ELECTRONICS 2

TRANSISTORS
Transistors are the most important device in electronics today. Not only are they
made as discrete components, bit integrated circuits may contain several thousands
on a tiny slice of silicon. They are 3 terminal devices used as amplifiers and as
switches, and are classed as active devices.

Hundreds of different transistors are available. The same identification code is

used as for diodes, but in the American system transistors always start with 2N
followed by a number. In the continental system the first letter gives the
semiconductor material and the second letter gives the use:

• C indicates an audio frequency device.

• F a radio frequency device.
• S a switching transistor.

An example being BC108, a silicon audio frequency amplifier device.

The two basic types of transistors are:

• The bipolar or junction transistor.

• The unipolar or field effect transistor.

In this element of the course we concentrate on bipolar transistors, of which there are
two basic types. The NPN and the PNP, both of which are active devices having three
terminals labelled; Base, Collector and Emitter.

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ELECTRO

TYPES OF
F BIPOLAR JU
UNCTIO
ON TRA
ANSISTOR

NPN
N TRANSISTOR
R
NPN TRANSIS
STORS ARE
A MADE
E FROM 3 PIECE ES OF SEEMI-CONDDUCTOR
MATERIA
AL JOINED TOGETHE
ER IN A MA
ANNER SIM
MILAR TO TWO DIOD
DES, AS
SHOWN IN THE DIAGRAM M BELOW.. ALSO SHOWN IS THE C CIRCUIT
DIAGRAM
M WITH EAC
CH TERMINAL IDENT
TIFIED.

If thee base is made

m positiv
ve with respect to the
e collector, tthe diode, or junction
n as it is
called, is forwarrd biased and current flows (convventional fro
om base to
o collector).

If the
e base is made
m posittive with re
espect to th he emitter, again the junction (d
diode) is
forwaard biased and convenntional currrent flows frrom base to
o emitter.

If the
e collector is made positive
p witth respect to the em mitter, or th
he emitter iis made
posittive with res
spect to thee collector no current will flow, be
ecause in e either direcction one
of the
e junctions (diodes) iss reverse biaased and wwill prevent current floww.

The last three paragraphhs should beb noted, aas their coontents is invaluable when it
come
es to determ
mining the terminals
t and
a testing ttransistors. This will b
be discusse
ed later.

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NPN
N Transis
stor as a switch
s

If the
e NPN transsistor is
conn nected as sh
hown, it can
be us sed as a sw
witch.

In this diagram the transis

stor is being
g used to tu
urn on a lam
mp, it could
d however be used
to opperate any type of d.c
c. device such as a relay, solen noid, anoth
her transistor or an
LED.
When the base e is made positive withw respectt to the em mitter, the jjunction is forward
biaseed and currrent flows inn through the base an nd out of the emitter. The flow off current
from base to em mitter creattes a reaction in the trransistor th
hat causes the reverse e biased
collector / basee junction to o break doown and co onduct. Cu urrent can then flow ffrom the
batteery positive
e terminal, through
t the
e lamp, thrrough the rreverse bia ased collecttor base
juncttion, throug
gh the forw ward biased d base em mitter junctiion and ba ack to the battery,
illuminating the lamp.
When the base is made su ufficiently positive
p with
h respect to
o the emitteer (approx. 0.6V for
silico
on, 0.2V forr germanium) so that current flo ows from co ollector to e
emitter thro
ough the
transsistor, the trransistor is said to be switched o r turned 'ONN'.
If the
e base / em mitter potential is reduced below w the switcch 'ON' pottential, or rremoved
totallly, the collector / basse junction will returnn to its revverse bias condition and will
preve ent current flowing aroound the circuit througgh the lampp. Under thhese condittions the
transsistor is said
d to be swittched or turrned 'OFF'.
If should be no oted that it may be neecessary to
o limit the ccurrent throough the trransistor
when n it is switch
hed on, this chieved by a series ressistor as in the LED circuit.
s can be ac

N Transistor as an amp
NPN plifier
When the base e is made positive wiith respect to the em mitter so thaat the tran
nsistor is
ched 'ON', the
switc t amount of base emitter
e currrent require
ed is very ssmall. If the
e base /
emittter currentt is increased slightlly, by incrreasing the e base em mitter voltaage, the
trans
sistor will tu
urn 'ON' more, its efffective resisstance will decrease and the co ollector /
emittter current will
w increase.

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If the base / em mitter currrent is deecreased

slightly by reducin ng the base e / emitter voltage,
the trannsistor will turn 'OFF' more, it's e
effective
resistannce will in ncrease an nd the collector /
emitter current willl decrease.

The transistor can

c thereforre be likene or. As the base / emiitter bias
ed to a variiable resisto
incre
eases, the resistance
r of
o the trans eases and more curre
sistor effecttively decre ent flows
from collector to
t emitter. The change in currrent and rresistance causes the e output
age to decre
volta ease.

As th
he base / emitter bias decreases, the effect ive resistan
nce of the transistor in
ncreases
and less curren
nt flows from
m collectorr to emitter . The channge in currrent and resistance
now causes thee output voltage to incrrease.

