BIPOLAR

JUNCTION

FORWARD ACTIVE MODE:

pE (x = )Steady state minority carrier concentration in the emitter

nB(x) = Steady state minority carrier concentration in the base

pC(x = )Steady state minority carrier concentration in the collector

Assume LC = XE

Assume the surface recombination velocity at X = XE is infinite,

The excess minority carrier concentration at X = XE is zero or
pE (x =XE) = pE0

BASE REGION:

The steady-state excess minority carrier electron concentration is found from the
Ambipolar transport equation.
Assuming the zero electric field in the neutral base region, the Ambipolar
transport equation can expressed as:

(10.9)

Using the approximation that sinh(x) x for x << 1, the excess electron
concentration in the base is given by

DC = minority carrier (holes) diffusion coefficient

C0 = minority carrier lifetime
We can express the excess minority carrier holes concentration in the collector as:

OTHER MODES OF OPERATIONS:

E-B Jn.
B-C Jn.
Reverse Bias/zero Reverse Bias/zero
Cut-off Mode

E-B Jn.
B-C Jn.
Forward Bias
Forward Bias
Saturation Mode

E-B Jn.
B-C Jn.
Reverse Bias
Forward bias
Inverse Active Mode

Forward Active Mode:

E-B Jn.
Forward Bias

B-C Jn.
Reverse bias

CONTRIBUTING FACTOR OF SMALL SIGNAL COMMON BASE CURRENT:

JRB, JPE and JR currents BE junction and not sharing to collector current
JPCO and JG currents BC junction

These currents do not contribute to the transistor gain

DC common base current gain is defined as:

The small signal common base current gain is defined as:

Noting that JnE as defined in figure is in the negative x direction, so we

can write the current densities as:

Positive JpE and JnE values imply the currents are in the directions shown
in Figure. 10.19.

If we assume VBE >> kT/e, then

Where,

NE = impurity doping concentration in the emitter and

NB = impurity doping concentration in the base

When pE0 << nB0 then NE >> NB

When 1, then NE >> NB

This condition means that many more electrons from the n-type emitter than
holes from the p-type base will be injected across the B-E space charge region.
If both xB << LB and xE << LE, then the emitter injection efficiency can be
expressed as:

BASE TRANSPORT FACTOR:

From the definitions of the current directions shown in Figure 10.19, we

can write as:

The expression for JnE was available in Equation (10.34a).

Assuming VBE >> kT/e then exp(e VBE/ kT) >> 1.

Substituting Equations (10.37) and (10.34b) into Equation (10.31b), we have:

T 1,

If xB >> LB, cosh (xB/LB) > 1

xB << LB

If exp(e VBE/ kT) >> 1, then the base transport factor is approximately as:

The base transport factor T 1, if xB << LB

Home Work

1.

3.

SOME EFFECTS FOR CURRENT GAIN IMPROVEMENT

BASE GUMMEL NUMBER AND EMITTER GUMMEL NUMBER

ON CURRENT GAIN

The current gain almost depends on the emitter efficiency

Where

NE = emitter doping
NB = base doping and
Qb = Gummel number in the base
At specific NE, the current gain is inversely function to the Gummel
number.
For silicon bipolar transistor, the base Gummel number is about
1012cm-2.

In Eq. 27, there is another dominant factor besides the Gummel

number-the emitter doping concentration NE.

To improve hFE, NE should be highly doped and NE/ NB >> 1

The common emitter current gain of a BJT with a shallow emitter and
thin base can be expressed as:

DnbWE N de
D peWB N ab

Gummel Numbers:

The base Gummel number can be expressed as:

Gb

Similarly, the emitter Gummel number is given by:

Ge

WB N ab
Dnb

WE N de
D pe

The current gain can be obtained by the ratio of emitter Gummel

number and the base Gummel number:

The current gain can be expressed as:

G
e
Gb

Fig. 6 shows that the base ion dose is directly function to Qb.
The plot shows that the dose increase and the hFE is falling.

The current gain versus collector current :

The current gain (hFE) generally varies with collector current show in
Fig. 7.

RECOMBINATION EFFECT ON GAIN

At very low collector current, the contribution of recombination and

generation current (also called the Sah-Noyce-Schockley current) in
the emitter space charge region.

The surface leakage current makes the emitter efficiency low.

The current gain significantly affect the hFE increases with collector
current as:

By minimizing the bulk and surface traps, hFE can be improved.

HIGH INJECTION EFFECT ON GAIN

For higher collector current, the injected minority carrier density in

the base approaches the majority carrier density (high injection case),
and the injected carriers effectively increases the base doping, which
in turn causes the emitter efficiency become lower.

As shown in Fig.7, at high level injection hFE varies as (IC)-1:

BAND GAP NARROWING EFFECT ON GAIN

As NE is high, the band gap narrowing (BGN) effect and Auger

recombination both affect the gain hFE.

The BGN in heavily doped silicon has been studied based on the
stored electrostatic energy of majority-minority carrier pairs.

