Chapter 3

Bipolar junction
Transistors (BJTs)

By:
Ayenom H (MSc.)
LECTURE OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. BJT structure
3. Basic BJT operations
4. BJT Characteristics and Parameters
5. Transistor Configuration Types
6. DC Biasing-BJT

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 1. Introduction
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 1. INTRODUCTION
 What is transistor?
 A three-terminal device whose output current, voltage and
power are controlled by its input.
 Commonly used in audio application as an amplifier, in
switching application as a switch and in power supply
voltage and current regulator circuit.

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1. INTRODUCTION
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify
and switch electronic signals and electrical power.
It is composed of semiconductor material with at least
three terminals for connection to an external circuit.
The transistor is the fundamental building block of
modern electronic devices, and is found everywhere in
modern electronic systems.
The two basic types of transistor are the bipolar junction
transistor (BJT) and the field effect transistor (FET).

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1. INTRODUCTION
 2 basic transistor types: BJT and FET(Field-effect
transistor)
 These two transistor differ in their operating
characteristic and their internal construction.

FET
BJT
 2. BJT STRUCTURE

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 2. BJT STRUCTURE
 The BJT is constructed with three doped semiconductor
regions separated by two pn junctions.
 The three region are called emitter (E),base (B) and collector
(C)

 The term bipolar refers to the use of both holes and

electrons as current carriers in the transistor structure.
 The BJT have 2 types:
1. Two n region separate by a p region – called npn
2. Two p region separated by a n region – called pnp
 The pn junction joining the base region and the emitter region
is called the base-emiter junction
 The pn junction joining the base region and the collector
region is called base-collector junction
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2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)

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 2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)

 BJT schematic symbol

 The arrow on schematic symbol is important
because:
 Identify the component terminal. The arrow is always
drawn on the emitter terminal. The terminal opposite
emitter is collector and the center terminal is base.
 The arrow always points toward n-type material. If
the arrow point toward base, transistor is pnp type. If
it points toward emitter, transistor is npn type.

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 2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)

 Transistor terminal current

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 2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)
Transistor Currents:
 The directions of the currents in npn transistor and pnp transistor are
shown in the figure.
 The emitter current (IE) is the sum of the collector current (IC) and the
base current (IB)

I E  I B  IC
 IB << IE or IC
 The capital letter – dc value
 Transistor is a current-controlled device ; the value of collector and
emitter currents are determined by the value of base current.
 An increase or decrease in value of IB causes similar change in values
of IC and IE.
Current gain (β)  factor
I  I
C
by which current increases
DC B from base of transistor to
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its collector.
 2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)
 Transistor Voltages:
 VCC – collector supply voltage. This is a power supply voltage
applied directly to collector of transistor.
 VBB – base supply voltage. this is dc voltage used to bias base
of transistor.
 VEE – emitter supply voltage. dc biasing voltage and in many
cases, VEE is simply a ground connection.

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 2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)

 Transistor Voltages:
 VC – dc voltage measured from collector terminal of
component to ground
 VB – dc voltage measured from base terminal to ground.
 VE – dc voltage measured from emitter terminal to ground.

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 2. BJT STRUCTURE (CONT.)
 Transistor Voltages:
 VCE – dc voltage measured from collector to emitter terminal
of transistor.
 VBE – dc voltage measured from base to emitter terminal of
transistor.
 VCB – dc voltage measured from collector to base terminal of
transistor.

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 3. BJT OPERATION

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 3. BJT OPERATION
 To operate the transistor properly, the two pn junction
must be correctly biased with external dc voltages.
 The figure shown the proper bias arrangement for both
npn and pnp transistor for active operation as an
amplifier.

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3. BJT OPERATION (CONT..)

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3. BJT OPERATION (CONT..)

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 3. BJT OPERATION (CONT..)
 Transistor is made of 3 separate semiconductor
materials that joined together to form two pn junction.
 Point at which emitter and base are joined forms a
single pn junction  base-emitter junction.
 Collector-base junction  point where base and
collector meet.

