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IV. Bipolar Junction Transistors

4.0 Introduction
– Popular belief holds that the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) was developed by
Schockley, Brattain, and Bardeen from Bell labs in 1948.
– This is not true, as the device invented was the point-contact transistor.
– BJTs were actually developed in the late 1951’s by Dr. Schockley.
– The transistor is a three-terminal device whose output current, voltage and/or power
are controlled by its input current.
– Used primarily in communication as an amplifier to increase the strength of an ac
signal.
– In digital systems it is primarily used as a switch.

4.1 Transistor Structure

– The BJT is constructed with three doped semiconductor regions separated by two pn
junctions.
– The three regions are called emitter, base, and collector.
– There are two types of BJTs, either pnp (two p regions separated by one n region)
and npn (two n regions separated by one p region).

– The C, B, and E symbols represent the common, emitter, and base regions,
respectively.
– The base region is lightly doped and very thin compared to the heavily doped emitter
and moderately doped collector regions.

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4.2 Basic Transistor Operation

– For correct operation, the two pn junctions must be correctly biased with external dc
voltages.
– Operation of the pnp is similar as that of npn, but the roles of electrons and holes,
bias polarities, and current directions are all reversed.
– The figure below shows the correct biasing of a BJT.
– Note the base-emitter (BE) junction is forward biased and the base-collector (BC)
junction is reverse biased.

– The forward bias from base to emitter narrows the BE depletion region.
– The reverse bias from base to collector widens the BC depletion region.
– The heavily doped n-type emitter region is packed with conduction-band (free)
electrons.
– The free electrons from the emitter diffuse easily through the forward biased BE
junction into the p-type base region
– In the base, the electrons become minority carriers (like in a forward biased diode).
– The base region is lightly doped and very thin, so it has a limited number of holes.
– Because of that light doping, only a small percentage of all the electrons flowing
through the BE junction can combine with the available holes in the base.
– These relatively few recombined electrons flow out of the base lead as valence
electrons, forming the small base electron current.
– Most of the electrons flowing from the emitter into the lightly doped base region do
not recombine, but diffuse into the BC depletion region.
– Once here, they are pulled through the reverse-biased BC junction by the electric
field set up by the force of attraction between the positive and negative ions.
– Electrons now move through the collector region, out through the collector lead, and
into the positive terminal of the collector voltage source.
– This forms the collector electron current. The collector current is much larger than
the base current.
– This is the reason transistors exhibit current gain.
– From graph above:
IE = IC + IB

– Capital letters indicate dc values.

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4.3 Transistor Characteristics and Parameters

– The ratio of the dc collector current (IC) to the dc base current (IB) is the dc beta
(DC).
– DC is called the gain of a transistor:
DC = IC/IB

– Typical values of  DC range from less than 20 to 200 or higher.

– DC is usually designated as an equivalent hybrid (h) parameter:
hFE =DC

– The ratio of the collector current (IC) to the dc emitter current (IE) is the dc alpha
(DC). This is a less-used parameter than beta.
DC = IC/IE

– Typical values range from 0.95 to 0.99 or greater.

– DC is always less than 1.
– This is because IC is always slightly less than IE by the amount of IB.

– From graph above we can see that there are 6 important parameters to be considered:

i) IB: dc base current.

ii) IE: dc emitter current.
iii) IC: dc collector current.
iv) VBE: dc voltage at base with respect to emitter.
v) VCB: dc voltage at collector with respect to base.
vi) VCE: dc voltage at collector with respect to emitter.

– VBB forward-biases the BE junction.

– VCC reverse-biases the BC junction.
– When the BE junction is forward biased, it is like a forward biased diode:
VBE ≈ 0.7 V
– But it can be as high as 0.9 V (and is dependent on current). We will use 0.7 V from
now on.
– Emitter is at ground. Thus the voltage across RB is
VR(B) = VBB- VBE

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– Also:
VR(B) = IRRB

– Or:
IRRB = VBB- VBE

– Solving:
IB = (VBB- VBE)/RB

– Voltage at collector with respect to grounded emitter is:

VCE = VCC – VR(C)

– Since drop across RC is VR(C) = ICRC the voltage at the collector is also:
VCE = VCC - ICRC

– Where IC =  DCIB. Voltage across the reverse-biased collector-bias junction is

VCB = VCE - VBE

Example:
Determine IB, IC, IE, VBE, VCE, and VCB in the following circuit. The transistor has  DC
150.

Rc

100Ohm

Vcc
Rb 10V

10kOhm

Vbb
5V

Solution:
We know VBE=0.7 V. Using the already known equations:
IB = (VBB- VBE)/RB
IB = (5 – 0.7)/10k = 430 A
IC = DCIB = (150)( 430 A) = 64.5 mA
IE = IC + IB = 64.5 mA + 430 A = 64.9 mA
Solving for VCE and VCB:
VCE = VCC – ICRC = 10V-(64.5mA)(100 = 3.55 V
VCB = VCE – VBE = 3.55 V – 0.7 V = 2.85 V
Since the collector is at higher potential than the base, the collector-base junction is
reverse-biased.

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– Changing the voltage supplies with variable voltage supplies in the circuit above, we
can get the characteristic curves of the BJT.
– If we start at some positive VBB and VCC = 0 V, the BE junction and the BC junction
are forward biased.
– In this case the base current is through the BE junction because of the low impedance
path to ground, thus IC is zero.
– When both junctions are forward-biased, the transistor is in the saturation region of
operation.

