Subject Code : EC2151 Subject Name : Electric Circuit and Electron Device Year : 1st yr Semester : 2nd Sem

Department : CSE & ECE

UNIT-IV TRANSISTORS

Introduction of transistors Transistor is a semiconductor device that can amplify electronic signals such as radio and television signals. Advantage of the transistor
1. 2. 3. 4.

Smaller in size No filament and no need of power for heating filament Low operating voltage Higher efficiency

Types of the transistor Unipolar Junction Transistor Bipolar Junction Transistor Construction of the transistor n-p-n transistor p-n-p transistor

n-p-n transistor It is formed by sand witching p-type semiconductor between two n-type. p-n-p transistor It is formed by sand witching n-type semiconductor between two p-type. Terminals for the transistor Emitter Collector Base Functions of Emitter, Collector & Base: Emitter : To supply majority charge carriers. Collector: To collect majority charge carriers. Base: It passes most of the injected charge carriers to the collector. Transistor Biasing

Applying external voltage to a transistor is called biasing. In order to operate transistor properly as an amplifier, it is necessary to correctly bias the two pn junctions with external voltages. Depending upon external bias voltage polarities used, the transistor works in one of the three regions.

Active region. Cut-off region. Saturation region. Sl.No. Region 1 2 Active Cut-off Emitter Base Forward biased Forward Collector Operation of a Base transistor Reverse biased acts as an amplifier Reverse biased acts as an open switch

biased Saturation Forward biased

Reverse biased acts as an closed switch

Operation of NPN transistors

Emitter is forward biased & as a result large forward current flows across the emitter junction due to flow of majority carriers. Injected electrons diffuse into the collector region due to the extremely small thickness of the base. Collector is reverse bias and creates a strong electrostatic field between base &collector. Field immediately collects the diffused electrons which enter the collector junction. Flow of electrons into the base region when confronted with the holes, a few electrons combine & neutralize Rest of the electrons of the injected electrons diffuse into the collector region and is collected by the collector electrode.

Operation of PNP transistors

Forward bias causes the holes in the P-type emitter to flow towards the base. Reduces the potential barrier at the junction Holes cross the junction & penetrate into the N-region. This constitutes emitter current IE. Width of the base region is very thin & lightly doped; hence a small amount of the holes recombine with free electrons of N-regions. This constitutes base current IB & is very small. Rest of the holes drift across the base and enter the collector region and are swept away by the negative collector electrode. This constitutes base current IC. Current conduction I PNP transistors is by movement of holes. Current conduction in the external circuit is by electrons.

Types of configuration Common Base configuration Common Emitter configuration Common Collector configuration Common Base configuration

 Input is connected between emitter & base. Output is connected between collector &base. Emitter-base junction is forward biased. Collector-base junction is reverse biased. Emitter current IE flows in the input circuit. Collector current ICflows in output circuit. The ratio of collector current IC, to emitter current IE, is called the Current amplification factor (). If there is no input ac signal, then the ratio of IC to IE is called dc alpha (dc). ac alpha refers to the ratio of change in IC to change in IE. The higher the value of , better the transistor. can be increased by making base thin and lightly doped. Characteristics of CB configuration The performance of transistors, when connected in a circuit, may be determined from their characteristic curves that relate different d.c. currents and voltages of a transistor.Such curves are known asStatic characteristic curves. Input Characteristics The curve drawn between Emitter current and Emitter Base voltage for a given value of collector-Base voltage is known as input Characteristics. For a given value of VCB,the curve is just like a forward-biased PN junction. With an increase in the value of VCB,it conducts better. This is because of the effect called early effect or Base width modulation. Output Characteristics The curve drawn between Collector current and Collector Base voltage for a given value of emitter current is known as output Characteristics. The collector current varies with VCB for very low voltage but transistor is never operated in this region. Common Emitter configuration

