UNIT- 5

TRANSISTOR
Transistor is a semiconductor device which is used to amplify the signals and also used
in switching circuits. Semiconductor materials used for transistor are silicon, germanium,
and gallium-arsenide.
Transistors are basically classified into two types;
They are Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT) and Field Effect Transistors (FET).
The BJTs are again classified into NPN and PNP transistors.
The FET transistors are classified into JFET and MOSFET.

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTORS (BJT)

BJT have three terminals named emitter (E), Base (B), Collector (C). The name itself
indicates that it has two PN junctions. One is emitter base junction and the other collector
base junction.
The emitter will be heavily doped, the base will be lightly doped and the collector will be
moderately doped.
Further the width of base will be narrow, the emitter will be wider and the collector will be
much wider.
The emitter base junction is always forward biased, the collector base junction is always
reverse biased.
The BJT transistors are current-controlled devices. If small amount of current flows
through the base of a BJT transistor then it causes to flow large current from emitter to
collector.
The BJT transistors have low input impedance and it causes to flow large current through
the transistor.
Bipolar junction transistors can operate in three regions, they are
Cut-off Region: Here the transistor is in ‘OFF’ state i.e the current flowing through the
transistor is zero.
Active Region: Here the transistor acts as an amplifier.
Saturation Region: Here the transistor is in fully ‘ON’ state, works as a closed switch.

NPN TRANSISTOR (construction and working)

The NPN transistor consists of two N-type semiconductor materials and they are
separated by a thin layer of P-type semiconductor. Here the majority charge carriers are
electrons and holes are the minority charge carriers. The flowing of electrons from emitter
to collector forms the current flow in the transistor through the base terminal.
A small amount of current at base terminal causes to flow large amount current from
emitter to collector. Nowadays the generally used bipolar transistor is NPN transistor,
because the mobility of electrons is greater than mobility of holes. The arrow in the emitter
terminal of transistor indicates the flow of current. The standard equation for the currents
flowing in the transistor is

IE = IB + IC
The symbols and structure for NPN transistors are given below.

 When transistors operate in active region, they act as amplifiers i.e. they can be
used to increase the strength of the input signal without changing shape.
 let us consider a NPN transistor (BJT) biased to operate in active region (Base-
Emitter junction is forward biased while Base-Collector junction is reverse
biased)
 The forward bias applied between the base and the emitter terminals of the
transistor causes the flow of base current, I B into the base region.
 However due to the less doping of base in comparison with the emitter, there will
be more number of electrons in emitter when compared to holes in base
 These electrons now cross from emitter to the base region(constitute emitter
current Ie) and only some electrons(<5%) combine with holes in base (constitute
base current).
 Remaining electrons(>95%) move towards the collector terminal influenced by
the bias applied between the collector and the base regions. This constitutes the
collector current IC moving into the collector.
 From this it can be noticed that by varying the current flowing into the base
region (IB), one can obtain a very large variation in collector current, I C.

Black colored circles represent electrons

White colored circles represent holes
PNP Transistor (construction and working)
The PNP transistors contain two P-type semiconductor materials and are separated by a
thin layer of N-type semiconductor. The majority charge carriers in the PNP transistors
are holes and electrons are minority charge carriers. The arrow in the emitter terminal of
transistor indicates the flow of current. In PNP transistor the current flows from Emitter to
Collector. The PNP transistor is ON when the base terminal is pulled to low with respect
to emitter. The symbol and structure for PNP transistor is shown below. The standard
equation for the currents flowing in the transistor is

IE = IB + IC

 Let us consider a PNP transistor with Base-Emitter junction is forward biased

while Base-Collector junction is reverse biased
 The forward bias applied between the base and the emitter terminals of the
transistor causes the flow of base current, I B.
 However due to the less doping of base in comparison with the emitter, there will
be more number of holes in emitter when compared to electrons in base.
 These holes now cross from emitter to the base region (constitute emitter
current-IE) and only some holes(<5%) combine with electrons in base (constitute
base current).
 Remaining holes(>95%) move towards the collector terminal influenced by the
bias applied between the collector and the base regions. This constitutes nothing
but the collector current IC
Black colored circles represent electrons
White colored circles represent holes

