11/10/2020 Bipolar junction transistor - Wikipedia

Bipolar junction transistor

A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as
charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, use only one kind of charge
carrier. A bipolar transistor allows a small current injected at one of its terminals to control a much larger
current flowing between two other terminals, making the device capable of amplification or switching. NPN

BJTs use two junctions between two semiconductor types, n-type and p-type, which are regions in a single
crystal of material. The junctions can be made in several different ways, such as changing the doping of the
semiconductor material as it is grown, by depositing metal pellets to form alloy junctions, or by such methods
as diffusion of n -type and p-type doping substances into the crystal. The superior predictability and PNP
performance of junction transistors soon displaced the original point-contact transistor. Diffused transistors,
along with other components, are elements of integrated circuits for analog and digital functions. Hundreds of
bipolar junction transistors can be made in one circuit at very low cost. BJT schematic symbols
Bipolar transistor integrated circuits were the main active devices of a generation of mainframe and mini
computers, but most computer systems now use integrated circuits relying on field effect transistors. Bipolar
transistors are still used for amplification of signals, switching, and in digital circuits. Specialized types are
used for high voltage switches, for radio-frequency amplifiers, or for switching heavy currents.

Contents
Current direction conventions
Function
Voltage, current, and charge control
Turn-on, turn-off, and storage delay
Transistor characteristics: alpha (α) and beta (β) Typical individual BJT
packages. From top to
Structure bottom: TO-3, TO-126, TO-
Regions of operation 92, SOT-23
Active-mode transistors in circuits
History
Germanium transistors
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Early manufacturing techniques

Theory and modeling
Large-signal models
Ebers–Moll model
Base-width modulation
Punchthrough
Gummel–Poon charge-control model
Small-signal models
Hybrid-pi model
h-parameter model
Etymology of hFE
Industry models
Applications
High-speed digital logic
Amplifiers
Temperature sensors
Logarithmic converters
Vulnerabilities
See also
Notes
References
External links

Current direction conventions

By convention, the direction of current on diagrams is shown as the direction that a positive charge would move. This is called
conventional current. However, current in many metal conductors is due to the flow of electrons. Because electrons carry a negative
charge, they move in the direction opposite to conventional current.[a] On the other hand, inside a bipolar transistor, currents can be
composed of both positively charged holes and negatively charged electrons. In this article, current arrows are shown in the conventional
direction, but labels for the movement of holes and electrons show their actual direction inside the transistor. The arrow on the symbol for
bipolar transistors indicates the PN junction between base and emitter and points in the direction in which conventional current travels.

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Function
BJTs exist as PNP and NPN types, based on the doping types of the three main terminal regions. An NPN transistor comprises two
semiconductor junctions that share a thin p-doped region, and a PNP transistor comprises two semiconductor junctions that share a thin
n-doped region. N-type means doped with impurities that provide mobile electrons, while P-type means doped with impurities that
provide holes that readily accept electrons.

NPN BJT with forward-biased E–B junction and reverse-biased B–C junction

Charge flow in a BJT is due to diffusion of charge carriers across a junction between two regions of different charge carrier concentration.
The regions of a BJT are called emitter, base, and collector.[b] A discrete transistor has three leads for connection to these regions.
Typically, the emitter region is heavily doped compared to the other two layers, and the collector is doped more lightly than the base

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(collector doping is typically ten times lighter than base doping [2]). By design, most of the BJT collector current is due to the flow of charge
carriers (electrons or holes) injected from a heavily doped emitter into the base where they are minority carriers that diffuse toward the
collector, and so BJTs are classified as minority-carrier devices.

In typical operation, the base–emitter junction is forward-biased, which means that the p-doped side of the junction is at a more positive
potential than the n-doped side, and the base–collector junction is reverse-biased. When forward bias is applied to the base–emitter
junction, the equilibrium between the thermally generated carriers and the repelling electric field of the n-doped emitter depletion region
is disturbed. This allows thermally excited electrons (in an NPN; holes in a PNP) to inject from the emitter into the base region. These
electrons diffuse through the base from the region of high concentration near the emitter toward the region of low concentration near the
collector. The electrons in the base are called minority carriers because the base is doped p-type, which makes holes the majority carrier
in the base. In a PNP device, analogous behaviour occurs, but with holes as the dominant current carriers.

