Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and

Technology, Topi, Pakistan

ME203
Circuits and Electronic Devices

Lecture No: 23 & 24

Instructor
Dr. Abid Imran
------Faculty of Mechanical Engineering------ Fall Semester
1 2020
Content
• Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
• BJT parameters and characteristics
• Collector Characteristic Curves.
• The BJT as Amplifier.
• The BJT as Switch
 Bipolar Junction Transistor
• The BJT is constructed with three doped semiconductor regions separated by two pn junctions
• Three regions are called emitter, base, and collector.
• The pn junction joining the base region and the emitter region is called the base-emitter junction.
• The pn junction joining the base region and the collector region is called the base-collector junction.
Doping level
• The base region is lightly doped and very thin compared to
the heavily doped emitter and the moderately doped
collector regions
 BJT Operation
• BJT to operate properly as an amplifier, the two pn junctions must be correctly biased
with external dc voltages.

• In Both cases the base-emitter (BE) junction is forward-biased and the base-collector
(BC) junction is reverse-biased

• This condition is called

forward-reverse bias.
BJT Operation
Transistor Currents
• The directions of the currents in an npn transistor and its schematic symbol.
• These diagrams show that the emitter current (IE) is the sum of the collector
current (IC) and the base current (IB)
 BJT parameters and characteristics

• The dc current gain of a transistor is the ratio of the dc collector current (IC) to the dc base
current (IB) and is designated dc βDC.
20< 𝛽 𝐷𝐶 <200
• The ratio of the dc collector current  
(IC) to the dc emitter current (IE) is
the dc alpha αDC

0.95<
  𝛽 𝐷𝐶 <0.99
 BJT parameters and characteristics

 Example: Determine the dc current gain and the emitter current IE for a transistor
where50 mA and 3.65 mA.
BJT Circuit Analysis
BJT Circuit Analysis

• BY applying KVL −𝑉
  𝐵𝐸 −𝑉 𝑅𝐵 +𝑉 𝐵𝐵 (A)

• BY Ohm’s Law

• “A” will become

• The base current

 BJT Circuit Analysis

• BY applying KVL −𝑉
  𝐶𝐸 −𝑉 𝑅𝐶 +𝑉 𝐶𝐶 (B)

• BY Ohm’s Law

• “B” will become

• Where

  • Finally, the voltage across reverse biased is

−𝑉
  𝐶𝐸 +𝑉 𝐶𝐵 +𝑉 𝐵𝐸
• Base current

 • current

• Emitter current

  • volatges

  • volatges
Collector Characteristic Curves
BJT Characteristics

The collector characteristic curves show the relationship

of the three transistor currents.
IC
The curve shown is for a fixed Breakdown
based current. The first region is region
the saturation region. Active region
C
B
As VCE is increased, IC increases
until B. Then it flattens in
region between points B and C,
Saturation
which is the active region. region
After C, is the breakdown A VCE
region. 0 0.7 V VCE(max)
 Collector Characteristic Curves (Active
region)
BC: Reversed biased
BE: Forward biased

𝐼 𝐶

𝐼  𝐵 4

𝐼  𝐵 3
𝐼  𝐵 2
𝐶 
𝐼  𝐵 1

𝐵 
𝟎  .𝟕 𝑉  𝐶𝐸

𝐸 
  when
Collector Characteristic Curves (Breakdown region)

𝐼 𝐶

𝐼  𝐵 4

𝐼  𝐵 3
𝐼  𝐵 2
𝐶 
𝐼  𝐵 1

𝐵 
𝟎  .𝟕 𝑉  𝐶𝐸

𝐸 
Collector Characteristic Curves (saturation region)

  IF 𝑉
  𝐶𝐵 =0 .1 BC: Reversed biased
  IF 𝑉
  𝐶𝐵 =0 BC: forward biased
𝐶    IF 𝑉
  𝐶𝐵 =− 0.1

𝑉
  𝐶𝐵 +
-
𝐵  𝑉
  𝐶𝐸 ≤ 0.7 𝑉  𝐶𝐵 =− 0 .7
  IF BC: forward biased

𝐸 
Collector Characteristic Curves (saturation region)
𝐼 𝐶
BC: Forward biased
𝐼  𝐵 4
BE: Forward biased
𝐼  𝐵 3
𝐼  𝐵 2
𝐼  𝐵 1

𝟎  .𝟕 𝑉  𝐶𝐸

𝐵𝑌
  𝐾𝑉𝐿
Simple rule:
−𝑉
  𝐶𝐸 −𝑉 𝑅𝐶 +𝑉 𝐶𝐶
  If
In saturation mode

otherwise in active mode

 Saturation mode or Active mode
 Exaple:Determine whether or not the transistor in
Figure is in saturation. Assume

  • Find the current: (Saturation region)

• Find the base current:

  AS
  • Find the current again (active region):

transistor is saturated
Saturation mode or Active mode
RC 3.3 kW

RB +
What is the saturation current? Assume VCE = 0.2 VCC
βDC = 200 15 V
V in saturation. Transistor is saturated or not + 220 kW –
VBB
3V –

VCC  0.2 V 15 V  0.2 V

I SAT    4.48 mA
RC 3.3 k

3.0 V  0.7 V
Is the transistor saturated? IB   10.45  A
220 k

IC = b IB = 200 (10.45 mA) = 2.09 mA Since IC < ISAT, it is not saturated.

Collector Characteristic Curves
BJT Characteristics

• By setting up other values of base current, a

family of collector curves is developed.

• bDC is the ratio of collector  DC 

IC
current to base current. IB

• It can be read from the curves. The value of bDC

is nearly the same wherever it is read.
Collector Characteristic Curves
BJT Characteristics
What is the bDC for the transistor shown?
Choose a base current near the
center of the range – in this case
IB3 which is 15 mA.

Read the corresponding collector

current – in this case, 1.5 mA.
Calculate the ratio:
I C 1.5 mA
 DC    100
I B 15  A
 Collector Characteristic Curves
Cutoff

• In a BJT, cutoff is the condition in which there is no base current,

which results in only an extremely small leakage current (ICEO) in the
collector circuit. For practical work, this current is assumed to be zero.

• In cutoff, neither the base-emitter

junction, nor the base-collector
junction are forward-biased.

BC: Reversed biased

BE: Reversed biased
Collector Characteristic Curves
Saturation
• In a BJT, saturation is the condition in which there is maximum collector current.
The saturation current is determined by the external circuit (VCC and RC in this case)
because the collector-emitter voltage is minimum (≈ 0.2 V)

• In saturation, an increase of base

current has no effect on the
collector circuit and the relation IC
= bDCIB is no longer valid.
Modes of Operation applications
BJT configurations
and Characteristics

Characteristics and
Applications
BOOK: Electronic Devices, electron flow version.
Chapter 4: SECTIONS: 4-1, 4-2, 4-3 (before more about Bdc)

Relevant examples.

26