1952 1PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E.

1401

Effects of Space-Charge Layer Widening

in Junction Transistors*
J. M. EARLYt, ASSOCIATE MEMBER, IRE

Summary-Some effects of the dependence of collector barrier n-p-n. He assumed uniform, but different, resistivities
(space-charge layer) thickness on collector voltage are analyzed. and minority-carrier diffusion lengths in the emitter,
Transistor base thickness is shown to decrease as collector voltage
is increased, resulting in an increase of the current-gain factor (a) and collector, and base regions. He related the minority-
a decrease in the emitter potential required to maintain any fixed
emitter current. These effects are shown to lead to two new elements
in the theoretical small-signal equivalent circuit. One, the collector
conductance (g,'), is proportional to emitter current and varies in-
versely with collector voltage. This term is the dominant component
of collector conductance in high-quality junction transistors. The
other element, the voltage feedback factor Cu,), is independent of
emitter current, but varies inversely with collector voltage. The latter
element is shown to modify the elements of the conventional equiva-
lent tee network.
INTRODUCTION
T HIS PAPER DESCRIBES an extension of the
Fig. 1-n-p-n transistor.
theory of junction transistors which explains some
recent experimental results. In particular, de- carrier densities on both sides of each of the p-n bar-
pendence of collector-barrier thickness on collector po- riers to the potentials across these barriers and
tential is shown to account for observed collector proceeded to solve the diffusion equation for minority
resistances and to explain high base resistances recently carriers in each of the three regions. The relation of the
observed, together with low emitter resistances. currents across the barriers to the barrier potentials
Principal attention is given to small-signal theory at was then easily computed from the relation of minority-
low frequencies, since such measurements are most
easily made. Emphasis is placed primarily on physical
behavior and equivalent circuits, with the mathematical Le +LC
work appearing in the appendix.
First, the existing theory is reviewed and interpreted. 4 A
The problem is then restated and the change in the as-
sumptions described. A discussion of the physical be-
havior is followed by a presentation of formal results I
which are interpreted in terms of physical behavior and
Ve Ute Vc
then compared with experimental results.
PRESENT THEORY
Junction transistors were first described and analyzed r,'-- kTlql,,
by Shockley in 1949.1 In 1951, Shockley, Sparks, and a, = fy
Teal described and analyzed some high-quality junc-
tion units.2 The later paper and a companion article by g = sech L-)
Wallace and Pietenpoll showed the characteristics of the 11w
units to be almost identical to those predicted by Shock- ly = -tanh (-)
1 + ObLnb Lnb
ley in his first paper. aTeLpe
In that analysis,' Shockley assumed a structure simi- Fig. 2-Approximate theoretical ac equivalent circuit for a
lar to that of Fig. 1, except that it was p-n-p rather than junction transistor.
*
Decimal classification: R282.12. Original manuscript received
carrier densities to these potentials. In the same paper,
by the Institute, August 18, 1952. it was shown that increase in the potential across a
t Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, N. J. barrier increased the barrier thickness. However, it was
1 W. Shockley, "The theory of p-n junctions in semiconductors
and p-n junction transistors," Bell Sys. Tech. Jour., vol. 28, p. 435; assumed that changes in collector- and emitter-barrier
July, 1949. thicknesses did not affect base-layer thickness.
2 W. Shockley, M. Sparks, G. K. Teal, "The p-n junction tran-
sistors," Phys. Rev., vol. 83, p. 151; July, 1951. Under these assumptions, the collector current was
3 R. L. Wallace, Jr. and W. J. Pietenpol, "Some Properties and
Applications of n-p-n Transistors," Bell Sys. Tech. Jour., vol. 30, shown to be independent of the collector reverse poten-
p. 530; July, 1951. Also, PROC. I.R.E., vol. 39, p. 753; July, 1951. tial whenever the latter exceeded a few times kT/q.
1402 PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E. November
Shockley, Sparks, and Teal showed that a very simple resistance to injection of electrons into the base, it must
equivalent circuit results, as shown in Fig. 2.4 At high increase the proportion of emitter current carried by
frequencies, collector capacitance shunted across the electrons. This is an increase in the emitter , which is,
a 'i, current generator must be included. for an n-p-n unit, the ratio of electron emitter current
In general, for active four-terminal devices, the small- to total emitter current.
signal equivalent parameters depend on bias conditions. Since both ,B and y increase as the base layer is nar-
From this standpoint, the circuit of Fig. 2 is unusual rowed, it is obvious that an increase of collector voltage
since both of the parameters are independent of collector produces an increase of the current-gain factor, a',
potential. In addition, this circuit has no feedback or since for most simple junction transistors a'ctq3y. Fur-
output elements. A practical feedback element of con- thermore, what might be called the direct-current emit-
siderable importance, the majority-carrier resistance' ter resistance, [R.= Ve/Ie], was shown to become
in the base layer (r'b), which will be introduced later in smaller as the collector voltage increased since the de-
the analysis, has been neglected here for simplicity. creased base-layer thickness reduced the resistance to
injection of electrons by the emitter.
EXTENSION OF THE THEORY
The fundamental problem in determining equivalent-
circuit parameters of a junction transistor is that of
relating the currents flowing at emitter and collector
barriers to the potentials across these barriers. If this
problem is solved using Shockley's assumptions, modi-
fied only by the additional assumption that the base
width is dependent on the collector potential, an equiva- Geb Ine lp4 e Ve
lent circuit whose parameters are dependent on bias
conditions and which has feedback and output ele-
ments is obtained.
The physical implications of this assumption may be
visualized using Fig. 1. The base-layer thickness is in- Gnb f(0b, w)
dicated by w and the collector-barrier thickness by x,..
Since the emitter barrier is usually forward biased, it is Gp= f(oe, Lpe)
very thin and may be neglected. If reverse collector po- Fig. 3-Emitter equivalent circuit.
tential V, is increased, the barrier thickness xm is like- Dependence of a' and R. on collector potential is in-
wise increased, as Shockley has shown. This reduces the dicated schematically in Fig. 4. The small-signal
base-layer thickness w, since the barrier layer always effects of this dependence are shown next.
spreads in both directions, although not necessarily
equally. It is therefore clear that base thickness de- (a)
pends on collector-barrier potential. Ie IC
The decrease in base-layer thickness has two princi-
pal effects': It decreases recombination of injected minor-
ity carriers in the base layer since the average carrier e'/ Vc I