To minimize the fraction of carriers that recombine before reaching the collector–base junction, the transistor's base region must be thin
enough that carriers can diffuse across it in much less time than the semiconductor's minority-carrier lifetime. Having a lightly doped base
ensures recombination rates are low. In particular, the thickness of the base must be much less than the diffusion length of the electrons.
The collector–base junction is reverse-biased, and so negligible electron injection occurs from the collector to the base, but carriers that are
injected into the base and diffuse to reach the collector-base depletion region are swept into the collector by the electric field in the
depletion region. The thin shared base and asymmetric collector–emitter doping are what differentiates a bipolar transistor from two
separate and oppositely biased diodes connected in series.

Voltage, current, and charge control

The collector–emitter current can be viewed as being controlled by the base–emitter current (current control), or by the base–emitter
voltage (voltage control). These views are related by the current–voltage relation of the base–emitter junction, which is the usual
exponential current–voltage curve of a p–n junction (diode).[3]

The explanation for collector current is the concentration gradient of minority carriers in the base region.[3][4][5] Due to low-level injection
(in which there are much fewer excess carriers than normal majority carriers) the ambipolar transport rates (in which the excess majority
and minority carriers flow at the same rate) is in effect determined by the excess minority carriers.

Detailed transistor models of transistor action, such as the Gummel–Poon model, account for the distribution of this charge explicitly to
explain transistor behaviour more exactly.[6] The charge-control view easily handles phototransistors, where minority carriers in the base
region are created by the absorption of photons, and handles the dynamics of turn-off, or recovery time, which depends on charge in the
base region recombining. However, because base charge is not a signal that is visible at the terminals, the current- and voltage-control
views are generally used in circuit design and analysis.

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In analog circuit design, the current-control view is sometimes used because it is approximately linear. That is, the collector current is
approximately times the base current. Some basic circuits can be designed by assuming that the base-emitter voltage is approximately
constant and that collector current is β times the base current. However, to accurately and reliably design production BJT circuits, the
voltage-control (for example, Ebers–Moll) model is required.[3] The voltage-control model requires an exponential function to be taken
into account, but when it is linearized such that the transistor can be modeled as a transconductance, as in the Ebers–Moll model, design
for circuits such as differential amplifiers again becomes a mostly linear problem, so the voltage-control view is often preferred. For
translinear circuits, in which the exponential I–V curve is key to the operation, the transistors are usually modeled as voltage-controlled
current sources whose transconductance is proportional to their collector current. In general, transistor-level circuit analysis is performed
using SPICE or a comparable analog-circuit simulator, so mathematical model complexity is usually not of much concern to the designer,
but a simplified view of the characteristics allows designs to be created following a logical process.

Turn-on, turn-off, and storage delay

Bipolar transistors, and particularly power transistors, have long base-storage times when they are driven into saturation; the base storage
limits turn-off time in switching applications. A Baker clamp can prevent the transistor from heavily saturating, which reduces the amount
of charge stored in the base and thus improves switching time.

Transistor characteristics: alpha (α) and beta (β)

The proportion of carriers able to cross the base and reach the collector is a measure of the BJT efficiency. The heavy doping of the emitter
region and light doping of the base region causes many more electrons to be injected from the emitter into the base than holes to be
injected from the base into the emitter. A thin and lightly-doped base region means that most of the minority carriers that are injected into
the base will diffuse to the collector and not recombine.

The common-emitter current gain is represented by βF or the h-parameter hFE; it is approximately the ratio of the DC collector current to
the DC base current in forward-active region. It is typically greater than 50 for small-signal transistors, but can be smaller in transistors
designed for high-power applications. Both injection efficiency and recombination in the base reduce the BJT gain.

Another useful characteristic is the common-base current gain, αF. The common-base current gain is approximately the gain of current
from emitter to collector in the forward-active region. This ratio usually has a value close to unity; between 0.980 and 0.998. It is less than
unity due to recombination of charge carriers as they cross the base region.

Alpha and beta are related by the following identities:

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Beta is a convenient figure of merit to describe the performance of a bipolar transistor, but is not a fundamental physical property of the
device. Bipolar transistors can be considered voltage-controlled devices (fundamentally the collector current is controlled by the base-
emitter voltage; the base current could be considered a defect and is controlled by the characteristics of the base-emitter junction and
recombination in the base). In many designs beta is assumed high enough so that base current has a negligible effect on the circuit. In
some circuits (generally switching circuits), sufficient base current is supplied so that even the lowest beta value a particular device may
have will still allow the required collector current to flow.

