Sanciangko Street, Cebu City

College of Engineering
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

ECE 221A
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS: DEVICES AND
ANALYSIS

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR

(BJT) CHARACTERISTICS
(Multisim Lab Manual)
Plate No. 5

Date Submitted: May 28, 2022

Submitted by:

Joshua Mark H. Baya

Submitted to:

ENGR. LARRY ANGELO R. CAÑETE

UNIVERSITY OF CEBU
 College of Engineering

Electrical Engineering Laboratory

Plate No. 5

Joshua Mark H. Baya _ ____BSEE-2 ________

Name Course/ Year

________Group V__________ _______05/28/2022_____

Group Date

I. TITLE : BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR (BJT) CHARACTERISTICS

II. OBJECTIVES:

1. To study the DC characteristics of Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

2. To plot the base characteristic of an NPN BJT
3. To plot the collector characteristic of an NPN BJT
4. To solve for beta.
5. To simulate via Multisim software.

III. INSTRUMENTS AND COMPONENTS (Multisim Directory):

MATERIAL COMPONENT GROUP FAMILY

Transistor 2N2222A Transistors BJT_NPN

DC current source DC_CURRENT Sources SIGNAL_CURRENT_SOURCES

Ground GROUND Sources POWER_SOURCES

DC voltage source DC_POWER Sources POWER_SOURCES

IV. DIAGRAMS
 Figure 1. Base Characteristic

Figure 2. Collector Characteristic

V. THEORY
 The transistor is a two junction, three terminal semiconductor device which has three
regions namely the emitter region, the base region, and the collector region. There are two types of
transistors. An npn transistor has an n type emitter, a p type base and an n type collector while a
pnp transistor has a p type emitter, an n type base and a p type collector. The emitter is heavily
doped, base region is thin and lightly doped and collector is moderately doped and is the largest.
The current conduction in transistors takes place due to both charge carriers- that is electrons and
holes and hence they are named Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT).

The transistor is used as a switch in Cut-off (OFF) and Saturation (ON) regions and as an
amplifier in Active region. Reverse Active mode is rarely used (it is used as input stage in TTL gates
in digital circuits). The transistor can be considered as a two port network. Three configurations
are possible depending upon which terminal acts as input port, output port, and the common
terminal. They are common base, common emitter, and common collector configuration. In this
experiment we will consider common emitter configuration in which the input is applied between
base and emitter, and the output taken at collector with respect to emitter. This is the most popular
configuration used in both switches and amplifiers.

Operation of transistor in active mode: We consider here the active mode of operation,
by forward biasing the base-emitter junction and reverse biasing the base-collector junction as
shown in Fig 3. Electrons diffuse from the emitter into the base and holes diffuse from the base into
the emitter. The electrons diffused into the base region become minority carriers in base. Since the
base region is lightly doped and thin, very few electrons will recombine with the holes in the base
region and contribute to base current and majority of the electrons arrive at the base-collector
depletion region and are swept through the depletion layer due to the electric field. These electrons
contribute to the collector current.

The input (base) characteristics are obtained as a family of IB -VBE curves at constant
VCE. Since the base emitter junction is forward biased, the IB -VBE characteristics resemble that of
a forward biased junction diode. The increase in VCE causes an increase in reverse bias to C-B
junction. This causes the depletion region to widen and penetrate into the base region, reducing
effective base width. This results in less base current to flow and hence increase in VCE causes the
characteristics to shift to the right. The reciprocal of the slope of the linear part of the characteristic
gives the dynamic input resistance of the transistor. The voltage across the forward biased PN
junction is approximately VBE = 0.7V.

The output (collector) characteristics are obtained as a family of IC-VCE at different

values of IB. At small values of VCE, the collector voltage is less than that of base causing CB
junction to get forward biased. This causes the transistor to enter a saturation region where both
the junctions are forward biased. For a given base bias, increase in VCE reduces the forward bias
and eventually reverse bias the CB junction. This now results in narrowing the base width and
thereby reducing base current. This makes the collector current to slightly increase at higher values
of VCE causing the characteristics to exhibit some slope.

