UNIT-II

TRANSISTORS

Syllabus:
Transistors: BJT construction and working, modes of operation,
configurations of BJT (CB, CE, CC), small signal h-parameter
model of CE, CE amplifier analysis. Construction and working
of JFET, V-I characteristics of JFET.
 Introduction of BJT
• The transistor was successfully demonstrated on December 23, 1947 at Bell
Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Bell Labs is the research arm of
American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). The three individuals credited with
the invention of the transistor were William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter
Brattain.
• A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a three terminal electronic device that
amplifies the flow of current.
• The bipolar junction transistors are formed by sandwiching either n-type or p-type
semiconductor layer between pairs of opposite polarity semiconductor layers.
• In bipolar junction transistor (BJT), electric current is conducted by both free
electrons and holes. Unlike a normal PN-junction diode, the transistor has two p-n
junctions.
• Bipolar junction transistors are mainly used in switching and amplification.
Construction of BJT
 Construction of BJT
• BJT consist of three terminals that is, emitter, base and collector which
are denoted by E, B and C respectively.
• The emitter (E) section is heavily doped so that it can inject a large
number of charge carriers into the base.
• The Base (B) section is lightly doped and is very thin as compared to
emitter and collector.
• On the other hand, collector (C) section is moderately doped, its main
function is to collect charge carriers.
Types of Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
• Bipolar junction transistors are classified into two types based on their
construction. They include:
• NPN Transistor– In this transistor, a single p-type semiconductor
layer is sandwiched between two n-type semiconductor layers.
• PNP Transistor – In this transistor, a single n-type semiconductor
layer is sandwiched between two p-type semiconductor layers.
 NPN transistor
• The transistor in which one p-type material is placed between two n-
type materials is known as NPN transistor.
• The NPN transistor amplifies the weak signal enter into the base and
produces strong amplify signals at the collector end.
• In NPN transistor, the direction of movement of an electron is from
the emitter to collector region
• Such type of transistor is mostly used in the circuit because their
majority charge carriers are electrons which have high mobility as
compared to holes.
 Construction of NPN Transistor
• The NPN transistor has two • The middle section of the NPN
diodes connected back to back. transistor is lightly doped, and it
• The diode on the left side is is the most important factor of
called an emitter-base diode, and the working of the transistor.
the diodes on the left side are • The emitter is moderately doped,
called collector-base diode. and the collector is heavily
These names are given as per the doped.
name of the terminals.
• The NPN transistor has three
terminals, namely emitter,
collector and base.
 Working of NPN Transistor
• The forward biased is applied
across the emitter-base junction, • The emitter of the NPN transistor
and the reversed biased is is heavily doped.
applied across the collector-base • When the forward bias is applied
junction. across the emitter, the majority
• The forward biased voltage charge carriers move towards the
VEB is small as compared to the base.
reverse bias voltage VCB. • This causes the emitter current
IE. The electrons enter into the P-
type material and combine with
the holes.
 Working of NPN Transistor
• The base of the NPN transistor is lightly doped.
• Due to which only a few electrons are combined and remaining constitutes the
base current IB.
• This base current enters into the collector region.
• The reversed bias potential of the collector region applies the high attractive force
on the electrons reaching collector junction.
• Thus attract or collect the electrons at the collector.
• The whole of the emitter current is entered into the base.
• Thus, we can say that the emitter current is the sum of the collector or the base
current. IE = IB + IC
 PNP Transistor
• The transistor in which one n-type material is doped with two p-type
materials such type of transistor is known as PNP transistor.
• The small amount of base current controlled both the emitter and
collector current.
• The PNP transistor has two crystal diodes connected back to back.
• The left side of the diode in known as the emitter-base diode and the
right side of the diode is known as the collector-base diode.
• The hole is the majority carriers of the PNP transistors which
constitute the current in it.
• The direction of current in PNP transistor is from the emitter to
collector.
• The base of the PNP transistor has always been negative with respect
to the emitter and collector.
 Construction of PNP Transistor
• The emitter-base junction is
connected in forward biased, and • And the base-emitter is kept in
the collector-base junction is forward due to which the holes
connected in reverse biased. from the emitter region enter into
the base and then into the collector
• The emitter which is connected region by crossing the depletion
in the forward biased attracts the region.
electrons towards the battery and
hence constitutes the current to
flow from emitter to collector.
• The base of the transistor is
always kept positive with respect
to the collector so that the hole
from the collector junction
cannot enter into the base.
 Working of PNP Transistor
• The emitter-base junction is connected • The collector base region is connected
in forward biased due to which the in reverse biased.
emitter pushes the holes in the base • The holes which collect around the
region. depletion region when coming under
• These holes constitute the emitter the impact of negative polarity
current. collected or attracted by the collector.
• When these electrons move into the N- • This develops the collector current.
type semiconductor material or base, The complete emitter current flows
they combined with the electrons. through the collector current IC.
• The base of the transistor is thin and
very lightly doped.
• Hence only a few holes combined with
the electrons and the remaining are
moved towards the collector space
charge layer.
• Hence develops the base current.
Modes of Operation
 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.
1) Common Base (CB) Configuration - has Voltage Gain but no
Current Gain.
2) Common Emitter (CE) Configuration - has both Current and
Voltage Gain.
3) Common Collector (CC) Configuration - has Current Gain but
no Voltage Gain.
1) The Common Base (CB) Configuration
• As its name suggests, in the Common Base or grounded base configuration,
the base connection is common to both the input signal and the output signal
with the input signal being applied between the base and the emitter
terminals.
• The corresponding output signal is taken from between the base and the
collector terminals as shown with the base terminal grounded or connected to
a fixed reference voltage point.
• Emitter is the input terminal, collector is the output terminal and base
terminal is connected as a common terminal for both input and output.
• That means the emitter terminal and common base terminal are known as
input terminals whereas the collector terminal and common base terminal are
known as output terminals.
CB Configuration circuit diagram
• The supply voltage between base and emitter is denoted by VBE while
the supply voltage between collector and base is denoted by VCB.
• To fully describe the behavior of a transistor with CB configuration,
we need two set of characteristics: they are

