State University of New York at Stony Brook ESE 211 Electronics Laboratory A

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2011

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Lab 11: Bipolar Junction Transistor

1. Objectives
Characterize single Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT), i.e. measure its input and output IV-characteristics.
Determine the BJT small-signal parameters: input resistance rπ, output resistance r0 and transconductance gm.
Observe the effect of bias on BJT small signal parameters.

2. Introduction

BJT operation
A bipolar junction transistor has three terminals: emitter (E), base (B) and collector (C). In BJT the current
flowing from E to C (IC) is controlled by changing voltage drop between B and E, or equivalently by changing
current flowing into B terminal (IB). In the most common circuits the signal current IB is usually quite small as
compared to IC. Hence, BJT-based circuits can be used to amplify the signal since small input variations (low
input power) can produce large output variation (high output power). Of course the energy is not generated from
nothing inside BJT. The extra power that becomes available at the output comes from power supply that has to
be present in BJT-based amplifier circuits (actually, power supply has to be present in any amplifier circuit).
Hence, one can say that VBE or IB controls the amount of energy taken from DC power supply to change IC.
One can recognize common emitter (CE), common base (CB) and common collector (CC) BJT
configurations in circuits depending on which BJT terminal is grounded (i.e. used as a reference point for the
input and output signals). A BJT gain stage can amplify voltage (CB), current (CC) or both (CE). In this lab we
will use only the CE configuration when the input voltage is applied between the base and emitter terminals,
and the output voltage is taken at the collector with respect to the ground (emitter).
Internally BJT is three layers of semiconductors of different conductivity types. For instance, in n-p-n Si-
based BJT the emitter is n-type Si, base is p-type Si and collector is again n-type Si. Hence, inside the BJT there
are two pn-junctions. By applying voltages between terminals, one can bias Base-Emitter or Base-Collector
junctions either in forward or reverse direction. In n-p-n BJT the positive VBE = VB-VE means forward bias to
B-E junction. Forward bias of the B-E junction lowers the energy barrier for electron injection from Emitter to
Base (Figure 1). Electrons from the Emitter are injected to Base and can diffuse across the B provided that they
are rapidly removed at the B-C junction. For this purpose the B-C junction is reverse biased, i.e. VBC = VB-VC is
negative. In other words, the positive Collector accepts electrons coming from Emitter through the Base.
Electron Energy

Diffusion

+VBE
Base
Emitter
Collector
+VCE
Figure 1
The hole current in n-p-n BJT is unwanted current component and it is minimized by design of BJT transistor.
One manifestation of the hole current is recombination current in Base, i.e. electrons that came from Emitter
recombine inside the Base with holes that came from Base terminal. The flux of hole from Base terminal is
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State University of New York at Stony Brook ESE 211 Electronics Laboratory A
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2011
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essentially the base current IB. To make the base current small as compared to the emitter current, the Base
width is made very small and the acceptor concentration (doping) in the Base is made much smaller than the
donor concentration in the Emitter. Thus, with increase of the B-E forward bias we get small flux of holes
coming from Base (small IB) and large flux of electrons from Emitter into Collector (large IC). Since IB << IC, in
many cases one can use approximation IC=IE. The ratio of collector and base currents is the BJT current gain .
Usually the current gain is being introduced for variations of current iB and iC around some preset value IB0 and
IC0 – bias currents.
I
  C , or iC =  iB , (1)
I B I
B0

where lowercase letters denote amplitudes of AC signals, while capital letters denote DC values.

