4.1.

2 Transistors
Transistor Symbols

Component Description & Orientation

A transistor is a semi-conductive device used for amplification and automatic/digital switching.

Just like human brain contains billions of cells which let you think and remember things, digital
computer contains billions of tiny switches known as transistors.

In this chapter, we are going to discuss two types of transistors: BJT (Bi-polar Junction
Transistor) and FET (Field Effect Transistor). Following figure will give you an idea of transistor
classification.
 Transistor Characteristics & Properties

Transistors are high and low resistance devices; hence, their name comes from two words
transferable resistance. Small currents and voltages can control their properties.

Construction & Operation of PNP & NPN Transistors

BJT or bipolar junction transistor is the most common type of transistor. A bipolar transistor is
made up of two PN junctions in either of the configurations:
 NPN, which consists of a thin region of P-type material, sandwiched between the two N-types
regions.
 PNP, which consists of a thin region of N-type material, sandwiched between the two P-types
regions.

These are shown in figure 1 along with the circuit symbol. For both NPN and PNP, the center
region of the device is called the base; one outer region is called the emitter and the other
collector. Although the emitter and collector regions are the same type of extrinsic
semiconductors (N-type in NPN & P-type in PNP), they are constructed and doped differently
and are not interchangeable on a practical device. It can be seen from figure 1 that NPN and
PNP circuit symbols have arrows at the emitter that points in the direction of conventional
current when forward biased.

Figure 2a shows an NPN transistor and the equivalent diode model. It can be seen from the
diode circuit that emitter-base is connected as forward biased whereas; base-collector is
reversed biased. Current flow is shown as dotted lines. For a NPN transistor to be on, the base-
emitter must be forward biased (potential must be greater than 0.7V), this will allow the
electrons to flow from collector to emitter. Figure 2b shows the direction of conventional
current. As, you already know that the direction of electron current is exactly opposite to the
conventional current.

. Figure 1 NPN & PNP Bipolar Transistors

Figure 2a NPN & Equivalent Diode Model

 Figure 2b NPN & Equivalent Diode Model

The base-emitter junction is forward bias in relation to the base. The Base-collector junction is reverse
bias in relation to the base. This shown in figure 2c. The small conventional current flow in the B-E
junction “pulls” a much larger current from the collector. This is because the base-emitter combinations
cross into the more heavily doped (N-type) emitter. Consequently, a small change in Base current (I B)
causes a larger change in Collector current (I C). The ratio of collector current to base current is known as
‘β’. Equation 1 shows the method of calculating the value of β.

IC
β=
IB and
I C =β×I B
Equation 1 IB and IC calculation

Figure 2c NPN
Bias in relation to Base
The value of β is also sensitive and directly proportional to temperature. It can also be seen that the
conventional current output of the transistor is the emitter (I E). The emitter current is the sum of the base
and collector currents. Equation 2 shows the method of calculating the actual emitter current.

I E=I C +I B
Equation 2 Calculation of IE

Figure 2d shows the conventional current flow of an NPN transistor.

Figure 2d Conventional Current in NPN

In PNP transistor, holes are the majority carriers, emitter is still forward bias with respect to the
base. However, the emitter must be at the higher voltage as compared to the base. The
collector is still reversed bias with respect to the base and it must be at lower voltage than the
base. This is shown in figure 3a. Figure 3b shows the conventional current flow of a PNP
transistor. The method of calculating the emitter current is same as discussed earlier in
equation 2.

Base, Collector and Emitter Configuration

In use a transistor is connected to both Input and output sides of the circuit. The Input provides
the controlling signal (AC / DC) voltage to the base. Since BJT has three terminals, so one must
be common between Input and output. Figure 4 shows different configuration of transistors.
Important parameters are given in table 1.
Figure 3a NPN Bias in relation to Base

Figure 3b Conventional Current in PNP

Figure 4 Transistor Configurations

 Table 1 Transistor Configuration Comparison

Testing of Transistors

BJT’s can be tested with digital multi meter since NPN and PNP transistors have two diodes
inside. If you remember the procedure for checking the diode, than in the same way we can
test the BJT’s as well. Figure 5 shows a serviceable PNP BJT under test, the transistor will show
low resistance when we connect red lead of multi meter to collector and emitter terminals and
black lead to the base because this is the forward bias case and under forward bias there is
always low resistance. Conversely, the transistor will show high resistance when the multi
meter leads are reversed, due to reverse biasing of the junctions.

Figure 5 Testing of PNP

Field Effect Transistors

The FET is a semiconductor device in which the output current flows through a conduction
channel between two terminals, the source and the drain, with the current flow being
controlled by an electric field produced by the voltage applied at the gate terminal. Therefore,
we can say that BJT’s are current controlled devices since base current is controlling the
collector-emitter current whereas FET’s are voltage-controlled devices as mentioned above.
You can correlate the terminals of BJT with FET as collector as source, emitter as drain and base
as gate.

