1 Construction and Mechanism of Operation 1.1 Construction of BJT (n-p-n) Basically, two p-n junctions are formed back-to-back. Firstly, a lightly doped n-region, designated n-, is diffused into the substrate to form the collector region. This is followed by a moderately doped, very thin p-region to form the base. Finally, this is topped with a heavily doped n-type region, designated n+, which forms the emitter region and is plentiful in free charge carriers (see Fig. 1.1). The base region is very thin, of the order of 0.5 - 1.0µ µm which makes its width much less than the diffusion length for minority carriers in this region, i.e. Wb << Lb. A physical model can be made of the BJT which treats it as two p-n junctions back-to-back as shown in Fig. 1.1. At equilibrium, there are two depletion regions formed at the junctions which are neglected in first order approximation calculations. Typically: Majority carrier emitter electron concentration: Majority carrier base hole concentration: Majority carrier collector electron concentration: neo ≈ Ne ≈ 1018 cm-3 pbo ≈ Nb ≈ 1016 cm-3 nco ≈ Nc ≈1015 cm-3 Minority carrier emitter hole concentration: peo ≈ ni2/Ne ≈ 2.25x102 cm-3 Minority carrier base electron concentration: nbo ≈ ni2/Nb≈2.25x104 cm-3 Minority carrier collector hole concentration: pco ≈ ni2/Nc≈2.25x105 cm-3 The electrical circuit symbol for the n-p-n bipolar junction transistor is also shown in Fig. 1.1. 1.2 Operation of n-p-n BJT in Forward Active Mode The bipolar junction transistor may, in fact, be operated with its baseemitter and base-collector junctions biased in either direction. However, the most common form of bias is that of the Forward Active Mode in which the base-emitter junction is forward biased and the base-collector junction is reverse biased. This is the normal mode of operation of the BJT as an amplifying device (see Fig. 1.2). 1 E Physical Construction Emitter n+ B C Base p n+ Collector nwidth < 1µm Substrate Physical Model Depletion regions Collector n+ Base p E B C Emitter IE n- WB 0 IB C IC Electrical Symbol B IB IE E Fig.1.1 Construction of an n-p-n Bipolar Transistor 2 IC With the base-emitter junction forward biased, an electric field is created across this junction, which lowers its potential barrier. This allows electrons to drift across the junction from the emitter and diffuse into the base region. Holes also drift across the junction from the base and diffuse into the emitter region. Since the free-electron concentration in the emitter is far higher than that of holes in the base by virtue of the doping (Ne >> Nb), then most of the current flow through the base-emitter junction is due to electrons in the case of the n-p-n transistor. With the base-collector junction reverse biased, an electric field is created across this junction which raises its potential barrier. Due to the thermal generation of free carriers in the collector and the base regions, there is a small hole current from collector to base and a small electron current from base to collector. If the base-collector junction was in isolation, these currents combined would form the reverse saturation current for this junction. However, due to the very narrow width of the base region and the high electric field intensity across the collector-base junction, electrons “emitted” from the emitter region diffuse right across the base region where they meet the influence of the reverse biased collector field and are then swept across the basecollector junction to be “collected” in the collector region. A small fraction, typically of the order of 1%, of the electrons injected from the emitter into the base actually recombine with holes in the base and form the primary component of base current. In actual fact, the concentration of charge carriers in the base region has a profound influence on the collector current and this can be controlled by varying the external current supplied to the base. Small changes in the base current can be used to effect large changes in the collector current and it is this feature that gives the transistor its amplifying property. 3 Physical Model V BE IC IE V BC + + Base-Emitter IE Forward Biased IB Base-Collector IC Reverse Biased h+ h+ e- e- n+ E Band Diagram p B E B E CB E CE E FE n- C C E FB E VB E CC E FC E VE E VC Minority Carrier Distribution p co nb n bo pe p eo Fig. 1.2 pc Linear approximation Including recombination Characteristics of BJT Biased in Forward Active Mode 4 1.3 Current Components Note that several components of current flow in each region of the transistor as shown in Fig. 1.2. However, the principal components are the electronic currents in the emitter and the collector regions and the hole current in the base region which contributes to recombination. Important points to note are: i) The bias voltages applied to the device are almost fully developed across the depletion regions and little across the neutral regions. Hence, currents flow as drift currents across the junctions and diffusion currents through the neutral regions. ii) There is little recombination of carriers in the depletion region and this can be neglected. iii) Under steady-state bias conditions, the normal laws govern diffusion in the neutral regions and, hence, the minority carrier concentrations in these regions follow exponential profiles. iv) The minority carrier concentration profile in the base region can be approximated as linear due to the very narrow dimensions of this region. Recombination of holes in the base with some of the electrons in transit from emitter to collector accounts for the departure from linearity in reality. However, the approximation of a linear profile greatly simplifies analyses of current flow. 1.4 Minority Carrier Profile The majority carrier concentrations in each region of the transistor are little altered by bias conditions. The minority carrier concentrations, however, are significantly altered and it is these that control the operation of the device. The minority carrier profiles for the bipolar transistor operating in forward active mode are shown in Fig. 1.2. The forward bias on the emitter-base junction leads to an increase in the minority carriers on each side of the junction above the equilibrium levels by a factor of eVBE/VT. It can be seen that there is an exponential profile extending into the emitter region. The reverse bias on the collector-base junction forces minority carriers away from the junction so that the carrier profiles are reduced to near zero at these boundaries. There is, again, an exponential profile extending into the collector region. In the base region the profile is in reality non-linear but to a good first-order approximation can be treated as linear and a correction can be made for the non-linearity which is due to recombination when analyzing current flow. 5 Notation Applying to an n-p-n Bipolar Junction Transistor Ne: doping concentration in emitter (donor atoms). atoms/cm3 Nb: doping concentration in base (acceptor atoms). atoms/cm3 Nc: doping concentration in collector (donor atoms). atoms/cm3 peo: equilibrium minority carrier concentration emitter peo=ni2/Ne cm-3 nbo: equilibrium minority carrier concentration in base nbo=ni2/Nb cm-3 pco: equilibrium minority carrier concentration collector pco=ni2/Nc cm-3 De: diffusion coefficient for minority carriers in emitter cm2/s Db: diffusion coefficient for minority carriers in base cm2/s Dc: diffusion coefficient for minority carriers in collector cm2/s Le: diffusion length for minority carriers in emitter µm or cm Lb: diffusion length for minority carriers in base µm or cm Lc: diffusion length for minority carriers in collector µm or cm Wb: width of base region excluding depletion regions µm or cm τb: minority carrier lifetime in the base before recombination ns τF: forward transit time for minority carrier to cross the base region ns 6