Unijunction Transistor:

The UJT is a three-terminal, semiconductor device which exhibits negative

resistance and switching characteristics for use as a relaxation oscillator in
phase control applications
The Unijunction Transistor or UJT for short, is another solid state three
terminal device that can be used in gate pulse, timing circuits and trigger
generator applications to switch and control either thyristors and triac’s for AC
power control type applications.
Like diodes, unijunction transistors are constructed from separate P-type and N-
type semiconductor materials forming a single (hence its name Uni-Junction)
PN-junction within the main conducting N-type channel of the device.
Although the Unijunction Transistor has the name of a transistor, its switching
characteristics are very different from those of a conventional bipolar or field
effect transistor as it can not be used to amplify a signal but instead is used as a
ON-OFF switching transistor. UJT’s have unidirectional conductivity and
negative impedance characteristics acting more like a variable voltage divider
during breakdown.
Like N-channel FET’s, the UJT consists of a single solid piece of N-type
semiconductor material forming the main current carrying channel with its two
outer connections marked as Base2 ( B2 ) and Base1 ( B1 ). The third
connection, confusingly marked as the Emitter ( E ) is located along the
channel. The emitter terminal is represented by an arrow pointing from the P-
type emitter to the N-type base.
The Emitter rectifying p-n junction of the unijunction transistor is formed by
fusing the P-type material into the N-type silicon channel. However, P-channel
UJT’s with an N-type Emitter terminal are also available but these are little
used.
The Emitter junction is positioned along the channel so that it is closer to
terminal B2 than B1. An arrow is used in the UJT symbol which points towards
the base indicating that the Emitter terminal is positive and the silicon bar is
negative material. Below shows the symbol, construction, and equivalent circuit
of the UJT.
Unijunction Transistor Symbol and Construction

Notice that the symbol for the unijunction transistor looks very similar to that of
the junction field effect transistor or JFET, except that it has a bent arrow
representing the Emitter ( E ) input. While similar in respect of their ohmic
channels, JFET’s and UJT’s operate very differently and should not be
confused.
So how does it work? We can see from the equivalent circuit above, that the N-
type channel basically consists of two resistors RB2 and RB1 in series with an
equivalent (ideal) diode, D representing the p-n junction connected to their
center point. This Emitter p-n junction is fixed in position along the ohmic
channel during manufacture and can therefore not be changed.
Resistance RB1 is given between the Emitter E and terminal B1, while
resistance RB2 is given between the Emitter E and terminal B2. As the physical
position of the p-n junction is closer to terminal B2 than B1 the resistive value
of RB2 will be less than RB1.
The total resistance of the silicon bar (its Ohmic resistance) will be dependent
upon the semiconductors actual doping level as well as the physical dimensions
of the N-type silicon channel but can be represented by RBB. If measured with
an ohmmeter, this static resistance would typically measure somewhere between
about 4kΩ and 10kΩ’s for most common UJT’s such as the 2N1671, 2N2646 or
the 2N2647.
These two series resistances produce a voltage divider network between the two
base terminals of the unijunction transistor and since this channel stretches
from B2 to B1, when a voltage is applied across the device, the potential at any
point along the channel will be in proportion to its position between
terminals B2 and B1. The level of the voltage gradient therefore depends upon
the amount of supply voltage.
When used in a circuit, terminal B1 is connected to ground and the Emitter
serves as the input to the device. Suppose a voltage VBB is applied across the
UJT between B2 and B1 so that B2 is biased positive relative to B1. With zero
Emitter input applied, the voltage developed across RB1 (the lower resistance) of
the resistive voltage divider can be calculated as:

Unijunction Transistor RB1 Voltage

For a unijunction transistor, the resistive ratio of RB1 to RBB shown above is
called the intrinsic stand-off ratio and is given the Greek symbol: η (eta).
Typical standard values of η range from 0.5 to 0.8 for most common UJT’s.
If a small positive input voltage which is less than the voltage developed across
resistance, RB1 ( ηVBB ) is now applied to the Emitter input terminal, the diode
p-n junction is reverse biased, thus offering a very high impedance and the
device does not conduct. The UJT is switched “OFF” and zero current flows.
However, when the Emitter input voltage is increased and becomes greater
than VRB1 (or ηVBB + 0.7V, where 0.7V equals the p-n junction diode volt drop)
the p-n junction becomes forward biased and the unijunction transistor begins to
conduct. The result is that Emitter current, ηIE now flows from the Emitter into
the Base region.
The effect of the additional Emitter current flowing into the Base reduces the
resistive portion of the channel between the Emitter junction and
the B1 terminal. This reduction in the value of RB1 resistance to a very low value
means that the Emitter junction becomes even more forward biased resulting in
a larger current flow. The effect of this results in a negative resistance at the
Emitter terminal.
Likewise, if the input voltage applied between the Emitter and B1 terminal
decreases to a value below breakdown, the resistive value of RB1 increases to a
high value. Then the Unijunction Transistor can be thought of as a voltage
breakdown device.
So we can see that the resistance presented by RB1 is variable and is dependant
on the value of Emitter current, IE. Then forward biasing the Emitter junction
with respect to B1 causes more current to flow which reduces the resistance
between the Emitter, E and B1.
In other words, the flow of current into the UJT’s Emitter causes the resistive
value of RB1 to decrease and the voltage drop across it, VRB1 must also decrease,
allowing more current to flow producing a negative resistance condition.
Unijunction Transistor Applications
Now that we know how a unijunction transistor works, what can they be used
for. The most common application of a unijunction transistor is as a triggering
device for SCR’s and Triacs but other UJT applications include sawtoothed
generators, simple oscillators, phase control, and timing circuits. The simplest
of all UJT circuits is the Relaxation Oscillator producing non-sinusoidal
waveforms.
In a basic and typical UJT relaxation oscillator circuit, the Emitter terminal of
the unijunction transistor is connected to the junction of a series connected
resistor and capacitor, RC circuit as shown below.

