Al-Quds University

Faculty of Engineering
Electronic & Communication Engineering
Department

Electronics I Laboratory
(0701224)

EXP. (#7): Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)

Characteristics

Name: Joseph Dukmak (21720049)

Abdelrahman Al-Manassra (21711978)

Dr. Asal Sarhan

31.03.2019
Table of Contents

Objectives ................................................................................................ 3

Equipment required ................................................................................. 3

Theoretical Background ........................................................................ 3-4

Procedure + Results .............................................................................. 5-7

Conclusion ............................................................................................... 7

Page 2
Objectives:
1- To determine transistor type (npn, pnp), terminals, and material using a
digital multimeter (DMM).
2- To graph the collector characteristics of a transistor using experimental
methods and a curve tracer.
3- To determine the value of the alpha and beta ratios of a transistor.

Equipment Required:
Instruments: DMM and Curve tracer.

Components: Resistors (1kΩ, 330 Ω, 5KΩ AND 1-MΩ)

Transistors (2N3904

Supplies: DC Power supply.

Theoretical Background:
Transistors are three terminal active devices made from different
semiconductor materials that can act as either an insulator or a conductor by
the application of a small signal voltage. The transistor’s ability to change
between these two states enables it to have two basic functions: “switching”
(digital electronics) or “amplification” (analogue electronics). Then bipolar
transistors can operate within three different regions:

• Active Region – the transistor operates as an

amplifier

• Saturation – the transistor is “Fully-ON” operating

as a switch and IC = I(saturation)

• Cut-off – the transistor is “Fully-OFF” operating as

a switch and IC = 0

A Typical
Bipolar Transistor

Page 3
The word Transistor is a combination of the two words Transfer Varistor which
describes their mode of operation way back in their early days of electronics
development.

There are two basic types of bipolar transistor construction, PNP and NPN,
which basically describes the physical arrangement of the P-type and N-type
semiconductor materials from which they are made.

The Bipolar Transistor basic construction consists of two PN-junctions

producing three connecting terminals with each terminal being given a name
to identify it from the other two. These three terminals are known and
labelled as the Emitter (E), the Base (B) and the Collector (C) respectively.

Bipolar Transistors are current regulating devices that control the amount of
current flowing through them from the Emitter to the Collector terminals in
proportion to the amount of biasing voltage applied to their base terminal,
thus acting like a current-controlled switch. As a small current flowing into the
base terminal controls a much larger collector current forming the basis of
transistor action.

The principle of operation of the two transistor types PNP and NPN, is the
same the only difference being in their biasing and the polarity of the power
supply for each type.

Page 4
Procedure:
Part 1: Determination of the transistor’s type, terminals and material.

Meter leads connected to BJT Diode check reading

Step Positive Negative (or highest resistance range)
C 1 2 ∞
D 2 1 0.632
E 1 3 ∞
F 3 1 ∞
G 2 3 0.62
H 3 2 ∞
Table 7.1

Base terminal 2
Transistor type npn
Collector terminal 1
Emitter terminal 2
Transistor material Si
Table 7.2

Part 2: The collector Characteristics:

70

60

50

3.3 Vrb
40
Ic (mA)

6.6 Vrb
30 9.9 Vrb

20 13.2 Vrb
16.5 Vrb
10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Vce (V)

Figure 7.3 Characteristic curves from the experimental data of Part 2.

Page 5
Part 3: Variation of α and β:

VRB IB
VCE (V) VRC (V) IC (mA) VBE (V) IE (mA)
(V) (µA) α (calc) β (calc)
(meas) (meas) (calc) (meas) (calc)
(Meas) (Calc)
3.3 10 2 1.31 1.31 0.7 11.31 7.63 0.13
3.3 10 4 1.35 1.35 0.69 11.35 7.41 0.14
3.3 10 6 1.36 1.36 0.69 11.36 7.35 0.14
3.3 10 8 1.38 1.38 0.68 11.38 7.25 0.14
3.3 10 10 1.39 1.39 0.69 11.39 7.19 0.14
3.3 10 12 1.4 1.4 0.66 11.4 7.14 0.14
3.3 10 14 1.41 1.41 0.64 11.41 7.09 0.14
3.3 10 16 1.42 1.42 0.58 11.42 7.04 0.14
6.6 20 2 2.96 2.96 0.71 22.96 6.76 0.15
6.6 20 4 2.98 2.98 0.71 22.98 6.71 0.15
6.6 20 6 3 3 0.72 23 6.67 0.15
6.6 20 8 3.04 3.04 0.67 23.04 6.58 0.15
6.6 20 10 3.08 3.08 0.66 23.08 6.49 0.15
6.6 20 12 3.12 3.12 0.57 23.12 6.41 0.16
6.6 20 14 3.14 3.14 0.53 23.14 6.37 0.16
9.9 30 2 4.65 4.65 0.72 34.65 6.45 0.16
9.9 30 4 4.66 4.66 0.72 34.66 6.44 0.16
9.9 30 6 4.7 4.7 0.72 34.7 6.38 0.16
9.9 30 8 4.78 4.78 0.51 34.78 6.28 0.16
9.9 30 10 4.88 4.88 0.75 34.88 6.15 0.16
13.2 40 2 6.36 6.36 0.75 46.36 6.29 0.16
13.2 40 4 6.39 6.39 0.75 46.39 6.26 0.16
13.2 40 6 6.5 6.5 0.67 46.5 6.15 0.16
13.2 40 8 6.62 6.62 0.52 46.62 6.04 0.17
16.5 50 2 7.91 7.91 0.74 57.91 6.32 0.16
16.5 50 4 7.97 7.97 0.76 57.97 6.27 0.16
16.5 50 6 8.4 8.4 0.53 58.4 5.95 0.17

IC = VRC/ RC α = IC / IE β = IC/IB

- No, there isn’t a signification variation in α and β.

- The largest values of β are found in the highest regions of VCE and IC.
- The smallest values of β are found in the smallest regions of VCE and IC.

C. The smallest values of β are marked with light red, and the highest values of β
are marked with light blue.

Page 6
D. β increases when IC increases.

E. β increases when VCE increases and IC affects β more than VCE does.

Conclusion:

Bipolar Transistor Configurations

As the Bipolar Transistor is a three-terminal device, there are basically three

possible ways to connect it within an electronic circuit with one terminal being
common to both the input and output. Each method of connection
responding differently to its input signal within a circuit as the static
characteristics of the transistor vary with each circuit arrangement.

- Common Base Configuration – has Voltage Gain but no Current Gain.

- Common Emitter Configuration – has both Current and Voltage Gain.
- Common Collector Configuration – has Current Gain but no Voltage
Gain.

A Bipolar NPN Transistor Configuration: the voltage between the Base and
Emitter (VBE), is positive at the Base and negative at the Emitter because for an
NPN transistor, the Base terminal is always positive with respect to the
Emitter. Also, the Collector supply voltage is positive with respect to the
Emitter (VCE). So, for a bipolar NPN transistor to conduct the Collector is
always more positive with respect to both the Base and the Emitter.

The PNP Transistor has very similar characteristics to their NPN bipolar
cousins, except that the polarities (or biasing) of the current and voltage
directions are reversed for any one of the possible three configurations looked
at in the first tutorial, Common Base, Common Emitter and Common
Collector.

Page 7