Student Lecture by:

•Giangiacomo Groppi
•Joel Cassell
•Pierre Berthelot
September 28th 2004
 Lecture outline

• Historical introduction
• Semiconductor devices overview
• Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
• Field Effect Transistors (FET)
• Power Transistors
 Transistor History
• Invention: 1947,at Bell Laboratories.
• John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William
Schockly developed the first model of
transistor (a Three Points transistor, made
with Germanium)
• They received Nobel Prize in Physics in
1956 "for their researches on
semiconductors and their discovery of the First model of Transistor
transistor effect"
• First application: replacing vacuum tubes
(big & inefficient).
• Today: millions of Transistors are built on a
single silicon wafer in most common
electronic devices
 What is a transistor ?
• The Transistor is a three-terminal,
semiconductor device.
• It’s possible to control electric current or
voltage between two of the terminals (by
applying an electric current or voltage to the third
terminal). The transistor is an active component.

• With the Transistor we can make amplification devices or

electric switch. Configuration of circuit determines
whether the transistor will work as switch or amplifier
• As a miniature electronic switch, it has two operating
positions: on and off. This switching capability allows
binary functionality and permits to process information in
a microprocessor.
 Semiconductors
Most used semiconductor:
• Silicon
– Basic building material of most integrated circuits
– Has four valence electrons, in its lattice there are 4 covalent bonds.
– Silicon crystal itself is an insulator: no free electrons
– Intrinsic concentration (ni) of charge carriers: function of Temperature
(at room temp. 300K ni = 1010 /cm3)
 Semiconductors 2
• Electric conductibility in the Silicon crystal is increased
by rising the temperature (not useful for our scope) and
by doping.
• Doping consists in adding small amounts of neighbor
elements.
 Semiconductors 3: Doping
Two Dopant Types
1. N-type (Negative)
• Donor impurities (from Group V) added to the Si crystal lattice.
• Dominant mobile charge carrier: negative electrons.
 Group V elements such as Phosphorous, Arsenic, and
Antimony.
2. P-type (Positive)
• Acceptor impurities (from Group III) added to the Si crystal lattice.
• Dominant mobile charge carrier: positive holes.
 Group III elements such as Boron, Aluminum, and Gallium.

N-type P-type
 The simplest example: p-n junction
• It’s also called Junction
Diode
• Allows current to flow from P
to N only.

• Because of the density gradient,

electrons diffuse to the p region,
holes to the n region.
• Because of the recombination, the
region near the junction is
depleted of mobile charges.
• Two types of behavior: Forward
and Reverse biased.
 Forward bias

Forward biasing:
• The external Voltage lowers the potential barrier at the junction.
• The p-n junction drives holes (from the p-type material) and electrons
(from the n-type material) to the junction.
• A current of electrons to the left and a current of holes to the right: the
total current is the sum of these two currents.
 Reverse bias
• Reverse biasing:
• Reverse voltage increases the potential barrier at the junction.
• There will be a transient current to flow as both electrons and holes
are pulled away from the junction.
• When the potential formed by the widened depletion region equals
the applied voltage, the current will cease except for the small
thermal current. It’s called reverse saturation current and is due to
hole-electrons pairs generated by thermal energy.
 Diode characteristics

• Forward biased (on)- Current flows

– It needs about 0.7 V to start conduction (Vd )
• Reversed biased (off)- Diode blocks current
– Ideal: Current flow = 0
– Real : Iflow= 10-6 Amps (reverse saturation current)

V threshold
 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)

• 3 adjacent regions of doped

Si (each connected to a lead):
– Base. (thin layer,less doped).
– Collector.
– Emitter.
• 2 types of BJT: npn bipolar junction transistor

– npn.
– pnp.
• Most common: npn (focus
on it).

