Transistors

Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

Transistor Basics
A Bipolar Junction Transistor is a three layer (npn or pnp)

semiconductor device. There are two pn junctions in the transistor. The three layers are called the emitter, base and collector.

Transistor Basics
The base is lightly doped and sandwiched between the collector and the emitter. The collector is moderately doped and the emitter is heavily doped. The base region is much thinner than the either the collector or emitter regions. Typical base widths are about 10-6 m. The collector region is usually thicker than the emitter as the largest amount of heat is dissipated in the collector.

Transistor Basics

Two-diode Model
A simple model of the transistor can be

made out of two diodes placed back to back. (This doesn t really work but it is useful.)
E B C

Biasing the Transistor

The transistor operates in three modes depending on how

the pn junctions in the device are biased. Cutoff - both junctions reverse biased. Saturation - both junctions forward biased. Active - base-emitter junction is forward biased and collector-base is reversed biased.

E B

A Note About Labeling Voltages

Voltages with capital letter subscripts are DC voltages,

(VBE, VCC). When a voltage has a single subscript it is measured from the terminal to ground, (VE, VC). When a voltage has a double subscript with different letters it is the voltage measured between two terminals, (VBE, VEC). When a voltage has a double subscript with the same letters it is a supply voltage, (VEE, VCC).

Cutoff
Both junctions are reverse biased. No current flows.
VCE VCE E

n C VBE

VBE

Saturation

Both junctions are forward biased. Maximum current flows.

VCE < VBE VCE VCE E VCE < VBE

n C VBE

VBE

Active Region

The BE junction is forward biased and the BC junction is reverse biased. The base-emitter voltage is approximately 0.5 - 0.7 volts (the turn-on voltage of the junction.
VCE VCE E n p n C VBE

VBE

VCE > VBE 0.7 V

VCE > VBE 0.7 V

Active Region

To make the biasing more obvious we can ground the base and use power supplies to bias the emitter and collector. Notice that the BE junction is forward biased and the BC junction is reverse biased.
IC IB VCC IE VEE IE E VEE n p n C VCC IB IC

Active Operation
With the BE junction forward biased electrons diffuse

across the junction into the base. The base is very thin and lightly doped so there are relatively few holes in it compared with the electrons from the heavily doped emitter region.
n E VEE p n C VCC IB IE IC

Active Operation
As there are few holes in the base for the electrons to combine with most of the electrons diffuse in to the reverse biased collector-base junction where the electric field in the depletion region sweeps them across into the collector. Remember electrons are the minority carriers in the p material so they are swept across the depletion region.
n E VEE p n C VCC IB IE IC

Active Operation
Unbiased:

A simplified electron energy diagram for the npn transistor.

Active Operation
Biased:

A simplified electron energy diagram for the npn transistor.

Active Operation
A small percentage of the electrons injected in to the base from the emitter do recombine with the holes in the base. If left alone the base would slowly become more negative until the flow of electrons across the base stopped. Electrons leave the base via the wire contact maintaining the small amount of holes in the base. This flow of electrons is the small base current.
n E VEE p n C VCC IB IE IC

Active Operation
Electron flow through the transistor
n E p n C

VEE IB IE

VCC

IC

Active Operation
Conventional Current
n E IE IB B p n IC C

VEE IB IE

VCC

IC

Active Operation
Kirchoff s rule gives us

The dc alpha is the ratio of collector to emitter current.

Typical transistors have values of that range from 0.95 to

0.995.

Active Operation
The ratio of the dc collector current to the dc base current

is the dc beta rating of the transistor. (Also called hFE.)

The dc beta can be related to the dc alpha.

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Transistor Curves
To understand why the transistor in the

active region can be used as an amplifier we can look at collector characteristic curves. A version of the common-emitter circuit:

Transistor Curves
The voltage difference between the collector and

emitter VCE can be adjusted by varying VCC.

Likewise varying VBB adjusts the value of IB.

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Transistor Curves

How a Transistor Amplifies

The base current IB controls the

value of the collector current IC, (and emitter current IE). The transistor acts like a valve controlling the flow of current through the transistor from collector to emitter. The handle of the valve is controlled by IB with more base current being analogous to a more open valve.

IC IB

IE

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Example
IB = 100 A RC 400 = 100

VCC 10 V

VBB

Cases

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Transistor Amplifiers
Biasing

Biasing for the Active Region

In order for a transistor amplifier to work the transistor

must be in the active region. One option is to bias the transistor by a using a number of power supplies.

VCC VEE

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Voltage-Divider Biasing
The most common method of biasing a transistor is to use

a single supply and a voltage divider circuit.

+VCC 15 V

R1 10 k

RC 3.9 k

vout

vin
2N3904

R2 4.7 k

RE 2.7 k

Voltage-Divider Biasing

The resistors R1 and R2 form a simple voltage divider.

+VCC 15 V

The DC emitter voltage can be found from VB.

R1 10 k

RC 3.9 k

vout

vin
2N3904

R2 4.7 k

RE 2.7 k

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Voltage-Divider Biasing

Likewise the emitter current can be found from

+VCC 15 V

The collector current and DC collector voltage are

R1 10 k

RC 3.9 k

vout

vin
2N3904

R2 4.7 k

RE 2.7 k

Q-Point
We still need to determine the optimal values for the DC biasing in order to choose resistors, etc. This bias point is called the quiescent or Q-point as it gives the values of the voltages when no input signal is applied. To determine the Q-point we need to look at the range of values for which the transistor is in the active region.

