UNIT-V

Transistors
The transistor was invented in 1947 by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell

laboratory in America.

A transistor is a semiconductor device, commonly used as an Amplifier or an electrically

controlled switch.

There are two types of transistors:

Unipolar Junction Transistor

Bipolar Junction Transistor

In Unipolar transistor, the current conduction is only due to one type of carriers i.e.,
majority charge carriers. The current conduction in bipolar transistor is because of both the types of
charge carriers i.e., holes and electrons. Hence it is called as Bipolar Junction Transistor and it is
referred to as BJT.

BJT is a semiconductor device in which one type of semiconductor material is sand witched
between two opposite types of semiconductor i.e., an n-type semiconductor is sandwiched
between two p-type semiconductors or a p-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two n-
type semiconductor. Hence the BJTs are of two types.

They are:

1) n-p-n Transistor

2) p-n-p Transistor

The two types of BJTs are shown in the figure below.

The arrow head represents the conventional current direction from p to n. Transistor has three
terminals.

1) Emitter

2) Base

3) Collector

Transistor has two p-n junctions. They are:

1. Emitter-Base Junction

2. Collector-Base Junction

Emitter: Emitter is heavily doped because it is to emit the charge carriers.

Base: The charge carriers emitted by the emitter should reach collector passing through the base.
Hence base should be very thin and to avoid recombination, and to provide more collector current
base is lightly doped.

Collector: Collector has to collect the most of charge carriers emitted by the emitter. Hence the
area of cross section of collector is more compared to emitter and it is moderately doped.

Transistor can be operated in three regions.

1) Active region.

2) Saturation region.

3) Cut-Off region.

Active Region: For the transistor to operate in active region base to emitter junction is forward
biased and collector to base junction is reverse biased.

Saturation Region: Transistor to be operated in saturation region if both the junctions i.e., collector
to base junction and base to emitter junction are forward biased.

Cut-Off Region: For the transistor to operate in cut-off region both the junctions i.e., base to
emitter junction and collector to base junction are reverse biased.

Transistor can be used as

1) Amplifier 2) Switch

For the transistor to act as an amplifier, it should be operated in active region. For the
transistor to act as a switch, it should be operated in saturation region for ON state, and cut-off
region for OFF state.
Transistor Operation:

Working of an n- p-n transistor:

The n-p-n transistor with base to emitter junction forward biased and collector base junction
reverse biased is as shown in figure.

As the base to emitter junction is forward biased the majority carriers emitted by the n-type
emitter i.e., electrons have a tendency to flow towards the base which constitutes the emitter current
IE.

As the base is p-type there is chance of recombination of electrons emitted by the emitter
with the holes in the p-type base. Remaining more than 95% electrons emitted by the n-type
emitter cross over into the collector region constitute the collector current.

The current distributions are as shown in fig. IE = IB + IC

Working of a p-n-p transistor:

 The p-n-p transistor with base to emitter junction is forward biased and collector to base
junction reverse biased is as show in figure.

As the base to emitter junction is forward biased the majority carriers emitted by the p-type
emitter i.e., holes have a tendency to flow towards the base which constitutes the emitter current IE.

As the base is n-type there is a chance of recombination of holes emitted by the emitter
with the electrons in the n-type base. But as the base us very thin and lightly doped only few
electrons less than 5% combine with the holes emitted by the p-type emitter, the remaining 95%
charge carriers cross over into the collector region to constitute the collector current.

The current distributions are shown in figure. IE = IB + IC

Current components in a transistor: The figure below shows the various current components which
flow across the forward-biased emitter junction and reverse-biased collector junction in P-N-P
transistor.

Figure: Current components in a transistor with forward-biased emitter and reverse-

biased collector junctions.

The emitter current consists of the following two parts:

3. Hole current IpE constituted by holes (holes crossing from emitter into base).

4. Electron current InE constituted by electrons (electrons crossing from base into the
emitter).

Therefore, Total emitter current IE = IpE (majority) + InE (Minority)

The holes crossing the emitter base junction JE and reaching the collector base junction JC

Constitutes collector current IpC. Not all the holes crossing the emitter base junction JE reach
collector base junction JC because some of them combine with the electrons in the n-type base.

