FET CHARACTERSTICS TRAINER KIT

Introduction
The Field Effect Transistor is a unipolar device that has very similar
properties to those of the Bipolar Transistor i.e. high efficiency, instant
operation, robust and cheap and they can be used in most circuit
applications that use the equivalent Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT).
They can be made much smaller than an equivalent BJT transistor and
along with their low power consumption and dissipation make them ideal
for use in integrated circuits such as the CMOS range of chips. Field effect
transistor (FET) relies on an electric field to control the shape and hence the
conductivity of a channel of one type of charge carrier in a semiconductor
material. FET are sometimes called unipolar transistors to contrast their
single carrier type operation with the dual carrier type operation of bipolar
junction transistors (BJT). The concept of the FET predates the BJT, though
it was not physically implemented until after BJT due to the limitations of
semiconductor materials and the relative ease of manufacturing BJT
compared to FET. The Field Effect Transistor has one major benefit over its
standard bipolar junction transistor cousins, in that their input impedance is
very high (Thousands of Ohms) making them very sensitive to input
signals, but this high sensitivity also means that they can be easily damaged
by static electricity.This trainer kit is also determine the characterstics of
FET and show that how FET works and their principles.
2 This trainer kit is mainly used in labs for practicals and we have to draw
the characterstics between drain current and drain voltage at that time when
gate voltage are constant. Now we also draw the characterstics between
drain current and gate bias circuit for making a drain voltage constant. By
drawing this characterstics we will measure the two components such as
saturation drain current (IDSS) and peak voltage (Vp). Saturation drain
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current shows that the circuit is in saturation region and they take constant
current and if we increase the voltage then current doesn’t effect due to the
saturation region the current still constant and we also measure the peak
voltage this voltage shows that the trainer kit is operated on its peak value.
Now if we exceed more voltage then peak voltage doesn’t effect. This kit is
very easily understandable and performing for practical due to the use of
FET device. FET is also called as voltage cntrol device because The Field
Effect Transistor or simply FET however, use the voltage that is applied to
their input terminal to control the output current, since their operation relies
on the electric field (hence the name field effect) generated by the input
voltage. This then makes the Field Effect Transistor a Voltage operated
device. The FET has an extremely high input gate resistance and as such a
easily damaged by static electricity if not carefully protected. FET are ideal
for use as electronic switches or common source amplifiers as their power
consumption is very small.
FET
3 FET can be constructed from a number of semiconductors, silicon being
by far the most common. Mostly FET are made with conventional bulk
semiconductor processing techniques using the single crystal semiconductor
wafer as the active region or channel. Among the more unusual body
materials are amorphous silicon, polycrystalline silicon or other amorphous
semiconductors in thin film transistors or organic field effect transistors that
are based on organic semiconductors and often apply organic gate insulators
and electrodes. Field Effect Transistor is a unipolar device as well as
Voltage control device . FET have a gate, drain, and source terminal that
correspond roughly to the base, collector and emitter of BJT. This gate
permits electrons to flow through or blocks their passage by creating or
eliminating a channel between the source and drain. Electrons flow from the
source terminal towards the drain terminal if influenced by an applied
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voltage. The body simply refers to the bulk of the semiconductor in which
the gate, source and drain. The channel of a FET is doped to produce either
an N type semiconductor or a P type semiconductor. The drain and source
may be doped of opposite type to the channel in the case of depletion mode
FET or doped of similar type to the channel as in enhancement mode FET.
Field effect transistors are also distinguished by the method of insulation
between channel and gate. Fig 1 shows the diagram of FET which is
mentioned below and also see their parts.