diffuses across the narrower base in a shorter time. This

increases the transport factor 3, which is the fraction of
emitted minority carriers which reach the collector.
The second principal effect of decrease in base-layer
thickness is a decrease in the impedance presented to
minority-carrier current injected by the emitter. The
e1 (b) 40

impedance seen by this injected current depends on

base-layer resistivity and base-layer thickness. A re- Vei Re(leW) adIe,W)Ie vc
duction in thickness results in a reduction in the im-
pedance. Dependence of this impedance on the base-
layer thickness is indicated in Fig. 3, in which are w= f(vc)
shown emitter conductances for electrons injected into
the base by the emitter and for the holes which are Fig. 4-Generalized dc equivalent circuits for a junction transistor.
simultaneously extracted from the base by the emitter. SMALL-SIGNAL EFFECTS
Now since narrowing of the base layer decreases the
Fig. 5 shows the equivalent circuit which is obtained
4 In this and succeeding equivalent circuits, primes are used to by including the effects of collector-barrier widening.
distinguish the theoretical circuit parameters from those defined by Since Ie.a'I., the output element g¢' is given in its
measurements [see, for example, Fig. 6 of footnote ref. 31. Primes on
potentials indicate barrier potentials rather than terminal potentials. simplest form as
1952 Early: Effects of Space-Charge Layer Widening in Junction Transistors 1403

measured (1 -a) and calculated (1 -,B). The agreement

a vclh'] re a vcl(l of measured and theoretical curves is as good as can be
g r-. ~
.(1) expected. The decrease of collector conductance with
This says that small-signal collector conductance is 12
simply a representation of the dependence of alpha on
collector potential. The conductance increases linearly I = IMA 2 4 5
10

I-
0
> 6
I z
Ve vc

kT kT Ow
qI. qw aV0'
v. 4
1 9Oaa le aw 0 l 2
3
3 4 5

=c r' =1V ) v)], le IN M ILLIAMPERIES

w-w- + (1-
Fig. 5-Detailed theoretical ac equivalent circuit
for a junction transistor.
with emitter current since the current change cor-
responding to any change in alpha depends on the
current which is flowing.
For junction transistors having a'z-3y in the range
0.95-1.0, (1) reduces to the forms derived in the ap-
pendix [(11) and (12)].
Fig. 6-Collector characteristics of an n-p-n transistor.
increase of collector bias voltage is the result of de-
crease in the wIV,'. As collector voltage is increased,
the rate of increase in space-charge layer thickness be-
comes smaller, thus decreasing the sensitivity of base-
layer thickness to collector voltage. Fig. 7 shows clearly

