VOLUME III

GENERAL ELECTRONICS
CHAPTER 1- 2
TRANSISTOR

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 TRANSISTORS
Transistor is a fundamental building block of modern electronics.
Transistors can generate signals (as in oscillators), change weak
signals into strong ones (as in amplifiers), mix signals (as in
modulators) and as high-speed switches (as in Switched Mode
Power Supplies SMPS)
As amplifier, they are used in Radio Transmission, sound
reproduction and signal processing.
Made of at least three terminals for connection to the external
circuit.
A voltage or current applied to one pair of terminals change the
power through another pair of terminals.

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 BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR
A Bipolar transistor consists of a three-layer sandwich of doped (extrinsic)
Semiconductor materials, either P-N-P in fig or N-P-N in fig. Each layer
forming the transistor has a specific name, and each layer is provided With
a wire contact for connection to a circuit. The schematic symbols are
shown in figs.

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 TYPES OF TRANSISTORS

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 TRANSISTOR AS
A COMMON EMITTER AMPLIFIER
C2 & C3 are coupling capacitors prevent the source
and Load affecting from dc biasing of Transistor.
It provide the AC coupling and DC isolation
between the stages of an amplifier .
By pass capacitor it provide the AC ground at the
emitter terminals of the transistor. This is effect of
increasing the circuit voltage gain.
R3 & R2 are voltage divider circuit to fed the
voltage to Base of the transistor.
RE is increase linearity & stability.
R4 is the output resistance or connected the load
resistance
-Since C1 presents a short circuit to AC, the
emitter is at signal ground R1causes the emitter
to have a certain +ve DC with respect to ground.
-The exact DC voltage at the emitter depends
On the value of R1 and on the bias voltage
which is determined by the ratio of values of R2
and R3.
-C2 and C3 block DC to or from the input and
output while letting The AC pass.
-R4 keeps the output signal from being shorted
out through the Power supply.
-A signal voltage enters the common-emitter ckt
through C2, where it causes the base current Ib.
-Small fluctuations in Ib cause large variations in
the collector Current Ic. This current(Ic) passes
through R4, causing a fluctuating DC voltage
across R4. The AC part of this voltage passes
through C3 to the output.
-The common-emitter ckt is capable of producing
the greatest gain.
The AC output wave is 180 out of phase with the
input wave but If circuitry outside the transistor
reverses the phase again, the ckt will break into
oscillation.
 TRANSISTOR AS
A COMMON COLLECTOR AMPLIFIER
Common Collector Amplifier
Output taken from emitter resistance.
It is use full for impedance matching device.
Input impedance much higher than the
output impedance, its also termed as BUFFER .
This output is controlled by base voltage. The
emitter followed by base voltage so its called as
Emitter follower .
-This circuit places the base at signal ground.
-The DC bias is the same as for common-emitter
circuit.
-The input signal is applied at the emitter. This causes
fluctuations in the voltage across R1, causing
variations in the base current.
-The result of these small current variations in the
base, is a large change in the current through R4
thereby causing amplification.
In the common-base arrangement, the output
signal is in phase with the input.
-The signal enters through C1. R1 keeps the input
signal from being shorted to ground.
Bias is provided by R2 & R3
-C2 keeps the base at signal ground. R4 keeps the
signal being shorted through the power supply.
-The output signal goes through C3.
A common-base circuit cant produce as much gain
as the common-emitter, but is less prone to oscillate.
It is less susceptible to the undesirable effects of
feedback
Common-base circuits are popular as high-power
amplifiers such as those used in radio transmitters.
 TRANSISTOR AS
A COMMON BASE AMPLIFIER
High frequency application.
Base is separate the input & output
minimising the oscillation.
It has high voltage gain relatively low
input impedance and high output
impedance
-This circuit places the base at signal ground.
-The DC bias is the same as for common-emitter
circuit.
-The input signal is applied at the emitter. This
causes. fluctuations in the voltage across R1,
causing variations in the base current.
-The result of these small current variations in the
base, is a large change in the current through R4
thereby causing amplification.
In the common-base arrangement, the output
signal is in phase with the input.
-The signal enters through C1. R1 keeps the input
signal from being shorted to ground.
Bias is provided by R2 & R3
-C2 keeps the base at signal ground. R4 keeps the
signal being shorted through the power supply.
-The output signal goes through C3.
A common-base circuit cant produce as much gain
as the common-emitter, but is less prone to oscillate.
It is less susceptible to the undesirable effects of
feedback
Common-base circuits are popular as high-power
amplifiers such as those used in radio transmitters.
 NPN TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS