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Load Line
At saturation the resistance offered by the transistor is effectively zero so the current is a maximum determined by VCC and the resistors RE and RC. When the transistor is in cutoff no current flows so VCE = VCC. If we connect these two points with a straight line we get all possible values for IC and VCE for a given amplifier.

Q-point
To determine the q-point we

overlay the load line on the collector curves for the transistor. The Q-point is where the load line intersects the appropriate collector curve. For example if the amplifier is operated at IB = 20 A the Q-point is as shown on the graph.

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Midpoint biased
When the Q-point is chosen so that VCE is half of VCC and

IC is half of IC(sat) the amplifier is said to be midpoint biased.

Optimum Biasing

Midpoint biasing allows optimum ac operation of the amplifier. When an ac signal is applied to the base of the transistor, IC and VCE both vary about the Q-point. With the Q-point center the values can make the maximum deviations from the Q-point either above or below.

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Transistor Amplifiers
Gain and Impedance

Gains
AC Gain is the ratio between the ac output and ac input

signal. Voltage:

Current:

Power:

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Decibels
Gains are sometimes expressed in terms of

decibels. dB Power Gain:

Ap ( dB ) = 10 log Ap
dB Voltage Gain

Av ( dB ) = 20 log Av

Basic Amplifier Model

The basic amplifier is characterized by its

gains, input impedance and output impedance.

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The Ideal Amplifier

The ideal amplifier has infinite input

impedance (Rin = ), zero output impedance (Rout = 0) and infinite gain (if desired).

Amplifier Input Impedance (Zin)

If we assume that the input impedance of

our amplifier is purely resistive then the signal voltage at input (vin) is

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Output Impedance (Zout)

If we assume that the output impedance of

our amplifier is purely resistive then the signal voltage at output (vout) is

Effects of Input and Output Impedance

vs = 15 mV, Rs= 20, RL =1.2k Avo = 340, Zin = 980, Zout = 250 vout = 4.14 V, Av(eff) =276

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Effects of Input and Output Impedance

vs = 15 mV, Rs= 20, RL =1.2k Avo = 340, Zin = 8k, Zout = 20 vout = 5.0 V, Av(eff) = 333

Transistor Amplifiers
The Common Emitter Amplifier

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Basic Design

Phase relationships
The output voltage is 180 degrees out of phase with the

input voltage. The output current is in phase with the input current

vin

vout

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AC Emitter Resistance
The base-emitter junction has an ac emitter resistance that

can be approximated by

where

This is a dynamic resistance that only appears in ac

calculations.

AC beta
The ac current gain for a transistor is different than the

dc current gain.

The ac current gain is defined as

Note that this is the gain of the transistor not the

amplifier. hfe values are usually listed on the specification sheets for the transistor.

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Coupling Capacitor
In many applications amplifiers are connected in series

with other amplifiers (cascaded) or with other complex circuits. Coupling capacitors are used to pass the ac signal from one stage to the next while blocking the dc signal. Coupling capacitors act as if they have infinite impedance for dc signals but very low impedance for ac signals. The dc equivalent of a circuit can be determined by replacing the capacitors by breaks in the circuits (open circuit). The ac equivalent of a circuit can be determined by replacing capacitors by shorts in the circuit.

AC Equivalent
VCC

RC R1
+ -

vout vout
RL r e+RE

vin
RL||RC

vin
-

C2 C1
+

RE R2

R2||R1

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Gain for the CE Amp

The voltage gain for the

CE amp can be derived using the ac equivalent circuit.

vout vin
RL||RC

vin = ie re + RE vout = ic (RC RL )

r e+RE R2||R1

Av =

(RC RL ) i (R R ) vout = c C L vin i re + RE e re + RE

Input impedance
The input impedance of a CE amplifier with

voltage-divider biasing is given by

The ac input impedance of the transistor base

is

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Swamping
A bypass

capacitor can be used to reduce the ac resistance of the RE but maintain the gainstabilization properties of an external emitter resistor.

+15 V

10 k

RC 3.9 k

vout
RL 3.9 k

vin

2.2 F + 2N3904

2.2 F

4.7 k

RE1 150

RE2 2.7 k

+ 10 F

All Together Now

Assume ac
+15 V

current gain is 150 for the transistor. Find Av, and Zin.

10 k

RC 3.9 k

vout
RL 3.9 k

vin

2.2 F + 2N3904

2.2 F

4.7 k

RE1 150

RE2 2.7 k

+ 10 F

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Other Basic Amplifier Designs

Common-Base Common-Collector (Emitter-Follower)

Transistors
Field Effect Transistors (FETs)

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Junction Field Effect Transistors

Width of conducting

channel is controlled by gate voltage. Source emitter Drain collector Gate Base

JFETs vs. BJTs

JFETs have an extremely high input

impedance for a given gain as compared to BJTs. Smaller size Higher frequency response Voltage controlled rather than current controlled

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MOSFET
Metal Oxide Semiconductor FET Very low current devices Most VLSI circuits use MOSFETs. Two types: Enhancement Depletion

MOSFET
Enhancement

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MOSFET
Depletion

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