Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

A Bipolar Transistor essentially consists of a pair of PN Junction Diodes that are joined back-to-back.
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BJT operation

n
Built-in voltage

p
Built-in voltage

Forward polarity is applied to the left diode. Positive battery polarity attracts electrons. If the battery voltage exceeds the built-in voltage, there is a high current flowing through.

Reverse polarity is applied to the right diode Positive battery polarity attracts electrons. There are no electrons on the p-side of the diode. The diode current is nearly zero.

BJT operation

Battery 1

Battery 2

Forward polarity is applied to the left diode. There is a high current flowing through it. The electrons entering p-region recombine with holes to form a current loop.

Reverse polarity is applied to the right diode There are still no electrons on the p-side of the diode (they have all recombined at the left junction). The current is nearly zero.
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BJT operation

p n n

Battery 1

Battery 2

The P-layer is made VERY THIN Forward polarity is applied to the left diode. Electrons from the left n-region get injected into the p-layer driven by a positive terminal of the battery 1. The p-layer being very thin, most of the injected electrons have low chances to recombine; they reach the 2nd junction and drift toward positive terminal of the battery 2. Therefore high current flows through 2nd p-n junction.

n-p-n bipolar transistor

Device structure Emitter Base Collector Circuit symbol C B

p-n-p bipolar transistor

Device structure Emitter Base Collector Circuit symbol C B

E
5

Electron and hole fluxes in n-p-n transistor:

p
3 4 2

n
1

b
(1) electrons injected from emitter into the base and reaching the collector junction (as large as possible); (2) holes supplied by the base contact to initiate electron injection (as small as possible); (3) injected electrons lost to recombination in the base (as small as possible); (4) holes injected from the base into emitter recombining with electrons (as small as possible).
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Electron and hole fluxes in p-n-p transistor:

n
3 4 2

p
1

b
(1) holes injected from emitter into the base and reaching the collector junction; (2) electrons supplied by the base contact to initiate hole injection; (3) injected holes lost to recombination in the base; (4) electrons injected from the base into emitter recombining with holes.
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Carrier concentrations and Terminal Currents (p-n-p transistor case):

p(x) e
p

pe

c x

pc

0
Hole concentration at the e-b junction:

b W
pe = pb0 (eqVbe / kT 1) >> pb0 pc = pb0 (eqVcb / kT 1) pb0

Hole concentration at the b-c junction (Vcb <0):

Within the base, the injected hole concentration decreases linearly with x

Why linearly?

p(x)

p
4

n
3 2

p
1

c
x

b
The base width W is larger than that of the e-b and c-b depletion regions. Therefore, the electric field in most of the base, E 0. Therefore, the hole current (1) through the base is mainly the diffusion current:
I p = Aq D p p x

The current (1) is nearly constant throughout the base because the recombination current (3) is very small. Therefore: dp/dx =const; The line that has a constant slope is a straight line.
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Terminal Currents : Collector and Emitter currents (p-n-p transistor case):

p(x) e
p

pe

c x

pc

b W

Assuming small recombination loss in the base,

pe p I c I e Aq D Aq D p x W
W is the BJT base thickness
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Terminal Currents : Base recombination current (p-n-p transistor case):

p(x) e
p

pe

c x

pc

b W

Total charge of the holes injected into the base (the area under the p(x) line:

pe W Q p = Aq 2
This charge reproduces due to recombination; the required time is the hole lifetime p Therefore, the base recombination current, Ibrec = Q/t:

pe W Ibrec = Aq 2 p

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Current gain (recombination limited)

Collector current:

pe I c Aq D p W
Base recombination current:

pe W Ibrec = Aq 2 p
Collector-base current gain (limited by recombination only) rec = Ic/Ibrec:

rec =
The diffusion length:

Ic Ibrec

Aq D p

pe 2 p 2 D p p W = Aq pe W W2
Therefore:

Lp = D p p

rec =

2 L2 p W2
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Emitter injection efficiency

n
3 4 2

p
1

Electrons injected from the base into emitter the current component (4), increase total base and emitter currents but DO NOT contribute into the collector current as they do not increase the injection. The ratio of the useful emitter current (the hole current in p-n-p device) over the total emitter current is called emitter injection efficiency; for a p-n-p transistor:

I ep I ep + I en
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Emitter injection efficiency (cont.)

e
For a p-n-p transistor:

n
3 4 2

p
1

1 = = I en I ep + I en 1+ I ep
For the hole current in the base: Iep qA peb Dp/W;

I ep

The electron and hole currents are mainly the diffusion currents: The electron current from the base into the emitter: Ien qA nbe Dn/Ln; The current ratio:

I en nbe Dn W = I ep peb D p Ln

must be as small as possible for the highest injection efficiency

2 n nbe = n p 0 eqV / kT = i eqV / kT N Ae 2 n peb = pn0 eqV / kT = i eqV / kT N Db

nbe N Db = <<1; peb N Ae

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Emitter injection efficiency (cont.)

For any BJT type (p-n-p or n-p-n) high emitter injection efficiency requires:

Nb <<1; Ne
Concentration (cm -3 )

where Nb and Ne are the base and the emitter doping levels
21

10

10 19 10
17

..

10

15

n+ 0 0.8

p 1.6

n 2.4 3.2

Distance (m)

Typical doping profile in n-p-n BJT

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BJT current gain

Current gain limited by recombination in the base:

p-n-p BJT:

rec =

2 L2 p W
2

n-p-n BJT:

rec =

2 L2 n W2

Current gain limited by injection efficiency:

N Ae D p Ln p-n-p BJT: 0 = N Db Dn W

n-p-n BJT:
0 =
1

N De Dn L p 0 = N Ab D p W

0 is related to emitter injection efficiency as

=
The overall current gain:

1 1 1 + 0 rec

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