ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on basic principles to develop an intuitive feel for the transistor behavior and its application in contemporary high-speed integrated circuits (IC). The exponential growth in high bandwidth wired, wireless, and fiber communication systems coupled with advanced IC technologies has created an interesting convergence of two disparate worlds: the microwave and analog domains. The chapter discusses the major differences between bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and field-effect transistors. The origin of the BJT was more a fortuitous discovery rather than an invention. The intrinsic bandwidth of high frequency BJTs is ultimately limited by minority carrier storage primarily in the base region. Despite the limitations associated with carrier storage and diffusion, BJTs have demonstrated excellent high frequency performance. The concept of translinearity was observed in deriving the basic properties of BJTs and its usefulness was alluded to in general terms.
