Shendi University

Faculty of Engineering & Architecture

Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering

Semiconductor Physics and Devices

Lecture 6

Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor

(MOSFET)
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Lecture Outline
❑ Introduction
❑ MOSFET Construction
❑ Region of Operation
❑ MOSFET as Switch
❑ MOSFET as an Amplifier
❑ Practice Questions and Problems

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 Introduction
❑ MOSFET stands for metal oxide semiconductor field effect
transistor. It is capable of voltage gain and signal power gain.
❑ The MOSFET is the core of integrated circuit designed as
thousands of these can be fabricated in a single chip because of
its very small size.
❑ is a four terminals device. The drain and source terminals are
connected to the heavily doped regions. The gate terminal is
connected top on the oxide layer and the substrate or body
terminal is connected to the intrinsic semiconductor.
❑MOSFETs have characteristics similar to JFETs and additional
characteristics that make then very useful.
❑ Three terminal (Gate, Drain, Source), four layer unipolar device.
❑ Gate is electrically isolated from source giving MOSFET good
input impedance and good capacitance.
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 MOSFET Construction
Depletion-Type
❑ The Drain (D) and Source (S)
connect to the to n-doped
regions. These n-doped regions
are connected via an n-channel.
This n-channel is connected to
the Gate (G) via a thin
insulating layer of SiO2.

❑ The n-doped material lies on a

p-doped substrate that may have
an additional terminal
connection called Substrate
(SS).
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 MOSFET Construction
Depletion-Type
❑ A depletion-type MOSFET can operate in two modes:
✓ Depletion mode
✓ Enhancement mode
Depletion Mode
The characteristics are similar
to a JFET.
✓ When VGS = 0 V, ID = IDSS
✓ When VGS < 0 V, ID < IDSS
✓ The formula used to plot the transfer curve
still applies:

2
 V 
I D = I DSS  1 − GS 
 VP 
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 MOSFET Construction
Depletion-Type
Enhancement Mode
✓ VGS > 0 V  V 
2
I D = I DSS  1 − GS 
✓ ID increases above IDSS  VP 
✓ The formula used to plot the ✓ Note that VGS is now a
transfer curve still applies: positive polarity

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 MOSFET Construction
Enhancement Type
❑ The Drain (D) and Source (S)
connect to the to n-doped
regions. These n-doped
regions are connected via an n-
channel
❑ The Gate (G) connects to the
p-doped substrate via a thin
insulating layer of SiO2
❑ There is no channel
❑ The n-doped material lies on a
p-doped substrate that may
have an additional terminal
connection called the Substrate
(SS)
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 MOSFET Construction
Enhancement Type
❑ The enhancement-type MOSFET operates only in the
enhancement mode.
To determine ID given VGS: k, a constant, can be determined by using
Where: values at a specific point and the formula:
VT = threshold voltage I D(ON)
k=
or voltage at which the (VGS(ON) − VT) 2
MOSFET turns on

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 MOSFET Construction
Enhancement Type
p-Channel E-Type
❑ The p-channel enhancement-type MOSFET is similar to the n-channel,
except that the voltage polarities and current directions are reversed.

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 MOSFET Construction
Enhancement Type
Example 4-1
Data sheet of an EMOSFET specifies following parameters:
ID(on) = 50 mA at VGS = 6V and VT, the threshold voltage for
EMOSFET, 2V.
Determine the drain current at VGS = 3V.
Solution
We first determine the conductance parameter k for the device
using the relation,

Now, the drain current, ID is expressed as,

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Region of Operation
Cut off region:
No current flows through it and the MOSFET is off.
Ohmic region:
Drain current increases when the drain source voltage increases.
Used as amplifier in this region.
Saturation region:
Drain current is constant for drain source voltage. Used as switch
in this region. This occurs when the drain source voltage reaches
pinch off voltage.
Depletion mode:
The MOSFET is ON by default. When negative voltage is applied
to the gate terminal it operates in the depletion mode and when
positive voltage is applied, it operates in the enhancement mode.

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Region of Operation

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Region of Operation

MOSFET IV curves with linearly increasing Gate Voltage

VGS from 1V to 5V
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 Region of Operation
❑ Current-Voltage Characteristic of an N-MOSFET. Each curve
is a plot of VDS vs. ID at a constant value of VGS. Each curve is for
a different value of VGS

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 MOSFET as Switch
❑ As in the circuit arrangement, an
enhanced mode and N-channel
MOSFET are being used to switch a
sample lamp with the conditions ON
and OFF.
❑ The positive voltage at the gate
terminal is applied to the base of the
transistor and the lamp moves into
ON condition and here VGS =+V or at
zero voltage level, the device turns to
OFF condition where VGS=0.

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 MOSFET as an Amplifier
❑ If we apply a small time-varying signal to the input, then
under the right conditions the MOSFET circuit can act as a
linear amplifier providing the transistors Q-point somewhere
near the center of the saturation region, and the input signal
is small enough for the output to remain linear. Consider the
basic MOSFET amplifier circuit below.

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 Practice Questions and Problems
1. Give the structure of depletion MOSFET (D - MOSFET).
2. How is D – MOSFET different from enhancement MOSFET
(E - MOSFET)?
3. Draw and discuss drain characteristics for a D-MOSFET.
4. Discuss the formation of channel in E-MOSFET emphasizing
the role of inversion layer.
5. Data sheet of an EMOSFET specifies following parameters:
ID(on) = 40 mA at VGS = 5V and VT, the threshold voltage for
EMOSFET, 1.8V. Determine the drain current at VGS = 3.2V.

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Thank You
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