0% found this document useful (0 votes)
27 views

Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint

The document discusses transistors, including their construction, operation, and uses. Transistors are three-terminal semiconductor devices that can amplify or switch electronic signals and act as voltage or current regulators. They consist of two PN junctions connected together, forming either a PNP or NPN configuration. The three terminals are the emitter, base, and collector, each with different doping levels and functions in controlling current flow.

Uploaded by

Mansour Mashaei
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
27 views

Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint

The document discusses transistors, including their construction, operation, and uses. Transistors are three-terminal semiconductor devices that can amplify or switch electronic signals and act as voltage or current regulators. They consist of two PN junctions connected together, forming either a PNP or NPN configuration. The three terminals are the emitter, base, and collector, each with different doping levels and functions in controlling current flow.

Uploaded by

Mansour Mashaei
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

tutorialspoint.com

Basic Electronics - Transistors -


Tutorialspoint
7-9 minutes

After having a good knowledge on the working of the diode, which is a


single PN junction, let us try to connect two PN junctions which make
a new component called Transistor. A Transistor is a three terminal
semiconductor device that regulates current or voltage flow and acts
as a switch or gate for signals.

Why Do We Need Transistors?

Suppose that you have a FM receiver which grabs the signal you
want. The received signal will obviously be weak due to the
disturbances it would face during its journey. Now if this signal is read
as it is, you cannot get a fair output. Hence we need to amplify the
signal. Amplification means increasing the signal strength.

This is just an instance. Amplification is needed wherever the signal


strength has to be increased. This is done by a transistor. A transistor
also acts as a switch to choose between available options. It also
regulates the incoming current and voltage of the signals.

Constructional Details of a Transistor

The Transistor is a three terminal solid state device which is formed

1 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

by connecting two diodes back to back. Hence it has got two PN


junctions. Three terminals are drawn out of the three semiconductor
materials present in it. This type of connection offers two types of
transistors. They are PNP and NPN which means an N-type material
between two Ptypes and the other is a P-type material between two
N-types respectively.

The construction of transistors is as shown in the following figure


which explains the idea discussed above.

The three terminals drawn from the transistor indicate Emitter, Base
and Collector terminals. They have their functionality as discussed
below.

Emitter

The left hand side of the above shown structure can be understood
as Emitter.

This has a moderate size and is heavily doped as its main function
is to supply a number of majority carriers, i.e. either electrons or
holes.

As this emits electrons, it is called as an Emitter.

This is simply indicated with the letter E.

Base

2 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

The middle material in the above figure is the Base.

This is thin and lightly doped.

Its main function is to pass the majority carriers from the emitter to
the collector.

This is indicated by the letter B.

Collector

The right side material in the above figure can be understood as a


Collector.

Its name implies its function of collecting the carriers.

This is a bit larger in size than emitter and base. It is moderately


doped.

This is indicated by the letter C.

The symbols of PNP and NPN transistors are as shown below.

The arrow-head in the above figures indicated the emitter of a


transistor. As the collector of a transistor has to dissipate much
greater power, it is made large. Due to the specific functions of
emitter and collector, they are not interchangeable. Hence the
terminals are always to be kept in mind while using a transistor.

3 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

In a Practical transistor, there is a notch present near the emitter lead


for identification. The PNP and NPN transistors can be differentiated
using a Multimeter. The following figure shows how different practical
transistors look like.

We have so far discussed the constructional details of a transistor,


but to understand the operation of a transistor, first we need to know
about the biasing.

Transistor Biasing

As we know that a transistor is a combination of two diodes, we have


two junctions here. As one junction is between the emitter and base,
that is called as Emitter-Base junction and likewise, the other is
Collector-Base junction.

Biasing is controlling the operation of the circuit by providing power


supply. The function of both the PN junctions is controlled by providing
bias to the circuit through some dc supply. The figure below shows
how a transistor is biased.

4 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

By having a look at the above figure, it is understood that

The N-type material is provided negative supply and P-type material is


given positive supply to make the circuit Forward bias.

The N-type material is provided positive supply and P-type material is


given negative supply to make the circuit Reverse bias.

By applying the power, the emitter base junction is always forward


biased as the emitter resistance is very small. The collector base
junction is reverse biased and its resistance is a bit higher. A small
forward bias is sufficient at the emitter junction whereas a high
reverse bias has to be applied at the collector junction.

The direction of current indicated in the circuits above, also called as


the Conventional Current, is the movement of hole current which is
opposite to the electron current.

Operation PNP Transistor

The operation of a PNP transistor can be explained by having a look


at the following figure, in which emitter-base junction is forward

5 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

biased and collector-base junction is reverse biased.

The voltage VEE provides a positive potential at the emitter which


repels the holes in the P-type material and these holes cross the
emitter-base junction, to reach the base region. There a very low
percent of holes recombine with free electrons of N-region. This
provides very low current which constitutes the base current IB. The
remaining holes cross the collector-base junction, to constitute
collector current IC, which is the hole current.

As a hole reaches the collector terminal, an electron from the battery


negative terminal fills the space in the collector. This flow slowly
increases and the electron minority current flows through the emitter,
where each electron entering the positive terminal of VEE, is replaced
by a hole by moving towards the emitter junction. This constitutes
emitter current IE.

Hence we can understand that −

The conduction in a PNP transistor takes place through holes.

The collector current is slightly less than the emitter current.

6 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

The increase or decrease in the emitter current affects the collector


current.

Operation NPN Transistor

The operation of an NPN transistor can be explained by having a look


at the following figure, in which emitter-base junction is forward
biased and collector-base junction is reverse biased.

The voltage VEE provides a negative potential at the emitter which


repels the electrons in the N-type material and these electrons cross
the emitter-base junction, to reach the base region. There a very low
percent of electrons recombine with free holes of P-region. This
provides very low current which constitutes the base current IB. The
remaining holes cross the collector-base junction, to constitute the
collector current IC.

As an electron reaches out of the collector terminal, and enters the


positive terminal of the battery, an electron from the negative terminal
of the battery VEE enters the emitter region. This flow slowly
increases and the electron current flows through the transistor.

Hence we can understand that −

7 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM
Basic Electronics - Transistors - Tutorialspoint about:reader?url=https://www.tutorialspoint.com/basic_electronics/basic...

The conduction in a NPN transistor takes place through electrons.

The collector current is higher than the emitter current.

The increase or decrease in the emitter current affects the collector


current.

Advantages

There are many advantages of a transistor such as −

High voltage gain.

Lower supply voltage is sufficient.

Most suitable for low power applications.

Smaller and lighter in weight.

Mechanically stronger than vacuum tubes.

No external heating required like vacuum tubes.

Very suitable to integrate with resistors and diodes to produce ICs.

There are few disadvantages such as they cannot be used for high
power applications due to lower power dissipation. They have lower
input impedance and they are temperature dependent.

8 of 8 11/7/2019, 7:21 PM

You might also like