 Input is connected between base & emitter. Output is connected between collector & emitter. Emitter-base junction is forward biased. Collector-base junction is reverse biased. Base current IB flows in the input circuit. Collector current IC flows in output circuit. CE is commonly used because its current, voltage and power gains are quite high and output to input impedance ratio is moderate. The rate of change in collector current IC, to change in emitter current IE, is called amplification factor (). Input Characteristics The curve drawn between Base current and Base Emitter voltage for a given value of collector-emitter voltage is known as input Characteristics. For a given value of VEC,the curve is just like a forward-biased PN junction diode. Input resistance is larger in CE configuration than in CB configuration. This is because the input current IB increases less rapidly with increase in VBE . An increment in the value of VCE, causes the input current IB to be lower for a given level of VBE . This is because of the effect calledearly effect. Output Characteristics The curve drawn between Collector current IC and Collector emitter voltage VCE for a given value of base current IB is known as output Characteristics. Output characteristics in CE configuration have some slope while CB configuration has almost horizontal characteristics. This indicates that output resistance in case of CE configuration is less than that in CB configuration. Common Collector configuration Input is connected between base & collector. Output is connected between collector & emitter. The Collector forms the terminal common to both the input and output. Base current flows in the input circuit. Emitter current flows in output circuit.

 With base current IB equal to VCO, the emitter current IE is zero, so no current flows in the load resistor RL. With increases in input current IB, the transistor passes through the active region and finally reaches saturation. Input Characteristics To determine the input Characteristics, VEC is kept at a suitable fixed value. The base-collector voltage VBc is increased in equal steps and the corresponding increase in IB is noted. This is repeated for different values of VEC. Breakdown in Transistors

Avalanche Multiplication Reach-Through (or) Punch through

Avalanche Multiplication The maximum reverse bias voltage which can be applied before breakdown between collector and base terminals of the transistor under the condition that the emitter is open-circuited. It is represented by the symbol BVCBO (for CB configuration). This breakdown voltage is a characteristic of the transistor alone. Breakdown occurs because of the avalanche multiplication of current ICO that crosses the collector junction. As a result of this multiplication, the current becomes MICO in which M is the factor by which the original current ICO is multiplied by the avalanche effect. At a high voltage BVCBO, the multiplication factor M becomes infinite and the region of breakdown is then attained. The current increases abruptly and large changes in current accompanies small changes in voltage. Reach-Through (or) Punch through

 It results from Early effect (i.e.) as a result of increase in VCB and as the doping of the base is substantially smaller than that of the collector and the penetration of the transition region into the base is larger than into the collector Since the base is very thin, the transition region spreads completely across the base to reach the emitter junction. At this point, normal transistor action ceases and the emitter and collector are effectively shorted. Hence, a large current flows from the emitter to collector. This is called Reach-through. Field Effect Transistor (FET)

FET is a semiconductor device which depends for its operation on the control of current by an electric field. The output characteristics of FET are controlled by Input voltage and not by the Input current. So, it is also known as voltage-controlled device.

Features of FET The FET has several advantages over the conventional transistor.

Its operation depends upon the flow of majority carrier only. So, it is called as Unipolar device. It is relatively immune to radiation. It exhibits a high input resistance, typically many mega ohms. It is less noisy than a tube of a Bipolar Transistor. It exhibits no offset voltage at zero Drain current. It has thermal stability.

Types of FET

Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) (or)

Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor (IGFET) Construction of JFET

JFET is a three terminal semiconductor device in which current conduction is by one type of carrier either Electrons or holes.

The JFET consists of a P-type or N-type silicon bar. The bar is made up of N-type material which is known as N-channel JFET and if the bar is made up of P-type material, it is known as P channel JFET. The current in FET is carried by the majority carriers. One end of the channel is called the source and the other is called the drain.

Operation of JFET FET works under the three conditions.

When VGG applied and VDD=0 When VDS applied and VGG=0 When VDD applied and VGG is applied.

Where, VGG Gate supply voltage. VDS Drain Source voltage. VDD Drain supply voltage. Characteristics of JFET A family of curves that relate the current and voltage are known as characteristics curve. There are the two important characteristics of a JFET. Transfer characteristics Drain characteristics Characteristics Parameters of JFET The parameters of JFET are

Transconductance Drain resistance Drain conductance Amplification factor

Metal Oxide Semiconductor FET (MOSFET)

MOSFET is a three terminal device. Those terminals are source, gate and drain. The gate of a MOSFET is insulated from the channel. Because of this, the MOSFET is also known as an IGFET (Insulated gate FET). The MOSFET is a second category of FET. The MOSFET differs from the JFET is that it has no pn junction structure; instead the gate of the MOSFET is insulated from the channel by a silicon dioxide layer.