– As VCC is increase, VCE gradually increases, as the IC increases (This is the steep
slope linear region before the small-slope region).
– IC increases as VCC increase because VCE remains less than 0.7 V due to the forward-
biased base-collector junction.
– Ideally, when VCE exceeds 0.7 V, the BC junction becomes reverse biased.
– Then, the transistor goes into the linear region of operation.
– When the BC junction is reverse-biased, IC levels off and remains essentially
constant for a given value of IB as VCE continues to increase.
– Actually, there is a slight increase in IC, due to the widening of the BC collector
depletion region, which results in fewer holes for recombination in the base, which
causes a slight increase in DC.
– For the linear portion, the value of IC is calculated by:
IC = DCIB
– When VCE reaches a sufficiently large voltage, the reverse biased BC junction goes
into breakdown.
– Thus, the collector current increases rapidly.
– A transistor should never be operated in this region.
– When IB = 0, the transistor is in the cutoff region, although there is a small collector
leakage current.

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i) Cutoff
– As said before, when IB = 0, transistor is in cutoff region.

– There is a small collector leakage current, ICEO.

– Normally it is neglected so that VCE = VCC.
– In cutoff, both the base-emitter and the base-collector junctions are reverse-
biased.
ii) Saturation
– When BE junction becomes forward biased and the base current is increased, IC
also increase (IC – DCIB) and VCE decreases as a result of more drop across the
collector resistor (VCE = VCC – ICRC).

– When VCE reaches its saturation value, VCE(sat), the BC junction becomes
forward-biased and IC can increase no further even with a continued increase in
IB.

– At the point of saturation, IC = DCIB is no longer valid.

– VCE(sat) for a transistor occurs somewhere below the knee of the collector curves.
– It is usually only a few tenths of a volt for silicon transistors.

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iii) DC load line

– Cutoff and saturation can be illustrated by the use of a load line.

– Bottom of load line is at ideal cutoff (IC = 0 and VCE = VCC).

– Top of load line is at saturation (IC = IC(sat) and VCE = VCE(sat))
– In between cutoff and saturation along the load line is the active region.
– More to come later.

Example
Determine whether or not the transistor in circuit below is in saturation. Assume
VCE(sat) = 0.2 V.
Rc

1kOhm

Vcc
Rb 10V
gain=50
10kOhm

Vbb
3V

First determine IC(sat) .

IC(sat) = (VCC – VCE(sat))/RC
IC(sat) =(10 V – 0.2V)/10k = 9.8 mA
Now let’s determine whether IB is large enough to produce IC(sat).
IB = (VBB - VBE)/RB = (3 V – 0.7 V)/10k = 0.23 mA

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IC = DCIB = (50)(0.23 mA) = 11.5 mA

This shows that with the specified DC, this base current is capable of producing an
IC greater than IC(sat) . Thus, the transistor is saturated, and the collector current
value of 11.5 mA is never reached. If you further increase IB, the collector current
remains at its saturation value.

iv) More on  DC
– The DC of hFE is not truly constant.
– It varies with collector current and with temperature.
– Keeping the junction temperature constant and increasing IC causes DC to
increase to a maximum.
– Further increase in IC beyond this point causes DC to decrease.
– If IC is held constant and temperature varies, DC changes directly with
temperature.
– Transistor data specify DC at specific values. Normally the DC specified is the
maximum value.

v) Maximum transistor ratings

– Maximum ratings are given for collector-to-base voltage, collector-to-emitter
voltage, emitter-to-base voltage, collector current, and power dissipation.
– The product VCEIC must not exceed PD(max).

Example:
The transistor shown in the figure below has the following maximum ratings:
PD(max)=800 mW, VCE(max) = 15 V, and IC(max) = 100 mA. Determine the maximum value
to which VCC can be adjusted without exceeding a rating. Which rating would be
exceeded first?

Rc

1kOhm

Vcc_Variable
Rb
gain=100
22kOhm

Vbb
5V

Solution:
First, find IB, so that you can determine IC.
IB = (VBB – VBE)/RB = (5 V – 0.7 V)/22 k = 195 A
IC = DCIB = (100)(195 A) = 19.5 mA

IC is much less than IC(max) and will not change with VCC. It is determined only by IB and
 DC.

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The voltage drop across RC is

VR(C) =ICRC = (19.5 mA)(1 k) = 19.5 V

Now we can determine the value of VCC when VCE = VCE(max) = 15 V.

VR(C) = VCC - VCE

So,
VCC(max) = VCE(max) + VR(C) = 15 V + 19.5V = 34.5 V

VCC can be increased to 34.5 V, under the existing conditions, before VCE(max) is
exceeded. However, at this point it is not known whether or not PD(max) has been
exceeded:
PD = VCE(max)IC = (15 V)(19.5 mA) = 293 mW

Since PD(max) is 800 mW, it is not exceeded when VCC = 34.5 V. So, VCE(max) = 15 V is the
limiting rating in this case. If the base current is removed, causing the transistor to turn
off, VCE(max) will be exceeded first because the entire supply voltage, VCC, will be dropped
across the transistor.

Chapter Summary
– BJTs have three regions: base, collector, and emitter.
– BJTs have two pn junctions: base-emitter, and base-collector.
– Current in a BJT consists of both free electrons and holes, thus the term bipolar.
– Base is lightly doped compared to emitter and collector.
– There are two types of BJTs: npn and pnp.
– To operate as amplifier, the BE junction must be forward-biased and BC junction must
be reverse-biased (forward-reverse bias).
– IB is very small compared to IC and IE.
– The dc current gain is DC = IC/IB.
– When a BJT is forward-reverse biased, the voltage gain depends on the internal emitter
resistance and the external collector resistance.
– A transistor can be operated as a switch in cutoff and saturation.
– In cutoff, both pn junctions are reverse-biased. Thus no IC. Therefore, there is an open
between collector and emitter.
– In saturation, both pn junctions are forward-biased and the collector current is maximum.
Behaves like a closed switch between collector and emitter.

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