When set up correctly,

c millivolt
m anges across the basse / emitter junction produce
cha
chan
nges at the output of 10's or evenn 100's of vo
olts, depending on the
e collector vvoltage.

If a small
s sinuso plied to the base / emitter junction
oidal a.c. siignal is app n, the bias will vary
sinussoidally as will the res
sistance of the transisstor and the e output vo
oltage, howe ever the
outpuut voltage will
w vary sin nusoidally 10's
1 of voltss for millivo
olt changes in the inpu
ut signal.
(Usinng the exammple voltage in the dia agram).

It sho
ould be noted, that allthough the
e changes iin output vooltage are much grea ater than
the changes
c in
n input voltage, the bipolar tra ansistor is
s a curren nt device. Small
channges in base / emitter current result in large changes in
n collector / emitter cu
urrent. It
is th
hese chang ges in colle
ect / emitteer current that produ uce the larrge output voltage
swings.

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PNP
P TRANSISTOR
R

PNP transistors s are made in a similarr manner to ection of

o NPN transsistors, exccept the dire
the ju
unctions is reversed.
If the
e base is made nega ative with respect to the collecctor, the dio nction is
ode, or jun
forwaard biased and current flows.
If the
e base is made
m negattive with respect to the emitter, tthe junction d biased
n is forward
and current
c flow
ws.
Curreent cannott flow betw ctor and em
ween collec mitter, beca pective of tthe bias
ause irresp
appliied, one jun
nction will be
b reverse biased.
b
Again these thrree statemeents are wo en it comes to determining the
orth remem bering whe
terminals and te
esting trans
sistors.

PNP
P Transistor as a switch

When connecte ed as show wn, the PNPP transistor can also b however,
be used as a switch, h
for th
he transisto
or to be tun
ned 'ON', thhe base muust be made e negative with respect to the
emittter. For a silicon
s transistor the base
b needss to be aboout 0.6V negative with respect
to the
e emitter, fo
or a germanium transistor 0.2V nnegative.

Oncee turned 'ON' conventiional curren nt flows from ollector, which is in

m the emittter to the co
the opposite
o dirrection to th
hat in the NPN transisttor.

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PNP Transistor as an amplifier

The PNP transistor can also be used an amplifier. It operates in a similar manner to the
NPN transistor except the transistor must be turned 'ON' by making the base negative
with respect to the emitter, as seen above. If the base / emitter potential is increased,
by making the base more negative with respect to the emitter, the transistor turns 'ON'
more, its effective resistance decreases and more emitter / collector current flows. If the
bias potential is decreased, by making the base less negative with respect to the
emitter, the transistor turns 'OFF' slightly, the effective resistance increases and less
emitter / collector current flows.

A small sinusoidal signal applied to the base will vary the effective resistance of the
transistor and produce much larger changes in the output voltage as with the NPN
transistor. Again it must be realised that the transistor is a current device. The small
changes in base emitter bias potential created by the input signal results in small
changes in base emitter current, resulting in large changes in collector / emitter current.

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TES
STING TRANSIS
T STORS

As we
w have se een, transis
stors basica
ally comprisse 2 back--to-back dioodes, there efore the
proce
ess of conffirming the serviceability and dettermining tthe termina
als is simila
ar to that
used
d for diodes.

Dete
ermining the Base
e
ound by co
The base of the transistor can be fo onsidering tthe transisttor as two back-to-
back
k diodes and
d using a multimeter
m set
s on ohmss.

NPN
N Transistors
Conn nect the po minal of the meter to
ositive term o one of thhe three trransistor te
erminals.
Meas sure the re
esistance be s terminal a
etween this her two. If both indica
and the oth ate a low
resis
stance then the positiv base. If the resistancce to the
ve terminal is connectted to the b
otherr two term
minals is no ot low, the positive tterminal is not conneected to th he base.
Conn nect the po minal of the meter to a
ositive term minal and rrepeat the process
another term
until the base is
s determine ed.

PNP
P Transistors
The procedure used to ide ase of a PN
entify the ba NP transistoor is the saame as thatt used to
deterrmined thee base of the NPN trransistor, e except that the negative termina al of the
meteer is connec
cted to each n turn, and it is this neg
h transistorr terminal in gative term
minal that
indic
cated the ba
ase.

Con
nfirming
g the Serrviceabiility
Both types of trransistor arre serviceab d by confirm
bility tested ming that ea
ach forward
d biased
juncttion (Diodee) has a low l ance, and each reve
resista erse biased junction a high
resis
stance. TheT high resistance
r between collector a and emitteer should also be
confiirmed. Re emember th he points made abou ut AVO's aand Digital meters ottherwise
incorrrect conclu
usions may be drawn from
f bservations.
the ob

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NPN Base to Emitter - forward biased - low resistance

Base to Collector - forward biased - low resistance
Emitter to Collector - reverse biased - high resistance

PNP Emitter to Base - forward biased - low resistance

Collector to Base - forward biased - low resistance
Emitter to Collector - reverse biased - high resistance

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