BASIC ELECTRONICS

MODULE 3

Bipolar Junction Transistor

Prepared by

H V Balachandra Achar
Senior Lecturer,
Dept. of E&C Engg.,
M I T, Manipal

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering,

Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, INDIA

Syllabus

• Introduction to Bipolar Junction Transistor

• BJT Operation
• BJT Configurations
• Tutorials
• BJT Biasing
• Tutorials
• BJT Amplifier
• Tutorials

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 Reference Books

1. “Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory” by

Boylestad & Nashelsky,
2. “Integrated Electronics” by Millman & Halkias,

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Introduction
• Solid state transistor was invented by a team of scientists at
Bell laboratories during 1947-48
• It brought an end to vacuum tube era
• Advantages of solid state transistor over vacuum devices:
– Smaller size, light weight
– No heating elements required
– Lower power consumption and operating voltages
– Low price

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 Introduction

Figure showing relative sizes of

transistor, IC and LED

Figure showing different transistor packages

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Introduction
• Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) is a sandwich consisting of
three layers of two different types of semiconductor
• Two kinds of BJT sandwiches are: NPN and PNP

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 Introduction
• The three layers of BJT are called Emitter, Base and Collector
• Base is very thin compared to the other two layers
• Base is lightly doped. Emitter is heavily doped. Collector is
moderately doped
• NPN – Emitter and Collector are made of N-type
semiconductors; Base is P-type
• PNP – Emitter and Collector are P-type, Base is N-type
• Both types (NPN and PNP) are extensively used, either
separately or in the same circuit

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Introduction

• Transistor symbols:

Note: Arrow direction from P to N (like diode)

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 Introduction
• BJT has two junctions – Emitter-Base (EB) Junction and
Collector-Base (CB) Junction
• Analogous to two diodes connected back-to-back:
– EB diode and CB diode
• The device is called “bipolar junction transistor” because
current is due to motion of two types of charge carriers – free
electrons & holes

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Transistor Operation
• Operation of NPN transistor is discussed here; operation of
PNP is similar with roles of free electrons and holes
interchanged
• For normal operation (amplifier application)
– EB junction should be forward biased
– CB junction should be reverse biased
• Depletion width at EB junction is narrow (forward biased)
• Depletion width at CB junction is wide (reverse biased)

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 Transistor Operation

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Transistor Operation

Un-biased transistor showing barriers at the junctions

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 Transistor Operation

C-B junction is reverse biased – increased barrier height

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Transistor Operation

E-B junction is forward biased – aids charge flow

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 Transistor Operation

Electron-hole combination – leads to small base current

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Transistor Operation
• When EB junction is forward biased, free electrons from
emitter region drift towards base region
• Some free electrons combine with holes in the base to form
small base current
• Inside the base region (p-type), free electrons are minority
carriers. So most of the free electrons are swept away into the
collector region due to reverse biased CB junction

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 Transistor Operation
• Three currents can be identified in BJT
1. Emitter current
• This is due to flow of free electrons from emitter to base
• Results in current from base to emitter
2. Base current
• This is due to combination of free electrons and holes in the base
region
• Small in magnitude (usually in micro amperes)
3. Collector current
• Has two current components:
• One is due to injected free electrons flowing from base to collector
• Another is due to thermally generated minority carriers

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Transistor Operation
C IC C IC

IB IB

B B
IE IE
E E

NPN PNP

• Note the current directions in NPN and PNP transistors

• For both varieties: ---(1)
IE = IC + IB

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 Transistor Operation
• As noted earlier, collector current has two components:
– One due to injected charge carriers from emitter
– Another due to thermally generated minority carriers
• Both results in current in the same direction. Hence
I =α I + I --- (2)
C dc E CBO

αdc is the fraction of charge carriers emitted from emitter, that

enter into the collector region
ICBO is the reverse saturation current in CB diode
I −I --- (3)
α dc = C CBO
IE
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Transistor Operation
• As approximation, we can neglect ICBO compared to IE and IC
• Hence approximate equations are: I = α I
C dc E

IC
αdc =
IE
• Like the reverse saturation current of ordinary diode, ICBO also
doubles for every 10o rise in temperature.
• So ICBO cannot be neglected at higher temperatures
• The parameter αdc is called common-base dc current gain
• Value of αdc is around 0.99

