Lecture 14

OUTLINE
• MOSFET
– Physics (Channel Formation)
– Voltage Dependent Resistor
– Comparison with BJT
– MOS Capacitor
– ID-VDS equation
– Pinch-off & Saturation

• Reading : Chap. 6
 The MOSFET

Metal-Oxide- GATE LENGTH, Lg

Semiconductor Field-Effect OXIDE THICKNESS,
Transistor: Tox
Gate

Source Drain
Substrat
M. Bohr, Intel Developer
e Forum, September 2004

• Current flowing through the channel between the

source and drain is controlled by the gate voltage.
 “N-channel” & “P-channel” MOSFETs

CURRENT
VTH
operate in a complementary manner
“CMOS” = Complementary MOS |GATE VOLTAGE|
 N-Channel MOSFET Structure

Circuit symbol

• The conventional gate material is heavily doped polycrystalline

silicon (referred to as “polysilicon” or “poly-Si” or “poly”)
• The conventional gate insulator material is SiO2.
• To minimize current flow between the substrate (or “body”)
and the source/drain regions, the p-type substrate is
grounded.
Idea of MOS Transistor
 Channel Formation (Qualitative)
• As the gate voltage (VG) is increased,
VG < VTH
holes are repelled away from the
substrate surface.
– The surface is depleted of mobile carriers. The
charge density within the depletion region is
determined by the dopant ion density.
• As VG increases above the threshold
voltage VTH, a layer of conduction VG ≥ VTH
electrons forms at the substrate surface.
– For VG > VTH, n > NA at the surface.
 The surface region is “inverted” to be n-type.

The electron inversion layer serves as a resistive path (channel) for

current to flow between the heavily doped (i.e. highly conductive) source
and drain regions.
 Voltage-Dependent Resistor
• In the ON state, the MOSFET channel can be viewed as
a resistor.

• Since the mobile charge density within the channel

depends on the gate voltage, the channel resistance is
voltage-dependent.
 Channel L/W Dependence
• Shorter channel length and wider channel width each
yield lower channel resistance, hence larger drain
current.
 Comparison: BJT vs. MOSFET
• In a BJT, current (IC) is limited by diffusion of carriers
from the emitter to the collector.
– IC increases exponentially with input voltage (VBE), because the
carrier concentration gradient in the base is proportional to
eVBE / VT
• In a MOSFET, current (ID) is limited by drift of carriers
from the source to the drain.
– ID increases ~linearly with input voltage (VG), because the carrier
concentration in the channel is proportional to
(VG-VTH)
 MOS Capacitor
• A metal-oxide-semiconductor structure can be
considered as a parallel-plate capacitor, with the top
plate being the positive plate, the gate insulator being
the dielectric, and the p-type semiconductor substrate
being the negative plate.

• The negative charges in the semiconductor (for VG > 0)

are comprised of conduction electrons and/or acceptor
ions.
 MOSFET in ON State (VGS > VTH)

• The channel charge density is equal to the gate capacitance

times the gate voltage in excess of the threshold voltage.
Areal inversion
charge density [C/cm2]: Qinv Cox (VGS  VTH )
• Note that the reference voltage is the source voltage.
In this case, VTH is defined as the value of VGS at which the channel surface is
strongly inverted.
 MOSFET as Voltage-Controlled Resistor

• For small VDS, the MOSFET

can be viewed as a resistor,
with the channel resistance
depending on the gate
voltage.

L 1 L
RON resistivity   
tinv W q n ninv tinv W

• Note that qninv tinv Qinv Cox VGS  VTH 

1
RON 
W
 nCox VGS  VTH 
L
 MOSFET Channel Potential Variation
• If the drain is biased at a higher potential than the
source, the channel potential increases from the
source to the drain.
The potential difference between the gate and
channel decreases from the source to drain.
 Charge Density along the Channel
• The channel potential varies with position along the
channel:

Qinv ( y ) Cox VGS  VTH  VC ( y )

• The current flowing in the channel is I D WQinv ( y ) v( y )

dVC ( y )
• The carrier drift velocity at position y is v( y )  n E  n dy
where n is the electron field-effect mobility
 Drain Current, ID (for VDS<VGS-VTH)
dVC ( y )
I D WQinv ( y ) v( y ) WQinv ( y )  n
dy
Integrating from source to drain:

L VD
I
0
D dy  W Q

VS
n inv (VC ) dVC

VD  1 2 
I D L W n  Cox VGS  VTH  VC dVC W n Cox VGS  VTH VDS  VDS 
VS  2 
W VDS 
I D  n Cox  (VGS  VTH )   VDS
L 2 
 ID-VDS Characteristic
• For a fixed value of VGS, ID is a parabolic function of
VDS.
• ID reaches a maximum value at VDS = VGS- VTH.
W  VDS 
I D  nCox (V 
 GS THV )   VDS
L  2 
 Inversion-Layer Pinch-Off (VDS>VGS-VTH)
• When VDS = VGS-VTH, Qinv = 0 at the drain end of the
channel. The channel is “pinched-off”.

• As VDS increases above VGS-VTH, the pinch-off point

(where Qinv = 0) moves toward the source.
– Note that the channel potential VC is always equal to VGS-VTH at the
pinch-off point.
 The maximum voltage that can be applied
across the inversion-layer channel (from source
to drain) is VGS-VTH.
 The drain current “saturates” at a maximum
value.
 Current Flow in Pinch-Off Region
• Under the influence of the
lateral electric field, carriers
drift from the source
(through the inversion-layer
channel) toward the drain.
• A large lateral electric field
exists in the pinch-off region:
VDS  VGS  VTH 
E
L  L1
• Once carriers reach the
pinch-off point, they are
swept into the drain by the
electric field.
 Drain Current Saturation
1 W
• For VDS > VGS-VTH: I D I D , sat   nCox VGS  VTH 2

2 L

VD , sat VGS  VTH

 MOSFET Regions of Operation
• When the potential • When the potential
difference between difference between the
the gate and drain is gate and drain is equal
greater than VTH, the to or less than VTH, the
MOSFET is operating in MOSFET is operating in
the triode region. the saturation region.
 Triode or Saturation?
• In DC circuit analysis, when the MOSFET region of operation is
not known, an intelligent guess should be made; then the
resulting answer should be checked against the assumption.
Example: Given nCox = 100 A/V2, VTH = 0.4V.
If VG increases by 10mV, what is the change in VD?