Acknowledgement

I express my hearty thanks & gratitude towards my

Teachers & friends for helping me in completing
this Project.

I thank my teacher Mr Dheeraj Mangla

especially for his Excellent Support, Help &
Guidance that he provided me in completing this
interesting project.

Above all, it was a pleasant experience to work

amongst them and gain a wonderful experience in
a most friendly and congenial atmosphere. At last, I
also like to thank all my fellow mates because of
whom I was able to complete my project well and
in time.

The Transistor as a Switch

When used as an AC signal amplifier, the transistors Base

biasing voltage is applied in such a way that it always operates
within its "active" region, that is the linear part of the output
characteristics curves are used. However, both the NPN & PNP
type bipolar transistors can be made to operate as "ON/OFF"
type solid state switches by biasing the transistors base
differently to that of a signal amplifier.
Solid state switches are one of the main applications for the use
of transistors, and transistor switches can be used for
controlling high power devices such as motors, solenoids or
lamps, but they can also used in digital electronics and logic gate
circuits.
If the circuit uses the Transistor as a Switch, then the biasing of
the transistor, either NPN or PNP is arranged to operate the
transistor at both sides of the " I-V " characteristics curves we
have seen previously.
The areas of operation for a transistor switch are known as the
Saturation Region and the Cut-off Region. This means then
that we can ignore the operating Q-point biasing and voltage
divider circuitry required for amplification, and use the
transistor as a switch by driving it back and forth between its
"fully-OFF" (cut-off) and "fully-ON" (saturation) regions as
shown below.

Operating Regions

The pink shaded area at the bottom of the curves represents the "Cut-off"
region while the blue area to the left represents the "Saturation" region
of the transistor. Both these transistor regions are defined as:

1. Cut-off Region
Here the operating conditions of the transistor are zero input
base current ( IB ), zero output collector current ( IC ) and
maximum collector voltage ( VCE ) which results in a large
depletion layer and no current flowing through the device.
Therefore the transistor is switched "Fully-OFF".

Cut-off Characteristics

 The input and Base are grounded ( 0v )

Base-Emitter voltage VBE < 0.7v
Base-Emitter junction is reverse biased
Base-Collector junction is reverse biased
Transistor is "fully-OFF" ( Cut-off region )
No Collector current flows ( IC = 0 )
VOUT = VCE = VCC = "1"
Transistor operates as an "open switch"

Then we can define the "cut-off region" or "OFF mode" when using a
bipolar transistor as a switch as being, both junctions reverse biased,
VB < 0.7v and IC = 0. For a PNP transistor, the Emitter potential must be
negative with respect to the Base.

2. Saturation Region
Here the transistor will be biased so that the maximum amount
of base current is applied, resulting in maximum collector
current resulting in the minimum collector emitter voltage drop
which results in the depletion layer being as small as possible
and maximum current flowing through the transistor. Therefore
the transistor is switched "Fully-ON".

Saturation Characteristics
The input and Base are connected to VCC
Base-Emitter voltage VBE > 0.7v
Base-Emitter junction is forward biased
Base-Collector junction is forward biased
Transistor is "fully-ON" ( saturation region )
Max Collector current flows ( IC = Vcc/RL )
VCE = 0 ( ideal saturation )

 VOUT = VCE = "0"

Transistor operates as a "closed switch"

Then we can define the "saturation region" or "ON mode" when

using a bipolar transistor as a switch as being, both junctions
forward biased, VB > 0.7v and IC = Maximum. For a PNP
transistor, the Emitter potential must be positive with respect to
the Base.
Then the transistor operates as a "single-pole single-throw"
(SPST) solid state switch. With a zero signal applied to the Base
of the transistor it turns "OFF" acting like an open switch and
zero collector current flows. With a positive signal applied to the
Base of the transistor it turns "ON" acting like a closed switch
and maximum circuit current flows through the device.
An example of an NPN Transistor as a switch being used to
operate a relay is given below. With inductive loads such as
relays or solenoids a flywheel diode is placed across the load to
dissipate the back EMF generated by the inductive load when
the transistor switches "OFF" and so protect the transistor from
damage. If the load is of a very high current or voltage nature,
such as motors, heaters etc, then the load current can be
controlled via a suitable relay as shown.

