Chapter 4

Bipolar Junction Transistor

 REMEMBER THIS
Current flow in the opposite direction of the electrons flow;
same direction as holes

e e e

h h h
Transistor Structures
 The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) has three separately
doped regions and contains two pn junctions.
 Bipolar transistor is a 3-terminal device.
 Emitter (E)
 Base (B)
 Collector (C)

 The basic transistor principle is that the

voltage between two terminals controls the
current through the third terminal.
 Current in the transistor is due to the flow of
both electrons and holes, hence the name
bipolar.
 Transistor Structures
 There are two types of bipolar junction transistor: npn and
pnp.
 The npn bipolar transistor contains a thin p-region between
two n-regions.

 The pnp bipolar transistor

contains a thin n-region
sandwiched between two p-
regions.
3 Regions of Operation
 Active
Operating range of the amplifier.
Base-Emitter Junction forward biased.
Collector-Base Junction reverse biased

 Cutoff
The amplifier is basically off. There is voltage but
little current.
Both junctions reverse biased

 Saturation
The amplifier is full on. There is little voltage but
lots of current.
Both junctions forward biased
OPERATIONS - npn
ACTIVE MODE VBE = V
+
VBE
 The base-emitter (B-E) junction -
is forward biased and the base-
collector (C-B) junction is
reverse-biased,.
 Since the B-E junction is
forward biased, electrons
from the emitter are injected
iB
across the B-E junction into
the base  IE
 Once in the base region, the Some electrons, in passing
electrons are quickly through the base region, recombine
accelerated through the base with majority carrier holes in the
due to the reverse-biased C-B base. This produces the current
region  IC IB
 TO ILLUSTRATE
B E
C -
VBE
+

•Imagine the marbles as electrons

•A flat base region with gaps where the
marbles may fall/trapped – recombine
•A sloping collector region represents
high electric field in the C-B region
•Hence, when enough energy is given to
the marbles, they will be accelerated
towards to base region with enough
momentum to pass the base and straight
‘fly’ to the collector
 MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSIONS
IC

IB

+
IE
VBE
-

IE = IS [ e VBE / VT -1 ] = IS e VBE / VT Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB

No. of electrons crossing the base region and then directly into the
collector region is a constant factor  of the no. of electrons exiting the
base region
IC =  IB
No. of electrons reaching the collector region is directly proportional to
the no. of electrons injected or crossing the base region.
Ideally  = 1, but in reality it is between 0.9
I C =  IE and 0.998.
Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB IC =  IB I C =  IE

IE =  IB + IB = IB(  + 1) IE = IB(  + 1)

Now
With IC =  IB  IB = IC / 
Hence,
IE = [ IC / ] (  + 1)
IC = I E [  /  + 1 ]

Comparing with IC =  IE
 = [  / ( + 1) ]
 C

OPERATIONS - pnp
IB
FORWARD ACTIVE MODE IC
B
-
 The emitter – base (E- B) VEB IE
junction is forward biased and
the base-collector (B- C) +
junction is reverse-biased,. VEB = V
E

IE = IS [ e VEB / VT -1 ] = IS e VEB / VT
**Notice that it is VEB

Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
pnp Transistor- Active mode
SUMMARY: Circuit Symbols and
Conventions
Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
npn bipolar transistor simple
block diagram and circuit symbol.
Arrow is on the emitter terminal
that indicates the direction of
emitter current

pnp bipolar transistor simple

block diagram and circuit symbol.
Arrow is on the emitter terminal
that indicates the direction of
emitter current
 NPN PNP

IE = IS [ e VBE / VT ] IE = IS [ e VEB / VT]

IC =  IB

IC =  IE

IE = IB(  + 1)

  𝜷   𝜶
𝜶= 𝜷=
𝟏+ 𝜷 𝟏− 𝜶

Based on KCL: IE = IC + IB
EXAMPLE
 
Calculate the collector and emitter currents, given the base current and current gain.
Assume a common-base current gain,  = 0.97 and a base current of iB = 25 µA . Also
assume that the transistor is biased forward in the forward active mode.
Solution: The common-emitter current gain is

The collector current is

And the emitter current is

 Examples
• EXAMPLE 1
• Given IB = 6.0A and IC = 510 A. Determine ,  and IE

Answers:
 = 85
= 0.9884
IE = 516 A

• EXAMPLE 2
• NPN Transistor
• Reverse saturation current Is = 10-13A with current gain,  = 90.
• Based on VBE = 0.685V, determine IC , IB and IE

Answers:
IE = 10-13 (e 0.685/0.026) = 0.0277 A
IC = (90/91)(0.0277) = 0.0274 A
IB = IE – IC = 0.3 mA
BJT: Current-Voltage
Characteristic
IC versus VCE
 Common-Emitter Configuration - npn
 The Emitter is common to both input
(base-emitter) and output (collector-
emitter).

 Since Emitter is grounded, VC = VCE

 With decreasing VC (VCE), the junction

B-C will become forward biased too. Node B
 The current IC quickly drops to zero
because electrons are no longer
collected by the collector

0V
Characteristics of Common-Emitter - npn

NOTE: VEC for PNP