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 3. BJT OPERATION REGION

 Cutoff region
 Both transistor junctions
are reverse biased.
 With large depletion
region between C-B and
E-B, very small amount
of reverse current, ICEO
passes from emitter to
collector and can be
neglected.
 So, VCE = VCC

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 3. BJT OPERATION REGION
 Saturation region
 Both transistor junctions are
forward-biased.
 IC reaches its maximum value
as determined by VCC and total
resistance in C-E circuit.
 IC is independently from
relationship of β and IB.
 VBE is approximately 0.7V and
VCE < VBE.

VCC
IC 
RC  RE 22
 3. BJT OPERATION REGION

 Active region
 BE junction is forward biased
and the BC junction is reverse
biased.
 All terminal currents have
some measurable value.
 The magnitude of IC depends
on the values of β and IB.
 VCE is approximately near to
0.7V and VCE falls in ranges
VBE<VCE<VCC.

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 4. BJT CHARACTERISTICS &
PARAMETERS

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 4. BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS

DC Beta ( DC ) and DC Alpha ( DC ):

 The ratio of the dc collector current (IC) to the dc base current (IB) is the
dc beta
(  DC ) = dc current gain of transistor
 Range value : 20<  DC <200
 Usually designed as an equivalent hybrid (h) parameter, hFE on
transistor data sheet – hFE   DC

IC
 DC 
IB
 The ratio of the dc collector current (IC) to the dc emitter current (IE) is
the dc alpha (  DC ) – less used parameter in transistor circuits
 Range value-> 0.95<  DC <0.99 or greater , but << 1 (Ic< IE )
IC
 DC 
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IE
 4. BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
Current and Voltage Analysis:
 The current and voltage can be identified as follow:
 Current: Voltage:
dc base current, IB dc voltage at base with respect to emitter, VBE
dc emitter current, I E dc voltage at collector with respect to base, VCB
dc collector current, I C dc voltage at collector with respect to emitter, VCE

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Transistor current & voltage

4. BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
Current and Voltage Analysis:
 When the BE junction is forward-biased, like a forward biased
diode and the voltage drop is V  0.7V
BE
 Since the emitter is at ground (0V), by Kirchhoff’s voltage law, the
voltage across RB is: VRB  VBB  VBE …….(1)
 Also, by Ohm’s law: VRB  I B RB ……..(2)
 From (1) ->(2) :
VBB  VBE  I B RB

 Therefore, the dc base current is:

VBB  VBE
IB 
RB
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4. BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
Current and Voltage Analysis:
 The voltage at the collector with respect to the grounded emitter
is:
VCE  VCC  VRC

 Since the drop across RC is: VRC  I C RC

 The dc voltage at the collector with respect to the emitter is:
VCE  VCC  I C RC
where I C   DC I B
 The dc voltage at the collector with respect to the base is:

VCB  VCE  VBE

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 EXAMPLE 1
 Determine IB, IC, IE, VCE and VCB in the circuit below.
The transistor has a βDC=150.

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 SOLUTION EXAMPLE 1
 When BE junction is FB, act as normal diode. So,
VBE=0.7V.
 The base current, VBB  VBE 5  0.7
IB    430A
RB 10k
 Collector current,
I C   DC I B  150(430A)  64.5mA
 Emitter current,
I E  I C  I B  64.5mA  430A  64.9mA
 Solve for VCE and VCB.
VCE  VCC  I C RC  10V  (64.5mA)(100)  3.55V

VCB  VCE  V BE  3.55  0.7  2.85V

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 4. BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
Collector Characteristic Curve:
 Using a circuit as shown in below, we can generate a set of
collector characteristic curve that show how the collector current,
Ic varies with the VCE voltage for specified values of base current,
IB.