Types of MOSFET

Depletion type MOSFET Enhance type MOSFET

Construction of MOSFET

Two highly doped n regions are diffused into a lightly doped p type substrate. These two highly doped regions are represents source and drain. In some cases substrate is internally connected to the source terminal. The source and drain terminals are connected through metallic contacts the ndoped regions linked by an n-channel. The gate is also connected to a metal contact surface but remains insulted from the n-Channel by a very thin layer of dielectric material, Silicon Dioxide. This layer act as one parallel plate capacitor. Thus, there is no direct electrical connection between the gate terminal and the channel of a MOSFET increasing the input impedance of the device.

Characteristics of MOSFET The different characteristics of a D-MOSFET are Drain characteristics Transfer characteristics

Electric Circuit and Electron Device

Subject Code : EC2151 Subject Name : Electric Circuit and Electron Device

Year : 1st yr Semester : 2nd Sem Department : CSE & ECE

UNIT-V SPECIAL SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES Tunnel Diodes

When the impurity concentration is of the order of one part to 103 parts then tunnel diode is formed. This diode has negative resistance region. Due to which it is used as an oscillator. This diode is uses the tunneling phenomenon.

Tunneling The process that an electron from n-side of a pn diode directly penetrates through the junction into the p-side of diode is called tunneling. It is a quantum mechanical behaviors. Operation

When a tunnel diode is under unbiased condition then there will not transfer of electrons from n-side to p-side hence the net current will be zero. When the diode is reverse biased under this condition the electrons from n-side are attracted by the positive plate and hence move away from the junction. As a result the energy level in the n-side decreases when compared to the unbiased state. Now, there will be some empty state in valence band of p-side quite opposite to the empty conduction band. Hence tunneling takes place from p to n-side. As reverse bias is increased this current increase.

Applications Tunnel diode is used as Ultra-high speed switch.

 Used in relaxation oscillator. Used as an amplifier. Used as logic memory storage device. Used as microwave oscillator. Advantages

High speed operation Ease of operation Low noise Low cost Low power

Disadvantages

It is two terminal device, there is no isolation between the input and output circuit. Voltage range over which it can be operated is 1 V or less.

PIN Diode

It has highly improved switching time in comparison with a PN diode. PIN diodes are used in microwave switches. In PIN diode high resistivity intrinsic layer is sandwiched between the P and N regions. This results in improved switching time. Quite often instead of I-region we actually use either a high resistivity P-region is called region and the high resistivity N-region is called region. The I-region has typically resistivity of 10 m.

Applications of PIN Diode Used as pulse and phase shifter. Used as SPST and MPST switches. Used in amplitude modulation. Used as photo detectors in fiber optic systems. Used as T-R switch.

 Used as attenuator and duplexer. Varactor diode

Varactor diode is a specially manufactured reverse biased PN junction diode with a suitable impurity concentration profile. It is also called as varicap or voltacap. It is used as a variable reactance capacitance.

Characteristics of Varactor diode

The diode conducts normally in the forward direction. At relatively low voltage the reverse current saturates and then remains constant. It is rising rapidly at avalanche point. At the saturation point the maximum junction capacitance is obtained and a point just above avalanche the minimum junction capacitance is obtained. Therefore there are two conditions which are limiting the reverse voltage swing and the capacitance variation.

Applications Used as a tuning device in receivers. It is used in High frequency. It is used in adjustable band-pass filter It is used in FM modulation. It is used in automatic frequency control devices. It is used in parametric amplifier. SCR

SCR consist of four semiconductor layers forming a PNPN structure. It has three PN junctions namely J1, J2, J3. There are three terminals called anode (A), cathode (K) and the gate (G). The anode terminal is taken out from P1 layer, and the gate (G) terminal from the P2 layer. It conducts the current in forward direction only.

Operation of SCR

SCR is forward bias with a small voltage, it is in OFF and no current flows through the SCR. The applied forward voltage is increased, a certain critical voltage called forward break over voltage (VBO).It reaches at the junction J2 breakdown. At this case the SCR switched ON position. If the SCR is reverse bias, the junction J1 and J3 are reverse bias and junction J2 is forward bias. It has found that most of the voltage will drop across junction J1only. When the applied reverse voltage is small, the SCR is OFF, and there is no current flow through the device.