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TRANSISTOR APPLICATION CIRCUITS
 JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR

JFETs are one type of Field Effect Transistor, the other type being the
MOSFET
In a JFET, the current varies because of the effects of an electric field
within the device.
Electrons or holes flow along a channel from Source (S) electrode to the
Drain (D) electrode.
This results in a drain current Id that is normally the same as source
current Is
The current through the channel depends on the voltage at the Gate (G)
Small changes in the gate voltage can cause large changes in the current
through the channel, and this ultimately appears as large changes in the
drain current.
These current fluctuations, when passing through an external resistance,
can cause fluctuations in the voltage across that resistance. This is how an
FET can produce Voltage Amplification

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 JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR
JFETs are often used as switches or Voltage-
controlled resistors, and their operation can
easily be compared to that of a tap. If we
consider that we can control the flow of
water through a tap by adjusting a valve, we
can then compare a JFET by assigning the
source terminal as the water source, the gate
as the valve, and the drain as the physical
drain. This means that the source contact
provides the electrons which flow through
the Conductive channel to the drain terminal.
By applying voltage to the gate, the channel
becomes smaller and effectively limits the
flow of electrons; this shows the JFET's use as
a voltage-Controlled resistor, an Operation
which will be described in more detail below.
Junction field effect transistors (JFET) are a type
of FET in which the conducting channel lies
between one or more p-n junctions.
Like all transistors, JFETs have three terminals:
source (S), drain (D), and gate (G). All JFETs are
constructed with a conductive channel running
from the source to the drain.
The channel is sandwiched between two regions
of contrasting polarity; for example, in an n-
channel JFET the most common type the
channel is composed of n-type material, while
the two outer regions are p-type materials. Each
p-region is surrounded by a thin depletion layer.
The gate contact is situated on one of the p-
regions. The image below shows a schematic
symbol and basic diagram of an n-channel JFET.
N-CHANNEL JEFT

The Gate consists of P-Type material. Another

larger section of P Type material, called the
substrate, forms a boundary on the side of the
channel opposite the gate.
The voltage on the gate produces an
electrical field that interferes with the flow of
charge carriers (electrons in this case)
through the channel.

The more negative the gate becomes, the more

the electric field chokes off the current through
the channel, and smaller the Drain current Id
becomes.
P-CHANNEL JEFT
The Gate consists of N-Type material.
Another larger section of N Type material,
called the substrate, forms a boundary on
the side of the channel opposite the gate.

The voltage on the gate produces an

electrical field that interferes with the flow
of charge carriers (holes in this case)
through the channel.

The more positive the gate becomes,

the more the electric field chokes off the
current through the channel, and the
smaller the Drain current Id becomes
 FUNCTION OF
A FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR
FETs or Unipolar Transistor uses either electronics
in N-channel or Holes in P- channels for conduction.
The four terminals are Source, Gate, Drain & Substrate . In
most FETs Body is connected to Source to inside the package.

In FETs , the Drain Source current flows via conductivity

channels that connects the source region to the Drain region .
The conductivity channel is varied in size and shape by the
Electric field when a voltage is applied between the gate
and source.

The N-channel depletion mode device shown, a negative G-S

voltage causes a depletion region to expand and encroach on
the channel from the sides narrowing the channel, resistance
between S-D becomes large and FET is turned off.

