Transistor as Switch

FEBRUARY 18, 2015

Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Operating Modes of Transistors
o Active Mode
o Cutoff Mode
o Saturation Mode
 Transistor as a Switch
o NPN Transistor as a Switch
o Example of NPN Transistor as a Switch
o PNP Transistor as a Switch
o Example of PNP Transistor as a Switch
 Common Practical Examples of Transistor as a Switch
o Transistor to Switch the LED
o Transistor to Operate the Relay
o Transistor to Drive the Motor

Introduction
As one of the significant semiconductor devices, transistor has found use in enormous electronic applications
such as embedded systems, digital circuits and control systems. In both digital and analog domains transistors
are extensively used for different application usage like amplification, logic operations, switching and so on. This
article mainly concentrates and gives a brief explanation of transistor application as a switch.

The Bipolar Junction Transistor or simply BJT is a three layer, three terminal and two junction semiconductor
device. Almost in many of the applications these transistors are used for two basic functions such as switching
and amplification.

The name bipolar indicates that two types of charge carriers are involved in the working of a BJT. These two
charge carriers are holes and electrons where holes are positive charge carriers and electrons are negative
charge carriers.

The transistor has three regions, namely base, emitter and collector. The emitter is a heavily doped terminal and
emits electrons into the base. Base terminal is lightly doped and passes the emitter-injected electrons on to the
collector. The collector terminal is intermediately doped and collects electrons from base. This collector is large
as compared with other two regions so it dissipates more heat.

BJTs are of two types NPN and PNP, both functioning is same but differ in terms of biasing and power supply
polarity. In PNP transistor, between two P- type materials N- type material is sandwiched whereas in case of
NPN transistor P- type material sandwiched between two N- type materials. These two transistors can be
configured into different types like common emitter, common collector and common base configurations.

Operating Modes of Transistors

Depends on the biasing conditions like forward or reverse, transistors have three major modes of operation
namely cutoff, active and saturation regions.

Active Mode
In this mode transistor is generally used as a current amplifier. In active mode, two junctions are differently
biased that means emitter-base junction is forward biased whereas collector-base junction is reverse biased. In
this mode current flows between emitter and collector and amount of current flow is proportional to the base
current.

Cutoff Mode
In this mode, both collector base junction and emitter base junction are reverse biased. This in turn not allows
the current to flow from collector to emitter when the base-emitter voltage is low. In this mode device is
completely switched off as the result the current flowing through the device is zero.
Saturation Mode
In this mode of operation, both the emitter base and collector base junctions are forward biased. Current flows
freely from collector to emitter when the base-emitter voltage is high. In this mode device is fully switched ON.

The below figure shows the output characteristics of a BJT Transistor. In the below figure cutoff region has the
operating conditions as zero collector output current, zero base input current and maximum collector voltage.
These parameters causes a large depletion layer which further doesn’t allow current to flow through the
transistor. Therefore, the transistor is completely in OFF condition.
Similarly, in the saturation region, a transistor is biased in such a way that maximum base current is applied that
results maximum collector current and minimum collector-emitter voltage. This causes the depletion layer to
become small and to allow maximum current flow through the transistor. Therefore, the transistor is fully in ON
condition.

Hence, from the above discussion, we can say that transistors can be made to work as ON/OFF solid state
switch by operating transistor in cutoff and saturation regions. This type of switching application is used for
controlling motors, lamp loads, solenoids, etc.

Transistor as a Switch
A transistor is used for switching operation for opening or closing of a circuit. This type solid state switching
offers significant reliability and lower cost as compared with conventional relays. Both NPN and PNP transistors
can be used as switches. Some of the applications use a power transistor as switching device, at that time it may
necessary to use another signal level transistor to drive the high power transistor.

NPN Transistor as a Switch

Based on the voltage applied at the base terminal of a transistor switching operation is performed. When a
sufficient voltage (Vin > 0.7 V) is applied between the base and emitter, collector to emitter voltage is
approximately equal to 0. Therefore, the transistor acts as a short circuit. The collector current V cc/Rc flows
through the transistor.

Similarly, when no voltage or zero voltage is applied at the input, transistor operates in cutoff region and acts as
an open circuit. In this type of switching connection, load (here LED lamp) is connected to the switching output
with a reference point. Thus, when the transistor is switched ON, current will flow from source to ground through
the load.
Example of NPN Transistor as a Switch
Consider the below example where base resistance Rb = 50 k ohm, collector resistance Rc = 0.7k ohm, Vcc is 5V
and the beta value is 125. At the base input a signal varying between 0 and 5V is given so we are going to see
the output at the collector by varying the Vi at two states that is 0 and 5V as shown in figure.

