SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering and Architecture

Department of Electronics Engineering

In Partial Requirements of the Course

ME 2251L: Basic Electronics Laboratory

Laboratory Activity 8
Transistor Testing

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Daga, Kristan O’neal Cervantes Engr. Jeorge C. Antonio
SEA-ECE Faculty

Date Submitted:

I. TOPIC LEARNING OUTCOME

TLO 8: Recognize NPN and PNP using an ohmmeter.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 1
 II. DISCUSSION OF THEORY

Ask any field or bench technician what their most-used piece of test equipment is and they will
probably say a DMM (Digital MultiMeter). These versitiale devices can be used to test and diagnose
a wide range of circuits and components. In a pinch, a DMM can even substitute for expensive,
specialized test equipment. One particularly usefull skill is knowing how to test a transistor using a
digital multimeter. Specialized component analyzers exist to do this task, but the expense can be
difficult to justify for the average hobbiest.

Transistor Pinouts

Fortunately, using a DMM to get a basic pass/fail reading from a suspected faulty NPN or PNP
bipoloar transistor is a simple and quick task. Some multimeters have a built-in transistor testing
function, if yours does, you can skip this blog post – simply insert your transistor into the socket on
the multimeter and set the meter to the correct mode. You will probably get information such as the
gain(hFE) that could be checked against the datasheet as well as a pass/fail reading. If your meter
does not have a transistor testing function, fear not – transistors can easily be checked with the
“Diode” testing setting. (Some meters have the diode test function coupled with the continuity test –
this is OK).

Testing the transistor

Remove the transistor from the circuit for accurate test results.

Step 1: (Base to Emitter)

Hook the positive lead from the multimeter to the to the BASE (B) of the transistor. Hook the
negative meter lead to the EMITTER (E) of the transistor. For an good NPN transistor, the meter
should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V. If you are testing PNP transistor, you should
see “OL” (Over Limit).

Step 2: (Base to Collector)

Keep  the postitive lead on the BASE (B) and place the negative lead to the COLLECTOR (C).

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 2
 For an good NPN transistor, the meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V. If you
are testing PNP transistor, you should see "OL" (Over Limit).

Step 3: (Emitter to Base)

Hook the positive lead from the multimeter to the to the EMITTER (E) of the transistor. Hook the
negative meter lead to the BASE (B) of the transistor.

For an good NPN transistor, you should see “OL” (Over Limit).If you are testing PNP transistor, the
meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V.

Step 4: (Collector to Base)

Hook the positive lead from the multimeter to the to the COLLECTOR (C) of the transistor. Hook
the negative meter lead to the BASE (B) of the transistor.

For an good NPN transistor, you should see “OL” (Over Limit).If you are testing PNP transistor, the
meter should show a voltage drop between 0.45V and 0.9V.

Step 5: (Collector to Emitter)

Hook the postitive meter lead to the COLLECTOR (C) and the negative meter lead to the EMITTER
(E) – A good NPN or PNP transistor will read "OL"/Over Limit on the meter. Swap the leads
(Positive to Emitter and Negative to Collector) – Once again, a good NPN or PNP transistor should
read “OL”.

If your bipolar transistor measures contrary to these steps, consider it to be bad.

You may also be able to use the voltage drop to determine which lead is the emitter on an unmarked
transistor, as the emitter-base junction typically has a slightly higher voltage drop than the collector-
base junction.

Remember: This test only verifies that the transistor is not shorted or open, it does not guarantee that
the transistor is operating within its designed parameters. It should only be used to help decide if you
need "replace" or "move on to the next component". This test works on bipolar transistors only – you
need to use a different method for testing FETs.

Transistor Testing

There are several different ways of testing transistors. They can be tested while in the circuit, by the
substitution method mentioned, or with a transistor tester or ohmmeter.

Transistor testers are nothing more than the solid-state equivalent of electron-tube testers (although
they do not operate on the same principle). With most transistor testers, it is possible to test the
transistor in or out of the circuit.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 3
 There are four basic tests required for transistors in practical troubleshooting: gain, leakage,
breakdown, and switching time. For maintenance and repair, however, a check of two or three
parameters is usually sufficient to determine whether a transistor needs to be replaced.

Since it is impractical to cover all the different types of transistor testers and since each tester comes
with its own operator's manual, we will move on to something you will use more frequently for
testing transistors – the ohmmeter.

Testing Transistors with an Ohmmeter

Two tests that can be done with an ohmmeter are gain, and junction resistance. Tests of a transistor's
junction resistance will reveal leakage, shorts, and opens.

TRANSISTOR GAIN TEST.–A basic transistor gain test can be made using an ohmmeter and a
simple test circuit. The test circuit can be made with just a couple of resistors and a switch, as shown
in figure below. The principle behind the test lies in the fact that little or no current will flow in a
transistor between emitter and collector until the emitter-base junction is forward biased. The only
precaution you should observe is with the ohmmeter. Any internal battery may be used in the meter
provided that it does not exceed the maximum collector-emitter breakdown voltage.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 4
 Testing a transistor's gain with an ohmmeter.