Likewise, a positive G-S voltage increases the channel

size and allows electrons to flow easily.
FET has Two Families
1. JUNCTION FETs 2. INSULATED GATE FETs
FETs operate in Two Modes
1. Depletion Mode 2. Enhancement Mode
 DEPLETION & PINCH OFFJEFTs

A JFET works because the voltage at the gate causes an electric field that
increases or decreases the flow of electrons or holes along the
channel.
With the gate voltage constant, if the drain voltage increases, the drain
current increases till a certain leveling value.
As the gate voltage is increased, a Depletion region begins to form in the
channel. Since the charge carriers cannot flow in the depletion region,
they are forced to flow through a narrowed channel.
Larger the grid voltage become, the wider the depletion region gets and
the channel gets narrowed more and more.
If the grid voltage gets high enough, the depletion region gets so large
that it closes the channel altogether preventing any flow of charge
carriers from the source to the drain.
This condition is called Pinch off

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 JFET OPERATION
Depletion Mode: Pinch off Mode:
AMPLIFICATION BY JFET
Assuming N-Channel JFET and constant Drain voltage,
When Gate Voltage is large and negative, the JFET is
pinched off and no current flows through channel. As
Gate Voltage gets less negative, the channel gets wider
and the drain current increases. The channel starts
conducting when gate voltage is At the fwd break over ((-
2.5V). As gate voltage becomes more positive(+0.5V),
part of the drain current leaks through The gate creating
an undesirable condition. The greatest amplification
occurs when gate voltage is such that the slope of the
curve is the steepest ( marked X )
For high-power amplification when the signal is quite
strong, results are the best when JFET is biased at
pinchoff or beyond (marked Y). Small fluctuations in gate
voltage causes large changes in drain current which
produces wide swings in the DC voltage across the drain
resistor. AC part of this voltage is passed through the
Output Capacitor and appears as a signal of much greater
peak voltage than that of the input at the gate.
 BASIC FET CIRCUIT-1
COMMON-SOURCE CIRCUIT
The ckt shown is with a N-Channel JFET which can
also be substituted by a N-Channel depletion mode
MOSFET and effect of the circuit would be the same.

If a P-Channel JFET/MOSFET is used, the power

supply must provide a negative.

The circuit is similar to, and behaves like. a Common-

emitter transistor circuit.

The circuit forms the basis for amplifiers and

oscillators especially at R.F.

The common-source arrangement provides the

greatest gain of the three FET ckt. Configurations.

The output is 180D out of phase with the input.

 BASIC FET CIRCUIT-2
COMMON-GATE CIRCUIT
The ckt shown is with a N-Channel JFET
which can also be substituted by a N-
Channel depletion mode MOSFET and
effect of the circuit would be the same.

If a P-Channel JFET/MOSFET is used, the

power supply must provide a negative.

The circuit is similar to, and behaves like.

a Common-Base transistor circuit.

The common-Gate arrangement

provides the lesser gain than the
common-source arrangement

The output is in phase with the input.

 BASIC FET CIRCUIT-3
COMMON-DRAIN CIRCUIT
The ckt shown is with a N-Channel JFET which
can also be substituted by a N-Channel Depletion
mode MOSFET and effect of the circuit would be
the same.

If a P-Channel JFET/MOSFET is used, the power

supply must provide a negative.

The circuit is similar to, and behaves like. a

Common-Collector transistor circuit.

Like an emitter follower. It is often used as a low-

cost alternative to a transformer, especially in RF
applications.

