EEE 2285

Introduction to Analog and

Digital Electronics
Topic-3
Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)

• A transistor is a semiconductor device used to

amplify or switch electronic signals and
electrical power. It is composed of
semiconductor material usually with at least
three terminals for connection to an external
circuit.
• The invention of the BJT in 1948 at the Bell
Telephone Laboratories ushered in the era of
solid- state circuits, which led to electronics
changing the way we work.
 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
 Bipolar: Two opposite charge carriers or both majority and minority
carriers participate in conduction process.
 Junction: When N-type and P-type are connected together a Junction is created.
 Transistor: “transfer of resistance” : resistance is transferred from input to output
i.e. a small current in input resistor results in a larger current in the output resistor.
 Current Controlled Device: Output signal is dependent on an input current
 Current Controlled Current Source: Generates an output current based on an input
current.
 3 doped regions:
 Emitter (highly doped and wide) – emits majority carriers
 Base (lightly doped and narrow) – passes most of the emitter-injected
carriers into the collector.
 Collector (medium doping and wide) – collects majority carriers

3
 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
1. npn transistor:

• pnp BJT are complimentary to npn BJT.

• The material types are interchanged (n
2. pnp transistor: to p and p to n).
• The majority and minority carrier types
are interchanged
• The bias voltage polarities are reversed
and the current directions are switched.
 Mode of operation for BJT
Depending on the biasing across each of the junctions, different modes of operation are
obtained – cutoff, active, and saturation

• In active mode, transistor operates as an amplifier.

• Switching applications (e.g., logic circuits) utilize both the Cutoff and the saturation
modes.
• There is also reverse active mode in which EBJ reverse and CBJ forward. This mode
has very limited application
 Operation of BJT (npn): Active Mode
Two external voltage sources set the bias
conditions for active mode. EBJ is forward
biased and CBJ is reverse biased 𝑬
1. Emitter is highly doped. Since the B-E
junction is forward bia sed, it causes
electrons to diffuse from emitter into the
base
2. As base region is very thin, the majority of
these electrons diffuse to the edge of the
depletion region of CBJ and then are swept
to the collector by the electric field of the
reverse-biased CBJ
3. A small fraction of these electrons
recombine with the holes in base region
4. Holes are injected from base to emitter
region which value is very small
 Operation of BJT (npn): Active Mode
• EB is forward biased. V BB is large enough to vanish
depletion region. E is highly doped. So, the
concentration of majority carrier (electron) is very high.
As a result, electrons will flow from E to B region as
majority carrier.
• CB is reverse biased. So, there will be depletion region
and thus, there will be an electric field for which
electrons will flow from B to C region as minority carrier.
• VBE is used only to remove the depletion region. VCE is
greater than VBE . So, less electrons will come out from
B. Maximum electrons will move from B to C.

IE = I C + I B
Here, IC is almost equal to IE; IC = αIE; α = 1
and IB is very less than IC or IE; IC = βIB; β>>1
 Transistor Connections:
• Three leads in a transistor - emitter, base and collector terminals.
• When a transistor is to be connected in a circuit, we require four terminals; two for the
input and two for the output.
• This difficulty is overcome by making one terminal of the transistor common to both
input and output terminals.
• The input is fed between this common terminal and one of the other two terminals.
• The output is obtained between the common terminal and the remaining terminal.
• A transistor can be connected in a circuit in the following three ways:
(i) Common base connection
(ii) Common emitter connection
(iii) Common collector connection
Each circuit connection has specific advantages and disadvantages. It may be noted here
that regardless of circuit connection, the emitter is always biased in the forward direction,
while the collector always has a reverse bias.
 Common Base Connection: npn
• Input is applied between emitter and base and output is taken from collector and base

VBE
VBE VCB
Current amplification factor (α)/Common base current gain (α):
• The ratio of change in collector current to the change in emitter current at constant collector-base voltage
VCB is known as current amplification factor i.e.
𝐼𝐶
If only dc values are considered, then 𝐼𝐸

