Whites, EE 320
Lecture 11
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Lecture 11: PNP Bipolar Junction Transistor
Physical Operation. BJT Examples.
The second type of BJT is formed from pnp doped regions as
(Fig. 6.10)
Differences between pnp and npn BJTs are:
 Biasing voltages are applied oppositely to the npn, though
still forward biasing EBJ and reverse biasing the CBJ for
active mode operation, for example.
 Current is primarily composed of holes (in the p type
regions) rather than electrons as in the npn BJT.
 The current direction conventions are iE into the emitter
while iC and iB are out from the device.
The circuit symbol for the pnp BJT is
© 2016 Keith W. Whites
Whites, EE 320
Lecture 11
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Once again, the filled arrow is always located on the emitter and
helps us to remember the direction of the emitter current. Notice
that the currents are pointed in opposite directions compared to
the npn BJT.
For biasing in the active mode, a possible circuit is
(Fig. 6.13b)
As with the npn, for the pnp BJT in the active mode and with the
current convention shown above
iC   iE
(6.7),(1)
iB  1    iE
iC   iB

1


 1

(2)
(6.2),(3)
(6.10),(4)
(6.8),(5)
Consequently, we need to only memorize this one set of
equations for use with both npn and pnp BJTs, plus the current
conventions for these two BJTs.
Whites, EE 320
Lecture 11
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Examples
We’ll now consider a few examples of the DC analysis of npn
and pnp BJT circuits.
Example N11.1 (text Example 6.2). Design the following circuit
so that I C  2 mA and VC  5 V. For this particular transistor,
= 100 and VBE  0.7 V at I C  1 mA.
(Fig. 6.15)
The “design” of this circuit is to determine the RC and RE that
provide the specified IC and VC.
For IC = 2 mA, then
15  VC
15  5
 2 mA or RC 
 5 k.
3
RC
2  10
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Lecture 11
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We’re assuming that the transistor is in the active mode with the
EBJ forward biased and the CBJ reversed biased.
For the forward biased EBJ junction,
vBE
VT
iC  I S e
(6.1),(6)
It’s given that at IC = 1 mA, VBE = 0.7 V. What is VBE when IC = 2
mA? Using (6) for two different iC and vBE we find that
vBE 1  vBE 2
 iC1 
iC1
vBE1  vBE 2
VT
 ln  
e
or
iC 2
VT
 iC 2 
Therefore,
i 
vBE 2  vBE1  VT ln  C1 
(7)
 iC 2 
For this particular case,
2
VBE 2  0.7  25  103 ln    0.717 V
1
This is not much of an increase from 0.7 V, which is what we
typically observe when the BJT is in the active mode. (It’s
common to assume VBE  0.7 V when a BJT operates in the
active mode.)
Consequently,
Next,
VE  0.717 V
iC   iE  iE 
iC


 1
iC

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then
Lecture 11
IE 
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100  1
 2 mA or I E  2.02 mA
100
We can use this emitter current to select the proper resistor RE:
VE   15 V 
IE 
RE
0.717  15
or
RE 
 7.07 k
2.02  103
That completes the design.
One last thing, though. Notice how small the base current IB is
relative to IC and IE:
I B  I C  I E  20 A.
This is typical of BJTs operating in the active mode.
Example N11.2 (text Exercise 6.13). Determine IE, IB, IC, and
VC in the circuit below if = 50 and VE = -0.7 V.
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Lecture 11
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(Fig. E6.13)
Because VB = 0, then the given VE means the BJT may be
operating in the active mode since VBE = 0.7 V. (It could also be
operating in the saturation mode.) We’ll assume active mode
operation for now, and confirm this assumption when we’re
finished.
(i) Compute IE.
IE 
(ii) Compute IC.
IC   I E 
0.7   10 
 0.93 mA
10,000

 1
IE 
50
 0.93 mA=0.91 mA
51
(iii) Compute IB.
IC   I B  I B 
(iv) Compute VC.
IC


0.91 mA
 18.2 A
50
VC  10  5,000  I C  5.45 V
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Lecture 11
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Note that since VCB  VC  VB  5.45  0  5.45 V is greater than
zero (thus reverse biasing the CBJ) and the EBJ is forward
biased, the npn BJT is indeed operating in the active mode, as
assumed.
Example N11.3 (text Exercise 6.14). Given that VB = 1.0 V and
VE = 1.7 V, determine  (and ) for the transistor in the circuit
below. Also calculate VC.
(Fig. E6.14)
Because VEB  VE  VB  0.7 V, the pnp transistor may be
operating in the active mode, which is what we will assume.
(i) Determine  and . We’ll use the relationships iC   iE and
iC   iB to determine  and .
From the circuit,
IB 
VB
1.0

 10 A
3
3
100  10 100  10
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Lecture 11
IE 
and
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10  1.7
 1.66 mA
5,000
Using KCL:
I C  I E  I B  1.66  103  10  106  1.65 mA.
Therefore,
I C 1.65  103
 
 165
6
IB
10  10
I C 1.65  103
 
 0.994
3
I E 1.66  10
and
Alternatively,


 1
 0.994
(ii) Compute VC.
or
VC  10 V  5,000  I C  10 V  5,000 1.65  103
VC  1.75 V.
Note that this VC means that the CBJ is reversed biased by the
voltage 1.0   1.75   2.75 V. Hence, the active mode
operation for the pnp BJT is the proper assumption since we’ve
already determined that the EBJ is forward biased.