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 Transistor Operation
• We have C
I =α I + I
dc E CBO

• Substituting for IE, we get I C = α dc (I C + I B ) + I CBO

(1 − α dc ) I C = α dc I B + I CBO
α dc I
IC = I B + CBO
(1 − α dc ) (1 − α dc )
I C = β dc I B + I CEO --- (4)
• Where α dc and I CBO
β dc = I CEO = = (β dc + 1)I CBO
(1 − α dc ) (1 − α dc )
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Transistor Operation
• Equations (2) and (4) are two alternate forms of BJT current
equation
• Since value of αdc is around 0.99, ICEO >> ICBO
• However, ICEO is still very small compared to IC
I
• Hence approximation of (4) gives: I C = β dc I B or β dc = C
IB
• Parameter βdc is called common emitter dc current gain
• Values of αdc and βdc vary from transistor to transistor. Both
αdc and βdc are sensitive to temperature changes

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 Problems
1. A BJT has alpha (dc) 0.998 and collector-to-base reverse sat
current 1µA. If emitter current is 5mA, calculate the
collector and base currents. (Ans: 4.99 mA, 10 µA)
2. An npn transistor has collector current 4mA and base current
10 µA. Calculate the alpha and beta values of the transistor,
neglecting the reverse sat current ICBO (Ans: 0.9975, 400)
3. In a transistor, 99% of the carriers injected into the base
cross over to the collector region. If collector current is
4mA and collector leakage current is 6 µA, Calculate emitter
and base currents (Ans: 4.034 mA, 34 µA)

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Transistor Configurations
• BJT has three terminals
• For two-port applications, one of the BJT terminals needs to
be made common between input and output

Input 2-port Output

device

• Accordingly three configurations exist:

– Common Base (CB) configuration
– Common Emitter (CE) configuration
– Common Collector (CC) configuration
• (The last one is not discussed in this course)

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 Transistor Configurations
• Common Base configuration

(Resistors are not shown here

for simplicity)

• Base is common between input and output

– Input voltage: VEB Input current: IE
– Output voltage: VCB Output current: IC
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Transistor Configurations
• CB Input characteristics
– A plot of IE versus VEB
for various values of VCB
– It is similar to forward
biased diode
characteristics
– As VCB is increased, IE
increases only slightly
– Note that second letter in
the suffix is B (for base)

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 Transistor Configurations
• Input resistance ri
∆VEB
ri = with VCB const
∆I E

• Voltage amplification factor AV

∆VCB
AV = with I E const
∆VEB

• Both can be determined from the CB input characteristics

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Transistor Configurations

VEB1 − VEB 2 VCB1 − VCB 2

ri = AV =
I E1 − I E 2 VEB1 − VEB 2

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 Transistor Configurations
• CB Output characteristics
– A plot of IC versus VCB for various values of IE
– Three regions are identified: Active, Cutoff, Saturation
– Active region:
• E-B junction forward biased
• C-B junction reverse biased
• IC is positive, VCB is positive
• IC increases with IE
• For given IE, IC is almost constant; increases only
slightly with increase in VCB. This is due to base-width
modulation (Early effect)

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Transistor Configurations
CB Output characteristics

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 Transistor Configurations
• Base Width modulation
– As the reverse bias voltage VCB is increased, the depletion
region width at the C-B junction increases. Part of this
depletion region lies in the base layer. So, effective base
width decreases. Hence number of electron-hole
combination at the base decreases. So base current reduces
and collector current increases.
– Note that IE = IC + IB

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Transistor Configurations
• When IE = 0, IC = ICBO
– ICBO is collector to base current with emitter open
– Below this line we have cut-off region
– Here both junctions are reverse biased
• Region to the left of y-axis (VCB negative) is saturation region
– Here both junctions are forward biased
– IC decreases exponentially, and eventually changes
direction

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 Transistor Configurations
• Output resistance ro

∆VCB
rO = with I E const
∆I C

• Current amplification factor AI or αac

∆I C
α ac = with VCB const
∆I E

• Both can be measured from output characteristics

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Transistor Configurations
• Common Emitter configuration

(Resistors are omitted for simplicity)

• Emitter is common between input and output

– Input voltage: VBE Input current: IB
– Output voltage: VCE Output current: IC
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 Transistor Configurations
CE input characteristics