The common-Gate arrangement provides the

lesser gain than the common-source arrangement

The output is in phase with the input

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 MOSFET

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 TYPES OF MOSFET
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The IGFET or MOSFET is a voltage controlled field
effect transistor that differs from a JFET in that it
has a Metal Oxide Gate electrode which is
electrically insulated from the main semiconductor
N-channel or P-channel by a very thin layer of
insulating material usually silicon dioxide,
commonly known as glass.
This ultra thin insulated metal gate electrode can be
thought of as one plate of a capacitor. The isolation
of the controlling Gate makes the input resistance
of the MOSFET extremely high way up in the Mega-
ohms ( M ) region thereby making it almost
infinite.
As the Gate terminal is isolated from the main
current carrying channel NO current flows into the
gate and just like the JFET, the MOSFET also acts
like a voltage controlled resistor were the current
flowing through the main channel between the
Drain and Source is proportional to the input
voltage. Also like the JFET, this very high input
resistance can easily accumulate large amounts of
static charge resulting in the MOSFET becoming
easily damaged unless carefully handled or
protected.
CH-
 DEPLETION AND ENHANCEMENT
MODES OF MOSFETS

In a JFET, the channel conducts with zero base. As

gate voltage increases negatively, the depletion zone
increases, and the charge carriers are forced to pass
through a narrowed channel. This is known as
Depletion Mode. A MOSFET can also be made to
work in the depletion mode.

An Enhancement-Mode JFET/MOSFET has a

pinched-off channel (zero channel) at zero bias. It is
necessary to create a channel by applying a gate
bias voltage.

This is because of differences in the internal

construction of depletion-mode and enhancement-
mode JFET/MOSFET

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 UJT- UNIJUNCTION TRANSISTOR
UJT-Only one junction and two bases formed lightly doped in N type materials. E-emitter is P type
material and heavily doped. The resistance between the B1 and B2 when emitter is open circuited
is called the inter base resistance. UJT is biased with the +ve voltage between the two Bases
(B1&B2). This causes the Potential difference along the length of the device. It have the negative
resistance region so its not used in amplifier and its mostly used for pulse generator.
UJT generate the pulse to trigger the other devices like SCR. When the voltage between emitter
and Base1 is Zero the UJT not conduct. N type bar act as resistance only small amount of leakage
currents flows due to the reverse bias junction. Now Increase the emitter voltage step by step the
resistance B1&E decreases and also reverse current decreases. When the Emitter voltage is
increased the peak level, the current start flow from emitter to base. UJT exhibits the Negative
resistance characteristics so, it cab be employed as Oscillator not for amplifier.

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 UJT- UNIJUNCTION TRANSISTOR
UJT is an uni-junction device. This single pn junction device consists of a lightly doped n-type
silicon bar. The p- type impurity is diffused into the base producing the pn junction. The below
Figure shows the equivalent circuit of UJT. The resistance of the silicon bar is called inter base
Resistance RBB represented by the two resistors in series viz. Rb1 and Rb2.
The pn junction is represented in the emitter by a diode D. The operation of UJT may be
explained in three different modes.
With no voltage applied to the UJT, the inter base resistance is given by Rbb=Rb1 + Rb2.
If a voltage Vbb is applied between the bases with emitter open, the voltage will divide up across
Rb1 and Rb2. Voltage across Rb1 is V1= Rb1/(Rb1+Rb2) X Vbb.

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 UJT CHARACTERISTICS

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 UJT- UNIJUNCTION TRANSISTOR
UJT Relaxation Oscillator circuit, mainly used for triggering purposes is shown above.
This circuit is ideally suited for triggering an SCR since UJT is capable of generating sharp,
high powered pulses of short duration whose peak and average power dont exceed the
power capabilities of the SCR gate for which they are intended.

When power is applied to the given circuit, capacitor C starts charging exponentially through R
to the applied voltage VCC. The voltage across C is applied to the emitter of UJT. When C is
charged to Vp, then UJT turns ON. This greatly reduces the effective resistance between
emitter and base1 of UJT. A sharp pulse of current flows from base1 to emitter, discharging C
through Rb1.

When the capacitor voltage drops below Vp, UJT is brought back to the previous
state and the capacitor again begins to charge towards Vbb. This produces a sawtooth wave.
In the circuit diagram shown above Rb1 and Rb2 are used to protect UJT from overheating.
This in turn provides sharp pulses across them: Rb1 produces a positive spike and Rb2
produces a negative spike.

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