Electronic Devices

KEEE 2224
Lecture 3
BJT
Modes of Operation, Current Amplifications,
I & V Characteristics
Dr. Ghafour Amouzad Mahdiraji
September 2012

BJT Operation

In the forward active operation

mode, the B-E junction is forward
biased so majority carriers from
emitter are injected across the B-E
junction into the base.
The B-C junction is reverse biased,
so the minority carrier concentration
at the edge of the B-C junction is
ideally zero (like shown in the fig).
The large gradient in the minority
carrier concentration means that
majority carriers injected from the
emitter into the base will diffuse
across the base region into the B-C
space charge region, where the Efield will sweep the minority carrier
into the collector.

Transistor Configurations
There are three possible configurations for BJT transistor:
Common-base
Common-collector
Common-emitter

Common-Base Configuration

The arrow in the

graphic symbol defines
the direction of emitter
current through the
device.
pnp : pointing in

npn : not pointing in

The base is common to both input (emitterbase) and

output (collectorbase) of the transistor.

CommonEmitter Configuration

The emitter is common to both input

(base-emitter) and output (collectoremitter).
The input is on the base and the
output is on the collector.

CommonCollector Configuration
The input is on the base and the output is on the emitter.

Transistor Modes of Operation

There are also four modes of operation for BJT transistor:
Forward active
Cutoff
Saturation
Inverse active

Cutoff Region of Operation

If the B-E voltage is zero or reverse biased (VBE

0), the majority carrier from the emitter will not be
injected into the base. Since the B-C junction is
also reversed biased; thus, the emitter and collector
current ideally will be zero for this case. This
condition is referred to as cutoff, where all current
in the transistor are zero or IC = 0.
In the cutoff region the C-B junctions is
reverse-biased and the B-E voltage is
either zero or reverse-biased.

Forward Active Region of Operation

When the B-E junction is forward biased, an emitter current will be generated,
and the injection of electrons into the base results in a collector current. This
condition is referred as the forward-active operating mode.

In this mode of operation, the majority

carriers from the emitter are injected
across the B-E junction into the base.
These injected carriers create an excess
concentration of minority carriers in the
base, where the E-field will sweep the
minority carriers into the collector and
results in a collector current.
The forward active or just simply active
region normally employed for linear
(undistorted) properties.

Saturation Region of Operation

KVL: VCC VR VCE I C RC (VCB VBE )

As the forward biased B-E voltage increases, the collector

current and hence VR will also increase. The increase in VR
means that the reverse biased C-B voltage decreases.

At some point, the collector current may become large

enough that the combination of VR and VCC produces 0
V across the B-C junction.

A slight increase in IC beyond this point will

cause a slight increase in VR and the B-C
junction will become forward biased (VCB <
0). This condition is called saturation.
In the saturation region the B-E and B-C
junctions are both forward biased and the
collector current is no longer controlled by
the B-E voltage.

Inverse Active Region of Operation

Inverse active region is opposite of the Forward Active Region, when B-E
junction is reversed biased and the B-C junction is forward biased.

In this case, transistor is operating "upside down", the role of emitter and
collector are reversed.

Since the transistor is not a symmetrical device; therefore, the inverseactive characteristics will not be the same as the forward-active
characteristics.

BJT
Amplifications
in Different Configurations

Collector Current

Ideally, the minority

carrier concentration in
the base is a linear
function of distance,
which implies no
recombination.
Considering the ideal
case, the collector
current can be written
as a diffusion current:
Minority carrier distribution and basic
current in a forward-biased npn BJT.

VBE
nB (0) 0 eDn ABE
dn( x)

I C eDn ABE
eDn ABE

nB 0 exp

dx
xB
0 xB
Vt

where e is magnitude of electronic charge (C), Dn is minority carrier electron diffusion coefficient
(cm2/s), ABE is the cross sectional area of the B-E junction (cm2), nB0 is the thermal-equilibrium
electron concentration in the base, and Vt is the thermal voltage.

Collector Current

VBE

I C I s exp
Considering only the magnitude:
Vt

where I is the ideal reverse-biased saturation current (A)

s

The collector current is controlled by the B-E voltage; it means, the current
at one terminal of the device is controlled by the voltage applied to the other
two terminals of the device. This is the basic transistor action.
The collector current is made up entirely of those injected at the emitter,
which are not lost to recombination in the base.
Thus, IC is proportional to a fraction (B) of the holes component of the
IB
emitter current IE2 , plus the saturation current
e- flow
I

BI

E1

CO

ICO : Collector current when emitter is Open

and B is the base transport factor.

The emitter injection efficiency is

I

E1

E1
I

4
1

IE

Hole
p+

n
IEp or IE1

E2

IEn or IE2

IC

IC

Emitter Current

IB

e- flow

1
IE

IE IE

Majority

IE

Minority

I E1 I E 2

Hole
p+

n
IEp or IE1

IC

IEn or IE2

IE2 is only for B-E junction current so this component of emitter current is
not part of the collector current.

