Name: Christian Paul Dionio

1, 2015
Course: BSEE-5

Date: Sept.
Ratings:

UJT Relaxation Oscillator

Introduction
UJT 2N2646
The 2N2646 is intended for general purpose industrial applications

where circuit economy is of primary importance, and is ideal for use in firing
circuits for Silicon Controlled Rectifiers and other applications where
guaranteed minimum pulse amplitude is required. The 2N2646 is intended
for applications where a low emitter leakage current and a low peak point
emitter current (trigger current) are required and also for triggering high
power SCRs.
Unijunction transistor (UJT) is an electronic semiconductor device that
has only one junction. The UJT has three terminals: an emitter (E) and two
bases (B1 and B2). The base is formed by lightly doped n-type bar of silicon.
Two ohmic contacts B1 and B2 are attached at its ends. The emitter is of ptype and it is heavily doped. The resistance between B1 and B2, when the
emitter is open-circuit is called inter-base resistance. The 2N2646 is the most
commonly used version of the UJT.

Fig. 1.1 Unijunction Transistor

Fig. 1.2 UJT bottom view

Fig. 1.3 Simplified Outline and Symbol

Specifications of UJT 2N2646

Working of UJT
The UJT is biased with a positive voltage between the two bases. This
causes a potential drop along the length of the device. When the emitter
voltage is driven approximately one diode voltage above the voltage at the
point where the P diffusion (emitter) is, current will begin to flow from the
emitter into the base region. Because the base region is very lightly doped,
the additional current (actually charges in the base region) causes
conductivity modulation which reduces the resistance of the portion of the
base between the emitter junction and the B2 terminal. This reduction in
resistance means that the emitter junction is more forward biased, and so
even more current is injected. Overall, the effect is a negative resistance at
the emitter terminal. This is what makes the UJT useful, especially in simple
oscillator circuits.
II

Objectives
A. Measure the inter-base resistance and determine the emitterbase 1 PN junction

diode characteristics of a

unijunction transistor.
B. Determine the intrinsic standoff ratio of a unijunction transistor.
C. Measure the peak emitter firing voltage of a unijunction
transistor.

D. Draw the output waveform of VB1, VB2, VE, VR1, VB1B2, and
VRE

III

IV

Materials
Resistors:

Breadboard

10k

DC Power Supply

470k

Oscilloscope

100

Multitester

Capacitors:

UJT:

0.2 F

2N2646

Procedure
1 Connect the UJT Relaxation Oscillator Circuit as shown:

2 Draw the output waveform in detail of the following:

a VB1

c. VE

b VB2

d. VR1

e. VB1B2
f. VRE

Note: Detail means the exact measurement in terms of voltage and

frequency.
3 Measure the currents through the resistor using the multitester.
4 Finally measure Vp.
V

Questions

1 Describe the charging and discharging state of the capacitor.

The Uni-junction Transistor [UJT] Q1 does not require an
input like the transistor circuit. The circuit functions as an
oscillator and operates off the charging and discharging of
capacitor C1. The charging rate or Rise Time is set by resistor R1
and capacitor C1, the capacitor discharges through the UJT. Once
the capacitor discharges, it begins to charge through R1 again.
The Emitter and Base [B1] junction begin as off. C1 starting
out at 0 volts will charge up until it reaches one diode drop above
the Emitter 'E' at which time the UJT will conduct. The capacitor
discharges through the UJT [E & B1] while it is conducting. Once
the UJT stops conducting the capacitor will begin to charge again.
Resulting in a slow rise time [R x C] and a rapid discharge time
which determines the oscillation frequency. The output voltage is
the voltage drop across R1 and C1. If you add a resistor between
B1 and ground the discharge rate of the capacitor will increase.
2 Using the ECG, find the intrinsic standoff ratio of the UJT
available.

3 Solve for Vp. How does it compare to your experimentally taken

Vp.

VI

Conclusion

Since there is an approximately equal resistance between the

bases of the unijunction transistor, it can be concluded that they
have no polarity, thus has no PN junction. While the emitter-base
resistance has polarity so there is PN junction between
Based on the experiment, the intrinsic standoff ratio of a
unijunction transistor is defined by = Vp/ VBB = EC1/VBB where
Vp has a small voltage value because of a small resistance in base
1.
By increasing the resistance with respect to emitter also
increases the voltage entering the UJT therefore triggering it to turn
on. When VE = Vp, conduction is established and emitter potential
VEwill drop with increase in IE. A larger Vp will increase the voltage
in the emitter.