Ic = Vcc/Rc when VCE = 0

Ic = 5V/0.7k ohm

Ic = 7.1 mA

Base Current Ib = Ic / β

Ib = 7.1 mA/125

Ib = 56.8 µA

From the above calculations, the maximum or peak value of the collector current in the circuit is 7.1mA when
Vce is equal to zero. And the correspond base current to which collector current flows is 56.8µA. So, it is clear
that when the base current is increased beyond the 56.8 micro ampere then the transistor comes into the
saturation mode.

Consider the case when zero volt is applied at the input. This causes the base current zero and as the emitter is
grounded, emitter base junction is not forward biased. Therefore, the transistor is in OFF condition and the
collector output voltage is equal to 5V.
When Vi = 0V, Ib = 0 and Ic =0,

Vc = Vcc – (IcRc)

= 5V – 0

= 5V

Consider that input voltage applied is 5 volts, then the base current can be determined by applying Kirchhoff’s
voltage law.

When Vi = 5V

Ib = (Vi – Vbe) / Rb

For silicon transistor Vbe = 0.7 V

Thus, Ib = (5V – 0.7V)/ 50K ohm

= 86 µA which is greater than 56.8 µA

Therefore the base current is greater than 56.8 micro ampere current, the transistor will be driven to saturation
that is fully ON when 5V is applied at the input. Thus the output at the collector becomes approximately zero.

PNP Transistor as a Switch

PNP transistor works same as NPN for a switching operation, but the current flows from the base. This type of
switching is used for negative ground configurations. For the PNP transistor, the base terminal is always
negatively biased with respect to the emitter. In this switching, base current flows when the base voltage is more
negative. Simply a low voltage or more negative voltage makes transistor to short circuit otherwise it will be open
circuited or high impedance state.

In this connection, load is connected to the transistor switching output with a reference point. When the transistor
is turned ON, current flows from the source through transistor to the load and finally to the ground.
Example of PNP Transistor as a Switch
Similar to the NPN transistor switch circuit, PNP circuit input is also base, but the emitter is connected to
constant voltage and the collector is connected to ground through the load as shown in figure.
In this configuration base is always biased negatively with respect to the emitter by connecting the base at
negative side and the emitter at the positive side of the input supply. So the voltage V BE is negative and the
emitter supply voltage with respect to the Collector is positive ( VCE positive).

Therefore, for the conduction of transistor emitter must be more positive with respect to both collector and base.
In other words base must be more negative with respect to the emitter.

For calculating the base and collector currents following expressions are used.

Ic = I e – Ib
Ic = β. Ib
Ib = I c / β
Consider the above example, that the load requires 100 milli ampere current and the transistor has the beta
value of 100. Then the current required for the saturation of the transistor is

Minimum base current = collector current / β

= 100 mA / 100

= 1mA

Therefore, when the base current is 1 mA, the transistor will be fully ON. But practically 30 percent of more
current is required for guaranteed saturation of transistor. So, in this example the base current required is
1.3mA.

Common Practical Examples of Transistor as a Switch

Transistor to Switch the LED
As discussed earlier that the transistor can be used as a switch. The schematic below shows how a transistor is
used to switch the Light Emitting Diode (LED).

 When the switch at the base terminal is open, no current flows through the base so the transistor is in the
cutoff state. Therefore, the circuit acts as open-circuit and the LED becomes OFF.
 When the switch is closed, base current starts flowing through the transistor and then drives into
saturation results to LED become ON.
 Resistors are placed to limit the currents through the base and LED. It is also possible to vary the intensity
of LED by varying the resistance in the base current path.
Transistor to Operate the Relay
It is also possible to control the relay operation using a transistor. With a small circuit arrangement of a transistor
able to energise the coil of the relay so that the external load connected to it is controlled.

