Part III

Electronic circuits

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 Chapter (7)
PN, diodes and transistors

7.1 Introduction
This chapter gives introduction for electronic circuits. It starts by describing the basics of
electronic materials and circuits. Then, it gives pn junction, diodes and transistors.

The chapter gives real example about the applications of electronic devices in the real life.

7.2 Diodes
The energy levels of a semiconductor can be modified so that a material (e.g. silicon or
germanium) that is normally an insulator will conduct electricity. Energy level structure of a
semiconductor is quit complicated, requires a quantum mechanical treatment.

Fig. 7.1 : Types of electric materials

Table .1: Resistivity for electric materials

Material Example Resistivity

(Ω-cm)
Conductor Copper 1.56x10-6
Semiconductor Silicon 103 -106
Insulator Ceramics 1011 -1014

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 Doping is a process where impurities are added to the semiconductor to lower its resistivity.
Silicon has 4 electrons in its valence level. We add atoms which have a different number of valence
shell electrons 3 or 5 to a piece of silicon. Phosphorous, Arsenic, Antimony have 5 valence electrons
Boron, Aluminum, Indium have 3 valence electrons.

•N type silicon:

Adding atoms which have 5 valence electrons makes the silicon more negative. The majority carriers
are the excess electrons.

• P type silicon

Adding atoms which have 3 valence electrons makes the silicon more positive. The majority carriers
are "holes". A hole is the lack of an electron in the valence shell.

Fig. 7.2: Types of silicon diodes

Put a piece of N type silicon next to a piece of P type silicon.

•Unbiased diode

Fig. 7.3: P-N silicon diode

Symbol for Diode

Diode symbol is shown in Fig. 4.4.

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 Fig. 4.5: Diode symbol

7.3 Diode characteristics

• Forward biased diode

Fig. 7.6: Connection of diode forward biased

• Reversed biased diode

Fig. 7.7: Connection of diode reverse biased

Diode is forward biased when Vanode > Vcathode

-Voltage drop across diode is (almost) independent of diode current.

-Effective resistance (impedance) of diode is small.

-Diode is reverse biased when Vanode < Vcathode.

-Diode conducts current very weakly (typically < µA)

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-Diode current is (almost) independent of voltage, until breakdown.

-Effective resistance (impedance) of diode is very large.

-Current-voltage relationship for a diode can be expressed as:

I= Is ( eeV/kT - 1) ( .1)

known as: "diode", "rectifier", or "Ebers-Moll" equation

Is = reverse saturation current (typically < µ A)

K = Boltzmann's constant, e = electron charge and T = temperature

At room temperature, kT/e = 25.3 mV,

I = Is e 39V if V > 0 and I = - Is if V < 0.

Effective resistance of forward biased diode ( V > 0) diode:

dV/dI = (kT/e) / I =25 Ω /I , I in mA

Fig. 7.8 Diode characteristics

7.4 Diode applications

-protect circuits by limiting the voltage (clipping and clamping).

-turn AC into DC (voltage rectifier).
-voltage multipliers (e.g. double input voltage).
-non-linear mixing of two voltages (e.g. amplitude modulation).

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7.5 Types of diodes
- junction diode (ordinary type).
- light emitting (LED).
- photodiodes (absorbs light, gives current).
-Schottky (high speed switch, low turn on voltage, Al. on Silicon). Tunnel ( I vs. V slightly different
than jd's, negative resistance).
- veractor (junction cap. varies with voltage).
- zener (special junction diode, use reversed biased.

Examples of Diode Circuits

- Rectifiers
The AC voltage source can be transformed to DC voltage source by using diodes as follows:Half -
wave Rectifier Circuits using a single diode is shown in Fig. 7.9 .

Fig. 7.9 Half-wave rectification

Half -wave Rectifier with Smoothing Capacitor

The effect of smoothing capacitor on the output rectified voltage is shown in Fig. 7.9.

Fig. 7.10: Effect of smoothing capacitor on rectified voltage

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Full -wave Rectifier Circuits
- using two diodes as shown in Fig. 7.11 or
- using bridge rectifier as shown in Fig. 7.12 .

Fig. 7.11: Full-wave rectifier using two diodes

Fig. 7.12: Full-wave rectifier using bridge rectifier

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In the positive part of Vin, diodes A and B conduct. In negative part of the cycle, diodes C and D
conduct.
This circuit has lots of ripple. We can reduce ripple by putting a capacitor across the load resistor (see
third plot).
Pick RC time constant such that: RC > 1/(60 Hz) = 16.6 msec.
(example has R= 100 Ω and C = 100 µF to show diminished ripple

- Simplest Circuit: What's voltage drop across diode ?.

