CHAPTER 5

Part 1
BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS (BJTs)
 Learning Outcome
• At the end of this chapter, the students should
be able to:
i. Describe the basic structure of npn and pnp
Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs)
ii. Describe the operation of BJT
iii. Discuss basic BJT parameters and characteristics
iv. Analyze BJT circuits
 Transistor Structure
• is constructed by 3 doped semiconductor regions
(emitter (E), base (B), collector(C)) and separated by
2 pn juctions (BC & BE junctions).
• Two types of BJTs:

B regions lightly
doped and very thin
compared to E and C
regions
Transistor Symbols

Symbol of standard BJTs

 Some transistor packages…
3 Collector
3 Collector
3 3 Collector
2
Base 1
2
1 1 Base
1 Emitter Base
2 2 2 Emitter
3 1 Emitter
3 2
1
TO-92 SOT-23 TO-18
(TO-Transistor Outline) (SOT-Small-outline Transistor)

E
C
B
C (case)
B
C
E

TO-3 TO-220AB

5
 NPN Transistor
 VBE is voltage between the Base and Emitter. The
Base terminal is always positive with respect to the
Emitter.
 VCE is collector supply voltage with respect to the
Emitter ( VCE ).
 For NPN transistor to conduct, the Collector is always
more positive with respect to both the Base and the
Emitter.
 The transistor is a "current" operated device (Beta
model).
 A large current ( Ic ) flows freely through the device
between the collector and the emitter terminals when Ic
the transistor is switched "fully-ON". 
 However, this only happens when a small biasing Ib
current ( Ib ) is flowing into the base terminal of the
transistor at the same time thus allowing the Base to
act as a sort of current control input. 6
• DC current gain in an NPN transistor is the ratio
of collector current to base current ( Ic/Ib ), called
Beta, ( β ). Ic

Ib

• The value of β can be large up to 200 for

standard transistors.
• That makes the NPN transistor a useful
amplifying device when used in its active region
as Ib provides the input and Ic provides the
output.
• Note that Beta has no units as it is a ratio.
 PNP Transistor
 The PNP Transistor has very similar
characteristics to their NPN BJT, except that the
polarities (or biasing) of the current and voltage
directions are reversed for any one of the
possible three configurations.
 The VBE is now negative at the Base and
positive at the Emitter because for a PNP
transistor, the Base terminal is always biased
negative with respect to the Emitter.
 VCE is emitter supply voltage with respect to
the collector.
 So for a PNP transistor to conduct, the Emitter
is always more positive with respect to both the
Base and the Collector.

8
 Basic Transistor Operation
• The 2 p-n junctions (BC & BE) must be correctly
biased with external dc voltages to operate properly
as an amplifier.
• Notice that in both cases, BC-reverse biased, BE -
forward biased

Transistor npn Transistor pnp

 Transistor Currents
Collector current

Base current

Emitter current

a) npn b) pnp

𝐼𝐸 = 𝐼𝐶 + 𝐼𝐵 Note: 𝐼𝐵 is very small compared to 𝐼𝐶 & 𝐼𝐸

 Review
1) What are the bias conditions of the base-
emitter and base-collector junctions for a
transistor to operate as amplifier?
2) What is the largest of the three transistor
currents?
3) If the collector current is 2mA and base
current is 30uA, what is emitter current?
Transistor Characteristics & Parameters

• DC Beta 𝛽𝐷𝐶 and DC Alpha α𝐷𝐶

• Configurations & Current and Voltage
Analysis
• Collector Characteristic Curves
• Cutoff, Saturation & DC Load Line
 DC Beta 𝛽𝐷𝐶 and DC Alpha α𝐷𝐶

𝛽𝐷𝐶 = 𝐼𝐶 /𝐼𝐵
α𝐷𝐶 = 𝐼𝐶 /𝐼𝐸
Typically,
• 𝛽𝐷𝐶 range from less than 20 to 200 or higher
• α𝐷𝐶 range from 0.95 to 0.99 or greater
 Example 1
A certain transistor has a 𝛽𝐷𝐶 of 200. When the
base current is 50uA, determine the collector
current.

𝛽𝐷𝐶 = 𝐼𝐶 /𝐼𝐵
𝐼𝐶 = 𝛽𝐷𝐶 𝐼𝐵 =200x50uA=0.01A
Current and Voltage Analysis
 BJT Configurations
• Different configurations will result in different circuit parameters

Common Common Common

Emitter collector base
 =

=
Poiting in Not Pointing in

The base is common to both the i/p & o/p sides of the configuration
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE ANALYSIS
(COMMON BASE)
𝐼𝐸 𝑉𝐶𝐸
𝐼𝐸 = 𝐼𝐵 + 𝐼𝐶
𝐼𝐶
_ β = IC/ IB
𝑉𝐵𝐸 +

𝐼𝐵
+ 𝑉𝐶𝐵
α = IC/ IE
VBE ≅ 0.7

−𝑉𝐸𝐸 +𝑉𝐵𝐸 +𝑉𝑅𝐸 = 0 −𝑉𝐶𝐶 +𝑉𝑅𝐶 +𝑉𝐶𝐵 = 0

−𝑉𝐸𝐸 +𝑉𝐵𝐸 +𝐼𝐸 𝑅𝐸 = 0 −𝑉𝐶𝐶 +𝐼𝐶 𝑅𝐶 + 𝑉𝐶𝐵 = 0