Lab#10 Electronics devices and circuits

Experiment No.10
Objective:
To study the common emitter NPN BJT configuration.

Apparatus:
a) Bread board
b) Transistor
c) Jumper wire
d) Resistor
e) DC power supply
f) DMM

Theory:
In common emitter configuration, base is the input terminal, collector is the output
terminal and emitter is the common terminal for both input and output. That means
the base terminal and common emitter terminal are known as input terminals whereas
collector terminal and common emitter terminal are known as output terminals.

In common emitter configuration, the emitter terminal is grounded so the common

emitter configuration is also known as grounded emitter configuration. Sometimes
common emitter configuration is also referred to as CE configuration, common
emitter amplifier, or CE amplifier. The common emitter (CE) configuration is the
most widely used transistor configuration.

Figure#10.1 common emitter configuration.

The common emitter (CE) amplifiers are used when large current gain is needed.

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The input signal is applied between the base and emitter terminals while the output
signal is taken between the collector and emitter terminals. Thus, the emitter terminal
of a transistor is common for both input and output and hence it is named as common
emitter configuration.

The supply voltage between base and emitter is denoted by VBE while the supply
voltage between collector and emitter is denoted by VCE.

In common emitter (CE) configuration, input current or base current is denoted by

IB and output current or collector current is denoted by IC.

The common emitter amplifier has medium input and output impedance levels. So the
current gain and voltage gain of the common emitter amplifier is medium. However,
the power gain is high.

To fully describe the behavior of a transistor with CE configuration, we need two set
of characteristics – input characteristics and output characteristics.

Input characteristics:

The input characteristics describe the relationship between input current or base
current (IB) and input voltage or base-emitter voltage (VBE).

First, draw a vertical line and a horizontal line. The vertical line represents y-axis and
horizontal line represents x-axis. The input current or base current (IB) is taken along
y-axis (vertical line) and the input voltage (VBE) is taken along x-axis (horizontal
line).To determine the input characteristics, the output voltage VCE is kept constant at
zero volts and the input voltage VBE is increased from zero volts to different voltage
levels. For each voltage level of input voltage (VBE), the corresponding input current
(IB) is recorded.

Figure#10.2 input characteristics.

A curve is then drawn between input current IB and input voltage VBE at constant
output voltage VCE (0 volts).

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Next, the output voltage (VCE) is increased from zero volts to certain voltage level (10
volts) and the output voltage (VCE) is kept constant at 10 volts. While increasing the
output voltage (VCE), the input voltage (VBE) is kept constant at zero volts. After we
kept the output voltage (VCE) constant at 10 volts, the input voltage VBE is increased
from zero volts to different voltage levels. For each voltage level of input voltage
(VBE), the corresponding input current (IB) is recorded.

A curve is then drawn between input current IB and input voltage VBE at constant
output voltage VCE (10 volts).

This process is repeated for higher fixed values of output voltage (VCE).

When output voltage (VCE) is at zero volts and emitter-base junction is forward biased
by input voltage (VBE), the emitter-base junction acts like a normal p-n junction diode.
So the input characteristics of the CE configuration is same as the characteristics of a
normal pn junction diode.

The cut in voltage of a silicon transistor is 0.7 volts and germanium transistor is 0.3
volts. In our case, it is a silicon transistor. So from the above graph, we can see that
after 0.7 volts, a small increase in input voltage (VBE) will rapidly increases the input
current (IB).

In common emitter (CE) configuration, the input current (IB) is very small as
compared to the input current (IE) in common base (CB) configuration. The input
current in CE configuration is measured in microamperes (μA) whereas the input
current in CB configuration is measured in mill amperes (mA).

In common emitter (CE) configuration, the input current (IB) is produced in the base
region which is lightly doped and has small width. So the base region produces only a
small input current (IB). On the other hand, in common base (CB) configuration, the
input current (IE) is produced in the emitter region which is heavily doped and has
large width. So the emitter region produces a large input current (IE). Therefore, the
input current (IB) produced in the common emitter (CE) configuration is small as
compared to the common base (CB) configuration.

Due to forward bias, the emitter-base junction acts as a forward biased diode and due
to reverse bias, the collector-base junction acts as a reverse biased diode.

Therefore, the width of the depletion region at the emitter-base junction is very small
whereas the width of the depletion region at the collector-base junction is very large.

If the output voltage VCE applied to the collector-base junction is further increased,
the depletion region width further increases. The base region is lightly doped as
compared to the collector region. So the depletion region penetrates more into the
base region and less into the collector region. As a result, the width of the base region
decreases which in turn reduces the input current (IB) produced in the base region.