Structure
A BJT consists of three differently doped semiconductor regions: the emitter region, the
base region and the collector region. These regions are, respectively, p type, n type and p
type in a PNP transistor, and n type, p type and n type in an NPN transistor. Each
semiconductor region is connected to a terminal, appropriately labeled: emitter (E), base
(B) and collector (C).

The base is physically located between the emitter and the collector and is made from
lightly doped, high-resistivity material. The collector surrounds the emitter region, making
it almost impossible for the electrons injected into the base region to escape without being
collected, thus making the resulting value of α very close to unity, and so, giving the
Simplified cross section of a planar NPN bipolar
transistor a large β. A cross-section view of a BJT indicates that the collector–base junction
junction transistor
has a much larger area than the emitter–base junction.

The bipolar junction transistor, unlike other transistors, is usually not a symmetrical
device. This means that interchanging the collector and the emitter makes the transistor leave the forward active mode and start to operate
in reverse mode. Because the transistor's internal structure is usually optimized for forward-mode operation, interchanging the collector
and the emitter makes the values of α and β in reverse operation much smaller than those in forward operation; often the α of the reverse
mode is lower than 0.5. The lack of symmetry is primarily due to the doping ratios of the emitter and the collector. The emitter is heavily
doped, while the collector is lightly doped, allowing a large reverse bias voltage to be applied before the collector–base junction breaks
down. The collector–base junction is reverse biased in normal operation. The reason the emitter is heavily doped is to increase the emitter
injection efficiency: the ratio of carriers injected by the emitter to those injected by the base. For high current gain, most of the carriers
injected into the emitter–base junction must come from the emitter.

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The low-performance "lateral" bipolar transistors sometimes used in CMOS processes are sometimes
designed symmetrically, that is, with no difference between forward and backward operation.

Small changes in the voltage applied across the base–emitter terminals cause the current between the
emitter and the collector to change significantly. This effect can be used to amplify the input voltage or
current. BJTs can be thought of as voltage-controlled current sources, but are more simply characterized
as current-controlled current sources, or current amplifiers, due to the low impedance at the base.

Early transistors were made from germanium but most modern BJTs are made from silicon. A significant
minority are also now made from gallium arsenide, especially for very high speed applications (see HBT, Die of a KSY34 high-frequency
below). NPN transistor. Bond wires
connect to the base and emitter

The heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is an improvement of the BJT that can handle signals of very
high frequencies up to several hundred GHz. It is common in modern ultrafast circuits, mostly RF systems.[7][8]

Two commonly used HBTs are silicon–germanium and aluminum gallium arsenide, though a wide
variety of semiconductors may be used for the HBT structure. HBT structures are usually grown by
epitaxy techniques like MOCVD and MBE.

Regions of operation
Bipolar transistors have four distinct regions Junction bias
Junction Applied
of operation, defined by BJT junction biases. type voltages
Mode
B-E B-C
Forward-active (or simply active) E<B<C Forward Reverse Forward-active
The base–emitter junction is forward
biased and the base–collector junction is E<B>C Forward Forward Saturation
NPN Symbol for NPN bipolar transistor
reverse biased. Most bipolar transistors E>B<C Reverse Reverse Cut-off with current flow direction
are designed to afford the greatest
E>B>C Reverse Forward Reverse-active
common-emitter current gain, βF, in
forward-active mode. If this is the case, E<B<C Reverse Forward Reverse-active
the collector–emitter current is E<B>C Reverse Reverse Cut-off
approximately proportional to the base PNP
current, but many times larger, for small E>B<C Forward Forward Saturation
base current variations. E>B>C Forward Reverse Forward-active
Reverse-active (or inverse-active or
inverted)
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By reversing the biasing conditions of the forward-active region, a bipolar transistor goes into reverse-active mode. In this mode, the
emitter and collector regions switch roles. Because most BJTs are designed to maximize current gain in forward-active mode, the βF
in inverted mode is several times smaller (2–3 times for the ordinary germanium transistor). This transistor mode is seldom used,
usually being considered only for failsafe conditions and some types of bipolar logic. The reverse bias breakdown voltage to the
base may be an order of magnitude lower in this region.
Saturation
With both junctions forward-biased, a BJT is in saturation mode and facilitates high current conduction from the emitter to the
collector (or the other direction in the case of NPN, with negatively charged carriers flowing from emitter to collector). This mode
corresponds to a logical "on", or a closed switch.
Cut-off
In cut-off, biasing conditions opposite of saturation (both junctions reverse biased) are present. There is very little current, which
corresponds to a logical "off", or an open switch.
Avalanche breakdown region

