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(BJT)
EBB424E
A bipolar transistor
essentially consists of a pair of
PN Junction diodes that are
joined back-to-back.
There are therefore two kinds
of BJT, the NPN and PNP
varieties.
The three layers of the
sandwich are conventionally
called the Collector, Base, and
Emitter.
The First BJT
Oxide isolation processes were intorduced in the late 70’s. They utilize wet
anisotropic etch (KOH) of the <100> Si wafer with Si3N4 as mask.
The KOH etch will erode the <111> plane. Oxide is either deposited or
grown to fill the V-grooves.
The base and emitter are formed on the large mesa and the collector on the
small mesa.
To further reduce the area between adjacent mesa, trench isolation can be
used, making use of trench etching.
The trench is typically 2µm wide and 5µm deep. The trench walls are
oxidized and the remaining volume is filled with polysilicon.
Double Poly Transistors
A further extension of the self-aligned BJT structure is to use
double polysilicon (n+ for emitter, p+ for base) to reduce the
area required for contacts.
Example of BJT Specification Sheet
How the BJT works
Figure shows the energy
levels in an NPN transistor
under no externally applying
voltages.
In each of the N-type layers
conduction can take place by
the free movement of
electrons in the conduction
band.
In the P-type (filling) layer
conduction can take place by
the movement of the free
holes in the valence band.
However, in the absence of
any externally applied electric
field, we find that depletion
zones form at both PN-
NPN Bipolar Transistor Junctions, so no charge
wants to move from one layer
to another.
How the BJT works
What happens when we
apply a moderate voltage
between the collector and
base parts.
The polarity of the applied
voltage is chosen to
increase the force pulling
the N-type electrons and P-
type holes apart.
This widens the depletion
zone between the collector
and base and so no current
will flow.
In effect we have reverse-
Apply a Collector-Base voltage biassed the Base-Collector
diode junction.
What happens when we apply a
Charge Flow
relatively small Emitter-Base voltage
whose polarity is designed to forward-
bias the Emitter-Base junction.
This 'pushes' electrons from the
Emitter into the Base region and sets
up a current flow across the Emitter-
Base boundary.
Once the electrons have managed to
get into the Base region they can
respond to the attractive force from
the positively-biassed Collector
region.
As a result the electrons which get
into the Base move swiftly towards
the Collector and cross into the
Collector region.
Apply an Emitter-Base voltage Hence a Emitter-Collector current
magnitude is set by the chosen
Emitter-Base voltage applied.
Hence an external current flowing in
the circuit.
Charge Flow Some of free electrons crossing
the Base encounter a hole and
'drop into it'.
As a result, the Base region
loses one of its positive
charges (holes).
The Base potential would
become more negative
(because of the removal of the
holes) until it was negative
enough to repel any more
electrons from crossing the
Emitter-Base junction.
The current flow would then
Some electron fall into a hole stop.
Charge Flow To prevent this happening we
use the applied E-B voltage to
remove the captured electrons
from the base and maintain the
number of holes.
The effect, some of the
electrons which enter the
transistor via the Emitter
emerging again from the Base
rather than the Collector.
For most practical BJT only
about 1% of the free electrons
which try to cross Base region
get caught in this way.
Hence a Base current, IB,
which is typically around one
Some electron fall into a hole
hundred times smaller than the
Emitter current, IE.
Terminals & Operations
Three terminals:
Base (B): very thin and lightly doped central region (little
recombination).
Emitter (E) and collector (C) are two outer regions
sandwiching B.
Normal operation (linear or active region):
B-E junction forward biased; B-C junction reverse biased.
The emitter emits (injects) majority charge into base region
and because the base very thin, most will ultimately reach
the collector.
The emitter is highly doped while the collector is lightly
doped.
The collector is usually at higher voltage than the emitter.
Terminals & Operations
Operation Mode
Operation Mode
Active:
Most importance mode, e.g. for amplifier operation.
The region where current curves are practically flat.
Saturation:
Barrier potential of the junctions cancel each other out
causing a virtual short.
Ideal transistor behaves like a closed switch.
Cutoff:
Current reduced to zero
Ideal transistor behaves like an open switch.