Since base width is very small, most of the holes cross the collector base junction JC and very
few recombine, constituting the base current (IpE – IpC).

When the emitter is open-circuited, IE=0, and hence IpC=0. Under this condition, the base
and collector together current IC equals the reverse saturation current ICO, which consists
of the following two parts: IPCO caused by holes moving across IC from N-region to P-region.

InCO caused by electrons moving across IC from P-region to N-region. ICO = InCO + IpCO
 In general, IC = InC + IpC

Thus for a P-N-P transistor, IE = IB + IC

Transistor circuit configurations:

Following are the three types of transistor circuit configurations:

1. Common-Base (CB)

2. Common-Emitter (CE)

3. Common-Collector (CC)

Here the term ‘Common’ is used to denote the transistor lead which is common to the
input and output circuits. The common terminal is generally grounded.

It should be remembered that regardless the circuit configuration, the emitter is

always forward-biased while the collector is always reverse-biased.
Common – Base (CB) configurations: In this configuration, the input signal is applied
between emitter and base while the output is taken from collector and base. As base is common to
input and output circuits, hence the name common base configuration. Figure show the common-base
P-N-P transistor circuit.

Common-Emitter (CE) configuration: In this configuration, the input signal is applied between base
and emitter and the output is taken from collector and emitter. As emitter is common to input
and output circuits, hence the name common emitter configuration.

Figure shows the common-emitter P-N-P transistor circuit.

Common – Collector (CC) Configuration: In this configuration, the input signal is applied
between base and collector and the output is taken from the emitter. As collector is common to
input and output circuits, hence the name common collector configuration. Figure shows the common
collector PNP transistor circuit.
Characteristics of Common-Base Circuit: The circuit diagram for determining the static characteristic
curves of an NPN transistor in the common base configuration is shown in fig. Below

Input Characteristics: To determine the input characteristics, the collector-base voltage VCB is
kept constant at zero volts and the emitter current IE is increased from zero in suitable equal steps
by increasing VEB. This is repeated for higher fixed values of VCB. A curve is drawn between emitter
current IE and emitter-base voltage VEB at constant collector-base voltage VCB.

The input characteristics thus obtained are shown in figure below.

Early effect (or) Base–Width modulation:

As the collector voltage VCC is made to increase the reverse bias, the space charge width between
collector and base tends to increase, with the result that the effective width of the base decreases.
This dependency of base-width on collector-to-emitter voltage is known as Early effect (or) Base-
Width modulation.

Thus decrease in effective base width has following consequences:

i. Due to Early effect, the base width reduces, there is a less chance of recombination of
holes with electrons in base region and hence base current IB decreases.
ii. As IB decreases, the collector current IC increases.
iii. As base width reduces the emitter current IE increases for small emitter to base voltage.
iv. As collector current increases, common base current gain (?) increases.
Punch Through (or) Reach Through:

When reverse bias voltage increases more, the depletion region moves towards emitter
junction and effective base width reduces to zero. This causes breakdown in the transistor. This
condition is called “Punch Through” condition.

Output Characteristics: To determine the output characteristics, the emitter current IE is kept
constant at a suitable value by adjusting the emitter-base voltage VEB. Then VCB is increased in
suitable equal steps and the collector current IC is noted for each value of IE. Now the curves of IC
versus VCB are plotted for constant values of IE and the output characteristics thus obtained is shown
in figure below.

From the characteristics, it is seen that for a constant value of I E, IC is independent of VCB
and the curves are parallel to the axis of VCB. Further, IC flows even when VCB is equal to zero. As
the emitter-base junction is forward biased, the majority carriers, i.e., electrons, from the emitter

are injected into the base region. Due to the action of the internal potential barrier at the reverse

biased collector-base junction, they flow to the collector region and give rise to IC even when VCB is

equal to zero

Transistor Parameters: The slope of the CB characteristics will give the following four transistor
parameters. Since these parameters have different dimensions, they are commonly known as
common base hybrid parameters (or) h-parameters.

