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MODULE-II
BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR

W. Shockley, J. Barden and W. Bratterin invented the transistor in 1947. The term ‘transistor’
is derived from the words ‘transfer’ and ‘resistor.’ These words describe the operation of a BJT
which is the transfer of an input signal from a low resistance circuit to a high resistance circuit.
The abbreviation BJT, from bipolar junction transistor, is often applied to this three terminal
device. The term bipolar reflects the fact that holes and electrons participate in the injection
process into the oppositely polarized material. If only one carrier is employed (electron or
hole), it is considered a unipolar device.
What is a Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)?
A bipolar junction transistor is a three-terminal semiconductor device that consists of two p-n
junctions which are able to amplify or magnify a signal. It is a current controlled device. The
three terminals of the BJT are the base, the collector and the emitter. A signal of small
amplitude applied to the base is available in the amplified form at the collector of the transistor.
This is the amplification provided by the BJT. Note that it does require an external source of
DC power supply to carry out the amplification process. Bipolar transistors are manufactured
in two types, PNP and NPN, and are available as separate components, usually in large
quantities. The prime use or function of this type of transistor is to amplify current. This makes
them useful as switches or amplifiers. They have a wide application in electronic devices like
mobile phones, televisions, radio transmitters and industrial control.
Bipolar Transistor Construction
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According to dopping:
E>C>B
According to Width:
C>E>B

ACTION OF TRANSISTOR

 Two batteries are used to simplify operation theory. Most applications require one
voltage source. The negative terminal of the battery is connected to the N emitter.
 The positive terminal of the same battery is connected to the P-type base. Therefore,
the emitter-base circuit is forward biased.
 In the collector circuit, the N collector is connected to the positive battery terminal. The
P base is connected to the negative terminal.
 The collector-base circuit is reverse biased.
 Electrons enter the emitter from the negative battery source and flow toward the
junction. The forward bias has reduced the potential barrier of the first junction.
 The electrons then combine with the hole carriers in the base to complete the emitter-
base circuit. However, the base is a very thin section, about 0.001 inches.
 Most of the electrons flow on through to the collector as the collector terminal is
connected to positive terminal of battery and this reverse biased potential is very large
so most of the majority charge carriers are attracted and will cross the large base to
collector depletion region due to large reverse biased potential.
 there will be an injection of minority carriers(holes) from N dopped collector into the
P-type base region material as the collector terminal is connected to positive terminal
of battery.Similarly minority charge carriers(free electrons) in the base will move
towards collector.Due to this a current will flow from collector terminal towards base
due to the presence of minority charge carriers.So total collector current will be:

𝐼𝐶 =𝐼𝐶 majority + 𝐼𝐶𝑂 minority

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 The minority-current component is called as:

 leakage current and is given the symbol 𝐼𝐶𝑂 (𝐼𝐶 current with emitter terminal Open).
 Approximately 95 to 98 percent of the current through the transistor is from an emitter
to collector. About two to five percent of the current moves between emitter and base.
 A small change in emitter to base bias voltage causes a somewhat larger change in
emitter-collector current. This is what allows transistors to be used as amplifiers. The
emitter-base current change, however, is quite small.

𝐼𝐸 = 𝐼𝐶 +𝐼𝐵

The Common Base (CB) Configuration as amplifier:

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Current amplification factor/current gain:

Total collector current in active region:

The Common Emitter Amplifier Circuit

Current amplification factor/current gain:

Total collector current in active region:

𝑰𝑪 = 𝜷𝑰𝑩 + 𝑰𝑪𝑬𝑶
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The Common Collector Transistor Circuit

Current amplification factor/current gain:

𝛾 = 𝐼𝐸 /𝐼𝐵

Input Characteristics of CB:

For p-n-p transistor, the input current is the emitter current (𝐼𝐸 ) and the input
voltage is the collector emitter voltage (𝑉𝐵𝐸 ). As the emitter – base junction is
forward biased, therefore the graph of 𝐼𝐸 Vs 𝑉𝐵𝐸 is similar to the forward
characteristics of a p-n diode. 𝐼𝐸 increases for fixed 𝑉𝐶𝐵 when 𝑉𝐵𝐸 increases.
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BASE WIDTH MODULATION/EARLY EFFECT:

 Due to increase in reverse biasing potential across C-B junction the Input characteristics graph is
shifted towards Y-axis or 𝐼𝐸 increases.According to dopping base is lightly dopped as compared to
collector.
 In N dopped collector majority charge carriers are free electrons,so free electrons will try to move
to P dopped Base leaving immobile positive ions near the junction.
 As collector is heavily dopped and due to the presecnce of more free electrons, free electrons in
collector will try to fill these immobile positive ions.
 Due to this the width of depletion region across collector decreases and as the base is lightly dopped
so the depletion region is shifted more towards the base and the effective width which is responsible
for base current will decrease due to the increase in reverse biasing potential across C-B.
 As the effective width of base will decrease then base current will also decrease.
 With the increase in reverse biasing potential the concentration gradient of charge carriers(holes) in
the effective width of base will increase and more charge carriers from emitter will try to move to
this area and 𝐼𝐸 increases.This effect is known as BASE WIDTH MODULATION.

Output Characteristics of CB:

The output characteristics shows the relation between output voltage𝑉𝐶𝐵 and output current. 𝐼𝐶 , here the emitter
current 𝐼𝐸 is the input current which works as the parameter. CE mode has also three regions named (i) Active
region, (ii) cut-off regions, (iii) saturation region.For cutoff region 𝐼𝐸 =0 and 𝐼𝐶 = 𝐼𝐶𝐵𝑂 in this region.
𝐼𝐶𝐵𝑂 = 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛(Due to minority charge carriers)
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Input Characteristics of CE:

𝐼𝐵 (Base Current) is the input current, 𝑉𝐵𝐸 (Base – Emitter Voltage) is the input
voltage for CE (Common Emitter) mode. So, the input characteristics for CE
mode will be the relation between 𝐼𝐵 and 𝑉𝐵𝐸 with 𝑉𝐶𝐸 as parameter. The typical
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CE input characteristics are similar to that of a forward biased of p-n diode. But
as 𝑉𝐶𝐵 increases the base width decreases.
Output Characteristics of CE:

Output characteristics for CE mode is the curve or graph between collector

current (𝐼𝐶 ) and collector – emitter voltage (𝑉𝐶𝐸 ) when the base current 𝐼𝐵 is the
parameter. Like the output characteristics of common – base transistor CE mode
has also three regions named (i) Active region, (ii) cut-off regions, (iii) saturation
region. The active region has collector region reverse biased and the emitter
junction forward biased. For cut-off region the emitter junction is slightly reverse
biased and the collector current is not totally cut-off and𝐼𝐵 =0 and 𝐼𝐶 = 𝐼𝐶𝐸𝑂 in
this region. And finally for saturation region both the collector and the emitter
junction are forward biased.
𝐼𝐶𝐸𝑂 = 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛(Due to minority
charge carriers)

𝐼𝐶𝐸𝑂 = 𝐼𝐶𝐵𝑂 / (1-α)

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𝑇𝑅𝐴𝑁𝑆𝐼𝑆𝑇𝑂𝑅 𝐵𝐼𝐴𝑆𝐼𝑁𝐺

Proper Zero Signal Collector Current

In order to understand this, let us consider a NPN transistor circuit as shown in the figure
below. The base-emitter junction is forward biased and the collector-emitter junction is
reverse biased. When a signal is applied at the input, the base-emitter junction of the NPN
transistor gets forward biased for positive half cycle of the input and hence it appears at the
output.
For negative half cycle, the same junction gets reverse biased and hence the circuit doesn’t
conduct. This leads to unfaithful amplification as shown in the figure below.

Let us now introduce a battery VBB in the base circuit. The magnitude of this voltage should
be such that the base-emitter junction of the transistor should remain in forward biased, even