α < 1, Practical values in commercial transistors range of 0.9<α<0.99

 I-V Characteristics of Common-
Base Configuration
• Base is common for input and output.
• Input voltage is applied between emitter and base. I E is
input current.
• Output voltage is between collector and base. IC is output
current.
• Input characteristics show the change in IE with VBE.
• Output characteristics show the change in IC with VCB.
 I-V Characteristics of Common-
Base Configuration
Input characteristics:
• For a fixed V BE , if we increase V CB , I E will increase.
Because increasing V C B will increase the width of
depletion region in CB junction. So, the electric field will
have higher value and more elctrons will be attracted
from base (B) region. Thus, more electrons will flow
from emitter (E) to base (B) which will result in an
increase in IE.
• We know, I E = I C + I B . Increasing I E means now more
electrons are entering emitter (E) region. So, more
electrons will go to base (B) region and then to collector
(C). So, IC will increase.
 I-V Characteristics of Common-
Base Configuration
Output characteristics:
We know, IE = IC + IB. Increasing I E means now more
electrons are entering emitter (E) region. So, more
electrons will go to base (B) region and then to
collector (C). So, IC will increase.
 Common Base Connection: pnp

VCC
 Common Emitter Connection: npn
• Input is applied between base and emitter and output is taken from the collector and emitter
IC

VCE
VBE

VBE VCE
Base current amplification factor ( β) / Common emitter current gain ( β): The ratio of change in collector
current to the change in base current at constant collector-base voltage VCB is known as base
amplification factor i.e.

𝐶 𝐶

𝐵 𝐵

The value of β ranges from 20 to 500 which is dependent upon transistor fabrication
technique and process tolerance.
 I-V Characteristics of Common-Emitter Configuration

• Emitter is common for input and output.

• Input voltage is applied between emitter and base. I B is
input current.
• Output voltage is between emitter and collector. I C is
output current.
IC change in IB with VBE.
• Input characteristics show the
• Output characteristics show the change in IC with VCE.

VCE
VBE
 I-V Characteristics of Common-
Emitter Configuration
Input Characteristics:

• For a fixed VBE, if we increase VCE , IB decrease. Because

increasing V CE means increasing V CB will increase the
width of depletion region in CB junction. So, the electric
field will have higher value IC and more elctrons will be
attracted from base (B) region to the collector (C)
region. Therefore, electrons coming out of base (B) will
decrease which will result in the decrease in IB.
 I-V Characteristics of Common-
Emitter Configuration
Output Characteristics:

• If we increase V BE , I B will increase as more

electrons will be attracted from base (B) region
to the sou rce V B E . T hi s al so m e ans m ore
electrons are supplied at emitter. So more
electrons will come to base (B) region from
emitter and collector (C) region. Thus, I C will
increase.
Common Collector Connection: npn
Current Relations
 Load line Analysis
Collector–emitter Loop( Output Circuit)
̶ VCE ̶ ICRC + VCC = 0
VCE = VCC - ICRC
at IC =0 , VCE = VCC
V CC
at VCE = 0, C R
C

The operating point Q( V CEQ , I CEQ ) is determined by finding the

intersection point of load line and BJT output characteristics for a
particular value of base current IB
 Load line Analysis & Q-point
V CC
• RC
the Maximum value of output Current and V CC
is the maximum value of the output voltage. We can
draw DC load line by simply connecting these two
points
• The intersections of the load line with the transistor
characteristic curves represent the values of IC and
VCE at different base currents. We call them the
operating points or Q points.
• We bias a device so that it operates in a particular
mode. If we keep IB very low, then I C will also be very
low and the device will be in cut off region and work
as a switch (off state).
• If we keep IB very high, then I C will also be very high
and the device will be in saturation region and work
as switch (on state)
• If we want to operate BJT as amplifier, we need to
operate it in active mode. For that reason, we need
to bias such that it operates in active region (Q 2 or
Q3)
 Biasing of BJT:
• Biasing refers to the application of D.C. voltages to setup the operating point in such
a way that output signal is undistorted throughout the whole operation.
• Also once selected properly, the Q point should not shift because of change of IC
due to
(i) β variation due to replacement of the transistor of same type
(ii) Temperature variation

4 different Biasing techniques

1.Fixed Biased Configuration
2.Emitter Biased Configuration
3.Voltage divider Biased Configuration
4.Collector Feedback Configuration
Fixed Biased Configuration
Emitter Biased Configuration
Voltage-divider bias Configuration
Collector Feedback Configuration
Biasing of BJT Derivations
Mathematical Problems