Section & group no.: ________________ Roll No.

:________________

EE216:Electronic Devices & Circuits

Experiment 6
Objectives

 To characterize a NPN BJT by measuring its reverse saturation current (Is),

current gain (β) and Early voltage(VA)
 Using SPICE to confirm the results.
 Using SPICE to measure the parameters of a PNP BJT

Components required

2N3904 NPN BJT, 100KΩ resistor.

NOTES

 Always measure the currents by measuring the voltage drop across the resistors
 Keep all connections as short as possible.
 Before applying DC power supplies to the circuit make sure that they are all set to
zero volts.
 Switch off the power supplies before making any change in the circuit.
 Always measure a resistor “out of circuit”
 Use a pencil to draw all the graphs.

In this experiment we will measure IC for various values of VBE for a fixed VCE value that keeps
the BJT in active mode. Curve fitting will be used to fit the data to the following equation
assuming large β.

( )
V
V
BE

I c =I s e V 1+ CE
T
(1)
VA

The slope of the IC-VCE curves in Figure 1 is ∆IC/∆VCE = IC/ (VA+VCE). Since we know ∆IC/∆VCE,
VCE and IC, we can solve for VA To measure β, IC is measured for different values of IB.

1- Connect the circuit shown in Figure 2. Adjust VBB to achieve VBE values given in Table 1.
Adjust VCC to achieve VCE = 2V. Measure IC. Use RC and RB as given in Table 1. Now
increase VCE by ∆VCE (see Table 1) by increasing VCC. Use the equation ∆IC/∆VCE = IC/
(VA+VCE) to measure VA.

© Department of Electrical Engineering Page 1 of 4

University of Engineering and Technology Lahore
Section & group no.: ________________ Roll No.:________________

Figure 1

RC

RB + VCC

+ VBB

Figure 2

VBE IC RC RB
(V) @VCE=2V (KΩ) (KΩ)
0.1 100 10
0.2 100 10
0.3 100 10
0.35 100 10
0.4 100 10
0.45 100 10
∆VCE IC @ ∆IC VA (V)
(V) VCE+∆VCE
0.5 100 10 3
0.55 1 10 3
0.6 1 10 3
0.65 1 10 2
0.7 1 10 1

Table 1
Average VA = ____________

2- Fit the IC-VBE data in Table 1 to equation (1) to find I S. Use the average value of VA and
VCE =2V. VT is the thermal voltage having a value of 25mV at room temperature. Write

© Department of Electrical Engineering Page 2 of 4

University of Engineering and Technology Lahore
Section & group no.: ________________ Roll No.:________________

your python or MATLAB code below. Attach the printout of the fitted curve alongwith
the datapoints.

IS= _______________

3- Connect the circuit shown in Figure 2. For the different values of IC shown in Table 2
measure the corresponding IB to find β = IC/IB. Keep VCE = 2V for all readings. To do so
set VCC = 2 + ICRC. Use RC as given in Table 2. Set VBB to get the required IC current.

© Department of Electrical Engineering Page 3 of 4

University of Engineering and Technology Lahore
Section & group no.: ________________ Roll No.:________________

RC

100k + VCC

+ VBB

Figure 3

IC (mA) IB RC β = IC/IB
@VCE=2V (KΩ)
0.1 10
0.5 10
1 10
5 1
10 1
15 1
20 1
25 1

Table 2

4- Using multisource DC sweep in LTSpice, plot the VCE-IC curves of 2N3904 BJT by
varying VCE from 1 to 10 V for each value of VBE shown in Table 1. Export the
simulation data as a text file. Using MATLAB, fit the exported data to Equation 1 to find
IS and VA. Save the simulation results, the MTALAB file used for curve fitting and the
fitted curves in a laptop. Bring it with you in the next lab session for viva.

IS(sim.) = _______________

VA(sim.) = ______________

5- Repeat step-4 for 2N3906 PNP BJT. Note that VCE becomes VEC and VBE becomes VEB in
case of PNP.
IS(sim.) = _______________

VA(sim.) = _____________

© Department of Electrical Engineering Page 4 of 4

University of Engineering and Technology Lahore