Lectures Sequence

Device Structure & Physical Operation 6.1,6.2

Current-Voltage Characteristics

BJT Circuit at DC 6.3

Applying the BJT in Amplifier Design 6.4

Small-Signal Operations and Models 6.5

Basic BJT Amplifier Configurations 6.6

Biasing in BJT Amplifier Circuit 6.7

Discrete-Circuit BJT Amplifier 6.8, 6.9
Transistor Breakdown and Temperature Effect
Quick Review
General block diagram of an amplifier

Key element
for my
A voltage dependent Amplifier
current source
Types of Transistors
Structure of Actual Transistor
 NPN Symbol

 For an NPN it is
pointing away
from base so
Emitter should
be at a lower
potential than
base

 Note the convention of current directions and voltages.

 Normally we will not encounter negative values of these currents.
 The arrow direction of the emitter shows that the voltage is higher
or lower than the base, to ensure BEJ is FB
 PNP Symbols

 For an PNP it is
pointing
towards base so
Emitter should
be at a higher
potential than
base

 Note the current still flows from top to bottom.

 Note current directions in this case, current flows in the emitter.
 The arrow direction of the emitter shows that the voltage is higher
than the base, to ensure BEJ is FB
BJT Modes of Operation
 What is wrong here?

16
I
Vin  10mv S  5  10 And desired Vout  100mV

VBE
VT
Vout   RL I C   RL  I S (e  1)  RL  2.35 10 16

I wanted to have an output of 100mV ; it implies that I must

have a resistance equal to

RL  4.25 1016 
 IC
How can I fix it

2.48mA

1.7mA

2.35 10 16

VBE

760mv

10 mv 750mv
Biasing the transistor
 NPN Transistor: Emitter Current

b a se
The emitter current iE  iB  iC on-
m
om
iC  1 t he
c
or iE   iC  iE  iC l led in.
  i
a
s c nt ga
α re
 i cur
and if we define   , then iE  C
 1 
V BE
VT
iC  I S e
V BE V BE
IS
IS VT iB  e VT

Thus we can say that iE  e , 

 V BE
I
 iE  S e VT

and it can be shown that  
1 A qD n
IS  E n i
2

N AW
Relationship of Emitter, Base and Collector Currents

v BE  AE q Dn ni 2 
VT I S   

iC  I S e  N A W 

iC
v BE iB 
IS VT 
iB  e
  1
iE  iC

v BE iC
IS VT iE 
iE  e 

 
  
1  1
Three Basic Configurations
 Modeling the Transistor
Recall from Diodes Chapter
 Modeling a Transistor Cont…
• We start with the first basic equivalent circuit of NPN
transistor , operating in Active Mode.
• Basically the forward bias voltage VBEcauses an exponentially
related current to flow in theiCcollector terminal
• The collector current is independent of the collector
iC
voltage as long as the Collector-Base junction remains
reverse biased
• The in active mode , the collector terminal behaves as an
“Ideal Constant Current Source”, where the value of current
is determined by
VBE
• The Base current is a factor of 1 of the collector current.

And the emitter current is sum of base and collector currents
 NPN Transistor Models
This model is a nonlinear voltage-controlled current
source

V BE
I
i E  S e VT

V BE V BE
VT VT
iC  I S e i E  I SE e
V BE
IS VT nonlinear because of the exponential
iB  e
 V relationship of the current iE through
BE
I diode DE and the voltage vBE
iE  S e VT

 NPN Transistor Models
V BE
i I
iB  C  S e VT
 

V BE
VT
iB  I SBe

The current-controlled current-source

A voltage-controlled current
source

If the transistor is used as a two-port network

with the input port between B and E and the
output port between C and E, then the current
gain observed is equal to β
β is the common-emitter current gain
nonlinear because of the exponential
relationship of the current iB through
diode DB and the voltage vBE
Equivalent Circuit Models of PNP Transistor
The first step in solving this example would be to select a suitable model. The term
emitter grounded reveals that it is a common emitter and other available parameters ,
suggests current controlled-current source model would be more appropriate
VBE
VT
I C I S  e And IC    I B
 Solving for DC conditions
Example 6.2
The BJT has β = 100 and vBE = 0.7 V at iC = 1 mA.
Design the circuit so that a current of 2 mA flows through the collector and a voltage of
+5 V appears at the collector.