g¢'-=I. [ 2(1 - 0) + (1 -ry)] aOw ,, (2)

or VI0
Fw O_bI aw I

gc' = Ie LLb2 OeLve

+
a Vc
(3) 0
Ur

The factor of two multiplying the (1 -,) term in (2)
results from the fact that (1 -A) depends on the square
of the base-layer thickness w, while (1 -'y) is directly
proportional to base-layer thickness.
Static collector characteristics for an n-p-n junction
transistor are shown in Fig. 6. The slope of the con-
stant emitter-current lines decreases with increasing
emitter current, but the effect is not obvious when
plotted to the scale shown. Fig. 7 shows collector con-
ductance measured at V,=3, 6, and 12 volts as indi-
cated by the dashed lines in Fig. 6. The theoretical
curves were computed using (2); w was determined from
alpha cutoff-frequency measurement and the depend-
ence of w on Vi,' was estimated from the dependence of
this cutoff frequency on collector potential. As a check,
it was also estimated from the dependence of collector
capacitance on collector potential. (1 -13) was estimated
from diffusion-length measurement for minority car-
riers and (1 -dy) was obtained by difference between
Z
50
le IN MILLIAMPERES
Fig. 7-Collector conductance of an n-p-n transistor.
that the conductance described by (1) is the major
component of collector conductance in this unit.
The feedback element (UsecVc') in Fig. 5 is a small-signal
parameter representing the effect of collector-voltage
increase in decreasing the emitter resistance.5 At con-
6 The existence of a back voltage on the emitter resulting from
collector bias was first pointed out by Shockley (footnote ref. 1,
eq. 5.12). Investigation of the ac effect of this feedback was suggested
by Ryder.
1404 PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E. November
stant emitter current, the required forward emitter is (,uec+/Lbc+gc'rb')Vc'. Qualitatively, I1bc should be [for
po-
tential is decreased as the collector reverse bias is in- I, < | I ] less than gc'rb' and of opposite sign. The
creased since less emitter voltage is needed as the base measured open-circuit feedback voltage ratio is plotted
layer becomes thinner. Mathematically, the relation of in Fig. 8 for the n-p-n transistor whose collector con-
emitter current, emitter potential, and base-layer thick-ductance is given by Fig. 7. In Fig. 8, the term -lbc iS
ness is approximately6 omitted. The rise of measured feedback ratio is at-
tributed to the term gc'rb' which increases almost linearly
npqDn
with collector current. Comparison of Figs. 7 and 8
leads to a value for rb' of 330 ohms for the bias condition
It is easily shown that Vc = 6.0 volts. This value of rb' is required to produce the
calculated curve in Fig. 8 (dashed line) using gc values
rJVe kTi aw at Vc = 6 from Fig. 7; .ec is given by the intercept of the
Pec~
aeVc-Ie qw a Ve 4 extrapolated
*(4)
experimental curve for Vc=6 in Fig. 8.
It is approximately 10-4. The rise in Uec with decrease
The feedback factor Ilec is independent of emitter cur- of collector potential is the result of the more rapid
rent because of the logarithmic relation between emitter variation in space-charge layer thickness at lower
current and emitter potential. voltages. The sudden increase in feedback at very low
In addition to Ilec, two additional feedback effects emitter currents is attributed to leakage from collector
should be represented in the equivalent circuit. Small- to emitter across the base layer.
signal current through the base electrode produces a
small-signal feedback voltage in the base-layer spread- a Le
E C
ing resistance rb'. Another feedback voltage results from
variation in the value of rb' caused by space-charge
layer width changes.7 The variation of rb' produces a re'
e
aLe" 9c cc EC X;9
small-signal variation in the voltage drop (Ibrb') in the
base layer. A feedback voltage proportional to the
average current flowing through the base electrode re- rb' rb'
sults. It can be represented by a feedback voltage gen- Ba Bh
erator YUbcV, in series with the base-layer resistance as (a) (b)
shown in Fig. 9(a). Analytically, Fig. 9-AC equivalent circuit including collector
Orb 0rb dw capacitance and base resistance.
e =Ib
b lb
ac3Vl aw aVc' In Fig. 9(b), the parameters r91, juec, a'I, and gc' of
Since rb'/w is strongly dependent on the variation of Fig. 9(a) have been converted to an equivalent tee by
resistivity across the base layer from emitter to col- use of the relations shown in Fig. 10. Fig. 9(b) can be
lector and since this variation is not known, Ubc has not used together with theoretical expressions for the par-
ameters of a conventional transistor tee network3 to
point out significant frequency variation of the effec-
tive base impedance. If the circuit of Fig. 9(a), omitting
Abc±vc,' is reduced to a conventional four-element net-
work,3 there results
Mec(1 -')
-g0C jcoc'
I
Ze = re
+