From the above characteristics, we can see that for higher fixed values of output
voltage VCE, the curve shifts to the right side. This is because for higher fixed values

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of output voltage, the cut in voltage is increased above 0.7 volts. Therefore, to
overcome this cut in voltage, more input voltage VBE is needed than previous case.

Output characteristics:

The output characteristics describe the relationship between output current (IC) and
output voltage (VCE).

First, draw a vertical line and a horizontal line. The vertical line represents y-axis and
horizontal line represents x-axis. The output current or collector current (IC) is taken
along y-axis (vertical line) and the output voltage (VCE) is taken along x-axis
(horizontal line).

To determine the output characteristics, the input current or base current IB is kept
constant at 0 μA and the output voltage VCE is increased from zero volts to different
voltage levels. For each level of output voltage, the corresponding output current (IC)
is recorded.

Figure#10.3 output characteristics.

A curve is then drawn between output current IC and output voltage VCE at constant
input current IB (0 μA).

When the base current or input current IB = 0 μA, the transistor operates in the cut-off
region. In this region, both junctions are reverse biased.

Next, the input current (IB) is increased from 0 μA to 20 μA by adjusting the input
voltage (VBE). The input current (IB) is kept constant at 20 μA.

While increasing the input current (IB), the output voltage (VCE) is kept constant at 0
volts.

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Lab#10 Electronics devices and circuits

After we kept the input current (IB) constant at 20 μA, the output voltage (VCE) is
increased from zero volts to different voltage levels. For each voltage level of output
voltage (VCE), the corresponding output current (IC) is recorded.

A curve is then drawn between output current IC and output voltage VCE at constant
input current IB (20 μA). This region is known as the active region of a transistor. In
this region, emitter-base junction is forward biased and the collector-base junction is
reverse biased.

This steps are repeated for higher fixed values of input current IB (I.e. 40 μA, 60μA,
80 μA and so on).

When output voltage VCE is reduced to a small value (0.2 V), the collector-base
junction becomes forward biased. This is because the output voltage VCE has less
effect on collector-base junction than input voltage VBE.

As we know that the emitter-base junction is already forward biased. Therefore, when
both the junctions are forward biased, the transistor operates in the saturation region.
In this region, a small increase in output voltage VCE will rapidly increases the output
current IC.

Circuit diagram:

Figure#10.4 circuit on bread board.

Procedure:

i. Connect the circuit as shown in the circuit diagram.

ii. Keep output voltage VCE = 1V by varying VBE.
iii. Varying VBE gradually, note down current IB.
iv. Repeat above procedure (step 3) for VCE = 10V.
v. Varying VBE gradually and note down Base current IB.

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Observations and calculations:

Figure#10.5 reading note on DMM.

Task1:

Input characteristic:

When VCE = 1V

VBE(V) IB(mA)
0 0
0.4 0.03
0.7 0.23
1 0.47
1.3 0.77
1.6 1.04
1.9 1.31

When VCE = 10V

VBE IB
0 0
0.4 0
0.7 0.17

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1 0.47
1.3 0.72
1.6 1.05
1.9 1.38
Procedure:

i. Connect the circuit as shown in the circuit diagram.

Figure#10.6 circuit on bread board.

ii. Keep IB = 1microA by varying VCE.

iii. Varying VCE gradually, note down current IC.
iv. Repeat above procedure (step 3) for IB = 2 microA.
v. Varying VCE gradually and note down collector current IC.

Output characteristics:

Figure#10.7 reading note on DMM.

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Lab#10 Electronics devices and circuits

When IB=1microA
VCE(V) IC(mA)
0 0
0.4 0.0035
0.7 0.0036
1 0.0036
1.3 0.0036
1.6 0.0036
1.9 0.0036

When IB=2 microA

VCE(V) IC(mA)
0 0
0.4 0.09
0.7 0.09
1 0.09
1.3 0.09
1.6 0.09
1.9 0.09

Graph:

Input Graph
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
IB(mA)

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
VBE(V)

Graph no. 10.1 input characteristic graph.

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Output Graph
0.01
0.009
0.008
0.007
0.006
0.005
Ic

0.004
0.003
0.002
0.001
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
VCB

Graph no .10.2 output characteristics graph

Learning Outcomes:
Input and Output characteristics of a Transistor in Common Emitter Configuration are
studied and I also learned how to use BC547 transistor.