Semiconductors 5

Transistor
Jayant Nagda
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B.Tech, IIT Bombay

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Transistor

It is a three terminal Semiconductor Device

Transistor: Transfer + Resistor

Current is transferred from Low Resistance

to High Resistance circuit

Transistor is used for rectification,

amplification, oscillation etc.
Transistor

A p-type crystal
sandwiching between
two n-type crystals

A n-type crystal
sandwiching between
two p-type crystals
Transistor

A transistor has three doped regions forming

two p–n junctions between them

All the three segments

have different thickness
and their doping levels
are also different.
Transistor
1. Emitter : Heavily Doped crystal
supplies/emits majority charge carriers.
Moderate Size: thinner than collector
and thicker than base

2. Base : Lightly Doped crystal

and made very thin.
It passes most of the emitter
injected charge carriers to the collector.

3. Collector : Moderately Doped crystal

thickest in size.
Collects/removes majority
charge carriers coming from emitter.
Working of a p-n-p Transistor

Base is common with Emitter and Collector

Emitter-Base junction is given small forward bias

Collector-Base junction is given large reverse bias

 Working of a p-n-p Transistor

The transistor works as an amplifier, with its

emitter–base junction forward biased and
the base–collector junction reverse biased.
VCC and VEE are used for creating
the respective biasing.

When the transistor is biased in this

way it is said to be in active state

Base is a common terminal for the two

power supplies whose other terminals
are connected to emitter and collector,
respectively
Working of a p-n-p Transistor

holes move from emitter towards base

Most of them (nearly 98%)

cross base and enter
into collector region

while very few (nearly 2%)

combine with the electrons in base
an electron leaves the negative terminal of
battery VE and enters into base.
This causes a small base current IB

The holes entering into the collector region

combine with the electrons coming from the
negative terminal of VC. This causes collector current IC
Working of a p-n-p Transistor

iE = iB + iC

1. The base current may be nearly 2 to 10% of the emitter

current depending on the doping level. Similarly collector
current may be nearly 90 to 98% of the emitter current.
2. The holes are the charge carriers within the transistor
while electrons are charge carriers in external circuit.
The emitter-base junction of a transistor is …..………. biased
while the collector-base junction is ………. biased.

A. forward, forward B. forward, reverse

C. reverse, forward D. reverse, reverse

 An incomplete sentence about transistors is given below:
The emitter ……….. junction is _______________ and the
collector ………. junction is ______________. The appropriate
words for the dotted empty positions are, respectively

A. ‘collector’ and ‘base’

B. ‘base’ and ‘emitter’

C. ‘collector’ and ‘emitter’

D. ‘base’ and ‘base’

Ans: D
Working of a Transistor

The heavily doped emitter has a

high concentration of majority
carriers, which will be holes in a
p–n–p transistor and electrons in
an n–p–n transistor.
Working of a n-p-n Transistor

Base is common with Emitter and Collector

Emitter-Base junction is given small forward bias

Collector-Base junction is given large reverse bias

Working of a n-p-n Transistor
forward bias in emitter-base region,
electrons from emitter region
move towards base.

Most of them (nearly 98%)

cross the base
and enter into collector region

while very few (nearly 2%)

combine with the holes in base

This electron is captured by positive terminal of the battery VE and

send it towards emitter region. This causes a small base current IB.
The electrons entering into collector region are attracted by the
positive terminal of VC. This causes collector current IC.
 Working of a n-p-n Transistor
These two currents combine together constitute emitter current iE. Thus

iE = i B + i C

iE = iB + iC

1. The base current may be 2 to 10% of the emitter current

depending on the doping level. Similarly collector current
may be 90 to 98% of the emitter current.
2. The electrons are the charge carriers within the
transistor as well as in external circuit.
In an n-p-n transistor -

A. holes move from emitter to base.

B. electrons move from emitter to base.

C. holes move from base to collector.

D. electrons move from collector to base

Transistor Configurations
A transistor can be connected in the circuit
in the following three ways :

1. Common base (CB) connection.

2. Common emitter (CE) connection.
3. Common collector (CC) connection.

first two are commonly used in practice

Each circuit connection has specific advantage

and disadvantage

In all configurations
the emitter is always connected with small forward bias,
while the collector always has a large reverse bias
 Common Base Configuration

The input is applied between emitter and base

and output is taken from collector base

(i) Input current = IE

(ii) Input voltage = VE
(iii) Output voltage = VC
(iv) Output current = IC

With small increase in

emitter-base voltage VE,
the emitter current IE
increases rapidly due to
small input resistance.
A p-n-p transistor in common base connection
Common Base Configuration

Input characteristics
Shows variation of
emitter current (iE)
with emitter voltage (VE)
at constant collector voltage (VC)
VC = constant.

