Basic electricity and electronics

Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23

Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

Chapter 10
10. Bipolar Junction Transistor
10.1. NPN and PNP Transistor
 Transistors are used when it is necessary to amplify voltage, current, and power.
 With a small signal applied to the transistor amplifier, the transistor and its associated
circuitry can produce an amplified version of the input signal.
 The output signal can be hundreds or even thousands of times larger than the input signal.
 A transistor has three doped regions, the following figures shown npn transistor and pnp
transistor.

 Notice that for both types, the base is a narrow region sandwiched between the larger
collector and emitter regions.
 The emitter region of a transistor is heavily doped. Its job is to emit or inject current carriers
into the base.
 The base region is very thin and lightly doped. Most of the current carriers injected into the
base from the emitter do not flow out the base lead.
 Instead, most of the current carriers injected into the base pass on to the collector.
 The collector region is moderately doped and is the largest of all three regions.
 The collector region attracts the current carriers that are injected into the thin and lightly
doped base region.
 Incidentally, the collector region is the largest of all the three regions because it must
dissipate more heat than the emitter or base regions.
 In npn transistors, the majority current carriers are free electrons in the emitter and
collector, whereas the majority current carriers are holes in the base.
 The opposite is true in a pnp transistor where the majority current carriers are holes in the
emitter and collector, and the majority current carriers are free electrons in the base.
 Notice in Fig. below that the EB depletion layer is narrower than the CB depletion layer.
 The reason for the different widths can be attributed to the doping level of the emitter and
collector regions.
 With heavy doping in the emitter region, the penetration into the n material is minimal due
to the availability of many free electrons.
 On the collector side, however, there are fewer free electrons available due to the more
moderate doping level in this region.

1
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

 Therefore, the depletion layer must penetrate deeper into the collector region to set up the
barrier potential, , of 0.7 V.

 Figure below shows the schematic symbols for both the npn and pnp transistors.
 Notice the arrow on the emitter lead for both types. For the npn transistor in
the first figure Fig., the arrow on the emitter lead points outward, and in the pnp transistor
of the second Fig., the arrow on the emitter lead points inward.

 The npn and pnp transistors are not different in terms of their ability to amplify voltage,
current, or power. Each type, however, does require different polarities of operating
voltages.
 For example, the collector-emitter voltage, VCE, of an npn transistor must be positive, and
the collector-emitter voltage, VCE, must be negative for the pnp type.
10.2 Operation of transistors

2
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

10.3. Analysis of Transistor circuits at DC

 Figure below shows the emitter current, IE, the base current, IB, and the collector current, IC.
 Electrons in the n-type emitter are repelled into the base by the negative terminal of the
emitter supply voltage, VEE.
 Since the base is very thin and lightly doped, only a few electrons combine with holes in the
base.
 The small current flowing out of the base lead (which is the base current, IB) is called
recombination current because free electrons injected into the base must fall into a hole
before they can flow out the base lead.

 Notice in the Fig. that most of the emitter-injected electrons pass through the base region
and into the collector region. The reason is twofold. First, only a few holes are available

3
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

for recombination in the base. Second, the positive collector-base voltage attracts the free
electrons in the p-type base over to the collector side before they can recombine with
holes in the base.
 In most transistors, the collector current, IC, is nearly identical to the emitter current, IE.
This is equivalent to saying that the recombination current, IB, is very small.

 Only a small voltage is needed to create an electric field strong enough in the collector
base junction to collect almost all the free electrons injected into the base.
 After the collector-base voltage reaches a certain level, increasing it further will have little
or no effect on the number of free electrons entering the collector.
 As a matter of fact, after the collector-base voltage is slightly above zero, full current is
obtained in the collector. If the voltage across the collector-base junction is too large,
however, the breakdown voltage may be exceeded, which could destroy the transistor.

 The circuit shown in above Fig. is called a common-base (CB) connection because the
base lead is common to both the input and output sides of the circuit. A characteristic that
describes how closely the emitter and collector currents are in a common base circuit is
called the alpha, designated .

 In most cases, alpha is 0.99 or greater. The thinner and more lightly doped the base, the
closer alpha is to one, or unity. In most discussions, alpha is so close to one that we ignore
the small difference that exists.
 Figure below shows another way to connect external voltages to the npn transistor.
VBB provides the forward bias for the base-emitter junction, and VCC provides the reverse
bias for the collector-base junction.

4
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

 This connection is called the common emitter (CE) connection since the emitter lead is
common to both the input and output sides of the circuit. Notice the arrows indicating the
direction of the transistor currents IE, IC, and IB.
 The DC current gain of a transistor in the common-emitter connection is called the beta,
usually designated, . Beta is expressed in Formula.

 If is known, can be found by using Formula

10.4. Transistor Biasing the BJT for discrete circuit design

 For a transistor to function properly as an amplifier, an external DC supply voltage (or
voltages) must be applied to produce the desired collector current, IC.
Base Biasing
 Figure below shows the simplest way to bias a transistor, called base bias. VBB is the base
supply voltage, which is used to forward-bias the base-emitter junction.
 RB is used to provide the desired value of base current, IB.
 VCC is the collector supply voltage, which provides the reverse-bias voltage required for
the collector-base junction of the transistor. The collector resistor, RC, provides the desired
voltage in the collector circuit.

 Right side figure shows the DC equivalent circuit. For silicon transistors, VBE equals 0.7
V. Notice that the collector circuit is represented as a current source whose value is

5
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

dependent only on the values of and IB. Collector supply voltage variations have little or
no effect on the collector current, IC.
 From figure, the base current IB can be found by dividing the voltage drop across RB by
the value of RB. This is shown in Formula

 The collector current, IC, can be calculated next:

Base Bias with a Single Supply

 In most cases, a single voltage source provides the base bias for a transistor. One example is
shown in Fig. below.

 Notice that the base supply voltage, VBB, has been omitted and RB is connected to the positive
(+) terminal of VCC. For this circuit, IB is calculated using Formula:

6
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

Voltage Divider Bias

 The most popular way to bias a transistor is with voltage divider bias. The advantage lies
in its stability. If designed properly, the circuit is practically immune to changes in
caused by either transistor replacement or temperature variation.
 An example of voltage divider bias is shown in Fig.

 Notice that VB is the voltage measured from the base lead to ground, which is actually
the voltage drop across R2. Since the voltage divider is made up of R1 and R2, VB can be
calculated using the voltage divider formula shown in Formula:

 The emitter voltage, VE, is 0.7 V less than the base voltage, VB, assuming that the
transistor is silicon. This is shown in Formula:

 Now, because equals 100, assume that IC is approximately the same as IE.
Therefore,

7
Chapter Ten Short note
 Basic electricity and electronics
Phys2042 A.Y. 2022/23
Dr. Gashaw Beyene (Course Instructor)

 To calculate the collector voltage with respect to ground, use Formula:

 Finally, VCE can be calculated by using Formula:

Emitter Bias

8
Chapter Ten Short note