Solution
For VC = +5 V, the CBJ will be reverse biased and the
BJT will be operating in the active mode.
To obtain a voltage VC = +5 V, the voltage drop across RC
must be 15 – 5 = 10 V.
Since IC = 2 mA, the value of RC should be selected
according to:
 VB  0V
 Transistor Curves
(Temperature Dependence)

The iC–vBE characteristic for an npn

Transistor.
At constant emitter current,
vBE changes by -2 mV/oC
 The iC–vCE characteristic for an npn
IC   I B Transistor.

V BE
IS VT
IB  e


0.3 V
 Early Effect
• The Early effect is the variation in the width of the base in a
bipolar junction transistor (BJT) due to a variation in the
applied base-to-collector voltage, named after its discoverer
James M. Early. A greater reverse bias across the collector–
base junction, for example, increases the collector–base
depletion width, decreasing the width of the charge neutral
portion of the base.
• In Figure 1 the neutral (i.e. active) base is green, and the
depleted base regions are hashed light green. The neutral
emitter and collector regions are dark blue and the depleted
regions hashed light blue. Under increased collector–base
reverse bias, the lower panel of Figure 1 shows a widening of
the depletion region in the base and the associated
narrowing of the neutral base region.
• The collector depletion region also increases under reverse
bias, more than does that of the base, because the collector
is less heavily doped. The principle governing these two
widths is charge neutrality. The narrowing of the collector
does not have a significant effect as the collector is much
longer than the base. The emitter–base junction is
unchanged because the emitter–base voltage is the same.
 Early Effect
• Base-narrowing has two consequences that
affect the current:
• There is a lesser chance for recombination
within the "smaller" base region.
• The charge gradient is increased across the
base, and consequently, the current of minority
carriers injected across the emitter junction
increases.
• Both these factors increase the collector or
"output" current of the transistor with an
increase in the collector voltage. This increased
current is shown in Figure 2. Tangents to the
characteristics at large voltages extrapolate
backward to intercept the voltage axis at a
voltage called the Early voltage, often denoted
by the symbol VA.
Transistor Curves :EARLY EFFECT
 EARLY EFFECT

Increasing vCE increases the width of the

depletion region of CBJ, resulting in a decrease
in the effective base width W

The Early effect is also known as the base-

width modulation effect
Transistor Curves :EARLY EFFECT
The linear dependence of ic on Vce can be explicitly
accounted for by assuming that Is remains constant
and including (1  VCE )
VA

The output resistance looking

into the collector is defined by

Ic’ is actually the

value of collector
current with Early
Effect neglected
Transistor Model Modified
 Amplifier Saturation

Slide form Lec -2

Chapter No 1

• If the input signal exceeds

certain limits, the output peaks
are clipped and thus the signal
is distorted

• Distortion is undesirable as it
results in distorted information An amplifier transfer characteristic that is linear
except for output saturation.
If we increase the voltage at the base , the result is
increase in the base current

This in –turn results in increase in collector

current as iC    iB

More Ic means more voltage drop across Rc, resulting

reduction in Vc

A time will come when Vb = Vc ; we call it edge of saturation,

When Vb > Vc :: Vbc =0.5, Vbe= 0.7, and Vce =0.2

Now the relationship iC    iB is no more valid

When two junctions are forward biased
 NPN Transistor in the Saturation Mode

For active mode operation, the CBJ must be

reverse biased

A pn junction does not effectively become

forward biased until the forward voltage across
it exceeds approximately 0.4 V
 Test for saturation mode
• We can determine whether the BJT is in saturation mode by
either of the following tests.
– Is the CBJ forward biased by more than 0.4v?
iC
– Is the ratio 
B i

• The collector-to-emitter voltage Vce of a saturated transistor

can be found by VCEsat  VBE  VBC

• Recalling
VBC that the CBJ has a much
VBElarger area than the EBJ the
will be smaller than by 0.1 to 0.3 v thus
VCEsat  0.1v  0.3v
VCEsat  0.3v
• Edge of saturation VCEsat  0.1v
• Deep Saturation
Transistor in Saturation

I CSat
 forced 
IB
 forced  
Transistor in Saturation

I CSat
 forced 
IB
 forced  

vCESat
RCESat 
iCSat
0.1  vCESat  0.3
Approx range 5  RCESat  50
Example
BJT Model in Saturation