About transistors

[Rudra.J]

Hey guys!
I have seen guys surfing the net during the projects and finding useless results... I have provided this for them :

Types of transistor


There are two types of standard transistors, NPN and PNP, with different circuit symbols. The letters refer to the layers of semiconductor material used to make the transistor. Most transistors used today are NPN because this is the easiest type to make from silicon. This page is mostly about NPN transistors and if you are new to electronics it is best to start by learning how to use these first.



The leads are labelled base (B), collector (C) and emitter (E).
These terms refer to the internal operation of a transistor but they are not much help in understanding how a transistor is used, so just treat them as labels!

A Darlington pair is two transistors connected together to give a very high current gain.

[Rudra.J]

Transistor currents



The diagram shows the two current paths through a transistor. You can build this circuit with two standard 5mm red LEDs and any general purpose low power NPN transistor (BC108, BC182 or BC548 for example).

The small base current controls the larger collector current.

When the switch is closed a small current flows into the base (B) of the transistor. It is just enough to make LED B glow dimly. The transistor amplifies this small current to allow a larger current to flow through from its collector (C) to its emitter (E). This collector current is large enough to make LED C light brightly.

When the switch is open no base current flows, so the transistor switches off the collector current. Both LEDs are off.

A transistor amplifies current and can be used as a switch.

This arrangement where the emitter (E) is in the controlling circuit (base current) and in the controlled circuit (collector current) is called common emitter mode. It is the most widely used arrangement for transistors so it is the one to learn first.

[Rudra.J]

Darlington pair

This is two transistors connected together so that the current amplified by the first is amplified further by the second transistor. The overall current gain is equal to the two individual gains multiplied together:

Darlington pair current gain, hFE = hFE1 × hFE2
(hFE1 and hFE2 are the gains of the individual transistors)



This gives the Darlington pair a very high current gain, such as 10000, so that only a tiny base current is required to make the pair switch on.

A Darlington pair behaves like a single transistor with a very high current gain. It has three leads (B, C and E) which are equivalent to the leads of a standard individual transistor. To turn on there must be 0.7V across both the base-emitter junctions which are connected in series inside the Darlington pair, therefore it requires 1.4V to turn on.

Darlington pairs are available as complete packages but you can make up your own from two transistors; TR1 can be a low power type, but normally TR2 will need to be high power. The maximum collector current Ic(max) for the pair is the same as Ic(max) for TR2.

A Darlington pair is sufficiently sensitive to respond to the small current passed by your skin and it can be used to make a touch-switch as shown in the diagram. For this circuit which just lights an LED the two transistors can be any general purpose low power transistors. The 100kohm resistor protects the transistors if the contacts are linked with a piece of wire.