TRANSISTOR AS AN AMPLIFIER

Transistors, while they operate in active region, they act as amplifiers i.e. they can be
used to increase the strength of the input signal without changing shape.
let us consider a NPN bipolar junction transistor (BJT) biased to operate in active region
(Base-Emitter junction is forward biased while Base-Collector junction is reverse biased)
The forward bias applied between the base and the emitter terminals of the transistor
causes the flow of base current, IB into the base region. However its magnitude is less
(usually in terms of μA)
However due to the less doping of base in comparison with the emitter, there will be more
number of electrons in emitter when compared to holes in base
These electrons now cross from emitter to the narrow base region(constitute emitter
current IE and move towards the collector terminal influenced by the bias applied between
the collector and the base regions. This constitutes nothing but the collector current I C
moving into the collector.
From this it can be noticed that by varying the current flowing into the base region (I B),
one can obtain a very large variation in collector current, I C.
This is nothing but the current amplification, which leads to the conclusion that the NPN
transistor operating in its active region acts as a current amplifier. The associated current
gain can be mathematically expressed as-

Now consider the NPN transistor with the input signal applied between its base and
emitter terminals, while the output being collected across the load resistor RC, connected
between the collector and base terminals, as shown in Figure 2.

This large change in IC causes a large voltage drop across the load resistor RC which is
nothing but the increase in output voltage.
Hence one gets the amplified version of the input voltage across the output terminals of
the device which leads to the conclusion that the circuit acts like a voltage amplifier.
Mathematical expression for the voltage gain is given by
BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR CONNECTIONS
Bipolar Junction Transistor is a three terminal device. To facilitate the input and output
circuit a transistor should have four terminals – two for input and two for output circuit. So
one terminal in the transistor is used as common for both input and output circuit.
Depending on the possibilities of circuit configurations, transistor connections are of three
types.

 Common Base Transistor

 Common Emitter Transistor
 Common Collector Transistor.
Whatever may be the connection of a transistor, the base-emitter junction must be
kept forward biased and base-collector junction must be kept reverse biased.

COMMON BASE CONFIGURATION OF BJT

Here the base terminal is common to both input and output circuit. The common base
mode of NPN transistor and PNP transistor are show separately.

Emitter-base circuit is taken as input circuit and collector base circuit as output circuit.
Current Gain
Here the input current is emitter current I E and output current is collector current IC. The
dc current gain is

Here it is seen that neither of current gain has value more than unity since collector current
cannot be more than emitter current. But the emitter current and collector current are
nearly equal in a bipolar junction transistor, these ratios would be very near to unity. The
value ranges from 0.9 to 0.99.
Input Characteristic
This is drawn between input current (I E) and input voltage (VEB) of the transistor itself.
When the forward bias voltage becomes greater than barrier potential, the emitter
current (IE) starts increasing rapidly with increasing emitter-base voltage (VEB).
The input resistance of the circuit is the ratio of change in emitter-base voltage (ΔVEB) to
emitter current (ΔIE) at a constant collector-base voltage (VCB = Constant). As the
change in emitter current is quite large compared to the change in emitter-base voltage
(ΔIE >> ΔVEB), the input resistance of the common base transistor is quite small.

Ri = ΔVEB / ΔIE.

Output Characteristic

There is a rise of collector current with an increase of collector-base voltage when this
voltage has very low value. But after a certain collector-base voltage, the collector-base
junction gets sufficient reverse biased and hence the collector current becomes constant
for a specified emitter current, then at that region of the characteristic, the increase of
collector current is very small compared to the increase of collector-base voltage.
The ratio of change in collector-base voltage to the change in collector current is defined
as the output resistance of common base configuration of a transistor. Naturally, the value
of output resistance is very high.
COMMON EMITTER CONNECTION OF BJT
Common Emitter Transistor is the most commonly used connection. Here the emitter
terminal is common for both input and output circuit. The circuit connected between base
and emitter is the input circuit and the circuit connected between collector and emitter is
the output circuit. The common emitter mode of NPN transistor and PNP transistor are
shown separately in the figure below.
current gain
In common emitter configuration, the input current is base current (IB) and the output
current is collector current (IC). The ratio of change in collector current (ΔI C) to change in
base current (ΔIB) is defined as the current gain of common emitter transistor.

As the value of base current is quite low compared to the collector current (I B << IC), the
current gain in a common emitter mode is quite high and it ranges from 20 to 500.

Characteristic of Common Emitter Transistor

In the input circuit, the parameters are base current and base-emitter voltage. The
characteristic curve drawn against variations of base current and base-emitter voltage is
input characteristic of a common emitter transistor. The PN junction between base and
emitter is forward biased hence the characteristic would be similar to that of a forward
biased PN junction diode.