Basic NPN Transistor Switching Circuit

The circuit resembles that of the Common Emitter circuit we

looked at in the previous tutorials. The difference this time is
that to operate the transistor as a switch the transistor needs to be
turned either fully "OFF" (cut-off) or fully "ON" (saturated). An
ideal transistor switch would have infinite circuit resistance
between the Collector and Emitter when turned "fully-OFF"
resulting in zero current flowing through it and zero resistance
between the Collector and Emitter when turned "fully-ON",
resulting in maximum current flow.
In practice when the transistor is turned "OFF", small leakage
currents flow through the transistor and when fully "ON" the
device has a low resistance value causing a small saturation
voltage ( VCE ) across it. Even though the transistor is not a
perfect switch, in both the cut-off and saturation regions the
power dissipated by the transistor is at its minimum.
In order for the Base current to flow, the Base input terminal
must be made more positive than the Emitter by increasing it
above the 0.7 volts needed for a silicon device. By varying this
Base-Emitter voltage VBE, the Base current is also altered and

which in turn controls the amount of Collector current flowing

through the transistor as previously discussed. When maximum
Collector current flows the transistor is said to be Saturated.
The value of the Base resistor determines how much input
voltage is required and corresponding Base current to switch the
transistor fully "ON".

Digital Logic Transistor Switch

The base resistor, Rb is required to limit the output current from the
logic gate.

PNP Transistor Switch

We can also use PNP transistors as switches, the difference this
time is that the load is connected to ground (0v) and the PNP
transistor switches power to it. To turn the PNP transistor as a
switch "ON" the Base terminal is connected to ground or zero
volts (LOW) as shown.

PNP Transistor Switching Circuit

The equations for calculating the Base resistance, Collector current and
voltages are exactly the same as for the previous NPN transistor switch.
The difference this time is that we are switching power with a PNP
transistor (sourcing current) instead of switching ground with an NPN
transistor (sinking current).

Darlington Transistor Switch

Sometimes the DC current gain of the bipolar transistor is too
low to directly switch the load current or voltage, so multiple
switching transistors are used. Here, one small input transistor is
used to switch "ON" or "OFF" a much larger current handling
output transistor. To maximize the signal gain, the two
transistors are connected in a "Complementary Gain
Compounding Configuration" or what is more commonly called
a "Darlington Configuration" was the amplification factor is
the product of the two individual transistors.

Darlington Transistors simply contain two individual bipolar

NPN or PNP type transistors connected together so that the
current gain of the first transistor is multiplied with that of the
current gain of the second transistor to produce a device which
acts like a single transistor with a very high current gain for a
much smaller Base current. The overall current gain Beta () or
Hfe value of a Darlington device is the product of the two
individual gains of the transistors and is given as:

So Darlington Transistors with very high values and high

Collector currents are possible compared to a single transistor
switch. For example, if the first input transistor has a current
gain of 100 and the second switching transistor has a current
gain of 50 then the total current gain will be 100 x 50 = 5000.
An example of the two basic types of Darlington transistor are
given below.

Darlington Transistor Configurations

The above NPN Darlington transistor switch configuration

shows the Collectors of the two transistors connected together
with the Emitter of the first transistor connected to the Base
terminal of the second transistor therefore, the Emitter current of

the first transistor becomes the Base current of the second

transistor switching it "ON".
The first or "input" transistor receives the input signal to its
Base. This transistor amplifies it in the usual way and uses it to
drive the second larger "output" transistors. The second
transistor amplifies the signal again resulting in a very high
current gain. One of the main characteristics of Darlington
Transistors is their high current gains compared to single
bipolar transistors.
As well as its high increased current and voltage switching
capabilities, another advantage of a "Darlington Transistor
Switch" is in its high switching speeds making them ideal for
use in inverter circuits, lighting circuits and DC motor or stepper
motor control applications.
One difference to consider when using Darlington transistors
over the conventional single bipolar types when using the
transistor as a switch is that the Base-Emitter input voltage ( VBE
) needs to be higher at approx 1.4v for silicon devices, due to the
series connection of the two PN junctions.

Transistor as a Switch Summary

Then to summarize when using a Transistor as a Switch.
Transistor switches can be used to switch and control
lamps, relays or even motors.
When using the bipolar transistor as a switch they must be
either "fully-OFF" or "fully-ON".

 Transistors that are fully "ON" are said to be in their

Saturation region.
Transistors that are fully "OFF" are said to be in their Cutoff region.
When using the transistor as a switch, a small Base current
controls a much larger Collector load current.
When using transistors to switch inductive loads such as
relays and solenoids, a "Flywheel Diode" is used.
When large currents or voltages need to be controlled,
Darlington Transistors can be used.