture-18

Ideal zener diode characteristics

 A Zener diode not operating in the breakdown state
behaves as an ordinary diode.
 A Zener diode when not in the breakdown state,
behaves as the ideal diode depicted in the fig below.
Example
 Consider the circuit model shown below. vs =
24sinωt. Zener diodes have a breakdown
voltage of 12 V.

V0  VD1  VD 2

Case 1: i > 0 A  D1 FB and D2 BR

Case 2: i < 0 A  D2 FB and D1 BR
Case 3: i = 0 A
Temperature dependence
 The breakdown voltage of Zener diode is temperature
dependent.
 TC of a Zener diode lies in the range of ±0.1
percent/oC.
 For avalanche effect (Vz > 6 V): TC is +ve
 For Zener effect (VZ < 6 V): TC is –ve
 Example: Zener diode; VZ = 12 V at 250C has TC =
+0.075 %/0C. So at 450C, VZ = ?
 Bipolar Junction Transistors
(BJT)

The middle region, base, is very thin compared to

the diffusion length of minority carriers

Base (B)

P+ N P
Emitter (E) Collector (C)

Emitter is heavily doped compared to collector. So,

emitter and collector are not interchangeable.
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 IE = IB + IC and VEB + VBC + VCE = 0 VCE =  VEC

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pnp BJT (with E-B jn FB and C-B jn RB)

iC  iE  I CO • α is Large-signal current gain ~ 0.95 to 0.998

iE  iC  I CO • α depends upon collector-base voltage and temp.
iC  I CO
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iE
Active-region operation

iC  iE
As
Typical value for a forward-
iB  iE  iC biased silicon pn junction is
0.7 V, i.e vEB = 0.7 V
Thus
iB  iE  iE  1   iE

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 Lecture-19

Example
 Use the circuit symbol of a Si pnp BJT. Suppose that RE
= 500 Ω, RC = 1.2kΩ, VEE = 3 V, and VCC = 6 V. Confirm
that the BJT is biased (operating) in the active region.

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Example: P7.4
 For the circuit given in Figure, RC = 1.8 kΩ, RE = 180 Ω, and
VEE = 1.4 V. Assume that the transistor is in the active region
and that α nearly equal to 1. (a) Find vCB when VCC = 12 V. (b)
Find the minimum value of VCC such that the transistor is in
the active region.

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iE = 3.89 mA 6.5 < VCC
The npn Transistor (CE Conf.)

 In an npn transistor, the B-C jn is RB when vBC<Vγ

(0.5 for Si)
 By KVL: vBC= vBE-vCE
 Thus B-C jn is RB when vBE-vCE <Vγ or vCE > vBE –Vγ
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The npn Transistor (output
charateristics)

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 iC  iE  I CO
and
iE  iB  iC

 
Large-signal CE  or 
current gain (β) 1  1 

 This is defined as the ratio of output current to input

current in common emitter configuration.

iC

iB
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The npn Transistor (output
charateristics)
iC
   150
iB

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Example: RB = 330 k, Rc = 2.7 k, supply = 10 V
each, β = 100

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 Lecture-20

7.3 Cutoff and saturation

amplification
Table:

Digital application : logic gates

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CE npn transistor circuit
if
v1  vBE  0.5V , then
+Vcc
Si  cut  off
iB  i C  iE  0 A, Rc

and , vCE  VCC ic

iB
+
vCE
+ RB +
_
v1 vBE _
_
ic = (Vcc-vcE)/Rc
= -1/Rc vcE + Vcc/Rc
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Undesirable operating characteristics
Emitter Base breakdown voltage BVEBO

Collector Emitter breakdown voltage BVCEO

Transistor breakdown

Due to
 avalanche effect and
 reach through or punch through

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DC current gain

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 vCE ( sat .)  0.2V (Si)
 If v1 > 0.5 V, this voltage will FB the B-E jn and make iB > 0 A.
 Operation: cut-off-> active region.
 Further increase in v1 and iB => saturation region
iC ( sat .) 
V
CC  vCE ( sat .) 

VCC  0.2 
VCC
, when(VCC  0.2V )
RC RC RC
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 When BJT is in saturation: ON
 When BJT is in cut-off: OFF
 When BJT is ON: it conducts current from collector to
emitter and the voltage between collector and
emitter(≈0.2 V) is close to 0 V. (i.e it acts as short circuit
between C and E)
 When BJT is OFF: it acts as an open circuit.
 Hence BJT behaves as an electronic switch.

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CE circuit shown in fig, the silicon
transistor has hFE =100.

Assume transistor is in active region

 iB = (10-0.7)/100x103 = 93µA

 iC= hFE x iB =100(93x10-6) = 9.3 mA

 vCE = -(2x103)iC + 10 = -8.6 < 0.2 V

 So active region was incorrect.

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Assume transistor is operating in
the saturation region
 vBE = 0.8V and
 vCE = 0.2V
 iB = (10-0.8)/100x103 = 92µA
 iC= (10-0.2)/2x103 = 4.9 mA

Border between active and saturation

hFE = ic/iB
If iC is saturation current we must have
iB ≥ iC/hFE

iB = 92 µA > iC/hFE = 4.9x10-3 /100 = 49µA

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The transistor
BITS-Pilani
is indeed in saturation 25
 Example

Find the minimum value of hFE2 for

which Q2 will saturate.

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 NOTICE
 Date: 7-03-2014 Day: Friday Time: 9:00 -10:30 AM
 Marks: 90
 Seating Arrangement: AS PER Instruction Division
Notice
 Course: upto Lecture No. 20 of course handout
 [Details: Chapter1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 (article that are
covered in Lectures]

Remark:
1)During the test, indicate the correct section number and
instructor’s name on the answersheet.
2) Students are advised to give their test in room allocated as per
the seating plan.
3) Please refer the handout for make-up policy.

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