The rate of rising of base current with respect to the base-emitter voltage is high here,
but not as high as in the case of common base mode. Hence input resistance of the
circuit is higher than that of the common base mode of a transistor .
Output Characteristic of Common Emitter Transistor

The output characteristic is drawn against variations of output current and the output
voltage of the transistor. The collector current is output current and collector-emitter
voltage is the output voltage of the transistor. Here the variation of collector current for
different values of collector-emitter voltage is plotted against a fixed value of base
current.
It is found that at the beginning the collector current proportionately gets increased with
increasing collector-emitter voltage but after certain voltage level, the collector current
becomes almost constant. This is because at the beginning the base-collector junction
does not get sufficient reverse biasing, but after a certain voltage it becomes sufficiently
reverse biased and then the major portion of charge carriers coming from emitter region
to base region would migrate to collector region which contribute collector current.

The output resistance would be.

RELATION BETWEEN ALPHA AND BETA

COMMON COLLECTOR CONFIGURATION OF BJT

Collector terminal is common to both input and output circuit
In common collector configuration the input circuit is between base and collector
terminal and the output circuit is between emitter and collector terminal.
The ratio of emitter current to base current is defined as the current gain of common
collector configuration. This is denoted as 𝛾 =
The current amplification factor of the circuit is the ratio of change of emitter current to
change of base current when a alternating signal is applied to the input.
Input Characteristic of Common Collector Transistor
The input current is base current and input voltage of the transistor is base-collector
voltage. The base-collector junction is reverse biased and hence with increasing base-
collector voltage the reverse biasing of the junction increases. This causes base current
to decrease slightly with the increase in base-collector voltage.

VEB = VEC – VBC, VEC is kept constant and VBC is increased, then VEB decreases.
Finally IB decreases.
∆𝑉𝑐𝑏
Ri =
∆𝐼𝑏
Input resistance (Ri) is very high

Output Characteristic of Common Collector Transistor

These are drawn between output current (Ie) and output voltage (Vec) keeping input
current (Ib) constant.
The output characteristic of a common collector transistor is nearly the same as the output
characteristic of a common emitter transistor. The only difference that here in the case of
common collector configuration the output current is emitter current (instead of collector
current as in the case of common emitter configuration). Here also for a fixed base
current, the emitter current increases linearly with increasing collector-emitter voltage up
to a certain level of this voltage and then the emitter current gets almost constant
irrespective of collector-emitter voltage.
∆𝑉𝑐𝑒
Output resistance(Ro) is very low Ro =
∆𝐼𝑒
JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS
Depending on the type of semiconductor used in the channel, there are two types of
Junction Field Effect Transistor namely N-channel JFET and P-channel JFET.
If the channel is of P-type the surrounding would be of two N-type layers and
if the channel is of N-type the surrounding would be of two P-type layers.

N CHANNEL JFET
The terminal connected to one end of the N-channel is called drain terminal and the
terminal connected to the other end of this channel is called the source terminal. The
terminal connected to the layer surrounding the channel of opposite type semiconductor
material (here it is P-type) is known as the gate terminal.
Now let us connect the external circuit with these three terminals. Here we connect the
positive terminal of a voltage source circuit at the drain of the transistor. The negative end
of the voltage source would be grounded. The gate terminal is connected to the negative
voltage.

Hence, if the transistor is turned on, then we can say that the current flow is primarily
because of the movement of electrons (charge carriers).
OPERATION OF N-CHANNEL JFET
Turning ON N-channel JFET
 For turning ON a N-channel JFET, positive voltage of VDD has to be applied to
the drain terminal with respect to source terminal
 This will allow a current to flow through the drain-source channel. If the gate
voltage (VG) is 0V, the drain current is at maximum value and the JFET is in the
ON (active region).

Turning OFF N-channel JFET

 To turn off the N-channel JFET, there are 2 ways.
 We can cut off the bias positive voltage (VDD= 0)
 By applying a negative voltage to the gate, the drain current is reduced. As the
gate voltage(VGS) becomes more negative, the current becomes less until going
to cut off region( JFET is OFF, means drain current = 0 at particular value of VGS
called pinch off voltage).
 If a small negative voltage ( -VGS ) applied to the Gate, the width of the depletion
region begins to increase reducing the overall effective area of the channel and
thus reducing the current flowing through channel.

