BIPOLAR JUNCTION

TRANSISTOR
FUNDAMENTALS

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SEATWORK

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 Intended Learning Outcomes
• Definition of transistor
• Transistor and its characteristics
• Types of transistor
• BJT Transistor and Biasing
• Three types of configuration

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 Transistor

Transistors are electronic devices that are critical to the

operation of most electronic circuits. Transistors are three
terminal devices that perform one of two functions:
1. In digital circuits the transistor acts as an electronically
controlled switch.
2. In analog circuits the transistor acts as an electronic
amplifier.

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 Transistor
• A transistor is a three-element, two-junction device used to
control electron flow. By varying the amount of voltage applied
to the three elements, the amount of current can be controlled
for purposes of amplification, oscillation, and switching
• A transistor is a semiconductor device that controls current
between two terminals based on the current or voltage at a
third terminal and is used for the amplification or switching of
electrical signals.
• The basic structure of the bipolar junction transistor, BJT
determines its operating characteristics. DC bias is important
to the operation of transistors in terms of setting up proper
currents and voltages in a transistor circuit.

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 Transistor

Two Basic Types:

1. Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)
2. Field Effect Transistors (FET)

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTOR (BJT)

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 Intended Learning Outcomes
• Definition
• Structure
• BJT Modes of Operation
• Three basic circuit configuration
• Voltage divider bias circuit

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 Transistor
• When a third layer is added to a semiconductor diode, a
device is produced that can amplify power, current, or
voltage.
• The device is called a bipolar transistor, also referred to
as a junction transistor or transistor.
• The term bipolar refers to the use of both holes and
electrons as current carriers in the transistor structure.

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 BJT Structure

• Bipolar transistor consists of

essentially two p-n junction
diodes fabricated very close
together that they share a
common region.
• A bipolar transistor is a three-
layer sandwich of alternating
semiconductor material types.
• There are two possible
variations, the PNP transistor
and the NPN transistor

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BJT Structure

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 BJT Structure

Terminals Description

Emitter • heavily doped semiconductor material.

• its job is to emit or inject free electrons to the base
Collector • doped in between heavy doping of the emitter and light
doping of the base.
• it collects or gathers electrons from the base.
Base • lightly doped semiconductor material
• it passes most of the emitter injected electron on to the
collector

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 BJT

Structure Symbol

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 BJT Modes of Operation

• Saturation
• Active
• Cutoff

• Bipolar transistor has two junctions, and either junction

can be forward or reverse biased.
• The junction between emitter and base is commonly
called emitter junction
• The junction between collector and base is the collector
junction

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DC load line on a family of collector characteristic curves
illustrating the cutoff and saturation conditions.

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 BJT Modes of Operation

Saturation A condition that corresponds to a

closed switch

Active Region of operation for amplifiers

Cutoff A condition wherein the transistor

appears as an open switch

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 BJT Bias Conditions

Junction FB RB Mode of Operation

Emitter Yes • Transistor is in “cutoff” or “off” mode
Collector Yes • Transistor appears as an open switch
Emitter Yes • “on” or “saturated”
Collector Yes • Closed switch
Emitter Yes • Active Region- region of operation used for
Collector Yes amplifiers

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 BJT in Active Region
• Collector junction is reversed bias in the active region
• Base-collector junction at the upper side is not
conducting
• In addition to the separate action of the two diodes, the
fact that they are extremely close together and
separated by only a thin base region allows an
interaction between the two diodes, which is the basis of
transistor action.

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Transistor Biasing

BJT in Active Region

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 BJT in Active Region
• Emitter junction is forward biased and electrons from the
n-type emitter diffuse into the base. The base is made
very thin, and few of the injected electrons recombine
with holes in the base. Most of the carriers survive the
trip by diffusion across the base and they are swept into
the collector region by the field at the collector junction.
• These carriers contribute to the collector current even
though the collector is reverse biased. Only a small
portion of the injected electrons recombine and
contribute to base current.

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 BJT in Active Region

• In NPN device, the C

dominant component of
current is the electrons

Positive
Current
moving from emitter to N
collector, which is
equivalent to positive B

Electrons
P
current moving from
collector to emitter.
N

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BJT in Active Region

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Transistor Amplifier Circuits

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 What is amplifier?
• Amplifier is an electronic circuit that produces an output
signal with an increased in amplitude of the input signal.

