Edc Unit 4

SYLLABUS
ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS (19EC0402)
UNIT – IV
Transistor Biasing and Thermal Stabilization:
Need for Transistor biasing, Operating point,
Load line analysis, Biasing methods - Fixed
bias, Collector to Base bias, Self-bias, stability
factors, Bias compensation, Thermal Runaway,
Thermal stability.
Need for Transistor biasing
Transistor Biasing
• The proper flow of zero signal collector current and the
maintenance of proper collector emitter voltage during the
passage of signal is known as Transistor Biasing.
• The circuit which provides transistor biasing is called
as Biasing Circuit.
Need for DC biasing
• If a signal of very small voltage is given to the input of BJT, it
cannot be amplified. Because, for a BJT, to amplify a signal,
two conditions have to be met.
• The input voltage should exceed cut-in voltage for the
transistor to be ON.
• The BJT should be in the active region, to be operated as
an amplifier.
Need for Transistor biasing
• If appropriate DC voltages and currents are given through
BJT by external sources, so that BJT operates in active
region and superimpose the AC signals to be amplified, then
this problem can be avoided.
• The given DC voltage and currents are so chosen that the
transistor remains in active region for entire input AC cycle.
• Hence DC biasing is needed.
Factors affecting the operating point
• The main factor that affect the operating point is the
temperature.
• The operating point shifts due to change in temperature.
• As temperature increases, the values of I CE, β, VBE gets
affected.
• ICBO gets doubled (for every 10o rise)
• VBE decreases by 2.5mv (for every 1o rise)
• So the main problem which affects the operating point is
temperature.
• Hence operating point should be made independent of the
temperature so as to achieve stability.
• To achieve this, biasing circuits are introduced.
Stabilization
• The process of making the operating point independent of
temperature changes or variations in transistor parameters is
known as Stabilization.
• Once the stabilization is achieved, the values of IC and
VCE become independent of temperature variations or
replacement of transistor.
• A good biasing circuit helps in the stabilization of operating
point.
Need for Stabilization
• Stabilization of the operating point has to be achieved due to
the following reasons.
• Temperature dependence of IC
• Individual variations
• Thermal runaway
Stabilization
Temperature Dependence of IC
As the expression for collector current IC is
IC=βIB+ICEOIC=βIB+ICEO
=βIB+(β+1)ICBO
The collector leakage current ICBO is greatly influenced
by temperature variations.
To come out of this, the biasing conditions are set so
that zero signal collector current IC = 1 mA.
Therefore, the operating point needs to be stabilized i.e.
it is necessary to keep IC constant.
Stability Factor
• It is understood that IC should be kept constant in spite of
variations of ICBO or ICO.
• The extent to which a biasing circuit is successful in
maintaining this is measured by Stability factor.
• It denoted by S.
• By definition, the rate of change of collector current IC with
respect to the collector leakage current ICO at constant β and
IB is called Stability factor.
Stability Factor
• Hence we can understand that any change in collector
leakage current changes the collector current to a great
extent.
• The stability factor should be as low as possible so that the
collector current doesn’t get affected.
• S=1 is the ideal value.
• The general expression of stability factor for a CE
configuration can be obtained as under.
Thermal Runaway
• As the expression for collector current IC is
• The flow of collector current and also the collector

leakage current causes heat dissipation.
• If the operating point is not stabilized, there occurs a
cumulative effect which increases this heat dissipation.
• The self-destruction of such an unstabilized transistor is
known as Thermal run away.
• In order to avoid thermal runaway and the destruction
of transistor, it is necessary to stabilize the operating
point, i.e., to keep IC constant.
Bias Compensation
Diode Compensation for Instability
• These are the circuits that implement compensation
techniques using diodes to deal with biasing instability. The
stabilization techniques refer to the use of resistive biasing
circuits which permit IB to vary so as to keep IC relatively
constant.
• There are two types of diode compensation methods. They
are
– Diode compensation for instability due to VBE variation
– Diode compensation for instability due to ICO variation
– Let us understand these two compensation methods in
detail.
Bias Compensation
Diode Compensation for Instability due to VBE Variation
• In a Silicon transistor, the changes in the value of
VBE results in the changes in IC.
• A diode can be employed in the emitter circuit in order
to compensate the variations in VBE or ICO.
• As the diode and transistor used are of same material,
the voltage VD across the diode has same temperature
coefficient as VBE of the transistor.
Bias Compensation
Diode Compensation for Instability due to VBE Variation
Bias Compensation
Diode Compensation for Instability due to ICO Variation
Thermal Stability
• VBE and ICBO Variations – Many transistor circuits are required to
operate over a wide temperature range.
• So, another aspect of bias circuit stability is Bias Circuit Thermal
Stability, or how stable IC and VCE remain when the circuit
temperature changes.
• Measures to deal with the effects of hFE variations have already been
discussed. These apply whether the different hFE values are due to
temperature changes or to hFE differences from one transistor to