• Plot of IB versus VBE for

various values of VCE
• Similar to diode
characteristics
• As VCE is increased, IB
decreases only slightly
• This is due to base-width
modulation
• Note that second suffix is E
(for emitter)
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Transistor Configurations
• CE output characteristics
– A plot of IC versus VCE for various values of IB
– Three regions identified: Active, Cut-off, Saturation
– Active region:
• Linear region in the output characteristics
• E-B junction forward biased
• C-B junction reverse biased
• IC increases with IB
• For given IB, IC increases slightly with increase in VCE;
this is due to base-width modulation (Early effect)

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 Transistor Configurations
CE output characteristics

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Transistor Configurations
• Note that VCE = VCB + VBE
• So if VCE is increased, effectively VCB also increases
• For saturation to take place, C-B junction should be forward
biased.
• This happens when VCE is approximately 0.3 V (or less) for Si
• Note that when VCE= 0.3V, and VBE= 0.6 V, VCB= –0.3V (a
forward bias of 0.3 V)
• So region to the left of the vertical line VCE=VCE(sat)=0.3V (for
silicon) is considered as saturation region
• Region below IB=0 line (or IC=ICEO) is cut-off region

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 Transistor Configurations
• ICEO is much larger than ICBO because of the relation:
I CBO
I CEO = • Note that value of αdc is around 0.99
1 − α dc

• The values of αdc & αac, and βdc & βac are almost the same.
Hence the subscripts can be omitted for simplicity

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Transistor Configurations
• Input resistance ri • Output resistance ro
∆VBE ∆VCE
ri = with VCE = const ro = with I B = const
∆I B ∆I C

• Voltage gain AV • Current gain AI or βac

∆VCE ∆I C
AV = with I B = const β ac = with VCE = const
∆VBE ∆I B

• All these parameters can be determined from CE characteristics

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 Transistor Configurations
• Experimental
setup for
determining CE
characteristics:

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Tutorials
1. A Ge transistor with β = 100 has collector-to-base leakage
current of 5 µA. If the transistor is connected in common-
emitter operation, find the collector current for base current
(a) 0 (b) 40 µA.
Sol: Given that ICBO = 5µA, and β = 100
We know that I C = β dc I B + I CEO

When IB = 0, IC = ICEO = (β+1)ICBO = 505 µA

When IB = 40 µA, IC = βIB + ICEO
= (100 × 40 × 10–6) + (505 × 10–6)
= 4.505 mA

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 Tutorials
2. A Ge Transistor has collector current of 51 mA when the base
current is 0.4 mA. If β = 125, then what is its collector cutoff
current ICEO? (Ans: 1 mA)
3. In a transistor circuit, when the base current is increased from
0.32 mA to 0.48 mA, the emitter current increases from 15 mA
to 20 mA. Find αac and βac values. (Ans: 0.968, 30.25)
4. A transistor with α = 0.98 and ICBO = 5 µA has IB = 100 µA.
Find IC and IE. (Ans: 5.15 mA, 5.25 mA)

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Transistor Biasing
• What is meant by biasing the transistor?
– Applying external dc voltages to ensure that transistor
operates in the desired region
• Which is the desired region?
– For amplifier application, transistor should operate in active
region
– For switch application, it should operate in cut-off and sat.
• What is meant by quiescent point (Q-point)?
– The point we get by plotting the dc values of IC , IB and VCE
(when ac input is zero) on the transistor characteristics

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 Transistor Biasing
• Transistor characteristics
showing Q-point
– Q-point is in the middle
of active region.
– This is called “Class-A”
operation. (Other classes
are discussed later)

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Transistor Biasing
• Types of biasing:
– Fixed bias and Self bias
• Fixed bias:
– The value of IB is “fixed” by choosing
proper value for RB
– Equations to consider are:
VCC − VBE
IB =
RB

VCE = VCC − I C RC

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 Transistor Biasing
• Pros and Cons of Fixed bias:
– Pros: 1) Simple circuit
2) Uses very few resistors

– Cons: Q-point is unstable

1) If temperature increases, then β increases, and
hence ICQ and VCEQ vary (effectively Q-point shifts)
2) If the transistor is replaced with another
transistor having different β value, then also Q-point shifts

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Transistor Biasing
• Load Line
– We have: VCE = VCC − I C RC