The modes of operation can be described in terms of the applied voltages (this description
applies to NPN transistors; polarities are reversed for PNP transistors):

Forward-active
Base higher than emitter, collector higher than base (in this mode the collector
current is proportional to base current by ).
Saturation
Base higher than emitter, but collector is not higher than base.
Input characteristics output characteristics
Cut-off
Base lower than emitter, but collector is higher than base. It means the transistor is Input and output characteristics for a common-
not letting conventional current go through from collector to emitter. base silicon transistor amplifier.
Reverse-active
Base lower than emitter, collector lower than base: reverse conventional current
goes through transistor.

In terms of junction biasing: (reverse biased base–collector junction means Vbc < 0 for NPN, opposite for PNP)

Although these regions are well defined for sufficiently large applied voltage, they overlap somewhat for small (less than a few hundred
millivolts) biases. For example, in the typical grounded-emitter configuration of an NPN BJT used as a pulldown switch in digital logic, the
"off" state never involves a reverse-biased junction because the base voltage never goes below ground; nevertheless the forward bias is
close enough to zero that essentially no current flows, so this end of the forward active region can be regarded as the cutoff region.

Active-mode transistors in circuits

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The diagram shows a schematic representation of an NPN transistor connected to two voltage
sources. (The same description applies to a PNP transistor with reversed directions of current flow
and applied voltage.) This applied voltage causes the lower P-N junction to become forward
biased, allowing a flow of electrons from the emitter into the base. In active mode, the electric field
existing between base and collector (caused by VCE) will cause the majority of these electrons to
cross the upper P-N junction into the collector to form the collector current IC. The remainder of
the electrons recombine with holes, the majority carriers in the base, making a current through the
base connection to form the base current, IB. As shown in the diagram, the emitter current, IE, is
the total transistor current, which is the sum of the other terminal currents, (i.e., IE = IB + IC).

In the diagram, the arrows representing current point in the direction of conventional current –
the flow of electrons is in the opposite direction of the arrows because electrons carry negative
electric charge. In active mode, the ratio of the collector current to the base current is called the
DC current gain. This gain is usually 100 or more, but robust circuit designs do not depend on the
exact value (for example see op-amp). The value of this gain for DC signals is referred to as ,
and the value of this gain for small signals is referred to as . That is, when a small change in the
currents occurs, and sufficient time has passed for the new condition to reach a steady state is Structure and use of NPN transistor.
the ratio of the change in collector current to the change in base current. The symbol is used for Arrow according to schematic.
both and .[9]

The emitter current is related to exponentially. At room temperature, an increase in by approximately 60 mV increases the
emitter current by a factor of 10. Because the base current is approximately proportional to the collector and emitter currents, they vary in
the same way.

History
The bipolar point-contact transistor was invented in December 1947[10] at the Bell Telephone Laboratories by John Bardeen and Walter
Brattain under the direction of William Shockley. The junction version known as the bipolar junction transistor (BJT), invented by
Shockley in 1948,[11] was for three decades the device of choice in the design of discrete and integrated circuits. Nowadays, the use of the
BJT has declined in favor of CMOS technology in the design of digital integrated circuits. The incidental low performance BJTs inherent in
CMOS ICs, however, are often utilized as bandgap voltage reference, silicon bandgap temperature sensor and to handle electrostatic
discharge.

Germanium transistors

The germanium transistor was more common in the 1950s and 1960s but has a greater tendency to exhibit thermal runaway.

