What does it mean for a transistor to be off?

Cutoff mode is the opposite of saturation. A transistor in cutoff mode is off — there is no collector current, and therefore no emitter current. It almost looks like an open circuit. To get a transistor into cutoff mode, the base voltage must be less than both the emitter and collector voltages.

Under what conditions does an NPN transistor switch through?

NPN Transistor as a Switch When a sufficient voltage (VIN > 0.7 V) is applied between the base and emitter, collector to emitter voltage is approximately equal to 0. Therefore, the transistor acts as a short circuit. The collector current VCC / RC flows through the transistor.

When an NPN transistor is cut off its VCE?

When in cutoff, there is no current flow between collector and emitter thus P = Vce ∗ Ic = 0. When in saturation, the current may be high, but Vce is very small, keeping the power dissipated by the transistor very low.

Why the transistor does not turn on instantly?

Explanation: When a pulse is given, the collector current will not reach the steady state value instantaneously because of stray capacitances. The charging and discharging of capacitance makes the current to reach a steady state value after a given time constant. 2. For the BJT, β=∞, VBEon=0.7V VCEsat=0.7V.

What operation of the transistor has the output turned off?

Then the transistor operates as a “single-pole single-throw” (SPST) solid state switch. With a zero signal applied to the Base of the transistor it turns “OFF” acting like an open switch and zero collector current flows.

How fast can transistors switch?

Darlington Transistor Switch Sometimes the DC current gain of the bipolar transistor is too low to directly switch the load current or voltage, so multiple switching transistors are used. Here, one small input transistor is used to switch “ON” or “OFF” a much larger current handling output transistor.