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Electronics - Transistors

Transistors are essential electronic components that function as switches and amplifiers, replacing older vacuum tubes. They can control larger currents with smaller input signals and are fundamental to the operation of computer chips, storing binary data through their on/off states. Transistors come in two types, NPN and PNP, which differ in their current flow and switching mechanisms.

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43 views2 pages

Electronics - Transistors

Transistors are essential electronic components that function as switches and amplifiers, replacing older vacuum tubes. They can control larger currents with smaller input signals and are fundamental to the operation of computer chips, storing binary data through their on/off states. Transistors come in two types, NPN and PNP, which differ in their current flow and switching mechanisms.

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andre.h.costa
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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transistors

Transistors are the fundamental electronic pieces in most modern electronics. They
revolutionised technological advances from the older, inefficient, and space-consuming
vacuum tubes. The transistor works like an electronic switch. It can turn a current ON and
OFF. A simple way to think about it is to look at the transistor as a relay without moving
parts. A transistor is similar to a relay because you can turn something ON and OFF. Relays
are switches that turn on and off based on a separate input or a small supplied current.

More specifically, Relays are very important in electronics because they can turn on/off high-
power devices like lamps or garage door motors with a small DC voltage signal.

Some transistors can also be turned slightly on instead of completely on or off, meaning they
can serve as amplifiers.

When it works as an amplifier, it takes in a tiny electric current at one end (an input current)
and produces a much bigger electric current (an output current) at the other. In other words,
it's a current booster. That comes in handy in things like hearing aids, one of the first things
people used transistors for. A hearing aid has a tiny microphone that picks up sounds from
the world around you and turns them into fluctuating electric currents. These are fed into a
transistor that boosts them and powers a tiny loudspeaker, so you hear a much louder version
of the sounds around you.

Transistors can also work as switches. A tiny electric current flowing through one part of a
transistor can make a much bigger current flow through another part. In other words, the
small current switches on the larger one. This is how all computer chips work. For example, a
memory chip contains hundreds of millions or even billions of transistors, each of which can
be switched on or off individually. Since each transistor can be in two distinct states, it can
store two different numbers, zero and one.

These states are classified as Boolean inputs, meaning they can be 1 or 0, true or false, on or
off, etc.

An example of these states is switches (on or off), which, when coupled with transistors, can
contribute to creating more complex circuits.

It's crucial to understand that n-type and p-type silicon are electrically neutral. N-type silicon
contains additional "free" electrons, enhancing conductivity, whereas p-type silicon has fewer
free electrons, thereby boosting conductivity oppositely. This conductivity alteration stems
from introducing neutral impurity atoms into initially neutral silicon—electric charges cannot
materialise out of thin air. A deeper explanation involves band theory, which exceeds the
scope of our lessons. "extra electrons" signify additional free electrons capable of facilitating
electrical current flow.

This relates to the whole composition of a transistor itself:

Transistors are sandwiched between P and N-type silicon layers, usually structured as PNP or
NPN transistors. These combinations are called junction transistors. Another name for these
NPN and PNP transistors is Bipolar junction transistors since they have bipolar disorder, have
two polarities, and are conjoint or layered.

Difference Between NPN and PNP Transistor

NPN PNP
The current flows from collector terminal to The current flows from emitter to collector
emitter terminal. terminal.
One P-type semiconductor is sandwiched It is made of up two P-type material layers
between the two N-type semiconductors. with N-type sandwiched between them.
The current flow from the emitter to
The current flow from the collector is generated
collector is generated at emitter terminal by
by keeping a +ve voltage there.
keeping a +ve voltage there.
The transistor switches ON with the increase in The transistors switch ON when there is no
current in the base terminal current flow at the base terminal
When the current is reduced in the base, the When a current is present at the base of a
transistor doesn’t function across the collector PNP transistor, then the transistor switches
terminal and switches OFF OFF.

Boiling it down: PNP switches ON by a low signal, whereas NPN switches ON by a high
signal. In PNP transistors, the P represents the polarity of the emitter terminal, and N
represents the polarity of the base terminal.

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