( ~ m i t t e rcurrent)
L Time
Units o f
Period
Current
T7 Total
=
16
Thus, sum o f c o l lected current = emitted current = 16 units
urn-on delay i s negAssume .02 us/unit
Base current is neglected for sim-
Figirre 42. Oirtptrt Signal Plotted By S u m m a t i o n of t h e Dispersion Zntervuls
p l i c i t y o f calculation I
Figzrre 41. Plotting of
d
I
Dispersion Interval
1. The vertical axis plots units of current. 2. The horizontal axis plots units of time ( 0 2 ps per
unit) . 3. Emitter current is switched on and off for .02 ,US and emits 16 units of current. 4. This current has a transit time through the base of five units of time. 5 . The fastest and most direct carriers reach the collector first. 6. The arrival time of carriers following the fastest is shown as a dome-shaped curve, which is approximated for simplicity by two dashed lines. 7. The spread in arrival time is called the "dispersion interval. 8. Units of current reaching the collector, when added, equal the amount of current emitted. Base current is neglected for simplicity. 9. The output signal is not an image of the input signal; it is quite distorted. "
Figure 41 contains many details, but the information of key importance is the dispersion interval. Although the length of the dispersion interval varies with transistor types. the fact is that all transistors have a specific dispersion interval. The dispersion interval is a valuable tool because it can be used to plot the output signal resulting from a given input signal. An example of such a plot IS shown in Figure 42. Signal Graph Figure 42 illustrates a high-frequency emitter signal
and the output signal resulting when the transistor used 22
TRANSISTOR THEORY ILLUSTRATED
has a dispersion interval of the base shown (five units of time). The following procedure was used to plot this output signal: 1. Divide the input signal into increments of time ( 1 6 shown). 2. On a base line, draw the dispersion interval for each time increment ( 16 shown) .
3. At each increment of time on the base line, add up the currents flowing, and plot this point above the line. 4. Draw an envelope through the points plotted.
@
It is obvious that the output signal is a distorted version of the input signal. But this waveform is only true for the conditions shown. W e find that by changing the time base (frequency) of the emitter current, the output signal is affected in the following manner: 1. It is greatly distorted when the frequency is increased. For example, if the frequency is 16 times
as great, emitter current flows for only one increment of time, and the output signal would look like the dispersion interval shown in Figure 41. 2. It has negligible distortion when the frequency is decreased. For example, if the frequency was only one-sixteenth as great, emitter current would flow for 16 times 16 or 2 56 units of time, and the leading and trailing edges would be steep when plotted to this time base. Frequency Response
Previous discussions involving distortion were actually sub-topics of frequency response. Frequency
0,