TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS

AJMAL S∗
IMS15015
IISER-Thiruvananthapuram
(Dated: October 20, 2017)
Characteristics of a diode are electronic properties of the transistor which can be inferred from
the plots which represent the relation between the current and the voltage in a particular configura-
tion.This experiment is to study the input, output and transfer characteristics of an NPN transistor
in common emitter configuration and to find out the dynamic input resistance, dynamic output
resistance and common emitter current gain beta.

I. BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTORS(BJTS)

Bipolar Junction Transistors are transistors which are

made up of 3 regions, the base, the collector, and the
emitter. A small current entering in the base region of
the transistor causes a much larger current ow from the
emitter to the collector region.
Emitter: Heavily doped segment of a transistor which
supplies a large number of majority charge carriers
for the current flow through the transistor.
Base: Central segment,thin and lightly doped
Collector: Collects a major portion of the majority car-
riers supplied by the emitter.Moderately doped and FIG. 2. Input Characteristic
larger in size than emitter.
Here we used NPN Transistor in CE configuration fig-1
For VCE = 2V , ri =647.2Ω
For VCE = 4V ,ri =627.61Ω
For VCE = 6V ,ri =606.06Ω

B. Output Characteristic

FIG. 1. Circuit used for characteristic studies By keeping the base current (IB ) constant, collector-
emitter (VCE ) voltage is varied and the corresponding
(IC ) values are obtained. This is repeated for increas-
ing values of IB .Initially for very small values of VCE ,IC
A. Input Characteristic increases almost linearly.This happens because the base-
collecter junction is not reverse biased and the transistor
Keeping the Collector-Emitter voltage (VCE ) con- is not in the active state.The reciprocal of the slope of the
stant,the Base-Emitter voltage(VBE ) is increased and the linear part of the output characteristic gives the dynamic
corresponding base current (IB ) values are noted. This is output resistance(ro )
repeated for increasing values of (VCE ). Dynamic Input
resistance was calculated from the slopes of the curves.
∆VCE
∆VBE Dynamic output resistance(ro ) = , at constant IB
Dynamic input resistance(ri ) = , at constant VCE ∆IC
∆IB (2)
(1)
For IB = 100µA,ro =121.951Ω
For IB = 150µA,ro =62.563Ω
For IB = 200µA,ro =41.132Ω
∗ ajmal15@iisertvm.ac.in
 2

when the transistor is in active state.

FIG. 3. Output Characteristic

FIG. 4. Transfer Characteristic

C. Transfer Characteristic
∆IC
Currentgain(β) = , at constant VCE (3)
∆IB
By keeping the collector-emitter voltage (VC E) con-
stant, base current (IB ) is varied and the corresponding From the graph,β is obtained as 79.448
IC values are obtained. A graph was plotted with IB II. REFERENCE
against IC . Current gain (β) was calculated from the
slope of the curve. Current gain is defined as the ratio of 1. V K Mehta , Principles Of Electronics
the change in the collector current to the change in the 2. amrita.olabs.edu.in
base current at a constant collector emitter voltage(VCE ) 3. Millman’s electronic devices and circuits