IC

Emitter Current
Input Characteristics
This curve shows the relationship between
input current (IE) to input voltage (VBE) for
three output voltage (VCB) levels.
At a fixed VCB, by increasing VBE, IE will be
increase in a manner like diode
characteristics, where after around 0.7 V, the
transistor goes to the 'On' state.
On the other hand, increasing VCB have very
small effect on characteristics of transistor,
which can be ignored.
Approximation: once a transistor is in the
'on' state, the base-to-emitter voltage will be
assumed to be

V BE 0.7 V (for Silicon)

Input or driving point characteristics for a

common-base silicon BJT amplifier.

Common-Base Characteristics I

The common-base current gain is referred to the ratio of IC to IE, assuming

ICO = 0.
I
BI
C

Ideally: = 1
E1
B In reality: is between 0.9 and 0.998
I
I
E1
E2

Since IC < IE, therefore < 1. E

We would then like the to be as close to unity as possible.
Note that the emitter current is an exponential function of the B-E voltage
and the collector current is IC = IE.

Approximately, we can say, the

collector current is independent of the
B-C voltage as long as the B-C
junction is reverse biased.

In ideal case, the bipolar transistor in

the common-base configuration acts
like a constant current source.

Thus, the bipolar transistor in the

common-base configuration does not
have any current amplification.

Common-Base Characteristics II
Output Characteristics
This graph demonstrates the output current (IC) to an output
voltage (VCB) for various levels of input current (IE).

Practical output or collector characteristics for a common-base BJT amplifier.

Common-Base Characteristics III

As the emitter current increases above zero, the collector current increases to a
magnitude essentially equal to that of the emitter current.
Note also the almost negligible effect of VCB on the collector current for the active
region.
Approximation: I I
C

Active Operating range of

the amplifier.

Cutoff The amplifier is

basically off. There is voltage,
but little current.

Saturation The amplifier is

fully on. There is current, but
little voltage.

Example
a) using the characteristics curves, determine the resulting collector current if
IE = 3 mA and VCB = 10 V.

Answer: IC IE = 3 mA

b) using the characteristics curves, determine the resulting collector current if

IE remains at 3 mA but VCB is reduced to 2 V.

Answer: IC = 3 mA

c) using the characteristics curves, determine VBE if IC = 4 mA and VCB = 20 V.

d) Repeat part (c) using the approximation of VBE = 0.7 V in on state.

Answer:
VBE = 0.74 V

Answer: VBE = 0.7 V

Example: Transistor Voltage Amplification

Ii

vi
IB
+

Currents and Voltages:

V
200mV
10mA
I E Ii i
20
Ri
I

I
V

RL
IC

Voltage Gain:
Av

VL
Vi

50V
200mV

250

I 10 mA
i

I R (10 ma )(5 k) 50 V
L

Typical values of amplification for the common-base configuration vary from 50 to 300.
The current amplification (IC/IE) is always less than 1 for common-base configuration.

Base Current

If B is the base transport factor or represents the carriers transferred to

collector with out recombination, then (1-B) means the fraction of the
carriers that are recombined in the base.
Ideally (ICO = 0), there are two current components related to the base,
1. the majority carriers from the base diffuse into the emitter, IE2
2. the majority carriers (electron here) in the base recombine with the
minority carriers (holes) diffused into the base from emitter, (1-B)IE1

I B I E 2 (1 B ) I E1

Beta ()

The ratio of collector current to base current is a constant since both

currents are directly proportional to exp(vBE/Vt). This ratio is the base-tocollector current amplification factor, which usually obtained in commonemitter configuration:

BI
B I E1 I E1 I E 2
C
E1

I
I
(1 B ) I
1 B I E1 I E1 I E 2
B
E2
E1

I
I

C
B

B
1 B

Normally, the base current will be

relatively small so that, in general,
the common-emitter current gain is
much larger than unity (on the
order of 100 or larger).

Common-Emitter Characteristics

Collector Characteristics

Base Characteristics

Example: Beta ()
Determining from a
Graph at VCE = 7.5 and
IB = 25 A

2.7 mA

25 A
108

VCE 7.5

CommonCollector Characteristics
The characteristics are
similar to those of the
common-emitter
configuration, except the
vertical axis is IE.
Opposite to common-base
and common-emitter
configuration, the commoncollector is used primarily for
impedance-matching
purposes since it has a high
input impedance and low
output impedance.

IE (mA)

Operating Limits for Each Configuration

VCE is at maximum and
IC is at minimum
(ICmax= ICEO) in the
cutoff region.
IC is at maximum and
VCE is at minimum
(VCE max = VCEsat =
VCEO) in the saturation
region.
The transistor operates
in the active region
between saturation and
cutoff.

Power Dissipation
Common-base:

PCmax VCB I C
Common-emitter:

PCmax VCE I C
Common-collector:

PCmax VCE I E

Transistor Specification Sheet

Transistor Specification Sheet

Transistor Testing

Curve Tracer
Provides a graph of the characteristic curves.

DMM
Some DMMs measure DC.

Ohmmeter

Transistor Terminal Identification