The voltage drop across diode terminals with the diode current is shown in Fig. 7.13

Fig. 7.13

In diode circuits we still use Kirchhoff’s law:

Vin = Vd + Id R

Id = Vin / R – Vd / R

For this circuit Id vs. Vd is a straight line with the following limits:

Vd = 0, Id = Vin / R = 10 mA

Vd = 1 V , I d = 0

The straight line (load line) is all possible (Vd, I) for the circuit. The diode curve is all possible (Vd, I )
for the diode. The place where these two lines intersect gives us the actual voltage and current for
this circuit.

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-Diode Protection (clipping and clamping)

The following circuit will get rid of the negative part of the input wave.

When the diode is negative biased, no current can flow in the R, so Vout = 0.

Fig. 7.14
For more protection consider the following "clipping" circuit: for silicon V d = 0.6 - 0.7 V
If Va > Vd1 + V1, then diode 1 conducts so Vout ≤ Va.

If Va < -Vd2 - V2, then diode 2 conducts so Vout ≥ Va.

If we assume Vd1 = Vd2 ≈ 0.7 V and V1 = 0.5, V2 = 0.25 V,

then for Vin > 1.2 V, D1 conducts and Vin < -0.95 V, D2 conducts.

Fig.7.15

Solved examples:

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1- A square wave of 10 V peak-to-peak amplitude and zero average is applied to a circuit resembling
that in Fig. 7.16 and employing a 100 Ω resistor. Assuming an ideal diode what is the peak output
voltage that results? What is the peak diode current? What is the average diode current? What is the
maximum reverse voltage across the diode?

Fig. 7.16
The peak output voltage vom is: vom = 5 V
However v0 (t) = 5 0 ≤ T/2
And v0 (t) = 0 T/2 ≤ T

Let the period of the input voltage be T, then the average output voltage v o-avg :
1 𝑇
vo-avg = 𝑇 ∫0 vo (t) dt
1 𝑇/2 𝑇
= [∫0 vo (t) dt + ∫𝑇/2 vo (t) dt ]
𝑇

1 𝑇/2 𝑇
= [∫ 5 dt + ∫ 0 dt ]
𝑇 0 𝑇/2

5 𝑇/2
= ∫ 𝑑𝑡
𝑇 0
5 𝑇
=𝑇∗ 2

= 2.5 V
The peak and average currents Im and Iavg are given by:
𝑉𝑜𝑚
Im = 𝑅
5
= 100 = 50 𝑚 𝐴
𝑉𝑜𝑎𝑣𝑔
Ioavg = 𝑅
2.5
= 100 = 25 𝑚 𝐴

Maximum reverse voltage is 5 V

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2- The circuit in Fig. 4.16 implements a complementary-output rectifier. Sketch and clearly label the
waveforms of 𝑉𝑜+ and 𝑉𝑜− . Assume a 0.7 V drop across each conducting diode. If the magnitude of
the average of each output is to be 15 V, find the required amplitude of the sine wave across the
entire secondary winding. What is the PIV of each diode.

Fig. 7.17

Dependence of the voltage of negative output terminal 𝑣𝑜− on t is exactly the same as that of 𝑣𝑜+ (as
shown in Fig. 7.17) except that v is always negative.

The average of 𝑣𝑜+ is:

1 𝜋−∅
𝑣𝑜𝑎𝑣𝑔 = ∫ (𝑣𝑠 sin 𝜃 − 0.7) 𝑑𝜃
𝜋 ∅
𝜋−∅ 𝜋−∅
1
= {(𝑣𝑠 ∫ sin 𝜃 − 0.7 ∫ 𝑑𝜃}
𝜋 ∅ ∅
1
= 𝜋 {𝑣𝑠 |– cos 𝜃| 𝜋−∅
∅ − 0.7 |𝜃| 𝜋−∅
∅ }

1
= 𝜋 {𝑣𝑠 [– cos(𝜋 − ∅ ) + cos( ∅)]– 0.7 [𝜋 − ∅ − ∅]}
1
= 𝜋 {2𝑣𝑠 cos ∅ − 0.7 𝜋 − 1.4 ∅ }

If 𝑣𝑠 ≫ 0.7, then ∅ ≪ 1, cos ∅ ≈ 1 and 1.4 ∅ ≪ 1 and 𝑣𝑠 becomes:

2
𝑣𝑜𝑎𝑣𝑔 = (𝑣 − 0.7)
𝜋 𝑠
We can also have:
𝜋
𝑣𝑠 = (𝑣 + 0.7)
2 𝑜𝑎𝑣𝑔
For 𝑣𝑜𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 15 V, then vs= 24.66 V.

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The required amplitude across the entire secondary windings is 49.32V. The maximum reverse bias
across each diode is: 2 vs − 0.7 = 48.6 V . To be in the safe side one then need to use diodes with
PIV (peak invers voltage) of say: 1.5 × 48.6 = 73 V.