Developed by
pnp bipolar junction transistor
Shockley (1949)
 BJT npn Transistor
• 1 thin layer of p-type, sandwiched between 2 layers of n-type.
• N-type of emitter: more heavily doped than collector.
• With VC>VB>VE:
– Base-Emitter junction forward biased, Base-Collector reverse biased.
– Electrons diffuse from Emitter to Base (from n to p).
– There’s a depletion layer on the Base-Collector junction no flow of e-
allowed.
– BUT the Base is thin and Emitter region is n+ (heavily doped) 
electrons have enough momentum to cross the Base into the Collector.
– The small base current IB controls a large current IC
 BJT characteristics

• Current Gain:
– α is the fraction of electrons
that diffuse across the narrow
Base region
– 1- α is the fraction of electrons
that recombine with holes in
I C  I E
the Base region to create base
current I B  (1   ) I E
• The current Gain is expressed
in terms of the β (beta) of the IC 
transistor (often called hfe by  
manufacturers). IB 1
• β (beta) is Temperature and
Voltage dependent.
• It can vary a lot among
transistors (common values for
signal BJT: 20 - 200).
 npn Common Emitter circuit

• Emitter is grounded.
• Base-Emitter starts to conduct with VBE=0.6V,IC flows and it’s IC=IB.
• Increasing IB, VBE slowly increases to 0.7V but IC rises exponentially.
• As IC rises ,voltage drop across RC increases and VCE drops toward
ground. (transistor in saturation, no more linear relation between IC
and IB)
 Common Emitter characteristics

Collector current Collector current

The avalanche
controlled by the proportional to
multiplication of
collector circuit. Base current
current through
(Switch behavior)
collector junction
In full saturation occurs: to be
VCE=0.2V. avoided

No current flows
 BJT as Switch
•Vin(Low ) < 0.7 V
•BE junction not forward
biased
•Cutoff region
•No current flows
•Vout = VCE = Vcc
•Vout = High
•Vin(High)
•BE junction forward biased (VBE=0.7V)
•Saturation region
•VCE small (~0.2 V for saturated BJT)
•Vout = small
•IB = (Vin-VB)/RB
 BJT as Switch 2

• Basis of digital logic circuits

• Input to transistor gate can be analog or digital
• Building blocks for TTL – Transistor Transistor Logic
• Guidelines for designing a transistor switch:
– VC>VB>VE
– VBE= 0.7 V
– IC independent from IB (in saturation).
– Min. IB estimated from by (IBminIC/).
– Input resistance such that IB > 5-10 times IBmin because 
varies among components, with temperature and voltage and RB
may change when current flows.
– Calculate the max IC and IB not to overcome device
specifications.
Operation point of BJT
• Every IB has a corresponding I-
V curve.
• Selecting IB and VCE, we can
find the operating point, or Q
point.
• Applying Kirchoff laws around
the base-emitter and collector
circuits, we have :

IB = (VBB-VBE)/RB
VCE = Vcc – IC*RC

VCC VCE
IC  
RC RC
Operation point of BJT 2
VCC VCE
IC  
RC RC

Load-line curve
Q
BJT as amplifier

•Common emitter mode

•Linear Active Region
•Significant current Gain
Example:
•Let Gain,  = 100

•Assume to be in active
region -> VBE=0.7V

•Find if it’s in active

region
BJT as amplifier 2

VBE  0.7V
I E  I B  I C  (   1) I B
VBB  VBE 5  0.7
IB    0.0107mA
RB  RE *101 402
I C   * I B  100 * 0.0107  1.07mA
VCB  VCC  I C * RC  I E * RE  VBE 
 10  (3)(1.07)  (2)(101* 0.0107)  0.7 
 3.93V

VCB>0 so the BJT is in

active region
 Operation region summary

Operation IB or VCE BC and BE Mode

Region Char. Junctions
Cutoff IB = Very Reverse & Open
small Reverse Switch
Saturation VCE = Small Forward & Closed
Forward Switch
Active VCE = Reverse & Linear
Linear Moderate Forward Amplifier
Break- VCE = Large Beyond Overload
down Limits
 Field Effect Transistors

• 1955 : the first Field effect transistor works

• Increasingly important in mechatronics.