N-Channel JFET Characteristics

The N-channel JFET characteristics or transconductance curve is shown in the figure
below which is graphed between drain current (I D) and drain-source voltage(VDS) for
different values of gate-source voltage (VGS) . There are multiple regions in the
transconductance curve and they are ohmic, saturation, cut off, and breakdown regions.
Ohmic Region
The only region in which transconductance curve shows linear response and drain
current is opposed by the JFET resistance is termed as Ohmic region.

Saturation Region
In the saturation region, the N-channel JFET is in ON condition and active, as maximum
current flows.

Cut off Region

In this cut off region, there will be no drain current flowing and thus, the N-channel JFET
is in OFF condition.

Breakdown Region
If the VDD voltage applied to the drain terminal exceeds the maximum necessary
voltage, then the transistor fails to resist the current and thus, the current flows from
drain terminal to source terminal. Hence, the transistor enters into the breakdown
region.

P-CHANNEL JFET
The terminal connected to one end of the P type silicon-channel is called drain terminal
and the terminal connected to the other end of this channel is called the source terminal.
The terminal connected to the layer surrounding the channel of opposite type
semiconductor material (here it is N-type) is known as the gate terminal.
Let us connect the external circuit with these three terminals. Here we connect the positive
terminal of a voltage source to the source of the transistor. The negative end of the voltage
source connected to drain would be grounded.
The gate terminal is connected to the positive voltage as shown.

If the transistor is turned on, then we can say that the current flow is primarily because of
the holes(charge carriers).

OPERATION OF P-CHANNEL JFET

Turning ON P-channel JFET
 For turning ON a P-channel JFET, negative voltage of Vds has to be applied to
the drain terminal with respect to source terminal(source is positive with respect
to drain)
 This will allow a current to flow through the drain-source channel. If the gate
voltage (VG) is 0V, the drain current is at maximum value and the JFET is in the
ON (active region).
Turning OFF P-channel JFET
 To turn off the P-channel JFET, there are 2 ways.
 We can cut off the bias negative voltage (Vds = 0)
 By applying a positive voltage to the gate, the drain current is reduced. As the gate
voltage(VG) becomes more positive, the current becomes less until going to cut
off region( JFET is OFF, means drain current = 0)
 If a small positive voltage ( +VG ) applied to the Gate, the width of the depletion
region begins to increase reducing the overall effective area of the channel and
thus reducing the current flowing through channel.

P-Channel JFET Characteristics

The P-channel JFET characteristics or transconductance curve is shown in the figure
below which is graphed between drain current(I D) and drain to source voltage(VDS) for
different values of gate to source voltage(VGS) . There are multiple regions in the
transconductance curve and they are ohmic, saturation, cut off, and breakdown regions.

Ohmic Region
The only region in which transconductance curve shows linear response and drain
current is opposed by the JFET resistance is termed as Ohmic region.

Saturation Region
In the saturation region, the p-channel junction field effect transistor is in ON condition
and active, as maximum current flows because of the gate-source voltage applied.

Cut off Region

In this cut off region, there will be no drain current flowing and thus, the p-channel JFET
is in OFF condition.

Breakdown Region
If the VDD voltage applied to the drain terminal exceeds the maximum necessary
voltage, then the transistor fails to resist the current and thus, the current will flow from
drain terminal to source terminal. Hence, the transistor enters into the breakdown
region.
BIASING OF JFET BY A BATTERY AT GATE CIRCUIT

Biasing means maintaining some electrical conditions (usually voltage or current) for
proper operation in a particular mode.
This is done by inserting a battery in the gate circuit. The negative terminal of the
battery is connected to the gate terminal.
As the gate current in JFET is almost zero, there would be no voltage drop across the
input gate resistance. Hence the negative potential of the battery directly reaches to
gate terminal.
The corresponding drain current(ID) and drain to source voltage(VDS) would be the
output operating point of the transistor.

As, in JFET there is no gate current, (IG=0) VGG = VGS + IGRG (Apply KVL to input circuit)

VGS = VGG

We can find the value of drain current ID from the relation given below as IDSS and
VGS(off) (= – VP) are given in transistor data sheet.
The value of VDS can be found by applying KVL at output circuit

VDD = VDS + ID RD

The operating point of the JFET is located at the coordinate (V DS, ID) on the
characteristic graph.