7.6 Transistors and applications

7.6.1Junction Transistors (BJTs)

• The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is constructed with three doped semiconductor regions
separated by two pn junctions.
•Regions are called emitter, base and collector as shown in Fig. 7.18 .

Fig. 7.18

Transistor symbol
The symbol of transistor in electric and electronic circuit is for the two types is as shown in Fig. 7.19
and the different kinds of transistor are given in Fig. 7.20 .

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 Fig. 7.19

Fig. 4.19 : Different kinds of transistor

DC Operation of Bipolar
Junction Transistors (BJTs)
• There are two types of BJTs, the npn and pnp
• The two junctions are termed the base-emitter junction and the base-collector junction
• In order for the transistor to operate properly, the two junctions must have the correct dc bias
voltages
– the base-emitter (BE) junction is forward biased
– the base-collector (BC) junction is reverse biased
Forward-reverse bias of a BJT

Fig. 7.21

Voltage divider base biasing is widely used

• The voltage at the base controls the base current
• The base current controls the emitter/collector current
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 Fig. 7.22
DC Gain

•beta (βDC )
IC = βDC IB
•alpha (αDC )
αDC = IC/IE ≈ 1
–βDC typically has a value between 20 and 200
– Is determined by construction of the transistor
• The base voltage is approximately:
• Emitter voltage and Current
– VE = VB - .07 V
– IE = VE /RE or IE = (IB )(BDC)
– IC ≈ IE
– IB = IC /BDC

• Collector voltage: VC = VCC – IC RC

• VCE = VC - VE

7.6.2 The BJT as a Switch

• When used as an electronic switch, a transistor normally is operated alternately in cutoff and
saturation
–A transistor is in cutoff when the base-emitter junction is not forward-biased. VCE is approximately
equal to VCC
– When the base-emitter junction is forward-biased and there is enough base current to produce a
maximum collector current, the transistor is saturated.

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Ideal switching action of a transistor

Fig. 7.23: Equivalent transistor as a switch

7.6.3 BJT Class A Signal Amplifiers

• In a class A amplifier, the transistor conducts for the full cycle of the input signal (360°)
– used in low-power applications
• The transistor is operated in the active region, between saturation and cutoff
• The load line is drawn on the collector curves between saturation and cutoff
Collector characteristic curves

Fig. 7.24

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Signal Operation of Bipolar

Junction Transistors (BJTs)

• A common-emitter (CE) amplifier
– capacitors are used for coupling ac without coupling ac without disturbing dc levels.
Signal Voltage Gain (AV ):
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉𝐶 𝑅𝐶
≈ ≈
𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝐸 𝑅𝐸

DC load line

Fig. 7.25

Signal operation on the load line

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 Fig. 7.26

Signal Voltage amplification

Fig. 7.27

Typical common-emitter (CE) amplifier with bypass capacitor

Fig. 7.28

Adding an Emitter Bypass Capacitor

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 Fig. 7.29

•A bypass capacitor in the emitter circuit passes the signal to ground.

•This increases gain by lowering the base-emitter impedance and stabilizing the emitter voltage.

Common Collector Configuration

Fig. 7.30

Common Base (Q1) Voltage Regulator Configuration

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 Fig. 7.31

7.7 BJT Class B Amplifiers

• When an amplifier is biased such that it operates in the linear region for 180° of the input cycle and
is in cutoff for 180°, it is a class B amplifier.
–A class B amplifier is more efficient than a class A.
• In order to get a linear reproduction of the input waveform, the class B amplifier is configured in a
push-pull arrangement.
– The transistors in a class B amplifier must be biased above cutoff to eliminate crossover distortion.

Fig.7.32

7.7.1 Class B push-pull operation

Illustration of crossover distortion in a class B push-pull amplifier

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 Fig. 7.33

Biasing the push-pull amplifier to eliminate crossover distortion

7.7.2 Push-Pull Class B Amplifiers

Fig. 7.34

Fig. 7.35

7.8 Transistor Operating as a Switch

Low Power Circuit (0 V- 5V Digital) Controlling a High Power Circuit (30V – 240V).

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 Fig. 7.36
A flywheel diode is often required with an inductive load. This is because when the current through
the inductive load is suddenly broken when the transistor turns off, a back EMF will build up as the
magnetic field breaks down (The voltage across the coil quickly increases or spikes trying to keep the
current in the coil flowing in the same direction ). If there is no path for the current, a high voltage
builds up (this voltage spike can reach hundreds or thousands of volts). The high voltage can damage
the transistor or cause arcing in a relay switch. The flywheel diode is connected in reverse bias
across the load under normal operation, but becomes forward biased at turn off to provide a path for
the current so the magnetic field and current can safely decline.

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