Transistor
Transistor
Transistor
construction
NPN transistor
construction
FORWARD & REVERSE BIASED
(a) The majority carriers in the emitter p-type material are holes
(c) The base region is very thin and is only lightly doped with
electrons so although some electron-hole pairs are formed, many
holes are left in the base region
(e) A large proportion of the holes in the base region cross the base
collector junction into the collector region, creating a collector
current; conventional current flow is in the direction of hole
movement.
(a) The majority carriers in the n-type emitter material are electrons
(c) The base region is very thin and only lightly doped with holes, so
some recombination with holes occurs but many electrons are left
in the base region
(e) A large proportion of the electrons in the base region cross the
base collector junction into the collector region, creating a
collector current.
TRANSISTOR AS A SWITCH
Any sufficient source of DC current may be
used to turn the transistor on, and that
source of current need only be a fraction of
the amount of current needed
Construction Stage
Operation
• The base of the
NPN transistor
must be positive
with respect to
the emitter,
• And the
collector must
be more positive
than the base.
Operation
Biasing
Biasing
METER CHECK
OF A
TRANSISTOR
Testing of Transistor
• TESTING A TRANSISTOR to determine if it is good or
bad can be done with an ohmmeter or transistor tester or
by the substitution method.
• PRECAUTIONS should be taken when working with
transistors since they are susceptible to damage by
electrical overloads, heat, humidity, and radiation.
• TRANSISTOR LEAD IDENTIFICATION plays an
important part in transistor maintenance because before a
transistor can be tested or replaced, its leads must be
identified. Since there is NO standard method of
identifying transistor leads, check some typical lead
identification schemes or a transistor manual before
attempting to replace a transistor.
Multimeter without diode check
Meter readings will be
exactly opposite, of
course, for an NPN
transistor, with both PN
junctions facing the
other way
If a multimeter with a “Diode Check" function is
used in this test, it will be found that the
emitter-base junction possesses a slightly
greater forward voltage drop than the
collector-base junction. This forward voltage
difference is due to the disparity in doping
concentration between the emitter and collector
regions of the transistor: the emitter is a much
more heavily doped piece of semiconductor
material than the collector, causing its junction
with the base to produce a higher forward
voltage drop.
Using multimeter with “Diode Check”, the data
obtained:
Collector current
A maximum value for collector current will be given by
the manufacturer in amps.
Saturation voltages
Ideally, a saturated transistor acts as a closed switch
contact between collector and emitter, dropping zero
voltage at full collector current.
Conversely, when it is
fully conductive
between emitter and
collector (passing as
much current through
the collector as the
collector power supply
and load will allow), it is
said to be saturated.
CLASS A AMPLIFIER
Class A operation is
where the entire
input waveform is
faithfully
reproduced.
Class A operation
can only be obtained
when the transistor
spends its entire
time in the active
mode, never
reaching either
cutoff or saturation
CLASS B AMPLIFIER
Class B operation is
the transistor spent
half its time in active
mode and the other
half in cutoff