Unijunction Transistor
The Unijunction Transistor or UJT for short, is another solid state three terminal device that can be used in gate pulse, timing circuits and trigger generator applications to switch and control either thyristors and triacs for AC power control type applications.
Like diodes, unijunction transistors are constructed from separate P-type and N-type semiconductor materials forming a single (hence its name Uni-Junction) PN-junction within the main conducting N-type channel of the device.
Although the Unijunction Transistor has the name of a transistor, its switching characteristics are very different from those of a conventional bipolar or field effect transistor as it can not be used to amplify a signal but instead is used as a ON-OFF switching transistor. UJT’s have unidirectional conductivity and negative impedance characteristics acting more like a variable voltage divider during breakdown.
Like N-channel FET’s, the UJT consists of a single solid piece of N-type semiconductor material forming the main current carrying channel with its two outer connections marked as Base 2 ( B2 ) and Base 1 ( B1 ). The third connection, confusingly marked as the Emitter ( E ) is located along the channel. The emitter terminal is represented by an arrow pointing from the P-type emitter to the N-type base.
The Emitter rectifying p-n junction of the unijunction transistor is formed by fusing the P-type material into the N-type silicon channel. However, P-channel UJT’s with an N-type Emitter terminal are also available but these are little used.
The Emitter junction is positioned along the channel so that it is closer to terminal B2 than B1. An arrow is used in the UJT symbol which points towards the base indicating that the Emitter terminal is positive and the silicon bar is negative material. Below shows the symbol, construction, and equivalent circuit of the UJT.
Like diodes, unijunction transistors are constructed from separate P-type and N-type semiconductor materials forming a single (hence its name Uni-Junction) PN-junction within the main conducting N-type channel of the device.
Although the Unijunction Transistor has the name of a transistor, its switching characteristics are very different from those of a conventional bipolar or field effect transistor as it can not be used to amplify a signal but instead is used as a ON-OFF switching transistor. UJT’s have unidirectional conductivity and negative impedance characteristics acting more like a variable voltage divider during breakdown.
Like N-channel FET’s, the UJT consists of a single solid piece of N-type semiconductor material forming the main current carrying channel with its two outer connections marked as Base 2 ( B2 ) and Base 1 ( B1 ). The third connection, confusingly marked as the Emitter ( E ) is located along the channel. The emitter terminal is represented by an arrow pointing from the P-type emitter to the N-type base.
The Emitter rectifying p-n junction of the unijunction transistor is formed by fusing the P-type material into the N-type silicon channel. However, P-channel UJT’s with an N-type Emitter terminal are also available but these are little used.
The Emitter junction is positioned along the channel so that it is closer to terminal B2 than B1. An arrow is used in the UJT symbol which points towards the base indicating that the Emitter terminal is positive and the silicon bar is negative material. Below shows the symbol, construction, and equivalent circuit of the UJT.
Applications
The most common application of a unijunction transistor is as a triggering device for SCR’s and Triacs but other UJT applications include sawtoothed generators, simple oscillators, phase control, and timing circuits. The simplest of all UJT circuits is the Relaxation Oscillator producing non-sinusoidal waveforms.In a basic and typical UJT relaxation oscillator circuit, the Emitter terminal of the unijunction transistor is connected to the junction of a series connected resistor and capacitor, RC circuit as shown below.
UJT Relaxation Oscillator
The most common application of a unijunction transistor is as a triggering device for SCR’s and Triacs but other UJT applications include sawtoothed generators, simple oscillators, phase control, and timing circuits. The simplest of all UJT circuits is the Relaxation Oscillator producing non-sinusoidal waveforms.In a basic and typical UJT relaxation oscillator circuit, the Emitter terminal of the unijunction transistor is connected to the junction of a series connected resistor and capacitor, RC circuit as shown below.
UJT Relaxation Oscillator