University of Anbar Lab.
Name: Electronic I
Experiment no.: 1
College of Engineering
Lab. Supervisor: Munther N. Thiyab
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Experiment #1- Part#1
Characteristics of Bipolar Junction
Object Transistors
The purpose of this experiment is to determine and graph the input and output
characteristics of a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) in the common emitter
configuration, and to measure its h-parameters at a given DC bias point.
Required Parts and Equipment's
1. Electronic Test Board. (M90)
2. Dual DC Power Supply.
3. Digital Multi-meters.
4. NPN Transistors (BC337).
5. Resistors 33kΩ,120Ω
6. Leads and Wires.
Theory
A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a three-terminal device capable of
amplifying a small AC signal. The three terminals are called the base, emitter, the
collector. BJTs consist of a very thin base material sandwiched between two of the
opposite type materials. Bipolar transistors are available in two forms, either NPN
or PNP. The middle letter indicates the type of material used for the base, while
the outer letters indicate the emitter and collector terminals. The emitter is heavily
doped, the base is lightly doped, and the collector is intermediately doped. Fig.1
shows BJT transistor construction and symbols.
As shown in Fig.1, two P-N junctions are formed when a transistor is made, the
junction between the base and emitter, and the junction between the base and
collector. These two junctions form two diodes, the emitter-base diode and the
collector-base diode.
There are three configurations in connecting the BJT depending on which of the
three terminals is used as the common terminal. These configurations are the
common emitter (CE), the common base (CB), and the common collector (CC).
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University of Anbar Lab. Name: Electronic I
Experiment no.: 1
College of Engineering
Lab. Supervisor: Munther N. Thiyab
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Figure 1: Types of BJT Transistors
Common emitter configuration is most effective because of its high current gain,
high voltage gain and power gain. In common emitter configuration, emitter
terminal is made common to both input and output circuits as shown in Fig.2. Input
junction (Emitter-Base Junction) is forward biased and output junction (Collector-
Base Junction) is reverse biased so that the input junction is having low resistance
(since it is forward biased) and the output junction is having high resistance (since
it is reverse biased).
Figure 2: Common Emitter Transistor Configuration
Bipolar transistors are primarily current amplifiers. In the CE configuration, a
small base current is amplified to a larger current in the collector circuit. The
2
University of Anbar Lab. Name: Electronic I
Experiment no.: 1
College of Engineering
Lab. Supervisor: Munther N. Thiyab
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
ratio of the DC collector current 𝐼𝐶 to the DC base current 𝐼𝐵 is called the DC beta
(𝛽𝑑𝑐 ) of the transistor. Thus:
𝐼𝐶
𝛽𝑑𝑐 =
𝐼𝐵
Typical values of 𝛽𝑑𝑐 range from 20 to 250 or higher. 𝛽𝑑𝑐 is usually designated as
ℎ𝐹𝐸 in transistor datasheets. Hence:
ℎ𝐹𝐸 =𝛽𝑑𝑐
Another useful parameter in bipolar transistors is the DC alpha (𝛼𝑑𝑐 ). It is defined
as the ratio of the DC collector current 𝐼𝐶 to the DC emitter current 𝐼𝐸 . Thus:
𝐼𝐶
𝛼𝑑𝑐 =
𝐼𝐸
Typically, values of αdc range from 0.95 to 0.99, but αdc is always less than 1.
Common Emitter Input and Output Characteristics
Two sets of characteristics are necessary to describe fully the behavior of the
common emitter configuration: the input (or base) characteristics, and the output
(or collector) characteristics. Input characteristics of a transistor are curves
showing the variation of input (base) current IB as a function of input (base-
emitter) voltage 𝑉𝐵𝐸 , when the output (collector-emitter) voltage VCE is kept
constant. Fig.3 depicts the input characteristics for a typical transistor.
Figure 3: Typical Input Characteristics of a Silicon NPN Transistor in the Common Emitter Configuration
3
University of Anbar Lab. Name: Electronic I
Experiment no.: 1
College of Engineering
Lab. Supervisor: Munther N. Thiyab
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
As shown from Fig.3, the input characteristics are similar to that of a forward-
biased diode since the emitter-base junction is forward-biased. Note also the slight
shift in the curves when increasing 𝑉𝐶𝐸 .
Output characteristics of a transistor are curves showing the variation of the output
current 𝐼𝐶 as a function of output voltage 𝑉𝐶𝐸 , when the input current 𝐼𝐵 is kept
constant. Fig.4 depicts the output characteristics for a typical transistor.
Figure 4: Typical Output Characteristics of a Silicon NPN Transistor in the Common Emitter Configuration
As shown from Fig.4, for very small values of 𝑉𝐶𝐸 the collector-base junction is
forward biased and the transistor is in the saturation region. In this portion of the
curves, 𝐼𝐶 is increased linearly with 𝑉𝐶𝐸 . As 𝑉𝐶𝐸 increases, the collector-base
junction becomes reverse-biased and the transistor goes into the active region. In
this portion of the curves, 𝐼𝐶 remains essentially constant (for a given value of 𝐼𝐵 )
as 𝑉𝐶𝐸 continues to increase. Actually, 𝐼𝐶 increases very slightly as 𝑉𝐶𝐸 increases
due to widening of the collector-base depletion region. For this portion of the
characteristic curves, the value of 𝐼𝐶 is only determined by the expression:
𝐼𝐶 = 𝛽𝑑𝑐 𝐼𝐵
4
University of Anbar Lab. Name: Electronic I
Experiment no.: 1
College of Engineering
Lab. Supervisor: Munther N. Thiyab
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Fig.5 shows a common emitter circuit that can be used to generate the input and
output characteristic curves. The purpose of RB in this circuit is to limit the base
current to a safe level.
Figure 5: Test Circuit used to generate the Common Emitter Input and Output Characteristics