Input Impedance (hib): It is defined as the ratio of change in (input) emitter to base voltage to the
change in (input) emitter current with the (output) collector to base voltage kept constant.

Output Admittance (hob): It is defined as the ratio of change in the (output) collector current to
the corresponding change in the (output) collector-base voltage, keeping the (input) emitter current
IE constant.

Forward Current Gain (hfb): It is defined as a ratio of the change in the (output) collector
current to the corresponding change in the (input) emitter current keeping the (output) collector
voltage VCB constant.
 Reverse Voltage Gain (hrb): It is defined as a ratio of the change in the (input) emitter voltage and
the corresponding change in (output) collector voltage with constant (input) emitter current

Characteristics of Common-Emitter Circuit:

The circuit diagram for determining the static characteristic curves of the an N-P-N

transistor in the common emitter configuration is shown in figure below.

Input Characteristics:

To determine the input characteristics, the collector to emitter voltage is kept constant at
zero volts and base current is increased from zero in equal steps by increasing VBE in the circuit.
The value of VBE is noted for each setting of IB. This procedure is repeated for higher fixed values of
VCE, and the curves of IB versus VBE are drawn.

The input characteristics thus obtained are shown in figure below.

 When VCE=0, the emitter-base junction is forward biased and he junction behaves as a
forward biased diode. When VCE is increased, the width of the depletion region at the reverse
biased collector-base junction will increase. Hence the effective width of the base will decrease. This

effect causes a decrease in the base current IB. Hence, to get the same value of IB as that for

VCE=0, VBE should be increased. Therefore, the curve shifts to the right as VCE increases.

Output Characteristics:

To determine the output characteristics, the base current IB is kept constant at a suitable
value by adjusting base-emitter voltage, VBE. The magnitude of collector-emitter voltage VCE is
increased in suitable equal steps from zero and the collector current IC is noted for each setting of
VCE. Now the curves of IC versus VCE are plotted for different constant values of IB. The output

Characteristics thus obtained are shown in figure below.

The output characteristics of common emitter configuration consist of three regions:

Active, Saturation and Cut-off regions.

Active Region: The region where the curves are approximately horizontal is the “Active” region of the
CE configuration. In the active region, the collector junction is reverse biased. As V CE is increased,
reverse bias increase. This causes depletion region to spread more in base than in collector, reducing
the changes of recombination in the base. This increase the value of ?dc . This Early effect causes
collector current to rise more sharply with increasing VCE in the active region of output characteristics
of CE transistor.

Saturation Region: If VCE is reduced to a small value such as 0.2V, then collector-base junction
becomes forward biased, since the emitter-base junction is already forward biased by 0.7V. The input
junction in CE configuration is base to emitter junction, which is always forward biased to operate
transistor in active region. Thus input characteristics of CE configuration are similar to forward
characteristics of p-n junction diode. When both the junctions are forwards biased, the transistor
operates in the saturation region, which is indicated on the output characteristics. The saturation
value of VCE, designated VCE ( Sat ) , usually ranges between 0.1V to 0.3V.
Cut-Off Region: When the input base current is made equal to zero, the collector current is the
reverse leakage current ICEO. Accordingly, in order to cut off the transistor, it is not enough to reduce
IB=0. Instead, it is necessary to reverse bias the emitter junction slightly. We shall define cut off as the
condition where the collector current is equal to the reverse saturation current ICO and the
emitter current is zero.

Characteristics of common collector circuit: The circuit diagram for determining the static
characteristics of an N-P-N transistor in the common collector configuration is shown in fig. below.

Input Characteristics:

To determine the input characteristic, VEC is kept at a suitable fixed value. The base-
collector voltage VBC is increased in equal steps and the corresponding increase in IB is noted. This is
repeated for different fixed values of VEC. Plots of VBC versus IB for different values of VEC shown

in figure are the input characteristics.

Output Characteristics: The output characteristics shown in figure below are the same as
those of the common emitter configuration.