INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

Bipolar Junction Transistors → Chapter 6

cross section
• A three terminal device
• Invented in 1948 at Bell Telephone Laboratories
• Ushered in a new era of solid-state circuits
• Replaced by MOSFET as predominant transistors

• Simplified structure of the npn transistor • Simplified structure of the npn transistor

npn symbol pnp symbol

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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

Bipolar Junction Transistors

• npn – voltages are measured with respect
to the emitter (lowest potential)
• VBE – base to emitter voltage
• VCE – collector to emitter voltage

• pnp – voltages are measured with respect

to the emitter (highest potential)
• VEB – emitter to base voltage
• VEC –emitter to collector voltage

• IB – base current
• IE – emitter current
• IC – collector current

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G. Serrano
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

BJT Operation
• Two external voltage sources are
required for biasing
• Three operation modes:
used for 1) Cut-Off
switching! 2) Saturation
3) Active
used for amplification!

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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

BJT Operation
• Two external voltage sources are
required for biasing
• Three operation modes:
used for 1) Cut-Off
switching! 2) Saturation
3) Active
used for amplification!

𝒊𝑬 = 𝒊𝑩 + 𝒊𝑪
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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

BJT Mathematical Model → Active Base / Emitter Currents

𝒊𝑪
• iC = f(vBE) 𝒊𝑩 =
𝜷
𝜷+𝟏 𝒊𝑪
𝒊𝑬 = 𝒊𝑩 + 𝒊𝑪 = 𝒊 =
𝜷 𝑪 𝜶

𝒗𝑪𝑬 IS - Saturation Current [10-12 - 10-18] A

𝑖𝐶 ∝ 𝑒 𝑣𝐵𝐸 𝑉𝑇 𝒊𝑪 ∝
𝑽𝑨 𝑨𝑬 𝒒𝑫𝒏 𝒏𝒊
• iC = f(vCE) 𝑰𝑺 =
𝑵𝑨 𝓦
𝜷 - Current Gain [50 - 200] A/A
𝒊𝑪
𝜷𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 = |𝒔𝒂𝒕 ≤ 𝜷
𝒊𝑩
Collector Current
𝒗𝑪𝑬 ∝ - Constant 𝜷
𝒊𝑪 = 𝑰𝑺 𝒆𝒗𝑩𝑬 𝑽𝑻 𝟏+ 𝜶=
𝑽𝑨 𝜷+𝟏
≈ 𝑰𝑺 𝒆𝒗𝑩𝑬 𝑽𝑻
VA - Early Voltage [10 - 100] V

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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

Large Signal Model → npn

Active Mode Saturation Mode
• vBE → forward bias • vBE → forward bias
• vBC → reverse bias • vBC → forward bias
• vCE >= 0.3V • iC ≠ f (vBE )
• iC = f (vBE ) • iC / iB = βforced< β

npn circuit model npn circuit model

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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

Example 6.1
An npn transistor having Is = 10-15A, β = 100, and VA = ∞ is connected as follows: the emitter is
grounded, the base is fed with a constant-current source supplying a dc current of 10μA, and the
collector is connected to a 5-V dc supply via a resistance RC of 3kΩ. Assuming that the transistor
is operating in the active mode, find VBE and VCE. Use these values to verify active-mode
operation. Replace the current source with a resistance connected from the base to the 5-V dc
supply. What resistance value is needed to result in the same operating conditions?
VCC

VCC
RC

IDC

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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

Large Signal Model → Active-Mode

npn - transistor pnp - transistor

• BE Junction → forward bias • EB Junction → forward bias

 vBE > 0.5V  vEB > 0.5V
• BC Junction → reverse bias • CB Junction → reverse bias
 vCE >= 0.3V  vEC >= 0.3V
• iC = f (vBE ) • iC = f (vEB )

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Electronics I
INEL 4201 – Electronics I 4/1/2018

Large Signal Model → Saturation-Mode

npn - transistor pnp - transistor

• BE Junction → forward bias • EB Junction → forward bias

 vBE > 0.5V  vEB > 0.5V
• BC Junction → forward bias • CB Junction → forward bias

• iC ≠ f (vBE ) • iC ≠ f (vEB )
 iC/iB =βforced <β  iC/iB =βforced <β

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Electronics I