VI. PROCEDURES

A. INPUT (BASE) CHARACTERISTICS

1. The experiment used NPN BJT 2N2222A and two dc voltage sources
accorded to Figure 1 with the used of Multisim software.
2. The dc voltage sources as shown in the diagram were renamed to VBE and
VCE.
3. Any values input in the dc sources was disregarded as the experiment used
DC Sweep Analysis which is a feature of the multisim used to observed the
values and behavior of VCE.
4. On the Multisim toolbar, the simulate was clicked and been hovered to
Analysis and simulation, DC sweep was selected to used the above
mentioned feature.
5. The following values are inputted in the windows pop up:

6. All the values were set, clicked on Output tab and click the added value
@qq1[Ib] on the variable list analysis.
7. It was simulated.
8. The graph produced in the simulation was recorded.

B. OUTPUT (COLLECTOR) CHARACTERISTICS

1. The experiment used NPN BJT 2N2222A and dc voltage source and current
source accorded to Figure 2 with the used of Multisim software.
 2. The dc voltage source as shown in the diagram was renamed to VCE and IB
for current source.
3. Any value input of the dc source and current source was disregarded as the
experiment used the Dc Sweep Analysis feature of the Multisim to observed
the values and behavior of IB.
4. On the Multisim toolbar, the simulate was clicked and been hovered to
Analysis and simulation, DC sweep was selected to used the above
mentioned feature.
5. The following values are inputted in the windows pop up:

6. All the values were set, clicked on Output tab and click the added value
@qq1[Ic] on the variable list analysis.
7. It was simulated.
8. The graph produced in the simulation was recorded.
9. Tabulated Data and results were filled in the table.
10. β was computed.

VII. TABULATED DATA AND RESULTS

For VCE = 0.5 V

IB (μA) 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

IC (mA) 4.12 8.22 12.26 16.25 20.18 24.06 27.88 31.65 35.38 39.06

β 206 205.5 204.3 203.1 201.8 200.5 199.1 197.8 196.6 195.3

VIII. COMPUTATIONS

Solve for β for every IC-IB pair. Find the average value of β for this experiment.

β =IC/IB

4.12 x 10-3 / 20 x 10 -6= 206

8.22 x 10-3 / 40 x 10 -6= 205.5

12.26 x 10-3 / 60 x 10 -6= 204.3

16.25 x 10-3 / 80 x 10 -6= 203.1

20.18 x 10-3 / 100 x 10 -6= 201.8

24.06 x 10-3 / 120 x 10 -6= 200.5

27.88 x 10-3 / 140 x 10 -6= 199.1

31.65 x 10-3 / 160 x 10 -6= 197.8

35.38 x 10-3 / 180 x 10 -6= 196.6

39.06 x 10-3 / 200 x 10 -6= 195.3

Total β

206+205.5+204.3+203.2+201.8+200.5+199.1+197.8+196.6+195.3= 2010

Average

2010.1/10= 201

IX. GRAPHS AND CURVES

1. Plot a graph of IB vs VBE

 2. Plot a graph of IC vs VCE

X. OBSERVATION AND CONCLUSION

OBSERVATIONS:

The curves of the family IB-VBE at a constant value of VCE serve as the input (base)
characteristics. The base emitter junction appears to be forward biased, which is similar to a
forward biased junction diode. VBEA=0.7 V was the starting point for the curves. The curves of
the IC-VCE family are the performance (collector) characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS:

I concluded that each differential amplifier was connected to a single NPN BJT, with
the collector current entering the NPN BJT serving as the differential amplifier's current
source. The transistor is a great component for obtaining amplified current with little
current consumption. The dc current gain increases when the voltage is increased. However,
for the same voltage and different base currents, the DC current gain is the same..

REFERENCES

1. Experiments in Electronics Fundamentals and Electric Circuits Fundamentals on Bipolar

Junction Transistor , 4th Edition by Buchla, David

2. Digital Fundamentals on Transistors, 9th Edition by Floyd, Thomas

3. Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, Pearson, Boylestad, R and Nashelsky, L. 11th ed.
2012
4. http://fourier.eng.hmc.edu/e84/lectures/ch4/node3.html

5. https://www.physics-and-radio-electronics.com/electronic-devices-and-circuits/
transistors/bipolarjunctiontransistor/commonbaseconfiguration.html
PREPARED BY: Pamat, Willy R.