– This is an equation of straight line with points VCC/RC and

VCC lying on y-axis and x-axis respectively
– This line is called “Load line” because it depends on
resistor RC considered as “Load” and VCC
– Intersection of load line and transistor characteristic curve
is the Q-point or operating point
– This point is the common solution for characteristics and
load line equation

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 Transistor Biasing
Variation in load line with
circuit parameters VCC, RC
and RB

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Transistor Biasing
• Voltage divider bias or Self bias
– Resistor RE connected between
emitter and ground
– Voltage-divider resistors R1 & R2
replace RB
– Circuit can be analyzed in two
methods:
• Exact method (using
Thevenin’s theorem)
• Approximation method
(neglecting base current)
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 Transistor Biasing
• Exact method:
– Input side of self-bias
(Fig. a) transformed into
Thevenin’s equivalent
circuit (Fig. b) where,
RTH is the resistance
looking into the
terminals A & B (Fig. c)
and VTH is given by:
VCC R2 R1 R2
VTH = RTH = R1 || R2 =
R1 + R2 R1 + R2

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Transistor Biasing
• Self-bias circuit redrawn with input side
replaced by Thevenin’s equivalent :
• Equations to consider:
VTH − VBE
IB =
RTH + ( β + 1) RE

• Since β >> 1 and (β+1)RE >> RTH

VTH − VBE VTH − VBE
IB ≈ IC = β I B =
β RE RE

• Since IC is almost independent of β,

VCE = VCC − I C RC − I E R E
Q-point is stable

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 Transistor Biasing
• Approximate analysis:
– Carried out only if βRE ≥ 10R2
• IB is negligible compared to I1 and I2
• So,

VCC R2 VB − VBE
VB = IE =
R1 + R2 RE

I C = αI E

VCE = VCC − I C RC − I E RE

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Tutorials
1. For a fixed bias circuit using Si transistor, RB = 500 kΩ, RC = 2 kΩ, VCC =
15 V, ICBO = 20 µA and β = 70. Find the collector current ICQ and VCEQ at
Q-point. Take VBE as 0.7 V. (Ans: 3.422mA, 8.156V)
2. A Si transistor is biased for a constant base current. If β = 80, VCEQ = 8 V,
RC = 3 kΩ and VCC = 15 V, find ICQ and the value of RB required.
(Ans: 2.33 mA, 493 K)
3. Repeat problem 2 if the transistor is a germanium device. (VBE=0.3V)
(Ans: 2.33 mA, 507 K)
4. For a fixed bias circuit, VCC = 12 V and RC = 4 kΩ. The Ge transistor used
is characterized by β = 50, ICEO = 0 and VCE sat = 0.2 V. Find the value of
RB that just results in saturation. (Ans: 198.3K)

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 Tutorials
5. For a self bias circuit using silicon transistor, RE = 300 Ω, RC = 500 Ω,
VCC = 15 V, β = 100 and . If 10R2= βRE, then determine the value of R1
to get VCEQ = VCC / 2. (Ans: 9.85K)
6. For a self bias circuit, the transistor is a Si device, RE = 200 Ω, R1 =
10R2 = 10 kΩ, RC = 2 kΩ, β = 100 and VCC = 15 V. Determine the
values of ICQ and VCEQ.
7. Suppose if the transistor used in problem 6 failed, and was replaced with
a new transistor with β = 75. Is the new transistor still biased for active
region operation?
8. A self bias circuit uses Si transistor, RC = 330 Ω, RE = 100 Ω and VCC =
12 V. Estimate the values of R1 and R2 required to provide a base
current of 0.3 mA, so as to locate the operating point at ICQ = 18 mA and
VCEQ = 4.25 V.

