Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

BJT

Dr Francis Kofi Ampong

Department of Physics
KNUST
 Bipolar Transistors Chapter 21

• Introduction
• An Overview of Bipolar Transistors
• Bipolar Transistor Operation
• Bipolar Transistor Characteristics
• DC Analysis of BJT circuits
 Reference
Books

Electronics Fundamentals: Thomas L. Pearson

1 Circuits, Devices, and Floyd Education
Applications Inc.
Electronic circuit analysis and Donald A , Irwin
2 Design Neaman

Microelectronics:DIGITAL AND Jacob Millman, McGraw-

3 ANALOG CIRCUITS AND Arvin Grabel Hill
SYSTEMS

Microelectronic Circuits Sedra & Smith Oxford

4 Universit
y Press
 Importance
“The Transistor was probably the most important
invention of the 20th Century and the story behind
the invention is one of clashing egos and top secret
research.”
Ira Flatow

– Transistors replaced vacuum tubes.

– Transistors are central to the Integrated Circuit, and
therefore, all electronic devices of the information age,
such as: pc’s, cellular phones, ipods, pda’s, intelligent cars
and buildings…….. are made possible.
 Pictorial History of Transistors

http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/belllabs_transistor.html ◄
 Introduction
21.1

• Bipolar transistors are one of the main

‘building-blocks’ in electronic systems
• They are used in both analogue and digital
circuits
• They incorporate two pn junctions and are
sometimes known as bipolar junction
transistors or BJTs
• Here will refer to them simply as bipolar
transistors
PHYSICAL STRUCTURE
AND MODE OF
OPERATION OF THE BJT
 PHYSICAL STRUCTURE

A simplified structure of the npn transistor.

 PHYSICAL STRUCTURE

A simplified structure of the pnp transistor.

 Bipolar Junction Transistors
(BJT)
• A bipolar transistor
essentially consists of a pair
of PN Junction diodes that
are joined back-to-back.
• There are therefore two
kinds of BJT, the NPN and
PNP varieties.
• The three layers of the
sandwich are conventionally
called the Collector, Base,
and Emitter.
Schematic representation of
pnp and npn BJTs

Emitter is heavily doped compared to collector. So, emitter

and collector are not interchangeable.

The base width is small compared to the minority carrier

diffusion length. If the base is much larger, then this will
behave like back-to-back diodes.

11
Operation Mode
Operation Mode
• Active:
– Most importance mode, e.g. for amplifier operation.
– The region where current curves are practically flat.
• Saturation:
– Barrier potential of the junctions cancel each other out
causing a virtual short.
– Ideal transistor behaves like a closed switch.
• Cutoff:
– Current reduced to zero
– Ideal transistor behaves like an open switch.
 Bipolar Transistor Operation
21.3

• We will consider npn transistors

– pnp devices are similar but with different
polarities of voltage and currents
– when using npn transistors
Current flow in an npn transistor biased to
operate in the Active mode operation
N-Type P-Type N-Type

Injected Diffusing Collected

electrons electrons electrons

VBE VCB

I E  I B  IC
 BJT in Active Mode

• Operation
– Forward bias of EBJ injects electrons from emitter into base
(small number of holes injected from base into emitter)
– Most electrons shoot through the base into the collector
across the reverse bias junction (think about band diagram)
– Some electrons recombine with majority carrier in (P-type)
base region
 Band Diagrams (In equilibrium)
• No current flow
• Back-to-back PN diodes

Emitter Base Collector

Ec

Ef

Ev

N P N
 Band Diagrams (Active Mode)
• EBJ forward biased
– Barrier reduced and so electrons diffuse into the base
– Electrons get swept across the base into the collector
• CBJ reverse biased
– Electrons roll down the hill (high E-field)
Emitter Base Collector

Ec

Ef

Ev
N P N
Current flow in a pnp transistor biased to operate
in the Active mode operation
 Terminals & Operations

• Three terminals:
– Base (B): very thin and lightly doped central region (little
recombination).
– Emitter (E) and collector (C) are two outer regions sandwiching
B.
• Normal operation (linear or active region):
– B-E junction forward biased; B-C junction reverse biased.
– The emitter emits (injects) majority charge into base region and
because the base very thin, most will ultimately reach the
collector.
– The emitter is highly doped while the collector is lightly doped.
– The collector is usually at higher voltage than the emitter.
BJT CIRCUIT SYMBOLS
 BJT circuit symbols
• The circuit symbols for the npn and pnp transistors are
shown below.
– The polarity of the device –npn or pnp- is indicated by
the direction of the arrowhead on the emitter
– This arrowhead points in the direction of the normal
current flow in the emitter, which is also the forward
direction of the base emitter-junction.
C E

B
B

C
E

NPN PNP
 TRANSISTORS-(NPN)
Transistors are manufactured in
different shapes but they have three
leads (legs).
The BASE - which is the lead
responsible for activating the
transistor.
The COLLECTOR – and The
EMITTER

