Transistor

Introduction

ATransistorisanelectricalcomponentusedin
electrical
circuitry
thathasmultipleapplications
inelectricalengineeringtheory.Transistorsare
usedtoamplifyorswitchelectricalsignalson
andoff.Transistorsaredesignedand
manufacturedtolooklikethecomponents
displayedin
Figure1.

Transistorsaremadeofptypeandntype
siliconmaterial.Thearrangementoftheptype
andntypematerialinsidethetransistor
determinesifitisanNPNorPNPtypetransistor.
Bothtypesoftransistorshavethree
terminals

thecollector,base,andemitterterminalas
shownin
Figure2
.

Transistorsoperateinthreestateswhenconnectedinanelectricalcircuitoff,active,
andsaturatedstates.Theinputvoltageandcurrentatthethreeterminalsofthe
transistordetermineswhichstatethetransistorisin.NPNandPNPtransistorshave
differentconfigurationsofmaterial,butareusedinthesameapplications.Thethree
statesofNPNtransistorsaredescribedbelow.

GraphicalAnalysisofTransistorStates
*Refertothegraphandpictureasyouread

Alltransistorshaveacurrentgainthatisrepresentedasbeta().Everytransistorhasa
currentgain.Transistorsaremanufacturedtohavedifferentcurrentgains.Inthis
documentweuseatransistorcurrentgainof100.

NPNActiveState
Whenthetransistorisintheactivestatethecurrentflowingfromthecollectortothe
emitteris100timesgreaterthanthecurrentflowingintothebasethisisrepresentedas
I CE = I B < I CEmax .Intheactivestatethetransistorlimitsthecurrentthatisoutputtedat
thecollectorbyamplifyingthecurrentflowingatthebase.

Intheexampleabove,thetransistorisoperatinginthesaturatedstatebecausethe
basecurrentsaturatesthetransistor,withamaximumcurrentof1000mA.Ifthecurrent
atthebaseofthetransistoris5mAthenthecurrentflowingfromthecollectortoemitter
is I CE = I B
=500mA.500mAatthebaseislessthanthemaximumcurrentsothethe
transistorisactive,thisisshownaboveonthegraph.Theactivestatecanbeusedto
amplifythebasecurrentandlimitthecurrentinputtedatthecollector.

NPNSaturatedState
Asexplainedabove,thereisalimittotheamountofcurrentat I CE
.Asthebasecurrent
( IB
)increases,thevoltageacrossthetransistor( V CE
)decreases.Thevoltagefromthe
collectortotheemitter V CE
decreasesuntilitgetsto0.2
volts
.Atthispoint,the
transistorissaturated V CE
cannotgetssmallerand I CE
hasreacheditsmaximum
value.Thismaximumvaluedependsontheresistanceattheloadandinputvoltage
connectedtothecollector.If I B
continuestoincrease, V CE
remains0.2voltsand I CE
remainsatmaximum.

Inthepicture,weseeacurrentvalueof20m
amps
goingintothebase.So, I CE = I B
=
100*0.02=2amps.However,theinputvoltageis10voltsandtheloadresistanceis10,
resultinginamaximumcurrentof1amp.Thismeansthetransistorislettingthe
maximumamountofcurrentthroughsaturatingthetransistor,andlimiting I CE
toabout
1ampand V CE
to0.2volts.Transistorsinthesaturatedstateareusedtoallowthefull
amountofinputcurrentthroughthetransistor.

Conclusion
Whentransistorsareoperatingintheactivestatetheyareusedasan
amplifier
,
this
applicationisusefulfordevicesthatneedmorecurrent.Whentransistorsareoperating
inthesaturatedstatetheareusedasaswitch.Thesaturatedstateisusedinseveral
applications,theycanbeusedtodriveamotororin
computerprocessors
tocompute
booleanlogic
.Transistorsarewidelyusedinelectricalengineeringandafundamental
componenttomodernelectronics.

TechnicalGlossary

Amplifier
adevicesthatincreasesthepowerofanelectronicsignal.

BooleanLogic
truthtablealgebrausedbycomputers.

Circuitry/Circuits
thecollectionandconnectionofmultipleelectricalcomponents.

ComputerProcessor
circuitryinsideofacomputerthatusesbooleanlogictoperform
operations.

Current/Amps
istheflowofelectricalchargeandampsistheunitsthatdefinecurrent.

Terminals
inelectronicsthemetalpartsusedforconnectingelectricalcircuitstogether.

Voltage/Volts
voltageistheelectricpotentialbetweentwopoints,voltsistheunituse
tomeasurevoltage.

Bibliography
Glower,Jacob."Transistors."BisonAcademy.December11,2014.Accessed
November24,2015.http://www.bisonacademy.com/ECE321/Lectures/13
Transistors.pdf.

Figure1,"TransistorsPackageTO(TransistorOutline)."TransistorsPackage.
AccessedNovember24,2015.
http://www.electrostudy.com/2012/05/transistorspackagetotransistor.html
.

Figure2,"HowDoesaTransistorWork?"HowDoesaTransistorWork?Accessed
November24,2015.http://www.physlink.com/education/askexperts/ae430.cfm.