Introduction to Transistors

A transistor is a device with three separate layers of

semiconductor material stacked together
The layers are made of ntype or ptype material in the
order pnp or npn
The layers change abruptly to form the pn or np junctions
A terminal is attached to each layer (The Art of Electronics, Horowitz
and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

(Introductory Electronics, Simpson, 2nd Ed.)

 Introduction to Transistors
Thus when a transistor is
off it behaves like a
(The Art of Electronics,
twodiode circuit Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

A transistor operates (or (Lab 41)

turns on) when the baseemitter junction is forward
biased and the basecollector junction is reversed
biased (biasing)

(Electronic Devices and

Circuits, Bogart, 1986)
 Transistor Biasing (npn Transistor)
Electrons are constantly
supplied to the emitter by
the battery with voltage VEE
These electrons can:
1. Recombine with holes in
the base, giving rise to IB
2. Diffuse across base and be swept (by electric field at
baseemitter junction) into collector, then diffuse around
and eventually recombine with holes injected into
collector, giving rise to IC
Since the base region is designed so thin, process 2
dominates (no time for #1 to occur as often)
In an actual npn transistor, 98 or 99% of the electrons that
diffuse into the base will be swept into the collector
 Current Flow Inside a Transistor
Current flow for an npn transistor (reverse for pnp):
From conservation of current (Electronic Devices and Circuits,
Bogart, 1986)
(IE = IB + IC) we can obtain the following
expressions relating the currents:

I C bI B I E b 1I B
(and thus IC IE)
where b 20 200
(depends on emitter current)
b increases as IE increases (for very small IE) since there is less
chance that recombination will occur in the base
b decreases slightly (1020%) as IE increases beyond several mA
due to increased base conductivity resulting from larger number of
charge carriers in the base
Thus b is not a constant for a given transistor!
An average value of 100 is typically used
(Lab 45)
 Transistor Current Amplification
If the input current is IB and the output current is
IC, then we have a current amplification or gain
Happens because baseemitter junction is forward-biased
Forward bias ensures that the baseemitter junction
conducts (transistor is turned on)
Reverse bias ensures that most of the large increase in
the baseemitter current shows up as collector current

Thus small gains in IB

result in large gains in IE
and hence IC

(Student Manual for The Art

of Electronics, Hayes and
Horowitz, 2nd Ed.)
 Basic Transistor Switch Circuit
Transistor switch circuit:
(Lab 49)

(BC junction forward biased)

VB
0.2 V VC
0.6 V
0 V VE
(The Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

With switch open, transistor is off and lamp is off

With switch closed, IB = (10 0.6) V / 1k = 9.4 mA
However, IC = bIB 940 mA (assuming b = 100)
When collector current IC = 100 mA, lamp has 10V across it
To get a higher current, collector would need to be below ground
Transistor cant do this, so it goes into saturation
Collector voltage gets as close to emitter voltage as it can (about
0.2 V higher) and IC remains constant (IC is maxed out)
 Emitter Follower (Lab 42)
Output follows the input: only
difference is a 0.6 V diode drop C
B
True for Vin > 0.6 V E
If Vin < 0.6 V, transistor turns off (no
current valve is closed) and Vout = 0 E
Data with RE = 3.3k: (The Art of
Electronics, Horowitz
and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

Vin

Vout
 Emitter Follower
By returning the emitter
resistor to a negative
supply voltage, you can
obtain negative voltage
swings as well
Data with RE = 3.3k:
(The Art of Electronics,
Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)
 Emitter Follower Biasing
You must always provide a DC path for base bias
current, even if it is just through a resistor to ground
HW Problem 2.5

(The Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

 Emitter Follower Biasing
With RB included in the previous circuit:

f = 1 kHz
 Emitter Follower Biasing
Without RB included in the previous circuit:

(Here there is no DC base bias current, so transistor is off.)

 Emitter Follower Biasing (Lab 44)
To obtain symmetric output waveforms without
clipping, provide constant DC bias using a voltage
divider
Capacitors block outside DC current, which may affect
quiescent (no input) values (AC-coupled follower)

(The Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

 Emitter Follower Impedance
The usefulness of the emitter follower can be seen
by determining its input and output impedance:
Input impedance (i.e. the impedance looking into the base
of the transistor):
Zin Z load 1 b b Z load
Details of proof given in class
Output impedance (i.e. the impedance looking into the
emitter of the transistor):
Z source Z source
Z out
1 b b
Details provided by you in the homework!
Thus the input impedance is much larger than the
output impedance
 Emitter Follower Impedance
Thus the input and output sees what it wants to
see on the other side of the transistor:

(Student Manual for The Art

of Electronics, Hayes and
Horowitz, 2nd Ed.)