another.
Thermal Stability
Transistor load line analysis
DC Load line
• When the transistor is given the bias and no signal is
applied at its input, the load line drawn at such
condition, can be understood as DC condition.
• Here there will be no amplification as the signal is
absent. The circuit will be as shown below.
• The value of collector emitter voltage at any given
time will be VCE=VCC−ICRC
• As VCC and RC are fixed values, the above one is a
first degree equation and hence will be a straight line
on the output characteristics.
• This line is called as D.C. Load line. The figure below
shows the
• To obtain the load line, the two end points of the straight
line are to be determined.
• Let those two points be A and B.
To obtain A
• When collector emitter voltage VCE = 0, the collector current
is maximum and is equal to VCC/RC. This gives the maximum
value of VCE. This is shown as
VCE=VCC−ICRC
0=VCC−ICRC
IC=VCCRC
To obtain B
• When the collector current IC = 0, then collector emitter
voltage is maximum and will be equal to the VCC. This gives
the maximum value of IC. This is shown as
VCE=VCC−ICRC
=VCC
Biasing methods
Transistors are one of the largely used semiconductor devices
which are used for wide variety of applications including
amplification and switching.
• However to achieve these functions satisfactorily, transistor
has to be supplied with certain amount of current and/or
voltage.
• The process of setting these conditions for a transistor
circuit is referred to as Transistor Biasing.
• This goal can be accomplished by variety of techniques
which give rise to different kinds of biasing circuits.
Fixed Base Bias or
Fixed Resistance Bias
• A base resistor RB connected between the base and the VCC. Here
the base-emitter junction of the transistor is forward biased by the
voltage drop across RB which is the result of IB flowing through it.
• From the figure, the mathematical expression for IB is obtained as

Fixed Base Bias or
Fixed Resistance Bias
Collector to base Bias
• The base resistor RB is connected across the collector and
the base terminals of the transistor.
• This means that the base voltage, VB and the collector
voltage, VC are inter-dependent due to the fact that
Collector to base Bias
Voltage Divider Bias or self bias
• This type of biasing network employs a voltage divider
formed by the resistors R1 and R2 to bias the transistor.
• This means that here the voltage developed across R2 will
be the base voltage of the transistor which forward biases
its base-emitter junction.
Voltage Divider Bias or self bias
•In this kind of biasing, IC is resistant to
the changes in both β as well as VBE
which results in a stability factor of 1
(theoretically), the maximum possible
thermal stability.
• This is because, as IC increases due to
a rise in temperature, IE also increases
causing an increase in the emitter
voltage VE which in turn reduces the
base-emitter voltage, VBE.
•This results in the decrease of base
current IB which restores IC to its
original value.
References
• https://
www.tutorialspoint.com/amplifiers/bias_compensatio
n.htm
• http://ecetutorials.com/analog-electronics/transistor-b
iasing-at-q-or-quiescent-pointstabilization-biasing-cir
cuitsthermal-runaway
/
• https://
jntua.ac.in/gate-online-classes/registration/downloads
/material/a159306483768.pdf
• https://
electronicscoach.com/difference-between-jfet-and-mo
sfet.html

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SYLLABUS

ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS (19EC0402)

• The flow of collector current and also the collector

• Measures to deal with the effects of hFE variations have already been

discussed. These apply whether the different hFE values are due to

temperature changes or to hFE differences from one transistor to

• From the figure, the mathematical expression for IB is obtained as

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