Introduction To Transistors

Mr. Zeeshan Ali, Asst. Professor

Department: B.E. Electronic & Telecommunication

Subject: Analog Electronics - I
Semester: III
eCourseware@AIKTC
 Overview
• What is a transistor?
– Uses
– History
– Background Science
• Transistor Properties
• Types of transistors
– Bipolar Junction Transistors
– Field Effect Transistors
– Power Transistors
 What is a transistor?
• A transistor is a 3 terminal electronic device made of
semiconductor material.
• Transistors have many uses, including amplification,
switching, voltage regulation, and the modulation of
signals
 History
• Before transistors were invented, circuits used vacuum tubes:
– Fragile, large in size, heavy, generate large quantities of heat, require a large
amount of power
• The first transistors were created at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1947
– William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain created the transistors
in and effort to develop a technology that would overcome the problems of
tubes
– The first patents for the principle of a field effect transistor were registered
in 1928 by Julius Lillenfield.
– Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain had referenced this material in their work
• The word “transistor” is a combination of the terms “transconductance”
and “variable resistor”
• Today an advanced microprossesor can have as many as 1.7 billion
transistors.
 Background Science
• Conductors • Insulators
– Ex: Metals – Ex: Plastics
– Flow of electricity – Flow of electricity
governed by motion governed by motion
of free electrons of ions that break
– As temperature free
increases, – As temperature
conductivity increases,
decreases due to conductivity
more lattice atom increases due to
collisions of lattice vibrations
electrons breaking free ions
– Idea of – Irrelevant because
 Semiconductors
• Semiconductors are more like insulators in
their pure form but have smaller atomic
band gaps
• Adding dopants allows them to gain
conductive properties
 Doping
• Foreign elements are added to the semiconductor to make it
electropositive or electronegative
• P-type semiconductor (postive type)
– Dopants include Boron, Aluminum, Gallium, Indium, and Thallium
– Ex: Silicon doped with Boron
– The boron atom will be involved in covalent bonds with three of the
four neighboring Si atoms. The fourth bond will be missing and
electron, giving the atom a “hole” that can accept an electron
 Doping
• N-type semiconductor (negative type)
– Dopants include Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Arsenic, Antimony, and
Bismuth
• Ex: Silicon doped with Phosphorous
– The Phosphorous atom will contribute and additional electron to
the Silicon giving it an excess negative charge
 P-N Junction Diodes
• Forward Bias • Reverse Bias
– Current flows from P to N – No Current flows
– Excessive heat can cause dopants
in a semiconductor device to
migrate in either direction over
time, degrading diode
– Ex: Dead battery in car from
rectifier short
– Ex: Recombination of holes and
electrons cause rectifier open
circuit and prevents car alternator
form charging battery
 Back To The Question
What is a Transistor?
• Bipolar Junction Transistors
• NPN Transistor Most Common
Configuration
• Base, Collector, and Emitter
– Base is a very thin region with less
dopants
– Base collector jusntion reversed
biased
– Base emitter junction forward
biased
Fluid flow analogy:
– If fluid flows into the base, a much
larger fluid can flow from the
collector to the emitter
– If a signal to be amplified is
applied as a current to the
base, a valve between the
collector and emitter opens and
closes in response to signal
fluctuations
• PNP Transistor essentially the same
except for directionality
 BJT Transistors
• BJT (Bipolar Junction Transistor)
– npn
• Base is energized to allow current flow
– pnp
• Base is connected to a lower potential to allow current flow
• 3 parameters of interest
– Current gain (β)
– Voltage drop from base to emitter when VBE=VFB
– Minimum voltage drop across the collector and emitter when
transistor is saturated
 npn BJT Transistors
• High potential at
collector
• Low potential at emitter
• Allows current flow
when the base is given a
high potential
 pnp BJT Transistors
• High potential at emitter
• Low potential at collector
• Allows current flow when
base is connected to a low
potential
 BJT Modes
• Cut-off Region: VBE < VFB, iB=0
– Transistor acts like an off switch
• Active Linear Region: VBE=VFB, iB≠0, iC=βiB
– Transistor acts like a current amplifier
• Saturation Region: VBE=VFB, iB>iC,max/ β
– In this mode the transistor acts like an on switch
• Power across BJT
 Power Across BJT
• PBJT = VCE * iCE
• Should be below the rated transistor power
• Should be kept in mind when considering
heat dissipation
• Reducing power increases efficiency
 Darlington Transistors
• Allow for much greater gain in a circuit
• β = β1 * β2
 FET Transistors
• Analogous to BJT BJT FET
Transistors Collector Drain
• FET Transistors Base Gate
switch by voltage
Emitter Source
rather than by current
N/A Body

S
 FET Transistors
• FET (Field Effect Transistors)
– MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect
Transistor)
– JFET (Junction Field-Effect Transistor)
– MESFET
– HEMT
– MODFET
• Most common are the n-type MOSFET or JFET
 FET Transistors – Circuit Symbols
MOSFET
• In practice the body and D D
source leads are almost B
G G B
always connected
• Most packages have these S S

leads already connected

JFET
D

S
 FET Transistors – How it works
• The “Field Effect”
• The resulting field at the plate causes electrons to gather
• As an electron bridge forms current is allowed to flow

Plate
Semi-
conductor
 FET Transistors

JFET MOSFET

gate gate

P drain source
N N
drain N source P
FET Transistors – Characteristics
Current
flow
D

G B

S
 FET Transistors – Regions
Region Criteria Effect on Current
Current
flow
Cut-off VGS < Vth IDS=0 D

Linear VGS > Vth Transistor acts like a

And variable resistor, G B
controlled by Vgs
VDS <VGS-Vth
S
Saturation VGS > Vth Essentially constant
And current
VDS >VGS-Vth
 JFET vs MOSFET Transistors
MOSFET JFET Current
flow
High switching Will operate at VG<0 D

speed
Can have very low Better suited for low G B
RDS signal amplification
Susceptible to ESD S

More commonly
used as a power
transistor
 Power Transistors
• Additional material for
current handling and
heat dissipation
• Can handle high
current and voltage
• Functionally the same
as normal transistors
 Transistor Uses
• Switching
• Amplification
• Variable Resistor
Practical Examples - Switching
 Practical Examples - PWM
• Power to motor is DC motor
proportional to duty
cycle
• MOSFET transistor is
ideal for this use