BJT operation regimes

The mode of operation described above is called forward-active-mode (B-E forward biased and B-C reverse
biased). Forward active mode of operation is used for signal amplification. For amplification of AC signals it is
necessary to apply positive DC voltage to the base to keep the B-E junction forward biased for both half-waves
of the AC signal. If the amplitude of AC signal is larger than DC bias - for the negative half-wave the B-E
junction will be under reverse bias. When B-E is reverse biased (more precisely, not forward biased) The BJT is
switched off and cannot conduct the current; this is the BJT cutoff-mode. Besides keeping B-E junction forward
biased the C-B junction has to be reverse biased for BJT to stay in forward–active-mode. When both B-E and
C-B junctions are forward biased, the collector is not extracting electrons from base but actually is trying to
inject them there. The BJT is than enters saturation-mode.
In CE configuration, the input AC signal with amplitude vBE controls the output AC current with amplitude
iC, i.e. BJT is characterized by transconductance:
I
g m  C , or iC =iB = gm vBE (2)
VBE
The BJT input characteristic is highly nonlinear because base current IB depends exponentially on the base-
emitter voltage:
V 
I B  exp BE  (3)
 VT 
BJT input impedance for AC signals, r, is obtained by differentiation of equation (3)
1 I B I
  B (4)
r VBE VT
One can see that r decreases bias current IB.
In forward-active-mode, the collector current IC should be ideally independent of collector voltage VCE, i.e.
the BJT output characteristic IC (VCE) is a horizontal line that shifts up and down in accordance with changes in
base current IB. In the real BJT, IC increases with VCE. This dependence can be described by BJT output
impedance r0.
V V
r0  CE  A (5)
I C IC
Here VA is the Early voltage parameter (typically in the range of 100 - 200 V). Again r0 is bias dependent.
Figure 2 shows the circuit to be used to characterize the n-p-n BJT. VBB and VCC are two power supplies
that serve to bias the transistor into forward-active-mode as well as to give energy for signal amplification.
Resistor Rload converts AC current iC into AC output voltage vout. This resistor also limits the current in the
collector path. If input current amplitude becomes too large, than for positive half-waves output current IC
saturates at the maximum value of ICmax = VCC/Rload. BJT enters the saturation-mode where it cannot control the
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State University of New York at Stony Brook ESE 211 Electronics Laboratory A
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2011
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output current because the output voltage is near zero. In modern BJTs the typical C-E saturation voltage
VCESAT is 0.2-0.3 V. In this mode the C-B junction is not reverse-biased. In the saturation-mode the BJT
transconductance is small.
Vout

Rbias Rload
VBB C1
Q1
DC Vin VCC
2N2222
AC DC

Figure 2
3. Preliminary lab
Simulate using PSPICE the circuit in Figure 2.
For A. and B. use Rbias = 100 k, Rload = 0 , remove AC source and C1 from circuit.
A. Obtain BJT input characteristics, i.e. simulate dependence of IB on VBE for fixed value of VCE To perform
the simulation DC-scan the value of VBB at fixed VCC. Plot two dependences IB(VBE) for VCC = VCE = 0 V and
10 V on the same graph. Obtain dependence of r on IB using simulated data.
B. Obtain the BJT output characteristics IC (VCE) for IB1  10 and IB2  20 A, i.e. perform DC-scan of VCC at
fixed VBB. The values of VBB required to produce IB1 and IB2 can be estimated assuming 0.7 V of voltage drop
across forward biased B-E junction. Present both output characteristics on the same plot. Find the values of IC
corresponding to the given IB currents at VCE = 5 V. Calculate r0 for these collector current values.
For C. use Rbias = 100 k, Rload = 1 k, VCC = +10V.
C. Obtain dependence of iC on IB in the range of IB values from 0 to 100 A with 20 A steps (adjust VBB to
obtain the required IB). Plot the BJT transconductance as a function of IB.
4. Experiment
The experiments will be performed with n-p-n BJT 2N2222A. Assemble the circuit in Figure 3 with the
following parameters: Rbias = 100 kΩ, Rload = 1 kΩ, C1 = 10 µF.

1. Input characteristics. Table 1

VBB(V) VBE (V) VRbias (V) IB (µA)
Set VCC = 10 V and vary VBB.
0.5
Perform point-by-point measurement of the dependence of
IB on VBE using DMM. IB is the DC bias current that can be 0.7
calculated from the voltage drop across Rbias. 1.0
Present the result in Table 1. 1.2
Plot IB versus VBE. 1.5
Estimate the differential input resistance rπ from the slope 1.7
of the curve.
2.0
2.7

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State University of New York at Stony Brook ESE 211 Electronics Laboratory A
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 2011
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2. Output characteristics.
Set VBB to get IB1= 10 µA and vary VCC.
Measure the dependence of IC on VCE in point-by-point manner using DMM. IC can be calculated from the
voltage drop across Rload.
Repeat for IB2= 20 µA.
Present the result in Table 2.
Plot obtained dependences of IC on VCE in one figure. Estimate the differential output resistance r0 from the
slope of linear parts of the curves.
Table 2
VCC (V) VCE1 (V) VRload1 (V) IC1 (µA) VCE2 (V) VRload2 (V) IC2 (µA)
0.2
0.5
0.7
1.0
1.2
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
5.0
10.0

3. Transconductance
Measure the dependence of iC on IB using
oscilloscope. Set VCC= 10 V, apply an AC input vin Table 3
= vBE with amplitude of 10 mV and frequency of IB (µA) iC (mA) gm (1/Ω)
1 kHz. 5
Change IB by varying VBB like you did in previous 10
experiments.
20
The iC (amplitude of the collector current) can be
calculated from the amplitude of the AC voltage 30
across Rload. 40
Present result in Table 3. Calculate the 50
transconductance gm using equation (2) and plot
dependence of gm on IB.

Report
The report should include the lab goals, short description of the work, the experimental and simulated data
presented in plots, the data analysis and comparison followed by conclusions. Please follow the steps in the
experimental part and clearly present all the results of measurements.