SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

SOLVED

Q.) Write about BJT.

Ans: A bipolar junction transistor (BJT or bipolar transistor) is a
type of transistor that relies on the contact of two types of
semiconductor for its operation. BJTs can be used as amplifiers,
switches, or in oscillators. BJTs can be found either as individual
discrete components, or in large numbers as parts of integrated
circuits.
Bipolar transistors are so named because their operation involves
both electrons and holes. These two kinds of charge carriers are
characteristic of the two kinds of doped semiconductor material;
electrons are majority charge carriers in n-type semiconductors,
whereas holes are majority charge carriers in p-type
semiconductors. In contrast, unipolar transistors such as the fieldeffect transistors have only one kind of charge carrier.
Charge flow in a BJT is due to diffusion of charge carriers across
a junction between two regions of different charge concentrations.
The regions of a BJT are called emitter, collector, and base. A
discrete transistor has three leads for connection to these regions.
Typically, the emitter region is heavily doped compared to the
other two layers, whereas the majority charge carrier
concentrations in base and collector layers are about the same.
By design, most of the BJT collector current is due to the flow of
charges injected from a high-concentration emitter into the base
where there are minority carriers that diffuse toward the collector,
and so BJTs are classified as minority-carrier devices.

Q.) Give the BJT Configurations.

Ans: Depending upon the common terminal, there are three
possible BJT configurations :

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

(i)

Common Base (CB) configuration

(ii)

Common Emitter (CE) configuration

SOLVED

(iii) Common Collector (CC) configuration

Common Base configuration : In this configuration, the base is

common to both input and output.

Current amplification factor () : It is defined as the ratio of

change in collector current to the change in emitter current at
constant collector base voltage VCB.
ac

IC
IE

VCB = constant

If only dc values are considered,

dc

IC
IE

Common emitter configuration : In this configuration, the

emitter is common to both input and output.

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

SOLVED

Current amplification factor () : It is defined as the change in

collector current to the change in base current at constant
collector emitter voltage VCE.
ac

IC
IB

VCE = constant

If only dc values are considered,

dc

IC
IB

Common collector configuration : In this configuration, the

collector is common toi both input and output.

Current amplification factor () : It is defined as the ratio of

change in emitter current to the change in base current at
constant collector emitter voltage VCE.
3

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

ac

IE
IB

SOLVED

VCE = constant

If only dc values are considered,

dc

IE
IB

Q.) Give the input characteristic of CE configuration.

Ans: It is the graph of input current IE v/s input voltage VBE when
the output voltage VCB is kept constant.

For a given VCB, the input characteristic resembles the

characteristic of a forward biased diode. Input current IE
increases as input voltage VBE increases for a fixed value of VCB.
For a given value of VBE, IE increases with increase in VCB due to
early effect.
As VCB increase, which of the depletion layer in the base
increases. Hence, the width of the base available for conduction
decreases. The reduction in the width of the base due to increase
in reverse bias is known as early effect. Due to early effect, the
chances of recombination of electrons with the holes in the
4

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

SOLVED

decreases. Therefore, the base current decreases but more

electrons can travel from emitter to collector terminal. Therefore,
collector current increases with increase in emitter current IE.
As the reverse-bias voltage VCB further increases at one
stage, the depletion region completely occupies the base at which
the collector base junction breaks down. This phenomenon is
known as punch-through.
Dynamic input resistance,
ri

VBE
IE

VCB = constant

Q.) Give characteristics of CE configuration of BJT.

Ans:

Input characteristics : It is the graph of current IB versus input

voltage VBE at a constant output voltage VCE. It resembles the
characteristics of a forward-biased diode. The input current IB
increases as the input voltage VBE increases for a fixed value of
VCE.

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

SOLVED

As the reverse-bias voltage VCE Increases, depletion region

in the collector-base increases. Hence, the width of the base
available for conduction decreases. Hence, IB decreases due to
early effect and the graph shifts towards the Xaxis.
Dynamic input resistance,
ri

VBE
IB

VCE = constant

Output characteristics : It is the graph of output current IC v/s

output voltage VCE for given values of IB. The output
characteristics has three different regions.

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

SOLVED

(i)

Cut-off region : In this region, both the junctions are reverse

biased. When the emitter-base junction is reverse biased,
the current due to majority carrier, i.e. IB is zero. Since
collector-base junction is reverse biased, the current due to
minority carriers flows from collector to emitter which is
represented as ICEO.

(ii)

Active region : In this region, the emitter-base junction is

forward biased and the collector-base junction is reverse
biased. As IB is maintained constant, the current IC increase
as the reverse bias voltage VCE increases.

(iii) Saturation region : In this region, both the junctions are

forward biased. When VCE is reduced to a small value such
as 0.2 V, the collector base junction is actually forward
biased ( VCB = VCE VBE = 0.2 0.7 = 0.5 V). In this
region, there is a large change in the collector current VCE.
Output resistance,
ro

VCE
IC

IB = constant

SEMICONDUCTOR

BJT

Current gain,
dc

dc

IC
IB
IC
IB

VCE = constant

VCE = constant

SOLVED