Dynamic input resistance

of a transistor is given by

Input characteristics of NPN transistor are also similar

but IE and VE both are negative and VC is positive.
Common Base Configuration

Output characteristics
Shows the variation of
collector current (iC)
with collector voltage (VC)
at constant emitter current (iE)

Dynamics output resistance

Common Emitter Configuration

The input is applied between base and emitter

and output is taken from collector and emitter
Common Emitter Configuration

Input characteristics
Variation of base current iB
with base voltage VB
at constant collector voltage VC

Output characteristics
Variation of collector current iC
with collector voltage VC
at constant base current iB
Transistor as an Amplifier

A transistor can be used for amplification in which

strength of output signal is more than input signal.

The transistor can be used as an amplifier in the

following three configurations
1. CB amplifier
2. CE amplifier
3. CC amplifier
CB Transistor Amplifier
A pnp transistor in common-base-connection

Input signal is fed between the emitter and base

CB Transistor Amplifier

input voltage = iER1

output voltage = iCR2

iCR2
Output voltage
Voltage gain = =
Input voltage iER1

The output signal is in phase with input signal.

CB Transistor Amplifier

The current gain ∝ is defined as :

[Change in collector current ]

∝ =
[Change in emitter current ] , Vc Constant

ΔiC
∝ = , Vc Constant
ΔiE

The value of ∝ ranges from 0.9 to 0.99.

iC
For dc signal, ∝ =
iE
In a common base transistor circuit, the current
gain is 0.98. On changing emitter current by 5.00 mA,
the change in collector current is -

A. 0.196 mA B. 2.45 mA

C. 4.9 mA D. 5.1 mA
CE Transistor Amplifier
A pnp transistor in common emitter connection

Input signal is fed between the base and emitter

CE Transistor Amplifier

input voltage = iBR1 output voltage = ICR2

Voltage gain = Voutput/ Vinput = iCR2/iBR1

Power gain = Current gain × Voltage gain

The output signal is out of phase with the input signal.

CE Transistor Amplifier

The current gain β is defined as :

[Change in collector current ]

β =
[Change in base current ] , Vc Constant

ΔiC
β =
ΔiB Vc Constant

The value of β ranges from 20 to 200

For dc iC
signal, β =
iB
A common emitter transistor amplifier has a current gain
of 50. If the load resistance is 4kΩ and input resistance is
500Ω the voltage gain of the amplifier -

A. 160 B. 200

C. 400 D. None
Relationship between ∝ and β

IE = IB + IC
Relationship between ∝ and β

IE = IB + IC

ΔIE = ΔIB + ΔIC

ΔiE ΔiB
= +1
ΔiC ΔiC

1 1
= + 1
∝ β
β
∝ =
1+β
∝
β =
1-∝
For a transistor, ∝ = 0.9, the value of β is -

A. 1 B. 0.09

C. 0.9 D. 9
For a common emitter configuration, if α and β have
their usual meanings, the incorrect relationship
between α and β is :
[JEE Main 2016]

A. B.

C. D.
 In a common base mode of a transistor, the collector current
is 5.488 mA for an emitter current of 5.60 mA. The value of
the base current amplification factor (β) will be
[2006]

A. 49 B. 50

C. 51 D. 48

Ans: A
Transistor as CB amplifier

Small change in collector current (Δic)

(i) ac current gain αc =
Small change in emitter current (Δie)

Collector current (Δic)

(ii) dc current gain αdc (or α) =
Emitter current (Δie)

value of αdc lies between 0.95 to 0.99

Transistor as CB amplifier

Change in output voltage (ΔVo)

(iii) Voltage gain Av =
Change in input voltage (ΔVi)

⇒ Av = αac x Resistance gain

Change in output voltage (ΔPo)

(iv) Power gain =
Change in input voltage (ΔPC)

⇒ Power gain = α2ac x Resistance gain

 For a transistor working as common base amplifier, the
emitter current is 7.2 mA. The current gain is 0.96. The
collector current is -
A. 0.96 × 7.2 mA B. 0.96/0.72 mA

C. 0.96 – 7.2 mA D. 7.2 A – 2 × 0.96 mA

Ans: A
 An n-p-n transistor circuit has ∝ = 0.985. If Ic = 2mA,
then value of IB is -

A. 0.03 mA B. 0.66 mA

C. 0.003 mA D. 0.015 mA

Ans: A
 The part of a transistor which is most heavily doped
to produce large number of majority carriers is
[2002]
A. Emitter B. Base

C. Collector D. Can be any of the above three.

Ans: A
 If I1, I2, I3 are the lengths of the emitter, base and the collector
of a transistor, then -

A. I1 = I2 = I3 B. I1 < I2 > I3

C. I1 < I2 < I3 D. I3 > I1 > I2

Ans: D
 An P-N-P transistor circuit is arranged as shown. It is a –

A. Common base amplifier circuit

B. Common emitter amplifier circuit

C. Common collector circuit

D. None

Ans: C
 In a common base amplifier, the phase difference between
the input voltage and output voltage is
[AIEEE 2005]

A. π B. π/4

C. π/4 D. 0

Ans: D
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