Using an emitter follower, a given signal source

requires less power to drive a load than if the source
were to drive the load directly
Very good, since in general we want
Zout (stage n) << Zin (stage n + 1) (by at least a factor of 10)
An emitter follower has current gain, even though it has no
voltage gain
The emitter follower has power gain
 Emitter Follower Impedance
When measuring the input and output impedance of
the emitter follower, it is useful to think about the
Thvenin equivalent circuit as seen at the input
and the output: (Lab 43)
Input impedance seen by the source:

Vin VB
Z in
Zsource Zin VB Vin
Z source Z in
(Student Manual for The Art
of Electronics, Hayes and
Output impedance seen by the load: Horowitz, 2nd Ed.)

Vout, no load ~ Vout, load

Zout Z load
Zload Vout,load Vout, no load
Z out Z load
 Emitter Follower With Load (HW 2.2)
(The Art of Electronics,
Consider the following circuit: Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

Vin IE
Vout

Vout and Vin waveforms:

Vin (V) Vout (V) IE (mA)
Vin +9.4 8.8 27.6
5 4.4 18.8
0 0.6 8.8
3 3.6 2.8
Vout 4.4 5.0 0.0
5 5.0 0.0
10 5.0 0.0
 Emitter Follower With Load
Thus the npn emitter follower can only source
current (supply current to something like a load)
It cannot sink current (draw current from something
like a load)
In this example, the transistor turns off when
Vin = 4.4 V (Vout = 5.0 V)
Then IE = 0 and the baseemitter junction becomes reverse
biased
As Vin increases further, a rather large reverse bias
develops across this junction which could result in
breakdown
The output could swing more negative than 5 V by
reducing the RE = 1k resistor, but this increases
power consumption in both the resistor and transistor
 Zener Diodes as Voltage Regulators
Zener diodes like to break down at
a particular reverse bias:
When reverse biased, they provide a
constant voltage drop over a wide range
of currents
Zeners thus provide a means of
voltage regulation (Student Manual for The Art
of Electronics, Hayes and
Horowitz, 2nd Ed.)

(The Art of
Electronics, Horowitz
and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

We choose the specifications for the zener based on:

Vin,min Vout Vin,max Vout
I out (max) Pzener
I out,min Vzener
R Rmin
 Example Problem 2.3
Design a +10 V regulated supply for load
currents from 0 to 100 mA; the input
voltage is +20 to +25 V. Allow at least
10 mA zener current under all (worst-case)
conditions. What power rating must the
zener have?

Solution details given in class.

 Emitter Followers as Voltage Regulators
However, the zener current can change significantly
depending on the load, affecting regulation
performance
A better voltage regulator would incorporate an
emitter follower:
(HW 2.4)
(The Art of
Electronics, Horowitz
and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

Here the zener current is more constant, relatively

independent of load current since changes in IE (or Iload)
produce only small changes in IB
Load current determined from (VB 0.6 V) / Rload
 Transistors as Current Sources
A transistor can be used as a
current source with the setup at
right: (Lab 46)
VC
VE VB 0.6
I E IC
RE RE
VE

(The Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

Note that IC is independent of VC as long as VC > VE + 0.2 V

(i.e., the transistor is not saturated)
The output voltage (Vload or VC) range over which Iload
(= IC) is (nearly) constant is called the output
compliance
 Deficiencies of Current Sources
The load current will still vary somewhat, even when
the transistor is on and not in saturation
There are two kinds of effects that cause this:
VBE varies somewhat with collector-to-emitter voltage for a
given collector current (Early effect), as does b
DVBE 0.0001 DVCE
We assume VBE = constant = 0.6 V in the basic transistor model
VBE and b depend on temperature
DVBE 2.1 mV/0C
We neglect changes in b by assuming IC = IE
To minimize DVBE from both effects, choose VE large
enough ( 1V) so that DVBE 10 mV will not result in
large fractional changes in the voltage across RE
VE too large will result in decreased output compliance,
however (VC range for transistor on state decreases)
 CommonEmitter Amplifier (Lab 47)
Consider a transistor current
source with a resistor RC as
load, and block unwanted
DC at the base input (Vin is
an AC signal):
(Note DC quiescent
output voltage of 10 V)

(The Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill, 2nd Ed.)

1 1
f 3dB C
2 Req C so 2 f 3dB Req where Req R1 R2 b RE
Now imagine we apply a base wiggle vB via the input signal
The emitter follows the wiggle so vE = vB
Then the wiggle in the emitter current is:
vE vB (lower-case letters
iE iC represent small
RE RE changes, or wiggles)
 CommonEmitter Amplifier
Now VC = VCC ICRC so vC = iCRC = vB(RC / RE)
Since vin = vB and vout = vC, we have a voltage amplifier,
with a voltage gain of:
vout RC
G
vin RE
Minus sign means that a positive wiggle at the input gets
turned into a negative wiggle at the output
Input and output impedance:
Zin = R1 R2 bRE 8k (see figure on previous slide)
Zout = RC (impedance looking into collector) = RC (high Z
current source) RC = 10k (see figure on previous slide)
Be careful to choose R1 and R2 correctly so that
design is not b dependent (R1 R2 << bRE)