FET have several advantages over BJT’s like:

 They consume less current (power)
 They have high Input Impedance

There are two types of FET:

 JFET (Junction Field Effect Transistor), which has one or more semiconductor gate regions that
form the PN junction with the channel.
 IGFET (Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor) or MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field
Effect Transistor), which has an Insulating layer between the channel and the gate.

There is a further subdivision of JFET’s, which like bi-polar transistors, is due to doping of the
semiconductor material.
 N- Channel, having N-type semi conductive channel. This is equivalent to NPN BJT.
 P-Channel, having P-type semi conductive channel. This is equivalent to PNP BJT.

JFET (Junction Field Effect Transistor)

Construction

Using an N-channel JFET as an example, it consists of a block of N-type material as shown in

figure 6. This block known as substrate, the substrate has two areas of heavily doped P-type
material in it, shown at the top and bottom of the example in the figure 6. These two P-type
materials are the gate terminals connected together as one. The electrons will move from
source to drain when connected with power supply (drain with anode & source with cathode).

Operation

An N-channel JFET is shown in figure 7a. At figure 7b, voltage is applied across source and drain
and electrons will move from source to drain, this current will known as I DS. At figure 7c, a
negative voltage is applied to the gate w.r.t the source, which will increase the depletion layer
as it reverse biases the PN junction, therefore the current IDS will reduce in the channel.
 Figure 6 N-Channel JFET Construction

If we keep increasing the negative voltage at the gate, the current IDS will stop completely as
shown in figure 7d. Hence we can control the IDS with voltage at the gate VGS.

The same principle is applied to P-channel JFET, the only difference would be the polarity of V GS,
and In this case, it would be positive. The symbols of N and P channel JFET’s are shown in figure
at the start of this chapter.
 Figure 7 N-Channel JFET Operation

IGFET or MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor)

The MOSFET is a more versatile device than the JFET and is widely used in Integrated circuits as
well as a discrete transistor. MOSFET also known as IGFET has two types:
 Depletion mode
 Enhancement mode
Circuit symbols are shown at the start of this chapter.

Construction of Depletion type MOSFET

Using a P-channel depletion mode MOSFET as an example, the device comprises a substrate N-
type material as can be seen in figure 8a. The substrate has two regions of P-type material for
drain and source. Drain and source connected by a smaller region of P-type material: this is the
conduction channel, the major difference is that the gate is Insulated from the substrate and
the channel.
 Figure 8a P-Channel Depletion MOSFET

Operation of Depletion type MOSFET

The operation of above-mentioned MOSFET is similar to JFET discussed earlier; here when we
apply the voltage VDS current IDS will flow in the P-channel. When a positive voltage w.r.t source
is applied at the gate, it will force the P-channel to deplete (that is why called depletion type) as
shown in figure 8b. If we keep increasing the positive voltage at the gate, the P-channel will be
closed completely and there will be no current I DS. N-channel depletion type is similar to this but
only with opposite polarities.

Figure 8b P-Channel Depletion MOSFET

Construction of Enhancement type MOSFET

The enhancement type MOSFET is similar in construction to the depletion type MOSFET except
it does not have a channel of material connecting the drain and source as can be seen in figure
8c.

Operation of Enhancement type MOSFET

In enhancement type, initially there is no conduction channel exists between source and drain.
Conduction channel will only form when we apply a negative voltage (that is why called
enhancement type) at the gate as shown in figure 8d. Therefore, we control the current I DS in
the conduction channel with voltage VGS. N-channel enhancement type will work in the same
way but with opposite polarity.

Figure 8c P-Channel Enhancement MOSFET

Figure 8d P-Channel Enhancement MOSFET

Application of Transistors
Transistors are primarily used for switching and amplification in electronic circuits. Let us
discuss them briefly.

Transistor as a switching component

As you are already familiar with the fact that transistors can control the large current / voltage
at the output with a very small current / voltage at the input, this characteristic can be used in
applications where we want to switch or control the output. Figure 9 shows an NPN transistor
being used to switch a high power lamp along with equivalent solenoid circuit.

Figure 9 BJT vs solenoid switch

Transistor as an Amplifier

An amplifier transistor controls the amount of collector-emitter current (I CE) in BJT and drain-
source current (IDS) in FET from zero to up to any maximum level (saturation). Just like a water
tap. The amount of ICE / IDS is dependent upon the amount of forward bias applied to the base /
gate.

Small forward bias will result in small ICE / IDS (although it will be larger than the input) and large
forward bias will result in larger outputs until saturation is reached and maximum current will
flow regardless of any further increase of base / gate forward bias. In this way, for Instance, a
small radio signal can be amplified to drive a loud speaker.

