Electronic Circuit I

ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT I
Bipolar Junction Transistor
 First - BJTs

The transistor was

probably the most
important invention of
the 20th Century, and
the story behind the
invention is one of
clashing egos and top
secret research.

Reference:
Bell Labs Museum
B. G. Streetman & S. Banerjee ‘Solid State Electronic Devices’, Prentice Hall 1999.
Phung Kieu Ha, HUST 3
Source: Internet
Interesting story…
Picture shows the workbench of John
Bardeen (Stocker Professor at OU) and
Walter Brattain at Bell Laboratories. They
were supposed to be doing fundamental
research about crystal surfaces.

The experimental results hadn't been

very good, though, and there's a rumor that
their boss, William Shockley, came near to
canceling the project. But in 1947, working
alone, they switched to using tremendously
pure materials.

It dawned on them that they could

build the circuit in the picture. It was a
working amplifier! John and Walter submitted
a patent for the first working point contact
transistor.
Phung Kieu Ha, HUST 4
Source: Internet
Interesting story…
Shockley was furious and took their
work and invented the junction transistor
and submitted a patent for it 9 days later.
The three shared a Nobel Prize in 1955.
Bardeen and Brattain continued in
research (and Bardeen later won another
Nobel).

Shockley quit to start a semiconductor

company in Palo Alto. It folded, but its
staff went on to invent the integrated
circuit (the "chip") and to found Intel
Corporation.

By 1960, all important computers used

transistors for logic, and ferrite cores for
memory.
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Source: Internet
Point-Contact Transistor –
first transistor ever made

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Source: Internet
First Bipolar Junction Transistors
W. Shockley invented the p-n junction transistor
The physically relevant region is moved to the bulk of the material

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We first study Bipolar Junction Transistor

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 Outline
• Overview of BJT structure & characteristics
• Biasing configurations

• Affecting factors & Operation stability

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 Overview of BJT

• Structure & Operation

• Configuration

• Biasing configurations

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Structure
• 3 semiconductor
layer with E & C are
same type &
different from B
• Base layer is very
thin – much much
thinner than the
others

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Operation
• BE junction is forward-
biased to allow the
current of electrons
flows from E to B - IE

• BC junction is reversed-
biased to allow electron
flow from B to C - IC

• Several electrons couple

with holes in base layer -
IB

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Symbol

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 Basic technical parameters

 IE = I C + I B • IC = αIE + ICBO

 IC = βIB • IC ≈ αIE (neglect very small ICBO)

 β = 100 ÷ 200 (even larger) • α = 0.9 ÷0.998.

β is the current amplifier α is current transfer parameter

parameter

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 Configurations
• Common Base
• Common Emitter
• Common Collector

Config Input Output

CB E C
CE B C
CC B E

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V-I characteristics of Common Base

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V-I characteristics of Common Emitter

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Limit operation

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Test measurement

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Test measurement

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BJT Biasing

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Operating point = DC current & voltage
level of operation

Breakdown
region

Saturation
region
Active
region

Cut-off
region
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 Biasing for amplifier purpose

Operating point should be in “active region”

 BE junction in forward-biasing &
& BC junction in reversed-biasing
In detail
NPN: VE < VB < VC

or PNP: VE > VB > VC

For switching purpose, operating point of BJT

alternates between saturation & cut-off

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 Biasing for amplifier purpose

NOTE
VBE ≈ 0,7V (Si) or VBE ≈ 0,3(Ge) *

IE = I C + I B

IC = βIB

IC ≈ αIE

* If do not clarify the diode is made from Si

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For a BJT operating in saturation region
the current reach the maximum value
for a particular design

ICsat is some idea of the possible max

collector current (to stay below for a
actual linear amplification)

approximate

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For a BJT operating in cutoff region

• Cutoff region defined by IB ≈ 0μA or IE ≈ 0μA

• Equivalent to an open-circuit
• Rcutoff is very very large
• Voltage is nearly maximum value
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Biasing configurations

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 Fix-base configuration

Simple but unstable

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 Loop BE:
VCC – IBRB – UBE = 0
 IB = (VCC-UBE)/RB
IC = β*IB

Loop CE :
 UCE = VCC - ICRC

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Voltage-divider configuration

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Voltage-divider configuration

Thévenin theorem:
RBB=R1//R2
EBB=R2Vcc/(R1+R2)
 Redraw new circuit which is
equivalent to the fixed base
configuration

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Voltage-divider configuration
Approximation approach
If β*RE ≥ 10R2 -> I2 ≈ I1

 VB = R2*VCC/(R1+R2)

 VE = VB - UBE => IC ≈ IE = VE/RE

 UCE =VCC - IC(RC+RE)

Current and voltage are independent with β

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Voltage-feedback configuration

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Voltage-feedback configuration
Loop BE:
VCC-I’CRC-IBRB-UBE-IERE=0
IB= (VCC-UBE)/(RB+β(RC+RE))
with I’C≈ IC IE≈ IC

Loop CE:
UCE=VCC-IC(RC+RE)

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Example

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Example

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Example

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Example

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Example

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Affecting factors to the
operation of a circuit

• Materials & Manufacture

• Stability of power supply
• Frequency of input signal
• Temperature
• Usage duration

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 Temperature stability
• Increasing temperature
– Increasing β
– Increasing ICBo
– Decreasing VBE
=> varying Q point from the desired design
=> affecting the quality of the output signal

• BJT made from Si: varying β with T is the

major contribution

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 Temperature stability

Room temperature 100oC

(~250C)
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 Temperature stability
• Physical method - Heat release by fan
or water

• Electrical method – Suitable network

design

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Network design with voltage feedback
through emitter register RE

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Network design with voltage feedback
through emitter register RE
• No RE • With RE

VCC – UBE – IBRB = 0 VCC – UBE – IBRB – IERE = 0

then then
IB = (VCC-UBE)/RB IB = IB = (VCC-UBE)/(RB +βRE)
IC = β*IB IC = β*IB

UCE = VCC - ICRC UCE = VCC - ICRC - IERE

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Network design with voltage feedback
through emitter register RE
β*RE ≥ 10R2 -> IR2 ≈ IR1
VB = R2*VCC/(R1+R2)
VE = VB – UBE
IC ≈ IE while IE = VE/RE
UCE = VCC – IC(RC+RE)

Current & Voltage

independent with β

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 DC design
• The current/voltage is specified
• Determine the elements (transistors,
resistors, sources) to establish the
predefined level

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Example

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Example

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 Notes on DC design
• Emitter-bias & Voltage divider bias
have “temperature stabilization” by
using RE
• Tradeoff of RE :
– not too large as it will limit the range of the AC
swings
– In the relationship with RB for maximizing AC
output signal: RB/RE as small as possible
– Recommend: VRE ~ 1/10 – ¼ DC source

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 Notes on DC design
• Consider the operating point in
relationship with
– Saturation level – Max rating of IC
– Cutoff level – Max rating of VCE

• Concern of the limiting power

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 Trouble shooting

List as many reasons as possible

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Trouble shooting

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