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variable voltage
4.BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
COLLECTOR CHARACTERISTIC CURVE:

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4.BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
Collector Characteristic Curve:
 Assume that VBB is set to produce a certain value of IB and VCC is zero.
 At this condition, BE junction and BC junction are forward biased
because the base is approximately 0.7V while the emitter and the
collector are zero.
 IB is through the BE junction because of the low impedance path to
ground, therefore IC is zero.
 When both junctions are forward biased – transistor operate in
saturation region.
 As VCC increase, VCE is increase gradually, IC increase – indicated by
point A to B.
 IC increase as VCC is increased because VCE remains less than 0.7V due
to the forward biased BC junction.
 When VCE exceeds 0.7V, the BC becomes reverse biased and the 34
transistor goes into the active or linear region of its operation.
4.BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)
Collector Characteristic Curve:
 Once BC junction is RB, IC levels off and remains constant for given
value of IB and VCE continues to increase.
 Actually IC increases slightly as VCE increase due to widening of the BC
depletion region
 This result in fewer holes for recombination in the base region which
effectively caused a slight increase in I C   DC I B indicated in point
B and C.
 When VCE reached a sufficiently high voltage, the reverse biased BC
junction goes into breakdown.
 The collector current increase rapidly – as indicated at the right point C
 The transistor cannot operate in the breakdown region.
 When IB=0, the transistor is in the cutoff region although there is a very
small collector leakage current as indicated – exaggerated on the graph35
for purpose of illustration.
4.BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)

The plot indicates the four regions of operation: the saturation, the
cutoff, the active and the breakdown.
 The characteristics of each region of operation are summarized
below.

1. cutoff region:
•The collector-base and base-emitter junctions of a transistor are both
reverse-biased.
•No current flow

2. saturation region:

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•The collector-base and base-emitter junctions are forward-biased.
4.BJT CHARACTERISTICS & PARAMETERS (CONT.)

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5. Transistor Configuration Types

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5. Transistor Configuration Types

We could have three types of commonly used transistor

configurations. These are:

a) Common base configuration.

b) Common emitter configuration.
c) Common collector configuration

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a) Common-Base CB Configuration
The transistor is connected with base as common ground
terminal as shown in figure below is called common-base
configuration.

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b) Common-Emitter CE Configuration
The transistor is connected with emitter as the common or
ground is called common-emitter configuration as shown in
figure below.

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c) Common-Collector CC Configuration
The transistor is connected with collector as the common is
called common collector configuration as shown in figure below.

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6. DC Biasing-BJT

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6.1 INTRODUCTION
 The analysis or design of a transistor amplifier requires
knowledge of both the dc and ac response of the
system. In fact, the amplifier increases the strength of a
weak signal by transferring the energy from the applied
DC source to the weak input ac signal.
 The analysis or design of any electronic amplifier
therefore has two components:
1) The dc portion and
2) The ac portion
 During the design stage, the choice of parameters for
the required dc levels will affect the ac response.
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CONT…
 Biasing means applying of dc voltages to establish a
fixed level of current and voltage.
Purpose of the DC biasing circuit:
 To turn the device “ON”

 To place it in operation in the region of its characteristic

where the device operates most linearly .
 Proper biasing circuit which it operate in linear region
and circuit have centered Q-point or midpoint biased
 Improper biasing cause:
• Distortion in the output signal
• Produce limited or clipped at output signal 45
CONT…
 Basic Relationships/formulas for a transistor:

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6.2 THE DC OPERATING POINT
 For transistor amplifiers the resulting dc current and
voltage establish an operating point on the
characteristics that define the region that will be
employed for amplification of the applied signal.
 Because the operating point is a fixed point on the
characteristics, it is also called the quiescent point
(abbreviated Q-point).

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CONT…

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CONT…

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5.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.3 FIXED BIAS CIRCUIT (CONT…)

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.4 EMITTER-STABILIZED BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.5 VOLTAGE DIVIDER BIAS CIRCUIT

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6.6 DC BIAS WITH VOLTAGE FEEDBACK

 is called collector feedback circuit.

 An improved level of stability can also be obtained by
introducing a feedback path from collector to base as
shown in Fig. below.
 Although the Q-point is not totally independent of beta
(even under approximate conditions), the sensitivity to
changes in beta or temperature variations is normally less
than encountered for the fixed-bias or emitter-biased
configurations.
 The analysis will again be performed by first analyzing
the base–emitter loop with the results applied to the
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collector–emitter loop.
6.6 DC BIAS WITH VOLTAGE FEEDBACK

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6.6 DC BIAS WITH VOLTAGE FEEDBACK

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6.6 DC BIAS WITH VOLTAGE FEEDBACK

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6.6 DC BIAS WITH VOLTAGE FEEDBACK

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