Amplifier Classes
Amplifiers are classified as to how much of the input signal is amplified. We will discuss three
classes here.

Class A

It is a single transistor amplifier, which amplifies the entire input signal and produces linear
output. These circuits are always biased to operate in active region. Figure 10a shows a class A
operation of an Inverting amplifier. To get maximum amplification, the Q-point is centered as
shown in figure 10b. The Q-point can be adjusted by adjusting bias.

Figure 10a Class A Amplification

 Figure 10b Q Centered Class A Amplification

Class B

Class B amplifiers amplify only half of the input wave cycle as shown in figure 11a. This creates a
large amount of distortion therefore, a single stage class B amplifier is rarely found in practice.
They are usually paired. Figure 11b shows a push pull amplifier (not always class B). Two BJT are
used to amplify the alternate half cycles of the input and generates output. This amplifier
produces excellent efficiency but at the same time also produces crossover distortion (where
negative & positive cycle joins). Crossover distortion produced because transistors base is not
properly biased. To overcome this distortion two diodes are used in series to act as a potential
divider, which will ensure that base-emitter junction is biased properly (above 0.7V) as shown in
figure 11c.

Figure 11a Class B Amplification

Figure 11b Class B Push Pull Amplifier

 Figure 11c Properly biased Push-Pull Amplifier

Class C

The class C amplifier is designed to conduct for less than 180 degree of the Input cycle. They are
more efficient than class A and B but at the same time offers a lot of distortions. Class C
amplifiers are limited to tune amplifier and RF. A standard Class C (CE) with a resistive load is
shown in figure 12.
 Figure 12 Class C Amplifier

Figure 12 Class C Amplifier

Transistor Amplifier Biasing

Biasing means the supply of DC power to the transistor terminals especially at the base. As you
already know that NPN and PNP transistors will only turned on when their base-emitter
junction is forward biased. Normally a potential divider circuit is used to set-up bias voltage at
the base (prior to the input signal being applied) as shown in figure 13. The bias voltage can be
determined by the values of R1 & R2. If the Input is AC then it must be ensured that the proper
biasing voltage is applied to the transistor base.
 Figure 13 Potential Divider Network

Transistor Amplifier Decoupling

A common emitter transistor amplifier is shown in figure 14a. Resistor R E provides temperature
stability but it has an un-wanted effect. As collector current varies (due to change in input
signal) the voltage drop across RE will also vary and creates negative feedback. As you already
know that, the current flow through a transistor is controlled by the base-emitter bias (if they
both becomes positive with the same amount & at the same time) current will not increase and
therefore the amount of amplification will also not increase.

To eliminate this negative feedback voltage across the RE, a capacitor is placed in parallel, which
is known as decoupling or bypass capacitor as shown in figure 14.
 Figure 14 Decoupling / Bypass Capacitor

Transistor Amplifier Feedback

Feedback is the process of returning a portion of the output of a circuit back to the input in
order to set up and maintain specific operating conditions at the output. There are two types of
feedback:
 Positive feedback
 Negative feedback

Positive Feedback

Positive feedback occurs when a portion of the output voltage from an amplifier is fed back to
the input with no phase shift. The input signal is then reinforced by the feedback. Figure 15
shows the positive feedback.
 Figure 15 Positive Feedback

Noise is the biggest disadvantage of positive feedback circuits, however they also have
applications in oscillators where a loop is created in which the signal sustains itself with no
input signal.

Negative Feedback

Negative feedback returns a portion of the output signal to the input but with anti-phase signal
as shown in figure 16. Negative feedback is extremely useful in OP-AMP applications. It allows
an amplifier output to remain stable if a temporary change occurs at the input. The polarity of
the output depends on the result of the subtraction between the input and feedback. Stability
is a useful advantage of negative feedback.
 Figure 16 Negative Feedback

Another advantage of negative feedback is a damping effect, if the output signal happens to
increase in magnitude, the feedback signal decreases the magnitude of the signal which goes to
the input. Thus opposing the change in output signal. While positive feedback drives an
amplifier towards instability (oscillations), negative feedback makes an amplifier more stable.
Which means there would be less distortion. Tradeoff for these advantages is decreased gain.

Transistor Amplifier Stabilization

Since transistors are negative temperature coefficient devices, increase in temperature can
change their characteristics such as collector current, which leads to more power dissipation,
which then adds to further increase in temperature and so on. This cumulative heating effect
known as thermal runaway can lead to the destruction of the device.

To counter these effects, the use of biasing additionally provides stability. By using the resistive
network, base voltage and current can be controlled as temperature increases.

