INTRODUCTION TO
TRANSISTORS
TARGET AUDIENCE: 1 ST YEAR BACHELOR’S IN MEDICAL
LAB. TECHNOLOGY
Introduction
A transistor has two PN junctions
emitter-base junction and
collector-base junction
Thus a transistor is like two diodes connected back-to-back.
It can be either N-P-N or P-N-P type.
It has 3 regions
Emitter- It injects electrons (or holes) into the base. It is
heavily doped.
Base-It is the middle region with light doping. It passes
most of the electrons (or holes) onto the collector.
Collector-It has the job of collecting or gathering the
electrons (or holes) from the base.
There are four possible ways of biasing these two junctions.
CONDITION EMITTER- COLLECTOR- REGION OF
JUNCTION JUNCTION OPERATION
I. FR Forward –biased Reverse- biased Active
II. FF Forward –biased Forward –biased Saturation
III. RR Reverse- biased Reverse- biased Cut-Off
IV. RF Reverse- biased Forward –biased Inverted
Biasing an NPN transistor for active region
Working
An NPN transistor biased for active operation
The emitter-junction is forward-biased.
The barrier potential is reduced.
The space charge at the junction becomes narrow.
As such, majority carriers diffuse through the
junction
The resulting current consists of electrons
traveling the emitter to the base.
The ratio of electron current to the total
emitter current,
is known as the emitter injection ratio or the
emitter efficiency.
It is denoted by γ.
Typically, it has a value of 0.995.
Once the electrons enter the base, they are
minority carriers.
Most of the minority carriers travel to the
collector
without recombining in the base
as the base region is very narrow.
Only a few electrons recombine with the
holes.
The ratio of electrons arriving at the collector
to the number of emitted electrons is known
as base transportation factor.
It is designated as β’.
It typically has a value of 0.995
The collector current is less than the emitter
current.
A part of the emitter current is hole current
which do not contribute to collector current.
Not all the electrons injected into the base
are successful in reaching the collector.
The ratio of the collector current to the
emitter current is equal to β’γ
This ratio is called dc alpha(αdc).
Typically it has a value of 0.99
The total current flowing into the transistor
must be equal to the current flowing out of it.
Hence, the emitter current is equal to the
sum of collector and base currents.
I E = IC + IB
The collector current is made up of two
parts:
The fraction of emitter current which reaches the
collector
The normal reverse leakage current Ico
IC = αdc IE + Ico
Transistor Amplifying Action
A basic transistor amplifier in common- base configuration
When the signal Vs is superimposed on the dc
voltage VEE,
The emitter voltage VEB varies with time.
The emitter current also varies with time.
Since the collector current is a function of
emitter current, it has similar variations.
This varying current passes through the load
resistor
and a varying voltage is developed across the
load
This varying voltage is the output voltage, V0.
Since the emitter-base junction is forward
biased,
It offers very low impedance to the signal
source Vs
In the common-base configuration, the input
resistance is typically 20 to 100Ω
The output junction being reverse- biased
offers high resistance; typically 100k Ω to
1MΩ.
If the input voltage has 20mV rms or effective
value and input resistance of the transistor is
40Ω; then the average emitter current
variation is:
Ie = (20 x 10-3)/40 = 0.5mA
Since Ic ≈ Ie = 0.5mA
Now, if the output resistance is 500kΩ and the
load resistance RL is 5kΩ
V0 = Ic RL = (0.5 x 10-3) x (5 x 103)
= 2.5V
The voltage amplification or voltage gain Av of
the amplifier is
Av = V0 / Vs = 2.5 / (20 x 10-3) = 125
The transistor’s amplifying action is basically
due to its capability of transferring its signal
current from a region of low resistance to high
resistance circuit.
Hence the name TRANSISTOR
Transfer + Resistor = Transistor
References
Basic Electrical Science and Technology
by K. Murugesh Kumar
Electronics Fundamentals & Applications
by D. Chattopadhyay and P.C. Rakshit