• Input characteristics

• Output characteristics.
 Input characteristics
The input characteristics describe the relationship between input current
(IE) and the input voltage (VBE).
• To determine the input characteristics, the output voltage
VCB (collector-base voltage) is kept constant at zero volts and the input
voltage VEB is increased from zero volts to different voltage levels.
• This is repeated for higher fixed values of VCB.
• For each voltage level of the input voltage (VEB), the input current (IE)
is recorded.
• A curve is then drawn between input current IE and input voltage VEB
at constant output voltage VCB (0 volts).
• When VCB is equal to zero and the emitter- base junction is FB , the
junction behaves as FB diode, so the emitter current IE increases
rapidly with small increase in emitter base voltage.
• When VCB is increased keeping VEB constant, the width of base region
will decrease.
• This effect results in an increase of IE .
• As a result, the cut in voltage will be reduced. Therefore, the curves
shifted towards the left side for higher values of output voltage VCB.
 Output characteristics
• The output characteristics describe the relationship between output
current (IC) and the output voltage (VCB).
 Early effect
• If the output voltage VCB applied to the collector-base junction JC is
further increased, the depletion region width further increases.
• The base region is lightly doped as compared to the collector region.
• So the depletion region penetrates more into the base region and less
into the collector region.
• As a result, the width of the base region decreases. This dependency of
base width on the output voltage (VCB) is known as an early effect.
• If the output voltage VCB applied to the collector-base junction JC is
highly increased, the base width may be reduced to zero and causes a
voltage breakdown in the transistor. This phenomenon is known as
punch through.
 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
1) Input impedance: It is defined as the ratio of the change in input
emitter voltage to the change in input emitter current with the output
collector voltage VCB kept constant therefore,

2) output admittance : It is defined as the ratio of change in the

output collector current to the corresponding change in the output
collector voltage with the input emitter current IE kept constant
therefore,
3) Forward Current Gain : It is defined as the 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
.Hence,

4) Reverse Voltage Gain : It is defined as the ratio of the change in the

input emitter voltage and the corresponding change in output collector
voltage with constant input emitter IE current . Hence,
CB Configuration:
Input impedance

output impedance,
Forward Current Gain,

Reverse Voltage Gain,

 2) Common Emitter(CE) Configuration
• Base is the input terminal, collector is the output terminal and emitter
is the common terminal for both input and output.
• That means the base terminal and common emitter terminal are known
as input terminals whereas collector terminal and common emitter
terminal are known as output terminals.
• The common emitter (CE) amplifiers are used when large current gain
is needed.
• The supply voltage between base and emitter is denoted by VBE while
the supply voltage between collector and emitter is denoted by VCE.
CE Configuration circuit diagram
• Input current or base current is denoted by IB and output current or
collector current is denoted by IC.
• To fully describe the behavior of a transistor with CE configuration,
we need two set of characteristics –
• input characteristics
• output characteristics
 Input characteristics
• The input characteristics describe the relationship between input
current or base current (IB) and input voltage or base-emitter voltage
(VBE).
 Output characteristics
The output characteristics describe the relationship between output
current (IC) and output voltage (VCE).
 Transistor parameters
• The slope of the CE characteristics will give the following four
transistor parameters
• since these parameters have different dimensions, they are commonly
known as common emitter hybrid parameters or h-parameters.
1) Input impedance: It is defined as the ratio of the change in input
base voltage to the change in input base current with the output collector
voltage VCE kept constant therefore,

2) output admittance : It is defined as the ratio of change in the

output collector current to the corresponding change in the output
collector voltage with the input base current IB kept constant therefore,
3) Forward Current Gain : It is defined as the ratio of the change in
the output collector current to the corresponding change in the input
base current keeping the output collector voltage VCE constant .Hence,

4) Reverse Voltage Gain : It is defined as the ratio of the change in the

input base voltage and the corresponding change in output collector
voltage with constant input base IB current . Hence,
 CE Configuration:
Input Impedance,

Output Admittance,
Forward Current gain,

Reverse Voltage Gain,

3) Common Collector(CC) Configuration
• In this configuration, the base terminal of the transistor serves as the
input, the emitter terminal is the output and the collector terminal is
common for both input and output.
• Hence, it is named as common collector configuration.
• The input is applied between the base and collector while the output is
taken from the emitter and collector.
CC Configuration circuit diagram
 Input Characteristics
• The input characteristics describe the relationship between input
current or base current (IB) and input voltage or base-collector voltage
(VBC).
 Output Characteristics
• The output characteristics describe the relationship between output
current or emitter current (IE) and output voltage or emitter-collector
voltage (VEC).
Current Amplification factor
THANK YOU