BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR (BJT)

• A BJT is a semiconductor device consisting of three regions separated by two

distinct p-n junctions.
• The central region is called the base, and the outer regions are called the emitter
and the collector. The emitter region is heavily doped, the collector is moderately
doped and the baser is lightly doped.
• The collector and emitter are of the same type (n or p), however, the base must be
of a different type than the collector/emitter. Thus, two types of transistors are
available, npn or pnp.
• The n-region has free electrons and p-region has free holes. As two types of
charge carriers are involved in current flow, the transistors are known as bipolar
junction transistors
• The emitter provides the majority carriers for current flow. The base controls the
flow of current and the collector supports the majority of the current flow in the
transistor.
 TRANSISTOR
From: Avadhunulu & Kshirsagar
 FORMATION OF DEPLETION REGIONS
• A BJT has two junctions, namely, E-B junction and C-B junction.
• During the formation of the junction, diffusion of majority carriers takes
place and depletion regions are formed. As the doping levels are different,
the two depletion regions for with different widths.
• For an npn transistor, the depletion region at the EB-junction, penetrates
slightly into the p-region and deeper into the base region. At the CB-
junction, it penetrates lesser into the collector region and deeper into the
base region. Overall, the depletion region is narrow at the EB-junction
compared to the CB-junction.
DEPLETION REGIONS
From: Avadhunulu & Kshirsagar
 BIASING A TRANSISTOR
• The transistor can be connected in three configurations.
• Common Base (CB mode)
• Common Emitter (CE mode)
• Common Collector (CC mode)

• A BJT has two junctions, which can be biased in four different ways.
• Saturation mode: Both the junction are forward biased. The large currents flowing
across the junctions join together in the base region.
• Cut-off mode: Both the junctions are reverse biased. Very small currents flows through
the junctions.
• Inverted mode: EB-junction is reverse biased and CB-junction is forward biased.
• Normal mode: EB-junction is forward biased and CB-junction is reverse biased.
From: Avadhunulu & Kshirsagar
 TRANSISTOR ACTION
• In normal mode operation, the EB-junction is forward biased. Hence,
the potential barrier at the junction is lowered and majority carriers
diffuse in large number across the junction. The emitter current is the
sum of electron and hole currents.
• The ratio of electron current to emitter current is known as emitter
injection ratio, (γ). As the base is lightly doped, the emitter current is
practically due to electrons flows from emitter to the base. Typically,
γ~0.995
From: Avadhunulu & Kshirsagar
• Under forward bias, a lot of electrons are injected into the base region. Thus,
electron concentration in the base region nearer to the EB-junction is very high.
At the same time, as the CB-junction is reverse biased, the electron
concentration in the base region nearer to the CB-junction is practically zero.
Thus, a large concentration gradient is established for the electrons in the base
region.
• This concentration gradient swiftly diffuses the electrons toward the CB-
junction. Also, the base region is narrower causing the electrons to reach the
CB-junction faster. The reverse bias at the CB-junction, sweeps the electrons
into the collector region. This causes a large reverse collector current, which is
nearly equal to the emitter current to flow across the CB-junction.