ILec
Zb = rb' +gC + j&cc'

-A,ec
ZC zc=
=
I + jwcc t
Ie IN MILLIAMPERES
Fig. 8-Voltage-feedback ratio in an n-p-n transistor. a' - Iec
a=
been calculated; rb' is a lumped representation of a dis-
1 - IUec
tributed effect and its calculation is not included here. Inspection of the expression for Zb shows that at low fre-
For an n-p-n unit it should be of the order of Pb/W, quencies it is rb+/A,ec/g,, while at frequencies such that
where Pb and w are base-layer resistivity and thickness. wCc'»>g,', it is rb'. This can be understood from inspection
Examination of the circuit of Fig. 9(a) will show that of Fig. 9(b), which shows the capacitance Ce, grounded
at low frequencies, the total open-circuit feedbackvoltage through rb' rather than through rb' +/1Lec/gc = rb' +rb". In
B An approximate form of (6.2), footnote reference 1.
high-quality junction transistors rb" is ordinarily much
I Existence of this effect was suggested by J. N. Shive. greater than rb'. At V,= 6.0 volts, I.= 1.0 ma for the
1952 Early: Effects of Space-Charge Layer Widening in Junction Transistors 1405
unit of Figs. 7 and 8, rb" =1800 ohms while rb'= 330 Collector Conductance
ohms. Collector conductance is defined as
The more complete analysis in the appendix shows
deviations from the simple theory described above at
emitter currents of the order of the saturation currents. (5)
aVec
=
rb rb" HerCcrc It may be shown that for an n-p-n junction transistor,
(1 - a') + (1 -d/) emitter and collector currents are given by9
"r/'(1
= - /ec)
IC = coth InO(Ve)
a(1-a')uecrc'
0

re = re' - =
(1 -a') + (1 -/)
a - Ilec
- csch -)TnO(V) + Ipo(Ve), (6)
n
1 - we
IC = - csch L
Ino(Ve)
Fig. 10-Relations of equivalent-circuit parameters in Fig. 9.
If /3 and y are less than 0.95, the more complete analysis Ln (7)
is likewise preferable.
CONCLUSIONS in which the Io's have the form
Introduction of the effects of the dependence of col- qD
I = (e-QVIkT - 1) -
lector-barrier thickness on collector voltage has led to
explanation of output resistance (r,') and feedback volt-
age (,tecVc') in junction transistors. Agreement of meas- Equation (7) may be combined with (6) to yield
urements and theory is excellent qualitatively and fair /w\
quantitatively. It was shown that the low-frequency IC = -YeIe + InO(Vc) coth
conventional base resistance (rb'+rb" of Fig. 9(b)) does
nt)
not properly characterize the high-frequency base re- /y csch()]+ I,,0(V,), (8)
sistance of a junction transistor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS in which': sech (w/Ln) and
The writer is particularly indebted to R. M. Ryder
and J. N. Shive for suggestions and encouragement,
likewise to W. J. Pietenpol and J. A. Morton. Thanks
=y (w Ipo(Ve)
I1+ tanh
are also due R. L. Johnston for the measurements. In(Ve) \Ln
APPENDIX The collector conductance may be found by substitu-
tion of (8) into (5)
This appendix indicates one method by which expres-
sions for the collector conductance8 gc and the voltage VIc aic d3w
feedback factor /ue, of junction transistors may be de- 9c = - =
(9)
a Vc Ie d9w Ie (3 Vc
rived. The assumptions are, in general, those used by
Shockley. Each of the three transistor regions indicated In general, the second and third terms of (8) may be
in Fig. 1 may be characterized by a resistivity and a dif- neglected since they are very much less than the first
fusion length or life-path for minority carriers. Injected term. There then results, after some manipulation,
carriers flow through the base layer principally by dif-
fusion. The additional assumption is made that base g= Ie yO2 sinh w + y2/3 -,0(ve) aw, (10)
thickness w depends on collector potential Vc, through Lc
L Ln, /nO(.Ve)J aV,
variation of the barrier thickness xm.
The currents and potentials used are those at the which is a substantially complete expression for the col-
emitter and collector barriers.8 Majority-carrier resist- lector conductance. If : and y are assumed to be almost
ance effects in the base layer are neglected and fre- unity
quency effects are not considered. It is assumed that / w \
collector reverse bias potential is many times kT/q Ipo(VVe) <<Ino(Ve) and -<< 1
(e.g., > 0.5 volts) so that the classical p-n diode reverse
conductance may be neglected. At 0.5 volt, it is of the and the hole and electron components of emitter current
order of 10-5 micromhos or less. Its magnitude de- are expressed in terms of conductivities and diffusion
creases one decade per 60 mv. lengths, (10) simplifies to
8 For simplicity, no primes are employed in the appendix. 9 Footnote reference 1, (6.2) and (6.1) modified to this notation.
1406 PROCEEDINGS OF THE I.R.E. November
w
Gb
w The terms containing 4I9o(o(VI7)1/Vc, may be neglected
gc = Ie
7F
_2 + t~I (11) since Ino(V6) is substantially independent of V. for col-
Ln o-L,, a V,
lector reverse bias voltage more than a few times kT/q.
or to If the operations indicated in (18) are carried through,
there is obtained
gc = -[2 (1-,B) + (i1-Y)I- - (12)
w a V,
The term Ow/l V0 may be written as
aw dw axm Ln2 sinh2 sinh2
(13) Ln/
aV0 aXm 9V0 _ \L~n/
e7qVeIkT aV'
q r
(19)
/ w \ qD

