CONFIGURATION OF BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR
INTRODUCTION
The word Transistor is a combination of the two words Transfer Varistor which describes their
mode of operation way back in their early days of electronics development. There are two basic
types of bipolar transistor construction, PNP and NPN, which basically describes the physical
arrangement of the P-type and N-type semiconductor materials from which they are made.
The Bipolar Transistor basic construction consists of two PN-junctions producing three
connecting terminals with each terminal being given a name to identify it from the other two.
These three terminals are known and labeled as the Emitter (E), the Base (B) and the Collector
(C) respectively.
Bipolar Transistors are current regulating devices that control the amount of current flowing
through them from the Emitter to the Collector terminals in proportion to the amount of
biasing voltage applied to their base terminal, thus acting like a current-controlled switch, as a
small current flowing into the base terminal controls a much larger collector current forming
the basis of transistor action.
The principle of operation of the two transistor types PNP and NPN, is exactly the same the only
difference being in their biasing and the polarity of the power supply for each type.
Bipolar Transistor Construction
The construction and circuit symbols for both the PNP and NPN bipolar transistor are given
above with the arrow in the circuit symbol always showing the direction of “conventional
current flow” between the base terminal and its emitter terminal. The direction of the arrow
always points from the positive P-type region to the negative N-type region for both transistor
types, exactly the same as for the standard diode symbol.
Bipolar Transistor Configurations
As the Bipolar Transistor is a three terminal device, there are basically three possible ways to
connect it within an electronic circuit with one terminal being common to both the input and
output signals. Each method of connection responding differently to its input signal within a
circuit as the static characteristics of the transistor varies with each circuit arrangement.
Common Base Configuration – has Voltage Gain but no Current Gain.
Common Emitter Configuration – has both Current and Voltage Gain.
Common Collector Configuration – has Current Gain but no Voltage Gain.
The Common Base (CB) Configuration
As its name suggests, in the Common Base or grounded base configuration, the BASE
connection is common to both the input signal AND the output signal. The input signal is
applied between the transistors base and the emitter terminals, while the corresponding
output signal is taken from between the base and the collector terminals as shown. The base
terminal is grounded or can be connected to some fixed reference voltage point.
The input current flowing into the emitter is quite large as its the sum of both the base current
and collector current respectively therefore, the collector current output is less than the
emitter current input resulting in a current gain for this type of circuit of “1” (unity) or less, in
other words the common base configuration “attenuates” the input signal.
The Common Base Transistor Circuit
This type of amplifier configuration is a non-inverting voltage amplifier circuit, in that the signal
voltages Vin and Vout are “in-phase”. This type of transistor arrangement is not very common
due to its unusually high voltage gain characteristics. Its input characteristics represent that of a
forward biased diode while the output characteristics represent that of an illuminated photo-
diode.
Also this type of bipolar transistor configuration has a high ratio of output to input resistance or
more importantly “load” resistance ( RL ) to “input” resistance ( Rin ) giving it a value of
“Resistance Gain”. Then the voltage gain ( Av ) for a common base configuration is therefore
given as:
Common Base Voltage Gain
common base transistor gain
Where: Ic/Ie is the current gain, alpha ( α ) and RL/Rin is the resistance gain.
The common base circuit is generally only used in single stage amplifier circuits such as
microphone pre-amplifier or radio frequency ( Rƒ ) amplifiers due to its very good high
frequency response.
The Common Emitter (CE) Configuration
In the Common Emitter or grounded emitter configuration, the input signal is applied between
the base and the emitter, while the output is taken from between the collector and the emitter
as shown. This type of configuration is the most commonly used circuit for transistor based
amplifiers and which represents the “normal” method of bipolar transistor connection.
The common emitter amplifier configuration produces the highest current and power gain of all
the three bipolar transistor configurations. This is mainly because the input impedance is LOW
as it is connected to a forward biased PN-junction, while the output impedance is HIGH as it is
taken from a reverse biased PN-junction.