Multistage Amplifiers

If the gain of one stage of amplification is insufficient, then two and more stages can be
connected in cascade (series), as shown in figure 17. This is known as a cascade amplifier as the
input signal is amplified by the first stage and then it cascades through the subsequent stages
for further amplification. The total gain is the product of individual stages gain.
Example: If there are two stages and the gain of one stage is 50, then the total gain would be
2500.

Figure 16 Negative Feedback

Transistor Amplifiers as Oscillators

An oscillator is a circuit comprising an amplifier (for gain) and a positive feedback network,
which we discussed earlier. Oscillators produces a steady, time-varying output signal at a single,
spot frequency without a reference signal from an external source. All that is required a supply
voltage.

An oscillator produces a specific, repetitive waveform (sinusoidal, square, saw tooth etc.) at its
tuned frequency. A basic oscillator is shown in figure 17a. Oscillator’s can convert DC signal into
AC signals and they are used to generate reference signals in digital / analogue systems or clock
signals in digital systems. Following are the most common type of oscillators:
 Figure 17a Basic Oscillator

Colpitt’s Oscillator

Colpitt’s oscillator uses an LC (Inductor and capacitor) feedback as shown in figure 17b, that
provides the resonant frequency. The value of L & C determines the oscillation frequency.
Variable capacitor / Inductors can used to vary the resonant frequency.

Figure 17b Colpitt Oscillator

Crystal Oscillator

A crystal oscillator uses a quartz crystal as the active element and provides better frequency
stability than other oscillators. Each crystal produces a specific oscillating frequency which
cannot be varied (its fixed) if different frequency is required than different crystal has to be
used. Crystal oscillator is shown in figure 17c. Crystals are abbreviated as “XTAL” and are shown
in figure 17d along with their circuit symbols and pictures.

Figure 17c Crystal Oscillator

Figure 17d Crystal Symbol

 Amplifier as Multivibrators

Multivibrators are digital circuits that use feedback to produce either one or two stable states,
one stable state, or no stable state. They are used in digital circuits, their output being binary,
either a “0” or a “1” or constantly oscillating between 0 and 1.

All multivibrator circuits comprise a pair of identical transistors. Following are their main types:
 Monostable
 Bistable
 Astable

Monostable

A monostable multivibrator has one stable state. It produces a single pulse in response to a
triggered pulse. It is also known as ‘single shot’ multivibrator. Once the triggered has been
applied, it will remain in the unstable state for a predetermined time, after which it will return
to its stable state to await for the next trigger. A monostable stays in its stable state by default
and will only change to its unstable state when the external trigger is applied, monostable
circuit is shown in figure 18a. In the stable state T R1 is on and TR2 is off. In the unstable state TR1 is
off and TR2 is on. The time period of the unstable state is determined by the RC time constant.

Figure 18a Monostable Circuit

Bistable

A bistable has two stable states, and usually used as a latch (computer stores one bit 0 or 1).
Input trigger will change the state of the bistable from its existing state to the other. Figure 18b
shows a typical latch, which uses a feedback arrangement. Both transistors arranged as
inverters. In one state TR1 is one and TR2 is off and vice versa.

Astable
An Astable has no stable state; it constantly oscillates between two states and can be used to
produce a binary clock pulse. Figure 18c shows an Astable circuit. Like Bistable, it also uses two
inverting amplifiers (R1, RL1 & TR1). As you can see that inverters are coupled with capacitors C1
and C2, which causes one amplifier to sense the other one when it switched on and vice versa.
The oscillation time period is determined by the RC time constants (R1 and C1 for one state and
R2 and C2 for the other state).

Figure 18b Bistable Circuit

Figure 18c Astable Circuit

Amplifier as Flip-Flop

The SR (set / reset) flip-flop is a type of bistable used as a computer memory device, capable of
storing a single binary bit as a 0 or 1. Figure 18d shows the SR flip flop. Red color for T R1 and
blue for TR2.
 Figure 18d SR Flip flop Circuit

Set and reset are the controlling inputs used by the computer to set the contents of the
memory. As you already know, that if there is no current at the transistor’s base it will act as off
and the voltage at collector will be equal to supply. If the set input is low (0V), T R1 is turned off
and its Vc will be high (+5V) which then turns TR2. In this state Q is high and Q not is low. This is
storing a ‘1’ as Q, not Q is the inverse of Q. if the 0V at the set input is removed the flip-flop will
not change its state, the memory retains the 1.

The only way to make the flip-flop change its state is by putting low (0V) at the reset input,
which then turns TR2 off, and TR1 on. Q will now be low and not Q will be high, ‘0’ is now stored.
If the 0V at the reset input is removed, the flip-flop will not change state, memory will retain
the 0. This process can go on and in this way all conventional computers stores information.