Bipolar Transistors

Introduction
An Overview of Bipolar Transistors
Bipolar Transistor Operation
Bipolar Transistor Characteristics
Summary of Bipolar Transistor Characteristics
 Introduction
Emitter Collector
Bipolar transistors are one of the main
building-blocks in electronic systems
They are used in both analogue and
digital circuits Base

They incorporate two pn junctions and

are sometimes known as bipolar BJT
junction transistors or BJTs
Here will refer to them simply as
bipolar transistors
 Notation
bipolar transistors are 3
terminal devices
collector (c)
base (b)
emitter (e)
the base is the control input
diagram illustrates the
notation used for labelling
voltages and currents
 Construction
two polarities:
npn and pnp
 Transistor
configurations
transistors can be used in
a number of
configurations
most common is as
shown
emitter terminal is
common to input and
output circuits
this is a common-
emitter configuration
we will look at the
characteristics of the
 Input
characteristics
the input takes the
form of a forward-
biased pn junction
the input
characteristics are
therefore similar to
those of a
semiconductor
diode
 Output characteristics
region near to the
origin is the
saturation region
this is normally
avoided in linear
circuits
slope of lines
represents the
output resistance
 Transfer characteristics
can be described by either the current gain
or by the transconductance

DC current gain hFE or is given by IC / IB

AC current gain hfe is given by ic / ib

transconductance gm is given approximately

by
gm 40IC 40 IE siemens
 Summary of Bipolar Transistor Characteristics
21.5

Bipolar transistors have three terminals:

collector, base and emitter
The base is the control input
Two polarities of device: npn and pnp
The collector current is controlled by the
base voltage/current IC = hFEIB
Behaviour is characterised by the current
gain or the transconductance
 Key Points
Bipolar transistors are widely used in both analogue and
digital circuits
They can be considered as either voltage-controlled or
current-controlled devices
Their characteristics may be described by their gain or by
their transconductance
Feedback can be used to overcome problems of variability
The majority of circuits use transistors in a common-
emitter configuration where the input is applied to the
base and the output is taken from the collector
Common-collector circuits make good buffer amplifiers
Bipolar transistors are used in a wide range of applications
Conventional View
Common Emitter NPN
Collector Characteristic
Curve If V = 0, then I = 0 and V =0
CC C CE

As VCC both VCE and IC

When VCE 0.7 V, base-collector
becomes reverse-biased and IC
reaches full value (IC = IB)
IC ~ constant as VCE . There is a
slight increase of IC due to the
widening of the depletion zone
(BC) giving fewer holes for
recombinations with e in base.
Since IC = IB, different base
currents produce different IC
plateaus.
Introduction
Example: BJT common emitter characteristics

Gain = 300
 Bipolar Junction Transistors: Basics

+ -

IE IC
- + IB

I E = IB + IC (KCL)

VEC = VEB + VBC (KVL)

BJT configurations

GAIN
CONFIG

ECE 663
Bipolar Junction Transistors: Basics

Bias Mode E-B Junction C-B Junction

Saturation Forward Forward

Active Forward Reverse

Inverted Reverse Forward
Cutoff Reverse Reverse

ECE 663
 Common Emitter DC current gain - PNP

Common Emitter Active Bias mode:

IE = DCIB + ICE0

DC =
IC = DCIE + ICB0 DC /(1-DC)
= DC(IC + IB) + ICB0 GAIN !!
IC
IB
IC = DCIB + ICB0
1-DC
IE
ECE 663
Operation region summary

Operation IB or VCE BC and BE Mode

Region Char. Junctions
Cutoff IB = Very Reverse & Open
small Reverse Switch
Saturation VCE = Small Forward & Closed
Forward Switch
Active VCE = Reverse & Linear
Linear Moderate Forward Amplifier
Break- VCE = Large Beyond Overload
down Limits
ECE 663
Field Effect Transistors

In 1925, the fundamental principle of FET transistors was establish

by Lilienfield.

1955 : the first Field effect transistor works

Increasingly important in mechatronics.
Similar to the BJT: BJT FET
Three terminals, Terminal Terminal
Control the output current
Base Gate

Collector Drain

Emitter Source
 Field Effect Transistors
Three Types of Field Effect Transistors
MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors)
JFET (Junction Field-effect transistors)
MESFET (metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors)

Two Modes of FETs

Enhancement mode
Depletion mode

The more used one is the n-channel enhancement mode MOSFET,

also called NMOS
 FET Architecture

Enhanced MOSFET JFET

Nonconducting
Conducting
Region
Region
Depleted MOSFET

Nonconducting
Region
 NMOS Voltage Characteristic

VDS = Constant
Vth
IDS=0 2
V
I DS I DSSHORT 1 GS
VGS > Vth : VTH
0 < VDS < VPinch off
Active Region
IDS controlled by VGS
VDS > VPinch off Active
Region
Saturation
Region
Saturation Region
IDS constant
VDS > VBreakdown
IDS approaches IDSShort
Should be avoided
VPinchoff
NMOS uses

High-current voltage-controlled switches

Analog switches
Drive DC and stepper motor
Current sources
Chips and Microprocessors

CMOS: Complementary fabrication

JFET overview
The circuit symbols:

JFET design:
Junction Field Effect
Transistor
Difference
VGS > Vth from NMOS
IDS=0 V
2

I DS I DSSHORT 1 GS
VGS < -Vth : VTH
0 < VDS < VPinch off
Active Region
IDS controlled by VGS Active Saturation
Region
Region

VDS > VPinch off

Saturation Region
IDS constant

VDS > VBreakdown

IDS approaches
IDSShort
Should be avoided
VPinchoff
JFET uses

Small Signal Amplifier

Voltage Controlled Resistor

Switch