CONTENTS
1. Semiconductors and Junction Diodes
2. Basic Principles of Junction Transistors
5. Common-collector Amplifiers
7. Small-signal A.F. Amplifiers
10. Large-signal A.F. Amplifiers
12. Multivibrators
13. Further Applications of Junction Diodes and Transistors
14. Further Semiconductor Devices
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
SINCE the first edition of this book was written a number of significant developments have occurred in the science of semi conduction. The chief of these have been the disappearance of the point-contact transistor and the adoption of the drift transistor for r.f. applications. To keep the book up-to-date, appropriate changes have been made to the text of this second edition: all references to point-contact transistors have been omitted and the space saved has been devoted to drift transistors and their applications in pulse amplifiers and v.h.f. receivers. Other new topics included in the second edition are voltage-reference diodes and controlled rectifiers. The sections on transistor multivibrators and on miscellaneous applications of semiconductor devices have been considerably expanded and are now included in separate chapters.
The opportunity has been taken of rewriting parts of Chapters 1 and 2 which describe the physics of the junction diode and the transistor. The author would like to express his gratitude to Dr. J. R. Tillman for many valuable suggestions incorporated in the revised text of these two chapters.
Thanks are also due to Dr. T. B. Tomlinson for information which proved helpful in the preparation of the new chapter on transistor multivibrators.
Finally, mention must also be made of a number of useful comments (embodied in this new edition) which have been received from Dr. Charles Mason Gewertz, Mr. B. C. Jones, of Murphy Radio Limited, and the author's colleagues in the B.B.C. Engineering Training Department.
Stanmore December, 1960
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
THE introduction of junction transistors has made possible the construction of electronic equipment of small size and extreme economy in running costs. In particular, transistors are well suited for use in miniature radio receivers and amplifiers and are thus likely to stimulate interest among amateur constructors. To help designers of transistorized equipment there is a need for a book giving the basic principles of transistor circuits: this small volume was written in an effort to provide the elementary principles required.
The book begins with introductory chapters on the physical processes occurring in transistors but the emphasis is on applications rather than physics and the bulk of the book is devoted to determinations of such quantities as input resistance, stage gain, optimum load, power output, values of coupling capacitors and transformer winding inductances. The mathematics is confined to algebraic manipulation and is illustrated by a large number of numerical examples which show the order of practical magnitudes of these quantities.
Some details of transistor relaxation oscillators and photo-sensitive devices are given in the final chapter and the book ends with a short account of a number of new types of transistor which may become important in the future by extending the frequency range over which semiconducting devices can operate satisfactorily.
Stanmore, January, 1959
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due to the Editor of Mullard Technical Communications for permission to use material from the following two articles: "D.C. Stabilization of Junction Transistors" by L. B. Johnson and Miss P. Vermes, Mullard Technical Communications, Vol. 3, No. 23. April 1957, pp. 68-96.
"High-frequency Amplification using Junction Transistors" by L. E. Jansson, Mullard Technical Communications, Vol. 3, No. 26. October 1957, pp. 174-187.
Thanks are also due to the Editor of Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers for permission to use material from the paper "Transistor Stages for Wide-band Amplifiers" by G. B. B. Chaplin, C. J. N. Candy and A. J. Cole. Vol. 16. Part B Supplement No. 16 International Convention on Transistors and Associated Semiconductor Devices.
The author thanks Mullard Limited for much useful information on photo-diodes and photo-transistors.
The author would also like to acknowledge the help received from The General Electric Company who provided valuable information on voltage-reference diodes and drift transistors.
Also see:
Using Scopes in Transistor Circuits (1968)
Practical TRANSISTOR Servicing (1967)