 Consider the below circuit to know the operation of a transistor to energize the relay coil. The input
applied at the base causes to drive the transistor into saturation region, which further results the circuit
becomes short circuit. So the relay coil gets energized and relay contacts get operated.
 In inductive loads, particularly switching of motors and inductors, sudden removal of power can keep a
high potential across the coil. This high voltage can cause considerable damage to the rest circuit.
Therefore, we have to use the diode in parallel with inductive load to protect the circuit from induced
voltages of the inductive load.
Transistor to Drive the Motor
 A transistor can also used to drive and regulate the speed of the DC motor in a unidirectional way by
switching the transistor in regular intervals of time as shown in the below figure.
 As mentioned in above, the DC motor is also an inductive load so we have to place a freewheeling diode
across it to protect the circuit.
 By switching the transistor in cutoff and saturation regions, we can turn ON and OFF the motor
repeatedly.
 It is also possible to regulate the speed of the motor from standstill to full speed by switching the transistor
at variable frequencies. We can get the switching frequency from control device or IC like microcontroller.

Have you got the clear idea of how a transistor can be used as a switch? We acknowledge that the furnished
information clarifies the entire switching concept with relevant images and examples. Further any doubts,
suggestions and comments on this post you can write below.
 FET as a Switch
FEBRUARY 19, 2015

Table of Contents
 Introduction
 FET and Its Operating Regions
 JFET as a Switch
o FET Used as a Shunt Switch
o FET Used as a Series Switch
o Example of N-Channel JFET as a Switch
 P Channel JFET as a Switch
o Example of P-channel JFET as a Switch
 MOSFET as a Switch
o Example of MOSFET as a Switch

Introduction
Wide variety of advantages such as high input impedance, simple fabrication, simple operations, etc. makes the
Field Effect Transistors (FETs) to be used popularly in different applications particularly in integrated circuit
nd
systems. FETs are the 2 generation transistors after the BJTs. These can be used as amplifiers in
oscilloscopes, testing and measuring instruments, electronic voltmeters, etc. and also used in switching actions.
Let us discuss on how a FET is used as a switch in detail.

FET and Its Operating Regions

Field Effect Transistor is a unipolar device in which the current is carried only by the majority carriers (either by
hoes or electrons). FET is a voltage controlled device that means, by controlling the voltage between gate and
source, the output current gets varied. Let us consider N channel JFET for understanding the operating regions.
The operation or characteristics of JFET divided into three different regions, namely ohmic, saturation and cutoff
region. The voltage applied to the drain is termed as VDS (some times also referred as VDD) and the voltage to
the gate is termed as VGS or VGG.

N-Channel JFET
 Modes of Operation of FET

Ohmic Region (VDS> 0 and VDS < VP)

In this region channel depletion layer is very small and the FET acts as a variable resistor.

In this, the VDS value is greater than zero and less than VP so there is no pinch off of the channel and the current
ID increases. When we increase the gate source voltage VGS, the channel conductance falls and the resistance is
increased. Therefore, the depletion regions will spread more that makes a narrow channel. The channel
resistance changes generally from 100 ohms to 10K ohms and obviously controls the voltage. Hence transistor
acts as voltage controlled resistor in this region.

Saturation Region (VDS > VGS – VP )

This region starts from the point where VDS is greater than VGS minus VP, here VP is the pinch-off voltage. In this
region, the drain current ID entirely depends on the VGS and not a function of VDS. The FET operates in this
region to amplify the signals as well as for switching operations. From the figure it is observed that when V GS is
zero, the maximum current ID flows. When we change the VGS more negative, then, the drain current is falling. At
a particular value of VGS the drain current flows constantly through the device. Hence, this region is also called
constant current region.

Cutoff Region (VGS < VP)

This is the region in which the drain current I D is zero and the device is OFF. In this the gate source voltage
VGS is less than pinch off voltage VP. This means the value of VGS is more negative than VP. Therefore, the
channel closes and doesn’t allow any current flow through the device.
JFET as a Switch
From the above discussion, it is clear that the FET can be used as a switch by operating it in two regions, they
are cutoff and saturation region. When the VGS is zero the FET operates in saturation region and maximum
current flows through it. Hence it is like a fully switched ON condition. Similarly, when the VGS applied is more
negative than the pinch off voltage, FET operates in cutoff region and doesn’t allow any current flow through the
device. Hence FET is in fully OFF condition. The FET can be used as switch in different configurations, some of
these are given below.

FET Used as a Shunt Switch

Let us look at the below figure where FET is connected in parallel with the load and it acts like an analog switch.

 When the VGS applied is zero the FET is turned ON by operating in saturation region and its resistance is
very small nearly 100 ohms. The output voltage across the across the FET is V OUT= Vin * {RDS/ (RD + RDS
(ON))}. Since the resistance RD is very large, the output voltage is approximately considered as zero.
 When we apply the negative voltage which is equal to the pinch off voltage at the gate, FET operates in
the cutoff region and acts as a high resistance device and the output voltage is equal to the input voltage.