• Similar to the BJT:

BJT FET
Terminal Terminal
– Three terminals,
– Control the output current Base Gate

Collector Drain

Emitter Source
 Field Effect Transistors
el
n
• Three Types of Field Effect Transistors an
h
- c
– MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor or n field-effect transistors)
• Enhancement mode n el
an
• Depletion mode
p-ch
h in
– JFET (Junction Field-effect transistors)
c
Ea
•

• The more used one is the n-channel enhancement mode MOSFET, also called NMOS
MOSFET (enhancement mode n-channel)

Symbols (base connected

to the source or not)

Depletion mode
Enhancement mode The arrow head indicates the
direction of the pn substrate-
channel junction
• N-channel => Source and Drain are n type
• Enhancement mode =>
Increase VGS to make the travel from D to S easier for the
electrons
 NMOS Behavior
VGS < Vth
• IDS=0

VGS > Vth :

0 < VDS < VPinch off
Depletion mode (or active region), gate holes are repelled.
 variable resistor (controled by VGS)

VDS > VPinch off

Inversion mode (or saturation region), IDS constant.

VDS > VBreakdown

IDS increases quickly
Should be avoided
 NMOS Characteristic

For VDS > VPinchoff , the base Active Saturation

current is a function of VGS region region
Pinchoff
Point
 NMOS Vs PMOS

– Symbols:
 NMOS Vs PMOS
VGS > Vth Vth < 0
• IDS=0

VGS < Vth :

0 < VDS < VPinch off
T gate holes are repelled.
Depletion mode (or active region),
J
B by VGS)
 variable resistor (controled
n p
p
e
VDS > VPinch off th
o
t saturation region), IDS constant.
Inversion modes (or
ou
log
a
VDS > VABreakdown
n
IDS increases quickly
Should be avoided
 NMOS uses

• High-current voltage-controlled switches

• Analog switches
• Drive DC and stepper motor
• Current sources
• Chips and Microprocessors

• CMOS: Complementary fabrication

 NMOS Example

For Vpinchoff < VDS < 0

And VGS > VTH
 JFET overview
The circuit symbols:

JFET design:
 JFET Behavior
Can be used with VG=0
 JFET Behavior
Can be used with VG < 0
 JFET Behavior
VGS > Vth
• IDS=0

VGS < Vth :

0 < VDS < VPinch off
T gate holes are repelled.
Depletion mode (or active region),
J
B by VGS)
 variable resistor (controled
n p
p
e
VDS > VPinch off th
o
t saturation region), IDS constant.
Inversion modes (or
ou
log
a
VDS > VABreakdown
n
IDS increases quickly
Should be avoided
 JFET uses

• Small Signal Amplifier

• Voltage Controlled Resistor

• Switch
 FET Summary
• General:
• Signal Amplifiers
• Switches

JFET:
For Small signals
Low noise signals
Behind a high impedence system
Inside a good Op-Ampl.

MOSFET:
Quick
Voltage Controlled Resistors
RDS can be really low : 10 mOhms
 Power Transistors

• In General
– Fabrication is different in order to:
• Dissipate more heat
• Avoid breakdown
– So Lower gain than signal transistors
• BJT
– essentially the same as a signal level BJT
– Power BJT cannot be driven directly by HC11
• MOSFET
– base (flyback) diode
– Large current requirements
 References

• “Introduction to Mechatronics and Measurement Systems” by D.G.

Alciatore, McGraw-Hill
•“Microelectronics” by J. Millman, McGraw-Hill
•Several Images from Internet: some websites are:
•http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/mechatronics/figures/
•http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/~schubert/Course-ECSE-6290 SDM-2/
•http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/solids/diod.html