Analog Electronics

Bipolar Junction Transistors

Chapter 2
 Content
General
The CE Connection
BJT’s Curve Characteristics and Parameters
BJT Approximations
 General
 The transistor is a three-layer semiconductor device consisting
of either two n- and one p-type layers of material or two p- and
one n-type layers of material. The former is called an npn
transistor, while the latter is called a pnp transistor.
 For the biasing, the terminals have been indicated by the capital
letters E for emitter, C for collector, and B for base.

NPN Transistor PNP Transistor

 The CE Connection
 There are three useful ways to connect a transistor: with a
CE (common emitter), a CC (common collector), or a CB
(common base).
Common Emitter

CE connection. (a) Basic circuit; (b) circuit with grounds

 The CE Connection
Notation: double subscript and single subscript

For the circuit above:

 BJT Characteristics and Parameters
npn transistor pnp transistor

 For both transistors

 BJT Characteristics and Parameters

The CE connection

The collector curve

The base curve

More collector curve
 BJT Characteristics
Saturation region: the collector current will be
maximum and the collector-emitter voltage will be
approximately 0.2V.
Active region: the emitter diode is forward biased
and the collector diode is reverse biased.
Cut-off region: the base current is zero but there
still is a small collector current (assume the
collector current is zero in calculation).
Breakdown region: The transistor should never
operate in this region because it will be destroyed.
 Transistor Approximations
Ideal approximation: We
visualize the emitter diode as an
ideal diode, .
The second approximation:
For silicon transistors, this means
that
For germanium transistors
Higher approximation: The bulk
resistance of the emitter diode
becomes important only in high-
power applications in which the
currents are large. The effect of
bulk resistance in the emitter
diode is to increase VBE > 0.7V
 Example
The transistor of Figure below has . Calculate , ,
and .

Transistor circuit. (a) Basic schematic

diagram; {b) circuit with grounds;
(c) simplified schematic diagram.
 Solution
The base current

The collector current is

The collector-emitter voltage

The collector power dissipation