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Early manufacturing techniques

Various methods of manufacturing bipolar transistors were developed.[12]

Point-contact transistor – first transistor ever constructed (December 1947), a bipolar transistor, limited commercial use due to high
cost and noise.
Tetrode point-contact transistor – Point-contact transistor having two emitters. It became obsolete in the middle 1950s.
Junction transistors

Grown-junction transistor – first bipolar junction transistor made.[13] Invented by William Shockley at Bell Labs on June 23, 1948.[14]
Patent filed on June 26, 1948.
Alloy-junction transistor – emitter and collector alloy beads fused to base. Developed at General Electric and RCA[15] in 1951.
Micro-alloy transistor (MAT) – high-speed type of alloy junction transistor. Developed at Philco.[16]
Micro-alloy diffused transistor (MADT) – high-speed type of alloy junction transistor, speedier than MAT, a diffused-base
transistor. Developed at Philco.
Post-alloy diffused transistor (PADT) – high-speed type of alloy junction transistor, speedier than MAT, a diffused-base
transistor. Developed at Philips.
Tetrode transistor – high-speed variant of grown-junction transistor[17] or alloy junction transistor[18] with two connections to base.
Surface-barrier transistor – high-speed metal-barrier junction transistor. Developed at Philco[19] in 1953.[20]
Drift-field transistor – high-speed bipolar junction transistor. Invented by Herbert Kroemer[21][22] at the Central Bureau of
Telecommunications Technology of the German Postal Service, in 1953.
Spacistor – around 1957.
Diffusion transistor – modern type bipolar junction transistor. Prototypes[23] developed at Bell Labs in 1954.
Diffused-base transistor – first implementation of diffusion transistor.
Mesa transistor – developed at Texas Instruments in 1957.
Planar transistor – the bipolar junction transistor that made mass-produced monolithic integrated circuits possible. Developed
by Jean Hoerni[24] at Fairchild in 1959.
Epitaxial transistor[25] – a bipolar junction transistor made using vapor-phase deposition. See epitaxy. Allows very precise control of
doping levels and gradients.

Theory and modeling

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Transistors can be thought of as two diodes (P–N junctions) sharing a common

region that minority carriers can move through. A PNP BJT will function like two
diodes that share an N-type cathode region, and the NPN like two diodes sharing a
P-type anode region. Connecting two diodes with wires will not make a transistor,
since minority carriers will not be able to get from one P–N junction to the other
through the wire.

Both types of BJT function by letting a small current input to the base control an
amplified output from the collector. The result is that the transistor makes a good
switch that is controlled by its base input. The BJT also makes a good amplifier,
since it can multiply a weak input signal to about 100 times its original strength.
Networks of transistors are used to make powerful amplifiers with many different
Band diagram for NPN transistor at equilibrium
applications. In the discussion below, focus is on the NPN bipolar transistor. In the
NPN transistor in what is called active mode, the base–emitter voltage and
collector–base voltage are positive, forward biasing the emitter–base junction
and reverse-biasing the collector–base junction. In the active mode of operation,
electrons are injected from the forward biased n-type emitter region into the p-type
base where they diffuse as minority carriers to the reverse-biased n-type collector
and are swept away by the electric field in the reverse-biased collector–base
junction. For a figure describing forward and reverse bias, see semiconductor
diodes.

Large-signal models

In 1954, Jewell James Ebers and John L. Moll introduced their mathematical model Band diagram for NPN transistor in active mode, showing
of transistor currents:[26] injection of electrons from emitter to base, and their
overshoot into the collector

Ebers–Moll model

The DC emitter and collector currents in active mode are well modeled by an approximation to the Ebers–Moll model:

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The base internal current is mainly by diffusion (see Fick's law) and

where

is the thermal voltage (approximately 26 mV at 300 K ≈ room temperature).

is the emitter current
is the collector current Ebers–Moll model for an NPN
is the common base forward short-circuit current gain (0.98 to 0.998) transistor.[27] IB, IC and IE are the base,
is the reverse saturation current of the base–emitter diode (on the order of 10−15 to 10−12 collector and emitter currents; ICD and
IED are the collector and emitter diode
amperes)
currents; αF and αR are the forward and
is the base–emitter voltage reverse common-base current gains.
is the diffusion constant for electrons in the p-type base
W is the base width

The and forward parameters are as described previously. A reverse is sometimes included in
the model.