FET as a Parallel Switch Circuit

FET Used as a Series Switch

Below figure shows another configuration of FET switch circuit. In this circuit FET acts as a series switch. It acts
as a closed switch if the control voltage is zero and open switch if control voltage is negative. When the FET is
ON, the input signal will appear at the output and when it is OFF the output is zero.
 FET as a series Switch Circuit

Example of N-Channel JFET as a Switch

The below figure demonstrates how a N-channel JFET used to switch the LED. The LED is connected between
supply and source terminal through a resistor. Here resistor is used to limit the current through the LED. Gate
terminal of the transistor connected to the negative supply.

 From the above discussion, zero voltage on the gate terminal makes current to flow through the LED
because FET is in saturation mode. Therefore, the LED becomes ON.
 With a sufficient negative voltage on the gate terminal (about 3-4 volts), JFET drives into cutoff mode so
the LED becomes turned OFF.

N-channel JFET to Switch LED Circuit

P Channel JFET as a Switch

Up to now we have discussed about N channel JFET as a switch. Another type of JFET is a P channel JFET and
the operation of this FET is also similar to N-type, but only the difference is the positive voltage at the gate
terminal.

 When the gate source voltage is zero the FET operates in saturation region so the FET is switched ON
which in turn causes the current to flow from drain to source.
 And a positive voltage between the gate and the source causes to cut off the current through the FET. So
the FET is in open circuit condition.

P Channel JFET as a Switch Circuit

Example of P-channel JFET as a Switch

Similar to the N-channel JFET driven LED, P-channel JFET switched LED circuit is given below. The difference
between the two circuits is the supply source at the gate terminal.

 Turn ON condition remains same for both circuits that is zero voltage at the gate terminal causes the LED
to glow as the FET is active.
 For switching the FET into cutoff, a sufficient positive voltage (about 3 to 4 volts in this case) stops the
current flow through the circuit. Therefore the LED is turned OFF. We can also use FETs for turning the
relay circuits, motor drivers, and other electronic controlling circuits.
 P-Channel JFET to Switch LED

MOSFET as a Switch
Another type of FET is a MOSFET which is also a voltage controlled device. The level of V GS at which the drain
current will increase or starts flowing is called threshold voltage VT. Therefore, if we increase the VGS, the drain
current also increases. And if we increase the VGS by keeping the VDS constant, then the drain current will reach
to a saturation level as in the case of JFET.

MOSFET operates in the cutoff mode when VGS is below the threshold level. Therefore, no drain current flows in
this mode. Hence acts as OPEN switch

For a better understanding consider the below figure where N-channel enhancement type MOSFET is switched
for different voltages at the gate terminal.

 In the below figure, MOSFET gate terminal is connected to VDD, so that the voltage applied at gate
terminal is maximum. This makes the channel resistance becomes so small and allows maximum drain
current to flow. This is called as saturation mode and in this mode the MOSFET is completely turned ON
as a closed switch. For P-channel enhancement MOSFET, for turning ON, gate potential must be more
negative with respect to source.
 In cutoff region, VGS applied is less than the threshold voltage level so the drain current is zero. Hence,
the MOSFET is in OFF mode just as open switch as shown in figure.
MOSFET as a Switch Circuit
Example of MOSFET as a Switch
Let us consider the MOSFET circuit which drives the LED as shown in figure. Here N-channel enhancement
MOSFET is used to switch the LED with a simple switch.

 When the switch is in open condition causes the zero voltage at the gate with respect to ground or
source. So the MOSFET remains turned OFF and LED will not glow.
 When the switch is pressed to make it close, the appropriate positive voltage (5V in this case) is applied
at gate terminal. so, the MOSFET is turned ON and the LED will starts glowing.
 Here it is a simple resistive load, but in case of any inductive loads like motors, relays we have to use
freewheeling diodes across the load to protect the MOSFET against the induced voltages.

MOSFET to Switch LED

Most of the circuits use MOSFET as switch compared to JFET due to the advantages offered by it. We can also
use switching circuit (to operate the load at particular switching frequency) for the JFETs and MOSFETs for
getting the PWM signals based on the load requirements. We hope that this overall information given might have
enabled you to understand how can we switch the loads using FETs with switching conditions and necessary
figures. You can also write us for any doubts or technical help on this concept in comment section below.