BJ T Circuit Configurations

R
L
V
cc
~
~
~
R
s
v
s
V
cc
v
s
R
s
R
L
R
L
V
cc
R
s
v
s
Common base Common emitter
Common collector
V
be
Common emitter current gain
BJT Current-Voltage Characteristics
Very small base current (~5-75 A)
causes much higher collector current (up to 7.5 mA).
The current gain is ~ 100
V
CE
, V
V
CE
, V
BJ T amplifier circuit analysis: Operating point
Collector current depends on two circuit parameters:
the base current and the collector voltage.
At high collector voltage the collector current depends on the base
current only.
For I
base
= 40 A, I
coll
= 4 mA for any E
C-E
greater than 1.5 V
R
L
BJ T amplifier circuit analysis: Operating point
For an arbitrary collector voltage, collector current can be found using the KVL.
The KVL for the collector emitter circuit, V
CC
=I
RL
R
L
+V
CE
;
V
CE
, V
CC CE
RL
L
V V
I
R

=
The R
L
current depends linearly on the collector voltage V
CE
Resistor R
L
and the C-E circuit of BJ T are connected in series, hence I
RL
= I
C
For I
b
=40 A and V
CC
=13V, the collector current I
C
=4 mA
For I
b
=75 A and V
CC
=14V, the collector current I
C
=4 mA
V
CE
R
L
V
CC
BJ T amplifier gain analysis: 1
1. Input circuit
The input voltage has two components: the DC bias and the AC signal
V
in
Time
DC bias
AC signal amplitude
DC voltage component biases the base-emitter p-n junction in the forward direction
AC component is the input signal to be amplified by the BJ T.
BJ T amplifier gain analysis: 2
2. Output circuit
The collector current has two components too.
I
C
Time
DC current
AC current amplitude
DC and AC collector currents flow through the BJ T
in accordance with its I-V characteristics
V
CE
, V
Base current
BJ T amplifier gain analysis: 3
The resistance of the B-E junction is very low when V
BE
V
BE0
V
bi
0.7 V.
Hence the base current I
B
(V
in
-V
BE0
)/R1=(V
inDC
-V
BE0
+V
inAC
)/R
1
The collector current I
C
does not depend on the collector voltage if the latter is high
enough.
Hence, I
C
I
B
;
The voltage drop across the load resistance R
2
: V
2
= I
C
R
2
;
The output voltage V
out
= V
CC
- V
2
= V
CC
- I
C
R
2
;
V
out
= V
CC
- I
C
R
2
= V
CC
- I
B
R
2
=V
CC
- R
2
(V
inDC
-V
BE0
+V
inAC
)/R
1
;
In signal amplifiers only AC component of the output voltage is important:
V
outAC
= - R
2
V
inAC
/R
1
;
The amplifier voltage gain: k
V
= V
outAC
/V
inAC
= - R
2
/R
1
;
V
CE
, V
BJ T amplifier gain analysis: 4
Common emitter gain summary:
Current gain: k
I
=
Voltage gain: k
V
= V
outAC
/V
inAC
= - R
2
/R
1
;
Power gain: k
P
= k
V
k
I
= -
2
R
2
/R
1
V
CE
, V
BJT design and factors affecting the performance
Base resistance and emitter current crowding in BJTs
The voltage drop along the base layer
V
bb
= r
bb
I
b,
wherer
bb
is called the base
spreading resistance.
1 1
TH
V
qV
V
kT
S S
I I e I e


= =





The length of the edge region, d
e
, where most of
the emitter current flows may be estimated from:
The p-njunction current decreases
rapidly when the voltage drops by
V
bb
~V
th
=kT/q
max
e
th b b b b
e
d
V I R I
t W

=
d
e
Emitter current crowding in BJTs (cont.)
1
b
b b
qN

=
From these,
th e th
e b b e b
b b b
V t W V
d q N t W
I I

=
max
e
th b b b b
e
d
V I R I
t W

=
d
e
th
e b b e b
b
V
d q N t W
I

Example
Estimate the effective emitter
length, d
e
for the BJ T having
the following parameters:
I
b
= 50 A;
N
b
= 10
17
cm
-3

b
=400 cm
2
/V-s
W
b
= 0.1 m
t
e
= 100 m
d
e
= 3.33 e-4 cm = 3.33 m
d
e
Large periphery B JT Design
Base narrowing (Early effect)
The depletion width of the p-njunction depends on the applied voltage:
(Here W is the depletion region width
not the width of the base as in BJ T!)
In the BJ T, this effect means that the effective width of the base is less than W
b
:
W
eff
= W
b
- X
deb
- X
dcb
where W
b
is the physical thickness of the base,
x
deb
and x
dcb
are the depletion region widths from the emitter and collector sides.
The depletion widths are given by (N
e
>>N
b
):
2 / 1
0
) ( 2

=
b
be bi
deb
N q
V V
x

2 / 1
2
0
) ( 2

+
=
b
c cb bi
dcb
qN
N V V
x

x
dcb
is usually the most important factor since the voltage applied to collector is
high.
The doping level in collector, N
DC
has to be lower than that of the base, N
AB
, to
reduce the Early effect:
N
C
<< N
B
Due to Early effect the effective base thickness depends on the collector voltage.
In the gain expression, W should be replaced with W
eff
:
The Early effect decreases the output resistance, and hence the voltage
gain of BJ Ts.
2
2
2
p
rec
eff
L
W
=
The punch-through breakdown voltage V
pt
:
Punch-through breakdown in BJTs -
- the result of the Early effect
W= x
dcb
( )
c
b c b
pt
N
N N N W q
V
+
=
0
2
2
BJ T Model
Gummel-Poon model used in SPICE and other
simulators
I
e
= I
c
+ I
b
1
c b
I I

Hence,
where is called a common base current gain
I
e
I
c
I
b
Applying KCL to the BJ T terminals:
Collector emitter current relationship:
c e
I I =
( )
c c b
I I I = +
c b
I I =
Common emitter current
gain is defined as:
=

1
=

1+
The last two expressions link common emitter and common base current gains
Simplified Gummel-PoonBJ T equivalent circuit
Emitter junction:
exp 1
se be
be
F F th
I V
I
n V


=




Collector junction:
exp 1
sc bc
bc
R R th
I V
I
n V


=

i
I
c

n
I
e
I
c
I
e
Base
Emitter
Collector
Ideal diode
Ideal diode
Leakage diode Leakage diode
V
th
= kT/q= 0.026 V at 300 K

i
I
c

n
I
e
I
c
I
e
Base
Emitter
Collector
Ideal diode
Ideal diode
Leakage diode Leakage diode
Gummel-PoonBJ T equivalent circuit accounting
for the leakage currents
Emitter base leakage
diode:
_
exp 1
be
Leak be se
E th
V
I I
n V


=




Collector base leakage diode:
_
exp 1
bc
Leak bc sc
C th
V
I I
n V


=