in which collector-barrier thickness xm is given for a _ ~~

coth
Ln LL,
-

kT y
junction of uniform impurity-concentration gradient by'0 - V0

which yields
3 3KC-OVc
X3n=
, (14) ave -kT
qa
av qLn
and for a step junction having high p-conductivity to sinh ( aV.
one side and uniform but much lower n-conductivity on iLn
the other side by'"
e-qVeIkT - 1 + cosh ()
xm 2= 21CEoVc (15) (20)
qnn e-qVe /k T

The WdXwlm is 1/2 for the junction of uniform con-

- If : and y are close to unity, this becomes
centration gradient since the space-charge layer spreads aVe + kT aw
equally in the two directions, and is -1 for the second I.Lec Vc aV (21)
a v. qw a V.
case.
The Ow/a Vc, then has the value for the graded junc- The awlo V, was discussed in the section on collector
tion, conductance.
aw
_ Xm LIST OF SYMBOLS
(16)
a Vc 6 V, a-impurity concentration gradient in atoms/cm4
D-diffusion constant for minority carriers
and for the step junction gc = olo/9 VC r.-collector conductance
aw x,,, (17) Gp., Gab-dc emitter conductances for electrons and
av 2Vc holes
Ie 1-dc emitter and collector currents
Voltage feedback factor $6, i0-small-signal emitter and collector currents
The feedback factor is defined by k-Planck's constant
I'O, Ipo-electron and hole saturation currents of junc-
a Ve tions considered as isolated diodes
Alec =
L -diffusion length for electrons in base layer
Lp-diffusion length for holes in emitter body
It may be obtained from (6) by setting dIeld Vc =0 and na-electron density in n-semiconductor
solving for a VelO Vc. q-electronic charge 1.6 X 10-"9 coulombs
r0, re, rb-small-signal equivalent collector, emitter and
dle
= Ino(Ve) - coth base resistances
dV0 Re-dc emitter resistance
a w \ (9w T-temperature in degrees K
- IO(Vc) O9w
- csch K (18) Ve, V17-dc emitter and collector voltages
L,~ air
ve, v0-small-signal emitter and collector voltages
w-base-layer thickness
+ coth ( W ainO(Ve) + OIPiO(ve) xm-collector-barrier thickness
Ln adVc dV
a-current-gain factor
-csch
/ w \ OIn(V0)
--
(-transport factor
L,/
I
OVc
y-emitter efficiency
to-permittivity of space
10
Footnote reference 1, (2.20) and (2.54) modified to this nota- K-relative dielectric constant
tion. Here only space-charge layer-widening effects are considered.
As mentioned previously, classical reverse conductance is neglected.
O'b, oe-base and emitter conductivities
It is many orders of magnitude smaller than the term analyzed here. iLec-voltage feedback factor