Bipolar Junction Transistors

Switching characteristics
These characteristics have an utmost importance when defining the device velocity change
from ON to OFF state and OFF to ON state. Below given diagrams show typical switching
characteristics of a BJT for a resistive load.

For a resistive load

td is the delay time.
ts is the storage time. It is the time required to neutralize the carriers stored in the collector
and the base.
tri is the current rise time and depends upon base current, here the subscript r refers to the
rising time (from 10 to 90% of maximum value).
tfi is the current falling time, that is, when the transistor is blocking such time corresponds to
crossing from the saturation to the cutoff state.
ton is the transistor on time.
toff is the transistor off time.
tfv is the voltage falling time.

Switching characteristics of a BJT for an inductive load is given below.

For an inductive load

Drive Circuits
A Power BJT switching a large current need a base drive current sufficient to keep the
transistor turned ON. The current gain might be quite low, so the base drive current will be
about 10% of the load current. At turn-off there will be a large stored charge in the base. This
stored charge must be removed. To achieve this, a reverse voltage is applied to the base at
turn-off to help remove the stored charge by conduction through the base connection. In
addition to ensure a rapid turn-on, it is desirable to provide an increased base drive for a short
time so as to increase the rate at which the base is charged. A drive circuit is used to achieve
above mentioned facts.

Below given is a suitable drive circuit.

The circuit is driven from a voltage source which switches between 0 and V volts. The
bias current is limited by V and (R1+R2), with an initial current surge to charge up the
base limited in magnitude by R1 and duration by C. At turnoff the charge in the capacitor
C drives the base negative and helps the recovery. Saturation of the device should be
avoided to ensure the fast switching. It means that the base drive must ensure that the
collector-to-emitter voltage is kept as low as possible (to minimize losses), while not
allowing the collector base junction to become forward biased.
Some other drive circuits are given below.

Protection Schemes
Transistors must be protected against high currents and voltages to prevent damage to the
device. They can absorb very little energy before breakdown; hence semiconductor fuses
cannot be used to protect them. Thermal conditions are vitally important and can occur during
high-frequency switching. Some of the most common types of BJT protection are overcurrent
and overvoltage protection.
Overcurrent protection turns the transistor OFF when the collectoremitter voltage and
collector current reach a preset value. When the transistor is in the ON state, an increase in
collectoremitter voltage causes an increase in the collector current and therefore an increase
in junction temperature. Since the BJT has a negative temperature coefficient, the increase in
temperature causes a decrease in resistance and results in an even higher collector current.
This condition, called positive feedback, could eventually lead to thermal runaway and
destroy the transistor. One such method of overcurrent protection limits the base current
during an external fault. With the base current limited, the device current will be limited at
the saturation point, with respect to the base current, and the device will hold some value of
the voltage. This feature turns the transistor off without being damaged and is used for
providing protection in low power converters by limiting the current during an external fault.
Other methods of overcurrent protection for more severe faults use a shorting switch, or shunt
switch, in parallel with the transistor. When a fault is detected, an external circuit activates
the parallel shorting switch, providing an alternate path for the fault current.
Overvoltage protection is used to protect a transistor from high voltages. When a transistor is
in the OFF state, high collector-base reversebias voltages can cause avalanche breakdown.
Avalanche breakdown occurs when the reverse voltage exceeds the reverse voltage limit of
the collectorbase region. High collectorbase reverse-bias voltages can easily damage the
transistor. One simple method to ensure overcurrent protection of a transistor is to connect an
antiparallel diode across the transistor. Most power transistors are unable to block reverse
voltages in excess of 20 V. Reverse voltages can easily damage the transistor and therefore
they should not be used in AC control applications without a reverse shunting diode
connected between the emitter and the collector.