With the switch in figure below in the open position as shown, no voltage is applied to the PNP
transistor's base, and the emitter-base junction is not forward biased. Therefore, the ohmmeter should
read a high resistance, as indicated on the meter. When the switch is closed, the emitter-base circuit
is forward biased by the voltage across R1 and R2. Current now flows in the emitter-collector
circuit, which causes a lower resistance reading on the ohmmeter. A 10-to-1 resistance ratio in this
test between meter readings indicates a normal gain for an audio-frequency transistor.

To test an NPN transistor using this circuit, simply reverse the ohmmeter leads and carry out the
procedure described earlier.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 5
 TRANSISTOR JUNCTION RESISTANCE TEST.–An ohmmeter can be used to test a transistor
for leakage (an undesirable flow of current) by measuring the base-emitter, base-collector, and
collector-emitter forward and reverse resistances.

For simplicity, consider the transistor under test in each view of figure below as two diodes
connected back to back. Therefore, each diode will have a low-forward resistance and a high-reverse
resistance. By measuring these resistances with an ohmmeter as shown in the figure, you can
determine if the transistor is leaking current through its junctions. When making these
measurements, avoid using the R 1 scale on the meter or a meter with a high internal battery voltage.
Either of these conditions can damage a low-power transistor.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 6
 Testing a transistor's leakage with an ohmmeter.

Now consider the possible transistor problems that could exist if the indicated readings in figure
above are not obtained. A list of these problems is provided in table below.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 7
 RESISTANCE READINGS PROBLEMS

FORWARD REVERSE The transistor is:

LOW (NOT SHORTED) LOW (NOT SHORTED) LEAKING

LOW (SHORTED) LOW (SHORTED) SHORTED

HIGH HIGH OPEN*

*Except collector-to-emitter test.

By now, you should recognize that the transistor used in figure above is a PNP transistor. If you wish
to test an NPN transistor for leakage, the procedure is identical to that used for testing the PNP
except the readings obtained are reversed.

When testing transistors (PNP or NPN), you should remember that the actual resistance values
depend on the ohmmeter scale and the battery voltage. Typical forward and reverse resistances are
insignificant. The best indicator for showing whether a transistor is good or bad is the ratio of
forward-to-reverse resistance. If the transistor you are testing shows a ratio of at least 30 to 1, it is
probably good. Many transistors show ratios of 100 to 1 or greater.

III. DATA AND RESULTS

LABORATORY ACTIVITY 8
EQUIPMENT/ MATERIALS NEEDED:

Two (2) VOM

Q1 NPN Si Transistor, 2N2219A
Q2 PNP Si Transistor, 2N2905A
Q3 NPN ANY Transistor
R1 10kΩ, 1W
R2 150kΩ, 1W
R3 47Ω, 1W
S1 PBNO (use a basic switch if PBNO is not available)
Experiment Board K

PROCEDURES:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 8
 Objective A. Determine the type of transistor, NPN or PNP, using an ohmmeter to measure
forward and reverse resistance of the emitter-base junction.

1. a. Set the VOM to the ohmmeter function on R x 10 range.

a. Connect the common lead (negative) to the emitter of Q1, and the positive lead to the base as
shown in Figure 1a.
b. Measure the forward base-emitter resistance of the NPN transistor Q1.

RBE1 (forward) = _____0________ohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

c. Reverse the ohmmeter lead connections to Q1 as shown in Figure 1b.

d. Measure the reverse base-to-emitter resistance of the NPN transistor Q1.

RBE1 (reverse) =____∞______ohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 9
 e. Is the reverse base-emitter resistance of Q1 much higher than the forward resistance?
_________________

2. a. Repeat the procedure 1 using ANY NPN transistor Q3.

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 10
 RBE3(forward) = ____0.649.742_______ohms

RBE3(reverse) = ___∞________ohms

a. Is the reverse base-emitter resistance of Q3 much higher than the forward resistance?
______________

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 11
 3. a. Repeat procedure 1 using Silicon PNP Transistor Q2. To properly forward bias the base-
emitter junction of a PNP transistor, the positive lead must be connected to the emitter and
the negative lead connected to the base.

RBE2(forward) = _______673.425______ohms

RBE2(reverse) = ________∞________ohms

a. Is the reverse base-emitter resistance of Q2 much higher than the forward resistance?
_____________

Objective B: Measure the forward and reverse resistance of the collector-base junction in the
PNP and NPN transistors.

4. a. Connect the negative lead of the ohmmeter to the base of Q1, and the positive to the collector
as shown in figure 2a.

a. Measure the base-collector reverse resistance.

RCB1(reverse) = _____________∞____ohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 12
 b. Reverse the ohmmeter lead connections as shown in figure 2b.

d. Measure the forward collector-base resistance of NPN transistor Q1.