The unapproximated Ebers–Moll equations used to describe the three currents in any operating
region are given below. These equations are based on the transport model for a bipolar junction
transistor.[28]

Ebers–Moll model for a PNP transistor

where

is the collector current

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is the base current

is the emitter current
is the forward common emitter current gain (20 to 500)
is the reverse common emitter current gain (0 to 20)
is the reverse saturation current (on the order of 10−15 to 10−12 amperes)
is the thermal voltage (approximately 26 mV at 300 K ≈ room temperature).
is the base–emitter voltage
is the base–collector voltage
Approximated Ebers–Moll model for an
NPN transistor in the forward active
Base-width modulation mode. The collector diode is reverse-
biased so ICD is virtually zero. Most of the
As the collector–base voltage ( ) varies, the collector–base depletion region emitter diode current (αF is nearly 1) is
varies in size. An increase in the collector–base voltage, for example, causes a greater reverse bias drawn from the collector, providing the
across the collector–base junction, increasing the collector–base depletion region width, and amplification of the base current.
decreasing the width of the base. This variation in base width often is called the Early effect after
its discoverer James M. Early.

Narrowing of the base width has two consequences:

There is a lesser chance for recombination within the "smaller" base region.
The charge gradient is increased across the base, and consequently, the current of minority carriers injected across the emitter
junction increases.

Both factors increase the collector or "output" current of the transistor in response to an increase in the collector–base voltage.

In the forward-active region, the Early effect modifies the collector current ( ) and the forward common emitter current gain ( ) as
given by:

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where:

is the collector–emitter voltage

is the Early voltage (15 V to 150 V)
is forward common-emitter current gain when =0V
is the output impedance
is the collector current

Punchthrough

When the base–collector voltage reaches a certain (device-specific) value, the base–collector
depletion region boundary meets the base–emitter depletion region boundary. When in this state
the transistor effectively has no base. The device thus loses all gain when in this state.

Gummel–Poon charge-control model

The Gummel–Poon model[29] is a detailed charge-controlled model of BJT dynamics, which has
Top: NPN base width for low collector–
been adopted and elaborated by others to explain transistor dynamics in greater detail than the
base reverse bias; Bottom: narrower
terminal-based models typically do.[30] This model also includes the dependence of transistor - NPN base width for large collector–base
values upon the direct current levels in the transistor, which are assumed current-independent in reverse bias. Hashed regions are
the Ebers–Moll model.[31] depleted regions.

Small-signal models

Hybrid-pi model

The hybrid-pi model is a popular circuit model used for analyzing the small signal and AC behavior of bipolar junction and field effect
transistors. Sometimes it is also called Giacoletto model because it was introduced by L.J. Giacoletto in 1969. The model can be quite
accurate for low-frequency circuits and can easily be adapted for higher-frequency circuits with the addition of appropriate inter-electrode
capacitances and other parasitic elements.

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Hybrid-pi model

h-parameter model

Another model commonly used to analyze BJT circuits is the h-parameter model, closely
related to the hybrid-pi model and the y-parameter two-port, but using input current and
output voltage as independent variables, rather than input and output voltages. This two-
port network is particularly suited to BJTs as it lends itself easily to the analysis of circuit
behaviour, and may be used to develop further accurate models. As shown, the term, x, in
the model represents a different BJT lead depending on the topology used. For common-
emitter mode the various symbols take on the specific values as:

Terminal 1, base
Terminal 2, collector Generalized h-parameter model of an NPN BJT.
Terminal 3 (common), emitter; giving x to be e Replace x with e, b or c for CE, CB and CC
topologies respectively.
ii, base current (ib)
io, collector current (ic)
Vin, base-to-emitter voltage (VBE)
Vo, collector-to-emitter voltage (VCE)

and the h-parameters are given by:

hix = hie for the common-emitter configuration, the input impedance of the transistor (corresponding to the base resistance rpi).
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hrx = hre, a reverse transfer relationship, it represents the dependence of the transistor's (input) IB–VBE curve on the value of (output)
VCE. It is usually very small and is often neglected (assumed to be zero) at DC.
hfx = hfe, the "forward" current-gain of the transistor, sometimes written h21. This parameter, with lower case "fe" to imply small signal
(AC) gain, or more often with capital letters for "FE" (specified as hFE) to mean the "large signal" or DC current-gain (βDC or often
simply β), is one of the main parameters in datasheets, and may be given for a typical collector current and voltage or plotted as a
function of collector current. See below.
hox = 1/hoe, the output impedance of transistor. The parameter hoe usually corresponds to the output admittance of the bipolar
transistor and has to be inverted to convert it to an impedance.

