TRANSISTOR AS A SWITCH

Pauline Joyce A. Pasia

College of Engineering, Architecture and Fine Arts, Batangas State University
Barangay Alangilan, Batangas City, Philippines
Laboratory No. 1
Group 5
I. Introduction rapidly changes the material from an
A transistor is a semiconductor insulator to conductive state, thereby
device that exhibits all the properties of a allowing the flow of electricity.
switch, allowing or blocking the flow of Transistors are created through a
electrons. It has three terminals, one for input, chemical process known as doping, where the
one for output and one for controlling semiconductive material either gains an extra
switching. It is the fundamental building negative charge (N-type) or extra positive
block of modern electronic devices and is charge (P-type). There are two configurations
commonly found in circuit boards as discrete for this, either PNP or NPN with the middle
parts or embedded into integrated circuits. material acting as the base or flow control.
A very small change in the current or
voltage in the middle base layer results in a
large amount of electricity flowing through
the whole component. In this aspect, it can be
used as an amplifier.

II. Objectives
The transistor is composed of a
1. Understand the importance of
semiconductive material, usually silicon, and
cutoff and saturation to the
at least three terminals for connecting to the
external circuit. It was invented in 1947 by operation of a transistor
William Shockley, Walter Brattain and John switch.
Bardeen, who were jointly awarded the 2. Define the purpose of a
Nobel Prize in Physics for catapulting transistor switch.
technological development. Their 3. Identify the function of a
achievement is responsible for such modern transistor switch.
appliances as wide screen TVs, smartphones,
tablets and other electronic computing III. Materials
devices. 1. DC Power supply
The most basic function of a transistor 2. DMM
is as an electronic switch, which allows 3. Breadboard
electrons to flow from its collector side out 4. Resistors (1kΩ & 10kΩ)
through the emitter side. The base or middle 5. 2N3904 (npn)
of the transistor acts as the real switch control 6. 2N3906 (pnp)
electrode through which electron stimulation
V. Procedures
1. Connect the circuit in Fig 27-
2.3. Apply the correct polarity
on the voltage to 𝑉𝑐𝑐 .
VI.
2. Connect point A to ground.
Measure and record in Table
27-2.1 the voltage fro point B
to ground.
3. Connect point A to +5V.
Measure and record in Table
27-2.1 the voltage from point
B to ground.
4. Connect the circuit of Fig. 27-
2.4. Apply the correct polarity
of voltage to VCC.
5. Connect point A to ground.
Measure and record in Table
27-2.1 the voltage from point
B to ground
6. Connect point A to -5V.
Measure and record in Table
27-2.1 the voltage from point
B to ground.
7. Construct a table of your
results that will contrast the
two circuits.
Result and Findings
These are the result from the
experiment that we conduct base on
the instruction.
Photo no. 1
This measurement result
+4.943V is from the procedure step
no. 2 where the base of the transistor
is connected at the ground with the
Vcc measures 5V.
Photo no. 2
This measurement result -
4.815V is from the procedure step no.
3 where the base of the transistor is
connected at the dc voltage source
 measures 5V with the Vcc measures Point B to
5 +4.685 V
also 5V. ground
Point B to
6 -4.944 V
ground

Questions:
1. In the prior circuits, what
voltage level would a binary 1
represent? A binary 0?
Ans:
Photo no. 3 Binary Numbers are
the flow of information in the
This measurement result form of zeros and ones used
+4.685V is from the procedure step by digital computers and
no. 5 where the base of the transistor systems. enerally, a logic “1”
is connected at the ground with the represents a higher voltage,
Vcc measures -5V. such as 5 volts, which is
commonly referred to as a
HIGH value, while a logic “0”
represents a low voltage, such
as 0 volts or ground, and is
commonly referred to as a
LOW value. These two
discrete voltage levels
representing the digital values
of “1’s” (one’s) and “0’s”
Photo no. 4 (zero’s) are commonly
called: BInary digiTS, and in
This measurement result - digital and computational
4.944V is from the procedure step no. circuits and applications they
2 where the base of the transistor is are normally referred to as
connected at the dc voltage source binary BITS.
measures -5V with the Vcc measures
also -5V. 2. Are the answers the same for
Table 27-2.1 both the circuits shown in Fig.
27-2.3 and 27-2.4?
Procedure Function and Ans:
Value
Step Measurement The answer from the Fig. 27-
Point B to 2.3 and 27-2.4 is not the same
2 +4.943 V
ground but the value is close to each
Point B to
3 -4.815 V other and the polarity of the
ground
two values is different. The
 Fig. 21-2.3 results to +4.943
V and the Fig. 27-2.4 is -4.815
V.
3. What is saturation? How is it
demonstrated in this
experiment?
Ans:
The transistor acts like a short
circuit. Current freely flows
from collector to emitter.
Saturation is used whenever a
quantity cannot increase or
decrease above or below a
certain value. In the
experiment the saturation
happens when we increases
the supply from 5V to 10V the
result value become constant.
4. What is cut-off? How is it
demonstrated in this
experiment?
Ans:
The transistor acts like
an open circuit. No current
flows from collector to
emitter. In the experiment the
cut-off happens when the base
is connected to the ground.
5. Are the saturation and cut-off
points the same for both the
circuits shown in Figs. 27-2.3
and 27-2.4? Do the difference
affect overall outcomes?
Explain
Ans:
The saturation and cut-off
both happened in both circuit
the difference is on the results
values polarity. When the
base of the transistor in the
circuit is not connect to a
voltage supply it is on the cut-
off region and when the
voltage source apply in the
base of the transistor of the
circuit it calls electrons that
connect the base and collector
and allow the current to flow
and will conduct to the
saturation region.
VII. Summary
The experiment shows how
the transistor works. The difference of
pnp and npn transistor. It also
elaborate how transistor become a
switch. The experiment also shown
the characteristic of the transistor
when it is in either at the saturation or
cut-off region. By constructing circuit
Fig 27-2.3 we used the 2N3904 a npn
transistor and for Fig 27-2.3 we used
the 2N3906 a pnp transistor we also
used the DC power supply for the
Vcc.
In Fig 27-2.3 circuit, the
procedure step 2 where point A is
connected to the ground the result
value is + 4.943V and in the
procedure step 3 where point A is
connected to a supply +5V the result
is -4.815V. While in Fig 27-2.4 where
in procedure step 5 the VCC is in
negative value and point A is
connected to the ground the result
value is +4.685V and in procedure
step 6 still the Vcc is at negative value
and point A is connected to -5V the
result value is -4.944V.
VIII. Conclusion
Doing this experiment I able
to identify the basic function of the
transistor with the help of the
procedures above. It is important to
perform the experiment to easily
understand how transistor act as a
switch and by the given instruction
and the result value I able to
determine while the transistor is at
cut-off region where transistor is at
open circuit there is no current
flowing from the base to the emitter
and the transistor is at saturation
region when point A has a voltage
supply where the current freely
flowing from the collector to the
emitter of a transistor.