EECE 6605

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE MODELING

Bipolar Junction Transistor

Md. Tawfiq Amin, PhD

Department of EECE, MIST
tawfiqamin@gmail.com
 Unit

5
Bipolar Junction Transistor

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 2

 Contents

 Transport Model for BJT

 npn Transistor
 pnp Transistor

 Simplified Model For Different Operating Regions

 Nonideal Characteristics of BJT

 Minority Carrier Transport in Base Region
 Base Transit Time
 Diffusion Capacitance
 Frequency Dependence of CE Current Gain
 Early Effect & Early Voltage

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 3

 History (BJTs)

John Bardeen, William The first germanium

Shockley, and Walter bipolar transistor
Brattain in Brattain’s
Laboratory in 1948.

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 4

 Physical Structure of BJT

 Consists of 3 alternating layers

of n- and ptype semiconductor
called emitter (E), base (B) and
collector (C).
 Majority of current enters the
collector, crosses the base region
and exits through the emitter.
 Carrier transport in the the active
base region directly beneath the
heavily doped (n+) emitter
dominates the i-v characteristics
of BJT.

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 5

 Transport Model For The Npn Transistor
• Narrow width of the base region
causes coupling between the two
back-to-back pn junctions.
• Emitter injects electrons into base
region, almost all travel across
narrow base and are removed by
collector
Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST
• Base-emitter voltage vBE and
base-collector voltage vBC
determine currents in
transistor and are said to be
positive when they forward-
bias their respective pn
junctions.
• The terminal currents are
collector current(iC ), base
current (iB) and emitter current
(iE).
• Primary difference between
BJT and FET is that iB is
significant while iG = 0.
EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 6
 Forward Characteristics

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 7

 Forward Characteristics

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 8

 Reverse Characteristics

The base-collector voltage establishes the collector current iC, now

crossing the base-collector junction. The largest portion of the
collector current, the reverse-transport current iR, enters the emitter,
travels completely across the narrow base region, and exits the
collector terminal.

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 9

 Reverse Characteristics

A fraction of the current iR must also be supplied as base current

through the base terminal:

For typical BJTs, 0 < βR

≤ 10 whereas 10 ≤ βF ≤
500.

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 10

 Complete Transport Model

The first term in both the emitter and collector current

expressions

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 11

 Example: 5.1

Use the transport model equations to find the terminal voltages and
currents in the circuit in Fig. in which an npn transistor is biased by
two dc voltage sources, VBB =0.75 V and VCC =5.0 V. The transistor
parameters are IS =10−16 A, βF =50, and βR =1.

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 12

 Example:

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 13

 THE pnp TRANSISTOR

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 14

 pnp TRANSISTOR (Forward Characteristics)

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 15

 pnp TRANSISTOR (Reverse Characteristics)

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 16

 pnp TRANSISTOR (Complete Transport Model)

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 17

 Equivalent Circuit Representations: Transport Models

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 18

 Operation Regions of Bipolar Transistors

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 19

 i-v Charateristics of BJT (Output Characteristics)

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 20

 Simplified Cutoff Region Model

For an npn transistor, the cutoff region requires vBE ≤ 0 and vBC ≤ 0.
Let us further assume that

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 21

 Simplified Forward-Active Region Model

we see that the forward-active region of an npn transistor orresponds

to vBE ≥ 0 and vBC ≤ 0. In most cases, the forward-active region will
have

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 22

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
Junction Breakdown Voltages

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 23

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
Minority Carrier Transport in the Base Region

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 24

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
Minority Carrier Transport in the Base Region

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 25

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
Base Transit Time

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 26

 Example: 5.8

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 27

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
Diffusion Capacitance

a BJT operating at a current of 1 mA with τF

= 4 × 10−10 s has a diffusion capacitance of

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 28

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
β-Cutoff-Frequency, Transconductance and Transit Time

The forward-biased diffusion and

reverse-biased pn junction
capacitances of the bipolar transistor
cause the current gain of the
transistor to be frequency-dependent where fβ = fT /βF is the β-cutoff frequency

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 29

 NONIDEAL BEHAVIOR OF THE BJT
Early Effect and Early Voltage

The dependence of the collector

current on collector-emitter voltage
is easily included in the simplified
mathematical model for the
forward-active region of the BJT
Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 30
 Small Signal Model

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 31

 Gummel–Poon Model

This model can be used if, for example, there is a

nonuniform doping concentration in the base.

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 32

 Summary

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 33

 Acknowledgement

Most of the material in this note are based on Chapter 05 of the Jaeger’s
book: Microelectronic Circuit Design and Chapter 12 of Neamen’s book:
Semiconductor Physics and Devices-Basic Principles

Some materials are collected from web.

Please follow the topics covered in this note and go through the references.

- Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD

tawfiqamin@gmail.com

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 34

Md Tawfiq Amin, PhD-MIST EECE 6605: Bipolar Junction Transistor 35