RCB1(forward) = _________640.682_________ohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 13
 c. Is the reverse collector-base resistance of Q1 much greater than the forward resistance?
________________
5. a. Repeat Procedure 4 using ANY BJT Q3.

RCB3(reverse) = _______∞___ohms

RCB3(forward) = ____656.097______ohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 14
 a. Repeat Procedure 4 using Silicon Transistor Q2. To reverse bias the collector-base junction
of PNP transistor, the positive lead must be connected to the base and the negative lead
connected to the collector.

RCB2(reverse) = _________∞_______ohms

RCB2(forward) = ______643.857________ohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 15
 Objective C: Determine the operating condition of a transistor using an ohmmeter.

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 16
 6. a. Examine the test circuit shown in Figure 3. Normally, there will be no current flow between
collector and emitter until the base-to-emitter junction is forward biased. With PBNO switch
S1 open, the base is connected to the negative lead of the ohmmeter through the 150kΩ
resistor R2 and thus Q1 is not forward biased.
Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

a. Calculate the maximum base current that can flow through R1 with S1 closed. Assume a 1.5
Vdc source from the ohmmeter and subtract the base emitter voltage drop of approximately
0.5 Vdc. Neglect the current through R2.

IR1 = ________6660000________ μA

b. Connect the circuit as shown in figure 3 and measure the collector current, if any, and
collector-to-emitter resistance. Set the ohmmeter to the lowest range.

IC1 = _____999.717________ μA

RCE1 = _____99.8682__________Mohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 17
 c. Set the ammeter to the 1mAdc range. Close S1 and measure collector current and collector-
emitter resistance.

IC1 = _______0.75166________mA

RCE1 = _______38.7451________kohms

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

d. Remove the ammeter from the circuit and connect the collector directly to the positive
ohmmeter lead. Do not disturb the rest of the circuit.

e. Close and open S1 several times while observing the ohmmeter. Does the ohmmeter
indirectly show that collector current flows when S1 is closed? __Yes______

f. Repeat (f) with Q2 and Q3.

S1(open) RCE2 = _____53.2956______kΩ

S1(closed) RCE2 = _______55.4679________kΩ

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 18
 S1(open) RCE3 = _______99.9957________mΩ

S1(closed) RCE3 = _____38.7379__________kΩ

Insert MultiSim Screenshot:

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 19
Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 20
 g. Is there a high resistance ratio for Q2 and Q3? ______Yes_____

IV. DOCUMENTATION OF ACTIVITY

- Picture of yourself doing the Laboratory Activity (placed on one page)

V. OBSERVATIONS

That doping concentrations play a crucial part in the unique abilities of the transistor is further
evidenced by the fact that collector and emitter are not interchangeable. If the transistor is merely
viewed as two back-to-back PN junctions or simply as a plain N-P-N or P-N-P sandwich of
materials, it may seem as though either end of the transistor could serve as a collector or emitter.
This, however, is not true. If connected “backward” in a circuit, a base-collector current will not
control the current between collector and emitter. Even though both the emitter and collector layers
of a bipolar transistor are of the same doping type (either N or P), the collector and emitter are not
identical!
The base-emitter junction allows current because it is forward biased, while the base-collector
intersection is reverse-biased. The action of base current can be thought of as “opening a gate” for
current through the collector. More specifically, any base-to-emitter current permits a limited
amount of base-to-collector current.
In the next section, this current-limiting of the transistor will be investigated in more detail.
Tested with a multimeter in the “resistance” or “diode check” modes, a transistor behaves like two
back-to-back PN (diode) junctions. The emitter-base PN junction has a slightly more significant
forward voltage drop than the collector-base PN junction because of the heavier doping of the

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 21
 emitter semiconductor layer. The reverse-biased base-collector junction blocks any current from
going through the transistor between emitter and collector. However, that junction begins to conduct
if the wind is drawn through the base wire. Base current may be considered “opening a gate” for a
limited amount of current through the collector.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, after experimenting, we can see that circuit design that is done theoretically can be
replicated by experimentation. In the first task, we successfully designed a circuit and applied bias to
the course. Using design principles identified in the pre-lab activity, the biasing of the circuit was
applied. This principle was found to be helpful in later tasks with amplification bias. The
amplification of signals was then explored. It was discovered that undesirable effects were present
without biasing in specific circuits. This was notable in the first circuit in section one. At the zero
crossings, no signal amplification was current for most of the signal. By adding DC biasing to a
circuit, we solved the problem of zero-crossing and amplified a signal in an ideal manner. Between
the amplification of the courses, it was seen that the power consumption could be lower and thus the
heat dissipation by the usage of control diodes.
VII. REFERENCES
Test a transistor with multimeter, Vetco (2012)
https://vetco.net/blog/test-a-transistor-with-a-multimeter/2017-05-04-12-25-37-07
Transistor Testing, ECS Studio (2019)
https://ecstudiosystems.com/discover/textbooks/solid-state-devices/transistors/transistor-testing/

Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 22