Unijunction Transistor Relaxation Oscillator

When a voltage (Vs) is firstly applied, the unijunction transistor is “OFF” and
the capacitor C1 is fully discharged but begins to charge up exponentially
through resistor R3. As the Emitter of the UJT is connected to the capacitor,
when the charging voltage Vc across the capacitor becomes greater than the
diode volt drop value, the p-n junction behaves as a normal diode and becomes
forward biased triggering the UJT into conduction. The unijunction transistor is
“ON”. At this point the Emitter to B1 impedance collapses as the Emitter goes
into a low impedance saturated state with the flow of Emitter current
through R1 taking place.
As the ohmic value of resistor R1 is very low, the capacitor discharges rapidly
through the UJT and a fast rising voltage pulse appears across R1. Also,
because the capacitor discharges more quickly through the UJT than it does
charging up through resistor R3, the discharging time is a lot less than the
charging time as the capacitor discharges through the low resistance UJT.
When the voltage across the capacitor decreases below the holding point of the
p-n junction ( VOFF ), the UJT turns “OFF” and no current flows into the Emitter
junction so once again the capacitor charges up through resistor R3 and this
charging and discharging process between VON and VOFF is constantly repeated
while there is a supply voltage, Vs applied.

UJT Oscillator Waveforms

Then we can see that the unijunction oscillator continually switches “ON” and
“OFF” without any feedback. The frequency of operation of the oscillator is
directly affected by the value of the charging resistance R3, in series with the
capacitor C1 and the value of η. The output pulse shape generated from the
Base1 (B1) terminal is that of a sawtooth waveform and to regulate the time
period, you only have to change the ohmic value of resistance, R3 since it sets
the RC time constant for charging the capacitor.
The time period, T of the sawtoothed waveform will be given as the charging
time plus the discharging time of the capacitor. As the discharge time, τ1 is
generally very short in comparison to the larger RC charging time, τ2 the time
period of oscillation is more or less equivalent to T ≅ τ2. The frequency of
oscillation is therefore given by ƒ = 1/T.

UJT Oscillator Example No1

The data sheet for a 2N2646 Unijunction Transistor gives the intrinsic stand-off
ratio η as 0.65. If a 100nF capacitor is used to generate the timing pulses,
calculate the timing resistor required to produce an oscillation frequency of
100Hz.
1. The timing period is given as:
2. The value of the timing resistor, R3 is calculated as:

Then the value of charging resistor required in this simple example is calculated
as 95.3kΩ’s to the nearest preferred value. However, there are certain conditions
required for the UJT relaxation oscillator to operate correctly as the resistive
value of R3 can be too large or too small.
For example, if the value of R3 was too large, (Megohms) the capacitor may not
charge up sufficiently to trigger the Unijunction’s Emitter into conduction but
must also be large enough to ensure that the UJT switches “OFF” once the
capacitor has discharged to below the lower trigger voltage.
Likewise if the value of R3 was too small, (a few hundred Ohms) once triggered
the current flowing into the Emitter terminal may be sufficiently large to drive
the device into its saturation region preventing it from turning “OFF”
completely. Either way the unijunction oscillator circuit would fail to oscillate.

UJT Speed Control Circuit

One typical application of the unijunction transistor circuit above is to generate
a series of pulses to fire and control a thyristor. By using the UJT as a phase
control triggering circuit in conjunction with an SCR or Triac, we can adjust the
speed of a universal AC or DC motor as shown.
Unijunction Transistor Speed Control

Using the circuit above, we can control the speed of a universal series motor (or
whichever type of load we want, heaters, lamps, etc) by regulating the current
flowing through the SCR. To control the motors speed, simply change the
frequency of the sawtooth pulse, which is achieved by varying the value of the
potentiometer.

Unijunction Transistor Summary

We have seen that a Unijunction Transistor or UJT for short, is an electronic
semiconductor device that has only one p-n junction within a N-type (or P-type)
lightly doped ohmic channel. The UJT has three terminals one labelled Emitter
(E) and two Bases (B1 and B2).
Two ohmic contacts B1 and B2 are attached at each ends of the semiconductor
channel with the resistance between B1 and B2, when the emitter is open
circuited being called the interbase resistance, RBB. If measured with an
ohmmeter, this static resistance would typically measure somewhere between
about 4kΩ and 10kΩ’s for most common UJT’s.
The ratio of RB1 to RBB is called the intrinsic stand-off ratio, and is given the
Greek symbol: η (eta). Typical standard values of η range from 0.5 to 0.8 for
most common UJT’s.
The unijunction transistor is a solid state triggering device that can be used in a
variety of circuits and applications, ranging from the firing of thyristors and
triacs, to the use in sawtooth generators for phase control circuits.The negative
resistance characteristic of the UJT also makes it very useful as a simple
relaxation oscillator.
When connected as a relaxation oscillator, it can oscillate independently without
a tank circuit or complicated RC feedback network. When connected this way,
the unijunction transistor is capable of generating a train of pulses of varying
duration simply by varying the values of a single capacitor, (C) or resistor, (R).
Commonly available unijunction transistors include the 2N1671, 2N2646,
2N2647, etc, with the 2N2646 being the most popular UJT for use in pulse and
sawtooth generators and time delay circuits. Other types of unijunction
transistor devices available are called Programmable UJTs, which can have
their switching parameters set by external resistors. The most common
Programmable Unijunction Transistors are the 2N6027 and the 2N6028.