The leads on a transistor may not always be in this

arrangement. When buying a transistor, directions will
normally state clearly which lead is the BASE, EMITTER or
COLLECTOR
Transistor Terminal Identification

24
 Transistor
operation
• 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 controlled
the flow of water in the
pipe.
Terminals & Operations
 BJT Terminal Currents
• IE is normally has the
greatest value, followed
closely by IC.
• The BJT is a current-
controlled device. The
value of IC is normally
some multiple of the
value of IB.
IC

IB
 Transistor Current Gain ()
• Transistor current gain / common emitter current
gain () – The factor by which current increases
from the base of a transistor to its collector.
• Represented using the Greek letter Beta () or
(DC) or hFE

I C  I B
 Key Points

• BJT is a current amplifier

– The collector current is controlled by a much smaller base
current
– The sum of the collector and base currents flow into or out of
the emitter
• They can be considered as either voltage-controlled
or current-controlled devices
Transistor Specification Sheet
Current Relations
 DC Alpha ()

• Alpha () – The ratio of collector current ( IC ) to emitter

current ( IE ).
– Also referred to as collector current efficiency or common-
base current gain.
– IE is greater than IC, so the value of  is always less than
1.

IC

IE
 DC Analysis of BJTs
• Transistor Currents:
IE = I C + I B
• alpha (DC)
IC = DCIE
• beta (DC)
IC = DCIB
 DC typically has a value between 20 and 200
Relationship analysis between α and β
BJT equations (active)
 = Common-base current gain (0.9-0.999; typical 0.99)

 = Common-emitter current gain (10-1000; typical 50-200)

 
 
 1 1
 Current Relationships

Beta can be used to calculate any of the transistor

terminal currents.

I C  I B
I C  I E
I E  I B (   1)
ICIE
IB  
  1
 Transistor Terminal Voltages

VCC, VBB, and VEE are power supply

voltages, each connected (directly or
indirectly) to the identified terminal.
VC, VB, and VE are terminal voltages, each
measured from the identified terminals to
ground.
VCE, VBE, and VCB are inter-terminal
voltages, each measured from the first
identified terminal to the second. (For
example, VCE is the voltage measured from
the collector terminal to the emitter
terminal.)
VC = VCC – ICRC ,VC = VCE
Basic circuits of BJT
 Measuring (testing) transistors
For some transistors, the pin function can be identified from
packaging:

40
 Measuring (testing) transistors
But sometimes, we have to measure: Set a digital multimeter to diode test and
an analogue multimeter to a low resistance range such as × 10, as
described above for testing a diode.
• Test each pair of leads both ways (six tests in total):
• The base-emitter (BE) junction should behave like a diode and conduct one
way only.
• The base-collector (BC) junction should behave like a diode and conduct
one way only.
• The collector-emitter (CE) should not conduct either way.

41
Transistor Testing I
Transistor Testing II
DC Analysis of BJTs
• DC voltages for the biased transistor:
• Collector voltage
VC = VCC - ICRC
• Base voltage
VB = VE + VBE

– for silicon transistors, VBE = 0.7 V

– for germanium transistors, VBE = 0.3 V
Questions ?
TRANSISTOR CIRCUITS AT DC

SOME EXTREMELY SIMPLE

EXAMPLES
 QUESTION 1

The npn transistor has beta=100 and

exhibits an Ic=1mA at VBE=0.7V. Design
the circuit so that a current of 2mA flows
through collector and a voltage of +5V
appears at the collector.
 QUESTION 1

The npn transistor has beta=100 and

emitter current, IE = 4.3 mA what is the
value of the base current?
 QUESTION 2

The voltage at the emitter was

measured and found to be -0.7V. If
beta=50, find IE, IB, IC and VC.
 QUESTION 3
RB=200kΩ, RC=1kΩ, VCC=15V, beta=100.
Solve for IC and VCE
 QUESTION 3
A given npn transistor has beta=100.
Determine the region of operation
if:

a) IB =50µA and IC =3mA

b) IB =50μA and VCE =5V

c) VBE =-2V and VCE =-1V

 Operating Regions - Cut Off

• If the base current is zero, the collector

current is also zero
• It doesn’t matter how big the collector-
emitter voltage, VCE, is
• i.e. collector-emitter junction looks like
IC  0
an open circuit
• In this state, the transistor is in the cut-
IB  0 off region
Using the transistor as a
switch

Bulb off Bulb on

54
Example – see Example 21.2 from course text
Determine the
quiescent output
voltage of this
circuit
Base current is small, so
R2 10 k
VB  VCC  10  2 .7 V
R1  R2 27 k  10 k
Emitter voltage
VE = VB – VBE = 2.7 – 0.7 = 2.0 V
Emitter current

VE 2.0 V
Since  
IB Eis small,
I current IC  IE = 2 mA
 2 mA
collector
RE 1 k
Output voltage = VCC – ICRC = 10 - 2 mA 2.2 k = 5.6
V
Questions ?
THANKS FOR
LISTENING