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 Transistor Amplifier Circuits
• Common base
• Common emitter
• Common collector or emitter follower

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 Common Base
• The input is at the emitter. The output is at the collector.
• There is no phase inversion from input to output.
• The input resistance is low and the output resistance is high
• Maximum current gain is 1
• Base is at ac ground

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 Common Emitter
• Input is at the base. Output is at the collector.
• There is phase inversion from input to output.
• Coupling capacitors are connected to the input and output signals
• There is an emitter bypass capacitor
• All capacitors must have negligible reactance at the frequency of operation
• Emitter is at ac ground.

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 Common Collector or Emitter
Follower
• Input is at the base. Output is at the emitter
• There is no phase inversion from input to output
• Input resistance is high. Output resistance is low
• Maximum voltage gain is 1
• Collector is at ac ground
• Capacitors must have a negligible reactance at the frequency of operation

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 DC Biasing

• A transistor must be properly biased in order to operate

as an amplifier. DC biasing is used to establish fixed dc
values for the transistor currents and voltages called the
dc operating point or quiescent point (Q-point).

• A dc operating point must be set so that signal variations

at the input terminal are amplified and accurately
reproduced at the output terminal.

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 DC Biasing

• When you bias a transistor, you establish the dc voltage

and current values.

• This means, for example, that at the dc operating point,

IC and VCE have specified values. The dc operating point
is often referred to as the Q-point (quiescent point).

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 DC Biasing
• The first step in designing or analyzing any amplifier is to
consider the biasing.
• The biasing network is comprised of the power supply
and the passive circuit elements surrounding the
transistor that provide the correct DC levels at the
terminals.
• This is termed setting the Q-point or quiscent operating
bias point, that is, the terminal voltages and currents with
NO signal applied.

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 DC Biasing
• A good bias circuit must not only establish the correct
DC levels, but must maintain them even when
confronted with sources of variation, such as changes in
temperature, and spread in component values due to
manufacturing inconsistency.

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Transistor DC Bias Circuits

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 BJT Circuit Analysis

Consider the basic transistor bias circuit

configuration. Three transistor dc currents and
three dc voltages can be identified.

IB: dc base current

IE: dc emitter current
IC: dc collector current
VBE: dc voltage at base with respect to
emitter
VCB: dc voltage at collector with
respect to base
VCE: dc voltage at collector with
respect to emitter

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Example

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 Voltage Divider
• The two resistor voltage divider is used often to supply a
voltage different from that of an available battery or
power supply. In application the output voltage depends
upon the resistance of the load it drives.

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Voltage Divider

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Voltage Divider

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Voltage Divider Bias

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 Voltage Divider Bias (Formulas)
• Once you know the base voltage,
you can determine the emitter
voltage.
VE = VB – VBE
• You can find the emitter current
using Ohm’s law
I E = VE / R E
• Once you know IE, you can find all
other circuit value
IC IE
VC = VCC – ICRC
• Once you know VC and VE , you can
determine VCE
VCE = VC - VE

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Voltage Divider Bias (Formulas)

• Also you can express VCE in terms of IC by using

Kirchhoff’s voltage law
VCC – ICRC – IERE – VCE = 0
• Since IC IE
VCE VCC - ICRC – ICRE
VCE VCC – IC (RC – RE )

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 Rule of the thumb
• Rule of the Thumb: if two resistors are in parallel and
one is at least ten times the other, the total resistance is
approximately equal to the smaller value.

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Voltage Divider Bias

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 Common Emitter Amplifier
• DC Analysis

DC quantities
IB
IC
IE
VC
VE
VB
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 Common Emitter Amplifier
DC Analysis Steps:
1. Determine the DC Bias values
2. Develop the DC equivalent circuit by removing the coupling and bypass
capacitors because they appear open as far as the dc bias is concerned.
This also removes the load resistor and signal source.

output
input

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 Seatwork

1. Determine the DC values for the amplifier shown.

Refer to Electronic Devices

9th Edition by Floyd in page
279-280 for the solution
analysis.

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Answers

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 References:

1. Electronic Devices – 9th Edition

by: Floyd
2. Essentials of Electrical and Computer Engineering
by: Kerns and Irwin

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