The Common Emitter Amplifier Circuit
In this type of configuration, the current flowing out of the transistor must be equal to the
currents flowing into the transistor as the emitter current is given as Ie = Ic + Ib.
As the load resistance ( RL ) is connected in series with the collector, the current gain of the
common emitter transistor configuration is quite large as it is the ratio of Ic/Ib. A transistors
current gain is given the Greek symbol of Beta, ( β ).
As the emitter current for a common emitter configuration is defined as Ie = Ic + Ib, the ratio of
Ic/Ie is called Alpha, given the Greek symbol of α. Note: that the value of Alpha will always be
less than unity.
Since the electrical relationship between these three currents, Ib, Ic and Ie is determined by the
physical construction of the transistor itself, any small change in the base current ( Ib ), will
result in a much larger change in the collector current ( Ic ).
Then, small changes in current flowing in the base will thus control the current in the emitter-
collector circuit. Typically, Beta has a value between 20 and 200 for most general purpose
transistors. So if a transistor has a Beta value of say 100, then one electron will flow from the
base terminal for every 100 electrons flowing between the emitter-collector terminal.
By combining the expressions for both Alpha, α and Beta, β the mathematical relationship
between these parameters and therefore the current gain of the transistor can be given as:
Bipolar Transistor Alpha Beta Relationship
Common emitter current gain
Where: “Ic” is the current flowing into the collector terminal, “Ib” is the current flowing into the
base terminal and “Ie” is the current flowing out of the emitter terminal.
Then to summarise a little. This type of bipolar transistor configuration has a greater input
impedance, current and power gain than that of the common base configuration but its voltage
gain is much lower. The common emitter configuration is an inverting amplifier circuit. This
means that the resulting output signal has a 180o phase-shift with regards to the input voltage
signal.
The Common Collector (CC) Configuration
In the Common Collector or grounded collector configuration, the collector is connected to
ground through the supply, thus the collector terminal is common to both the input and the
output. The input signal is connected directly to the base terminal, while the output signal is
taken from across the emitter load resistor as shown. This type of configuration is commonly
known as a Voltage Follower or Emitter Follower circuit.
The common collector, or emitter follower configuration is very useful for impedance matching
applications because of its very high input impedance, in the region of hundreds of thousands
of Ohms while having a relatively low output impedance.
The Common Collector Transistor Circuit
Common collector configuration
The common emitter configuration has a current gain approximately equal to the β value of the
transistor itself. However in the common collector configuration, the load resistance is
connected in series with the emitter terminal so its current is equal to that of the emitter
current.
As the emitter current is the combination of the collector AND the base current combined, the
load resistance in this type of transistor configuration also has both the collector current and
the input current of the base flowing through it. Then the current gain of the circuit is given as:
The Common Collector Current Gain
Common Collector Current Gain
This type of bipolar transistor configuration is a non-inverting circuit in that the signal voltages
of Vin and Vout are “in-phase”. The common collector configuration has a voltage gain of about
“1” (unity gain). Thus it can considered as a voltage-buffer since the voltage gain is unity.
The load resistance of the common collector transistor receives both the base and collector
currents giving a large current gain (as with the common emitter configuration) therefore,
providing good current amplification with very little voltage gain.
Having looked at the three different types of bipolar transistor configurations, we can now
summarise the various relationships between the transistors individual DC currents flowing
through each leg and its DC current gains given above in the following table.
Bipolar Transistor Summary
Then to summarise, the behaviour of the bipolar transistor in each one of the above circuit
configurations is very different and produces different circuit characteristics with regards to
input impedance, output impedance and gain whether this is voltage gain, current gain or
power gain and this is summarised in the table below.
Bipolar Transistor Configurations
With the generalised characteristics of the different transistor configurations given in the
following table:
CHARACTERISTIC COMMON BASE COMMON EMITTER COMMON COLLECTOR
Input Impedance low medium High
Output impedance Very high high low
Phase shift Oo 180o Oo
Voltage Gain High Medium Low
Current Gain Low Medium High
Power Gain Low Very high Medium