Operation Mode
BJT in Active Mode
Operation
Forward bias of EBJ injects electrons from emitter into base
(small number of holes injected from base into emitter)
Most electrons shoot through the base into the collector across
the reverse bias junction (think about band diagram)
Some electrons recombine with majority carrier in (P-type) base
region
Circuit Symbols
Circuit Configuration
Band Diagrams (In equilibrium)
No current flow
Back-to-back PN diodes
Band Diagrams (Active Mode)
EBJ forward biased
Barrier reduced and so electrons diffuse into the base
Electrons get swept across the base into the collector
CBJ reverse biased
Electrons roll down the hill (high E-field)
Minority Carrier Concentration Profiles
Current dominated by electrons from emitter to base (by design) b/c of the
forward bias and minority carrier concentration gradient (diffusion) through
the base
some recombination causes bowing of electron concentration (in the base)
base is designed to be fairly short (minimize recombination)
emitter is heavily (sometimes degenerately) doped and base is lightly doped
Drift currents are usually small and neglected
Diffusion Current Through the Base
Diffusion of electrons through the base is set by concentration profile at the EBJ
Diffusion current of electrons through the base is (assuming an ideal straight line
case):
Due to recombination in the base, the current at the EBJ and current at the CBJ are
not equal and differ by a base current
Collector Current
Electrons that diffuse across the base to the CBJ junction are swept across
the CBJ depletion region to the collector b/c of the higher potential applied
to the collector.
Want short base and large emitter area for high currents
dependent on temperature due to ni2 term
Collector Current
Electrons that diffuse across the base to the CBJ junction are swept across
the CBJ depletion region to the collector b/c of the higher potential applied
to the collector.
Want short base and large emitter area for high currents
dependent on temperature due to ni2 term
Collector Current
Electrons that diffuse across the base to the CBJ junction are swept across
the CBJ depletion region to the collector b/c of the higher potential applied
to the collector.
Want short base and large emitter area for high currents
dependent on temperature due to ni2 term
Base Current
Base current iB composed of two components:
holes injected from the base region into the emitter region
So, current is
and b is
VCE VBE2
VBE
VBE1
VBE3 > VBE2 > VBE1
VCE
Calculate the
values of β
and α from the
transistor
shown in the
previous
graphs.
Early Effect
Saturation region
Active region VBE3
VBE2
VBE1
-VA VCE
Early Effect
Current in active region depends (slightly) on vCE
VA is a parameter for the BJT (50 to 100) and called the Early voltage
Due to a decrease in effective base width W as reverse bias increases
Account for Early effect with additional term in collector current equation
Nonzero slope means the output resistance is NOT infinite, but…
IC is collector current at the boundary of active region
Early Effect
What causes the Early Effect?
Increasing VCB causes depletion region of CBJ to grow and
so the effective base width decreases (base-width
modulation)
Shorter effective base width higher dn/dx
EBJ CBJ
dn/dx
VCB > VCB
Wbase
Common-emitter
This configuration is more complex than the other two, and is less
common due to its strange operating characteristics.
Used for high frequency applications because the base separates the
input and output, minimizing oscillations at high frequency. It has a high
voltage gain, relatively low input impedance and high output impedance
compared to the common collector.
Collector Resistance, rC
Emitter Resistance, rE
Base Resistance, rB
Here is a
common
emitter BJT
amplifier:
What are the
steps?
Input & Output
Using these max and min values for the base current on the collect
circuit load line, we find:
At Max Input Voltage: VCE = 5 V, iC = 2.7mA
At Min Input Voltage: VCE = 7 V, iC = 1.9mA
Recall: At Q-point: VCE = 5.9 V, iB = 2.5ma
AC Characteristics-Collector Circuit
BJT AC Analysis - Amplifier Gains
Two junctions
Collector-Base and Emitter-Base
Biasing
vBE Forward Biased
IB
(a) A schematic illustration of pnp BJT with 3 differently doped regions. (b)
The pnp bipolar operated under normal and active conditions. (c) The CB
configuration with input and output circuits identified. (d) The illustration of
various current component under normal and active conditions.
The pnp Transistor