The bandgap reduction E g can be expressed as

E g

3e 2 e 2 N E 1 2
(
)
16 s s kT

At the room temperature, the BGN follows the relationship

1

Eg 22.5( N E / 1018 ) 2 meV

Reduction in the band gap energy increases the intrinsic carrier concentration (ni).
The intrinsic carrier concentration can be expressed as:

If NE increases Eg increase pE0 does not continue to increase with

NE

If pE0 starts to increase because of BGN, the emitter injection

efficiency begins to fall instead of increase with increased NE.

AUGER RECOMBINATION (AR) EFFECT ON THE GAIN:

The auger recombination is the direct recombination between the electron

and hole, accompanied by the transfer of energy to another free hole.

Such process, involving one electron and two holes occurs when the electrons
are injected into a heavily doped p+ region as in the emitter of p+np
transistor.

Auger recombination process is inverse process of avalanche multiplication.

1
Rp p 2

Where p = majority carrier concentration, R p = recombination rate (1-2x10-31

cm6/s, and A = Auger lifetime.

The electron (minority) lifetime in a p-type emitter is given by:

1
1
1

p A

Where p= lifetime of the carrier affected by Sah-Noyce-Shockley

Recombination.

As the carrier concentration increases, the auger recombination becomes

very significant, which in turn decrease the emitter minority carrier lifetime.

This effect will decrease the emitter diffusion length LE causing degradation
of emitter efficiency and that will affect the gain.

 Figure 9 shows a two-dimensional analysis of the current gain

(hFE) versus the collector current.
The measured results are also shown.
Device characteristics are generated fro (1) the ShockleyHall-Read (SHR) process only, (2) SHR and bandgap
narrowing, and (3) SHR and Auger recombination and
bandgap narrowing.
Figure 9 clearly shows that both bandgap narrowing and
Auger recombination must be considered for accurate
current gain prediction.
The relative importance of the foregoing three effects is a
function of emitter depth and junction level.

PUNCH THROUGH OF BIPOLAR JUNCTION

TRANSISTOR (BJT)
As the reverse-bias voltage increases, the B-C space charge
region also widens and extends further to the neutral base.
It is possible for B-C space charge region to penetrate
completely through the base and reach the B-E space region.
This causes to lower the barrier height of the B-E junction
This creates a large increase in current with a small increase of
C-B biasing.
This effect is called punch through

If the narrow space charge width of zero biased or forward bias B-E
junction, then punch-through assuming abrupt junction approximation when
XdB = WB. We can write as:

Where

Vpt = punch through biasing under reverse bias of B-C junction,

NC = uniform doping concentration in the collector,
NB = uniform doping concentration in the base
XdB= space charge width extending into the base of B-C junction
WB = metallurgical width of the base

We can solve for Vpt as:

EXAMPLE:

BASE WIDTH MODULATION (BWM) OR KIRK

EFFECT

Assumed that the neutral base width xb was constant.

The base width is a function of the B-C biasing.
Since the width of B-C space charge region extending into the base
region varies with B-C biasing.
As the B-C reverse biasing increases, the B-C space charge region
width increases, which reduces xb.
As a result, the base width will be lower and so the base width will
cause to increase the gradient in the minority carrier concentration.
This effect will increase the diffusion current.
The effect is known as the BWM/kirk effect, it is also called the
Early effect.

CURRENT CROWDING EFFECT

There is a bias voltage drop IR across the base cross-section, which becomes
important at high injections and high frequencies.

As a result of this potential (bias) drop, the edge of the emitter may be forward
biased but the core of the emitter is not forward biased.

Thus high current densities would thus flow along the edges of the emitter.

This effect is called the emitter crowding.

The crowding of the emitter current near the emitter edges has an adverse effect
on power transistors.

It is essential to for these transistors that the emitter should be properly optimized
the emitter mask by combing pattern.

BREAKDOWN CHARACTERISTICS:

The Fig. 10.34a is npn transistor with reverse bias applied to B-C junction
with emitter open.
ICBO = reverse bias junction current

The Fig. 10.34b is npn transistor with applied biasing to E-C terminal with
base open.

ICEO = current under this configuration

The current ICBO in Fig.10.34b is reverse biased B-C junction current,

which is generating from the flow of minority carrier holes from the
collector across the B-C space charge region into the base.

The flow of the holes into the base makes the positive with respect to the
emitter and hence the B-E junction becomes forward biased.

The forward biased B-E junction forms the current ICEO from the injection
of electrons from the emitter into the base.

The injected electrons diffuse across the base toward the B-C junction.

When the electrons reach the B-C junction, this current component is
ICEO, is the common base current gain.
We can write the expression for forward biased current ICEO

HIGH FREQUENCY BEHAVIOR OF BJT

Hybrid-Pi Model:
An important application of BJT is in the amplification of high frequency
signals.

Where,
ec
=
e
=
t
=
d
=
c
=

Emitter to collector delay time,

EBJ capacitance charging time,
Base transit time,
Transit time through the collector space charge width
Collector capacitance charging time

Where
re
=
Wdc =
vs
=

emitter resistance obtained from the slope of IE versus VBE,

Space charge width of base collector junction and
Saturation velocity

In order to achieve a high cut-off frequency fT, a narrow emitter stripes

(small area devices), large emitter current (to lower re,
Very thin base region (to lower t) and low parasitic capacitances.

Transistor 2N2222 Specifications