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Transistor Amplifier

• Amplifier
– Device which gives larger swing in output voltage
proportional to the input voltage swing
– BJT basically amplifies current: Collector current equals
beta times Base current
– With proper circuit designs, we can get voltage
amplification and power (both voltage and current)
amplification
– For faithful amplification (no distortion), BJT should
operate in Active region throughout the input cycle (Class
A)
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 Transistor Amplifier
– Without any bias,
transistor is in cut-off
(IC=0, VCE=0)
– Biasing circuit fixes the
operating point in the
middle of active region
required for faithful
amplification
– Figure shows common-
emitter amplifier circuit
employing fixed bias

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Transistor Amplifier
• With reference to the fig in previous slide, as input voltage vin
varies, iin varies, thus base current iB varies
• This variation in base current is amplified beta times to get
variation in collector current iC
• Output voltage vout is VCC – iC RC
• Note that if vin increases, there is proportional decrease in vout,
but of greater magnitude
• Similarly if vin decreases, vout increases proportionally
• Thus output voltage of CE amplifier is 180o out of phase with
input voltage
• (Note that small letters are used to represent ac quantities)

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 Transistor Amplifier
• Voltage gain or voltage
amplification factor is vout /vin
which is dependent on β, RC
and other physical parameters
of the transistor
• Figure shows input and output
waveforms for the amplifier
circuit shown previously
• Note the dc shift in the output
voltage waveform. i.e., when
vin = 0, vout = VCEQ

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Transistor Amplifier
• This
animation
shows the
working of
Common
Emitter
transistor
circuit

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 Transistor Amplifier
• Gain of the amplifier is usually expressed in decibels
• (AV)dB = 20 log10 | AV |
• Usually a gain of 100 (i.e., 40 dB) can be obtained using single
transistor. For higher gain requirement, two or more amplifier
stages are to be cascaded
• Overall gain is product of individual gains; But when expressed
in dB, overall gain is sum of individual gains (in dB)

AV = AV 1 . AV 2 ....... AVN
( AV ) dB = ( AV 1 ) dB + ( AV 2 ) dB + ....... + ( AVN ) dB

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Transistor Amplifier

• RC coupling
– Fig shows CE amplifier
employing self bias
– Additional components
are CC and CE
– CC is called coupling
capacitor – used to
prevent dc component
from entering or leaving
amplifier stage

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 Transistor Amplifier
– CE is called emitter bypass capacitor – used to bypass the
ac emitter current – preventing it from flowing through RE
– If ac emitter current is allowed to pass through RE, then vBE
reduces and hence output voltage reduces

• Frequency response of amplifier

– It’s important to know the behavior of amplifier at different
frequencies
– Gain is NOT constant at all frequencies – depends on
various factors
– Frequency response is a plot of gain versus frequency

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Transistor Amplifier
• Figure shows frequency
response plot
• At lower and higher
frequencies, gain is less
• Gain attains const value
at mid frequencies
• Bandwidth of amplifier is
range of frequencies over
which gain is not less
than 3 dB of maximum 20 log | 0.707 AVO | = 20 log | AVO | – 3
gain

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 Transistor Amplifier

• Analysis of frequency response curve

– At very low frequencies, reactance of coupling capacitors is
high, hence there is loss of signal voltage across capacitors,
resulting in reduced gain
– Also at low frequencies, emitter bypass capacitor does not
fully bypass the ac emitter current, hence ac voltage drop
develops across RE, resulting in reduced gain
– At very high frequencies, shunt capacitances due to wiring
and inter-layer junction capacitances will be prominent,
hence resulting in signal loss
– At mid frequencies, gain is maximum and constant
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Transistor Amplifier

• Classification of amplifiers:
– Based on mode of operation:
• Class A: collector current flows throughout the complete input
cycle (360o); Q-point is in the centre of active region (no distortion)
• Class B: collector current flows during (positive or negative) half
cycle of input; Q-point is at “just cut-off” or “just saturation”
• Class AB: collector current flows for more than half cycle, but less
than full cycle of input waveform; Q-point is “near cut-off” or “near
saturation”
• Class C: collector current flows for less than half cycle of input
waveform; Q-point is in “deep cutoff” or “deep saturation”
• (For classes B, AB and C, output is distorted or clipped)

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 Tutorials
1. A three-stage amplifier circuit has first stage gain of 45 dB,
second stage gain of 50 dB and third stage gain of –5 dB.
What is the overall gain? If input to the first stage is 0.1mV,
what is the output of final stage?
2. An amplifier has maximum gain of 200 and bandwidth of
500 kHz. If lower cutoff freq is 50 Hz, what is the upper
cutoff freq and gain at this frequency?
3. Design a self bias circuit, given the following parameters:
IC=1mA, VCC=12V, VCE=VCC/2, VB=VCC/10, beta=100,
VBE=0.6V, R2=2K

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End of Module 3

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