SCR characteristics

It is the relationship between the anode cathode voltage and anode current at different gate current. Two types of V-I characteristics

Forward Characteristics Reverse Characteristics Forward Characteristics

It is the current drawn between anode-cathode voltage (VAK) and anode current (IA) at different gate current. Adjust the gate current to zero value by keeping the switch open. Increase the applied voltage across the SCR in small suitable steps at each step. Note the anode current & plot the graph.

Reverse Characteristics

The reverse characteristic is obtained by reversing the connections of the d.c. supplies VAA and VGG . Adjust the gate current to any suitable value. Increase the reverse applied voltage in suitable steps. Note the anode current for each steps. Now we plot a graph with anode current and anode cathode voltage.

Turning ON (Triggering) SCR The SCR can be turned ON, from OFF position by anyone of the following methods.

 Gate triggering Forward break over voltage Light triggering Rate-effect Latching Once the SCR is turned ON, it starts to conduct and remains in conduction state even when the gate signal is removed. This ability of the SCR to remain conducting, even when the gate signal is removed, is known as latching. Turning OFF One of the following methods is applied to turn OFF the SCR.

Reversing polarity of anode-to-cathode voltage called as Gate turn OFF switch (GTO). The second method is anode current interruption. Changing anode current by means of momentarily series or parallel switching arrangement. Third method is forced commutation. In this, the current through SCR is reduced below the holding current.

Applications of SCR Power control device Relay control Regulated power supplies Static switches Motor control Battery charges Heater controls Phase controls For speed control of DC shunt motor

Advantages of SCR

SCR controls large current in the load by means of a small gate current. SCR size is very compact. Switching speed is high.

UniJunction Transistor (UJT)

UniJunction transistor is a three terminal semiconductor device consisting of only one PN junction. It differs from ordinary PN diode in the sense that it has three terminals namely Emitter, Base1 and Base 2. The behavior of UJT differs from other transistors like BJT and FET in the sense that it has no ability to amplify. However, it has ability to control large ac power with a small signal. It also exhibits a negative resistance characteristic which allows it to be used as an oscillator.

Applications of UJT Non sinusoidal oscillator Timing circuits Saw tooth generators Triggering device for SCR and TRIAC Switching circuits Voltage regulated supply Diac (Diode A.C. switch)

A DIAC is two terminal semiconductor device and three layer bidirectional device, which can be switched form of its OFF to ON state for either negative or positive polarity of applied voltage. The two leads are connected to p-region of silicon separated by an n-region. It consists of two 4-layer diodes connected in parallel in opposite direction. The diodes are P1N1P2N2 and P2N1P1N3. It has two main terminals namely Main terminal 1 and Main terminal 2.

Applications of DIAC Temperature control Triggering of TRIAC Light dimming circuits Motor speed control Triac (Triode A.C. switch)

TRIAC is a three terminal semiconductor switching device which can conduct in either forward or reverse direction. The TRIAC is the combination of two SCRs connected in parallel but in opposite direction. The anode of one SCR is connected to the cathode of another SCR. The gates are connected together. It consists of two four layer switches in parallel and the switches are P1N1P2N2 and P2N1P1N4. The TRIAC has two main terminals namely main terminal1 and main terminal2 and one Gate terminal.

Applications of TRIAC Heater control Phase control Light dimming control Static switch to turn a.c. power ON and OFF. Speed control of motor. Light Activated SCR (LASCR)

LASCR is similar to that of a SCR except the light triggering. It has a window and lens which focuses light on the gate junction area. It can be triggered ON by a light input on the gate area, but does not turn OFF, when light source is removed. The LASCR acts like a latch.

To reduce the holding current, it can be turned OFF. Depending on its size a LASCR is capable of handling larger amount of current. It can be handled by a photo transistor or a photo diode.