As shown, the h-parameters have lower-case subscripts and hence signify AC conditions or analyses. For DC conditions they are specified
in upper-case. For the CE topology, an approximate h-parameter model is commonly used which further simplifies the circuit analysis. For
this the hoe and hre parameters are neglected (that is, they are set to infinity and zero, respectively). The h-parameter model as shown is
suited to low-frequency, small-signal analysis. For high-frequency analyses the inter-electrode capacitances that are important at high
frequencies must be added.

Etymology of hFE

The h refers to its being an h-parameter, a set of parameters named for their origin in a hybrid equivalent circuit model (see above). As
with all h parameters, the choice of lower case or capitals for the letters that follow the "h" is significant; lower-case signify "small signal"
parameters, that is, the slope the particular relationship; upper-case letters imply "large signal" or DC values, the ratio of the voltages or
currents. In the case of the very often used hFE:

F is from Forward current amplification also called the current gain.

E refers to the transistor operating in a common Emitter (CE) configuration.

So hFE (or hFE) refers to the (total; DC) collector current divided by the base current, and is dimensionless. It is a parameter that varies
somewhat with collector current, but is often approximated as a constant; it is normally specified at a typical collector current and voltage,
or graphed as a function of collector current.

Had capital letters not been used for used in the subscript, i.e. if it were written hfe the parameter indicate small signal (AC) current gain,
i.e. the slope of the Collector current versus Base current graph at a given point, which is often close to the hFE value unless the test
frequency is high.

Industry models

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The Gummel–Poon SPICE model is often used, but it suffers from several limitations. These have been addressed in various more
advanced models: Mextram, VBIC, HICUM, Modella.[32][33][34][35]

Applications
The BJT remains a device that excels in some applications, such as discrete circuit design, due to the very wide selection of BJT types
available, and because of its high transconductance and output resistance compared to MOSFETs.

The BJT is also the choice for demanding analog circuits, especially for very-high-frequency applications, such as radio-frequency circuits
for wireless systems.

High-speed digital logic

Emitter-coupled logic (ECL) use BJTs.

Bipolar transistors can be combined with MOSFETs in an integrated circuit by using a BiCMOS process of wafer fabrication to create
circuits that take advantage of the application strengths of both types of transistor.

Amplifiers

The transistor parameters α and β characterizes the current gain of the BJT. It is this gain that allows BJTs to be used as the building
blocks of electronic amplifiers. The three main BJT amplifier topologies are:

Common emitter
Common base
Common collector

Temperature sensors

Because of the known temperature and current dependence of the forward-biased base–emitter junction voltage, the BJT can be used to
measure temperature by subtracting two voltages at two different bias currents in a known ratio.[36]

Logarithmic converters

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Because base–emitter voltage varies as the logarithm of the base–emitter and collector–emitter currents, a BJT can also be used to
compute logarithms and anti-logarithms. A diode can also perform these nonlinear functions but the transistor provides more circuit
flexibility.

Vulnerabilities
Exposure of the transistor to ionizing radiation causes radiation damage. Radiation causes a buildup of 'defects' in the base region that act
as recombination centers. The resulting reduction in minority carrier lifetime causes gradual loss of gain of the transistor.

Transistors have "maximum ratings", including power ratings (essentially limited by self-heating), maximum collector and base currents
(both continuous/DC ratings and peak), and breakdown voltage ratings, beyond which the device may fail or at least perform badly.

In addition to normal breakdown ratings of the device, power BJTs are subject to a failure mode called secondary breakdown, in which
excessive current and normal imperfections in the silicon die cause portions of the silicon inside the device to become disproportionately
hotter than the others. The electrical resistivity of doped silicon, like other semiconductors, has a negative temperature coefficient,
meaning that it conducts more current at higher temperatures. Thus, the hottest part of the die conducts the most current, causing its
conductivity to increase, which then causes it to become progressively hotter again, until the device fails internally. The thermal runaway
process associated with secondary breakdown, once triggered, occurs almost instantly and may catastrophically damage the transistor
package.

If the emitter-base junction is reverse biased into avalanche or Zener mode and charge flows for a short period of time, the current gain of
the BJT will be permanently degraded.

See also
MOSFET
Bipolar transistor biasing
Gummel plot
Technology CAD (TCAD)

Notes
a. Some metals, such as aluminium have significant hole bands.[1]
b. See point-contact transistor for the historical origin of these names.

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