Obaid ur Rehman

BSP01183010 Email: bsp01183010@student.uol.edu.pk

Electronics:
Assignment # 3
ii. What is the significance of the arrow-head in the transistor symbol?
Arrow head is always marked on the emitter. The direction indicated the conventional
direction of current flow (from emitter-to-base in case of p-n-p transistor and from base-to-
emitter in case of n-p-n transistor). Generally no arrow head is marked for collector since its
reverse leakage current is always opposite to the direction of emitter current.
Discuss the need for biasing the transistor:
For normal operation, base-emitter junction should be forward biased and the collector-base
junction reverse biased. The amount of bias required is significant for the establishment of the
operating or the Q-point which is dictated by the mode of operation desired.

In case the transistor is not biased properly, it would:

 Work inefficiently
 Produce distortion in the output signal
 With the change in transistor parameters or temperature rise, the operating point may shift
and the amplifier output will be unstable.

iii. Which of the transistor currents is always the largest?

The emitter current IE is always the largest one. Because it is the sum of the other two.

iv. Which is always the smallest?

The base current is always the smallest.

In fact, it can be hundreds of times smaller than the other two.

The ratio Ic/Ib , called the HFE or Beta, of the transistor, can be 100 or several hundreds.

So if you use a transistor with a HFE of 350, for a small base current of 10 mA, the collector
current will be 3500 mA.

Which two currents are relatively close in magnitude?

Because the emitter current is nothing but collector current mostly, with a very small base
current, giving their relationship to be close to 1 (called alpha of the transistor, a less useful
value).

Ie = Ic + Ib … since Ib is very small, Ie is approx same as Ic.

Hence emitter current and collector current are relatively close in magnitude.

1|P a ge
Obaid ur Rehman
BSP01183010 Email: bsp01183010@student.uol.edu.pk

v. Why collector is made larger than emitter and base?

The collector region is the largest of all regions because it must dissipate more
heat than the emitter or base regions. It is designed to be large because in order to dissipate all
the heater, the extra surface area allows it to do so. ... The larger area ensures that it has more
surface area to dissipate heat.

vi. Why the width of the base region of a transistor is kept very small compared to other
regions?
Base region of a transistor is kept very small and very lightly doped so as to pass most of
the injected charge carriers to the collector.
vii. Why emitter is always forward biased?
The emitter is always forward biased to enable the majority carriers to cross the emitter-
base junction, so that current flows through the transistor.

viii. Can a transistor be obtained by connecting two semiconductor diodes back-to-back?

Well the concept is definitely right but practical implementation is wrong.
 There is no bonding force between the two diodes.
 The diode has equally doped P-N junctions with equal area because of which base
region will become very large so that no charge carriers will be reaching at collector.

ix. How α and β are related to each other?

The alpha factor (α) of a transistor is the ratio of its collector and emitter currents (α = Ic/Ie),
and it is always less than 1 (between 0.5 and 1).

The beta (β) or current gain is the ratio of its collector and base currents (β = Ic/Ib), and it is
always more than 1.

The α factor is also calculated as α = β/(β+1) .

β can be calculated from α this way: β = α/(1-α)

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Obaid ur Rehman
BSP01183010 Email: bsp01183010@student.uol.edu.pk

x. Explain how BJT can be used as an amplifier?

A transistor acts as an amplifier by raising the strength of a weak signal. The DC bias voltage
applied to the emitter base junction, makes it remain in forward biased condition. This forward
bias is maintained regardless of the polarity of the signal. The below figure shows how a
transistor looks like when connected as an amplifier.

The low resistance in input circuit, lets any small change in input signal to result in an
appreciable change in the output. The emitter current caused by the input signal contributes the
collector current, which when flows through the load resistor R L, results in a large voltage drop
across it. Thus a small input voltage results in a large output voltage, which shows that the
transistor works as an amplifier.

References:
Floyd, T. L. (2012). Electronic devices: conventional current version. Pearson.

(Inst Tools, 2020)

References
Inst Tools. (2020). Bipolar Junction Transistors Questions & Answers. Retrieved December 30, 2020, from
instrumentationtools.com: https://instrumentationtools.com/bipolar-junction-transistors-
questionsanswers/#:~:text=Explain%20why%20an%20ordinary%20junction,2.&text=The%20out
put%20voltage%2C%20current%20or,input%20current%20in%20a%20transistor.

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