Applications of LASCR Optical light controls Phase control In relays Motor control LASER DIODE The term Laser comes from the acronym for light amplification for stimulated emission of radiation. The Laser medium can be a gas, liquid, amorphous solid or semiconductor. Two commonly used Laser structure PN homojunction laser Double hetrostructure laser Laser Action

The light traveling through a semiconductor, then a single photon is able to generate an identical second photon. This photon multiplication is the key physical mechanism of lasing. The carrier inversion is the first requirement of lasing. It is achieved at the PN junction by providing the conduction bandwidth electrons from the N-doped side and the Valence band with the holes from the Pdoped side. The photon energy is given by the band gap, which depends on the semiconductor material. The optical feedback and the confinement of photon in an optical resonator are the second basic requirement of lasing.

Photodiode

It is a light sensitivity device used to convert light signal into electrical signal.

It is also called Photo detector. The light energy fall on the junction through lens, when, the PN photodiode junction is reverse bias. The hole-electrons pairs are created. The movement of the hole-electron pairs in a properly connected circuit results in current flows. The current is proportional to the intensity of light and the frequency of the light falling on the junction of the photo diode. It is used in demodulator, encodes and light detectors systems.

Phototransistor

The photo transistor is a light detector. It combines a photodiode and phototransistor. The phototransistor cannot be directly used in control applications. Because, it produces a very low current. Before applying to control circuit the current should be amplified. A lens focuses the energy on the base-collector junction. It has three terminal, but only two leads are generally used (emitter and collector). The base current is supplied by the current created by the light falling on the Base-collector photodiode junction. In phototransistors, the current is dependent mainly on the intensity of light entering into the lens and the voltage applied to the external circuit.

Photoconductive sensors

Photoconductive sensor is also called as Light Depending Resistor (LDR). It is made of thin layer of semiconductor material (cadmium sulfide). There is no light falls on the sensor the resistance is very high and the current is low. Hence, the voltage drop across R is high. It is used in control circuits to control the current.

Photovoltaic sensors

It is a light-sensitive semiconductor device, and it produces a voltage, when the voltage increases and the intensity of light falling on the semiconductor junction of this photovoltaic cell increases. It consists of a piece of semiconductor material (silicon or germanium). The photovoltaic cells are produced more power, as in solar cells. These are called photovoltaic devices. It is used in light meters.

LIGHT EMITTING DIODE (LED)

An LED is a semiconductor p-n junction diode which converts electrical energy to light energy under forward biasing. It emits light in both visible and IR region. The amount of light output is directly proportional to the forward current. LED structure can be divided into two categories.

Surface - emitting LED Edge - emitting LED

Surface emitting LEDs emit light perpendicular to the PN junction plane. Edge-emitting LED emits light parallel to the PN in the plane.

Principle and Working

Injection luminescence is the principle used in LEDs. When LED is forward biased, the majority charge carriers moves from p to n and similarly from n to p region and becomes excess minority carriers. These excess minority carriers diffuse through the junction and recombines with the majority carriers in n and p region respectively to produce light. The light thus produced is emitted from the p-n junction of the diode.

Advantages of LED

They are smaller in size. Its cost is very low. It has long life time. It operates LEDs are available in different colours at low cost. even at very low voltage. Response time of LED is very fast in the order of 10 9 seconds. Its intensity can be controlled easily. It can be operated at a wide range of temperature (0-70) C.

Applications of LED

Used for numeric display in pocket calculators. Used for applying input power to lasers. Used for entering information into optical computer memories Used for solid video displays. Used in image sensing circuits.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

Liquid crystal display is not a semiconductor device as LED. LCDs display the light, it doesnt radiate light energy. Therefore, LCDs require an external (or) internal source of light so that it can either transmit (or) reflect the incident light. LCD is a passive type display device used to display alpha numeric character and is seven segment display, watches calculators etc., in which the digits are displayed by the transmission (or) deflection of the incident light, with very low power consumption. Molecules in ordinary liquids have random orientation but in a liquid crystal they are oriented in a definite crystal pattern. Types of LCDs o Dynamic Scattering Displays. o Twisted nematic display (or) Field effect display

Advantages of LCD

Low power is required Good contrast Low cost

Disadvantages of LCD

Speed of operation is slow LCD occupy a large area LCD life span is quite small, when used on d.c. Therefore, they are used with a.c. suppliers.

Applications of LCD Used as numerical counters for counting production items. Analog quantities can also be displayed as a number on a suitable device. (e.g.) Digital multimeter. Used for solid state video displays. Used for image sensing circuits. Used for numerical display in pocket calculators.