Fig1. Field Effect Transistor

Current Control
4 The current control terminal is called the gate. Remember that the base
terminal of a bipolar transistor passes a small amount of current. The gate
on the FET passes virtually no current when driven with D.C. When driving
the gate with high frequency pulsed D.C. or A.C. there may be a small
amount of current flow. The transistors turn on voltage varies from one FET
to another but is approximately 3.3 volts with respect to the source. When
FET are used in the audio output section of a Kit the Vgs (voltage from gate
to source) is rarely higher than 3.5 volts. When FET are used in switching
power supplies the Vgs is usually much higher (10 to 15 volts). When the
gate voltage is above approximately 5 volts, it becomes more efficient
(which means less voltage drop across the FET and therefore less power
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dissipation). FET are commonly used because they are easier to drive in
high current applications (such as the switching power supplies found in car
audio amplifiers). If a bipolar transistor is used, a fraction of the collector
emitter current must flow through the base junction. In high current
situations where there is significant collector emitter current, the base
current may be significant. FETs can be driven by very little current
(compared to the bipolar transistors). The only current that flows from the
drive circuit is the current that flows due to the capacitance. As you already
know that when DC is applied to a capacitor there is an initial surge then the
current flow stops. When the gate of an FET is driven with a high frequency
signal, the drive circuit essentially sees only a small value capacitor. For
low to intermediate frequencies, the drive circuit has to deliver little current.
At very high frequencies or when many FET are being driven, the drive
circuit must be able to deliver more current. The gate of a FET has some
capacitance which means that it will hold a charge (retain voltage). If the
gate voltage is not discharged the FET will continue to conduct current.
This doesn't mean you can charge it and expect the FET to continue to
conduct indefinitely but it will continue to conduct until the voltage on the
gate is below the threshold voltage. You can make sure it turns off if you
connect a pulldown resistor between the gate and source.
Gate Current
5 As with bipolar transistors, each FET is designed to safely pass a
specified amount of current. If the temperature of the FET is above 25c
(approx. 77 degrees farenheit), the transistor's safe current carrying
capabilities will be reduced. The safe operating area continues to be
diminished as the temperature rises. As the temperature approaches the
maximum safe operating temperature, the transistor's current rating
approaches zero.
Gate Voltage
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As you already know that the FET is controlled by its gate voltage. For
this FET the maximum safe gate voltage is ±20 volts. If more than 20 volts
is applied to the gate (referenced to the source) it will destroy the transistor.
The transistor will be damaged because the voltage will arc through the
insulator that separates the gate from the drain and source part of the FET.
Drain Source Voltage
FET will be damaged if its specified maximum drain and source voltage is
exceeded. You can obtain a data sheet from the manufacturer. The data
sheet will give you all of the information you need to use it.
FET Methodlogy
6 The Methodlogy which is used for making a FET as shown.
(a) Get the best hardware you can but it’s never good enough.
(b) Create an As Fit Model Best possible fit to the hardware but it’s
never good enough.
(c) Adjust the model to match the design manual nominal device.
This is the centered or nominal model.
(d) Add tolerance to some model parameters to represent the extreme
variation expected in manufacturing.
Mass Action Law
7 The product of the concentration of the reaction partners with all
concentrations always taken to the power of their stoichiometric factors
equals a constant K which has a numerical value that depends on the
temperature and pressure. The constant K is called reaction constant. There
can be any number of particles reacting or resulting from the reaction and
we always bring the results of the reaction (example H2O) to the right side
of the equation and assign a negative value to its stoichiometric factors the
reaction products thus end up in the denominator of the concentration
products. We mostly use integers for the stoichiometric factors but that is
not derigeur. An alternative way of writing the reaction equations that
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shows the minus sign more clearly. The mass action law is deceptively
simple it is however not so trivial to derive it from thermodynamics
including a value for the reaction constant, and it is often quite tricky to use
for real cases.
Intrinsic Semiconductor
8 An intrinsic semiconductor also called an undoped semiconductor or i
type semiconductor is a pure semiconductor without any significant dopant
species present. The number of charge carriers is therefore determined by
the properties of the material itself instead of the amount of impurities. In
intrinsic semiconductors the number of excited electrons and the number of
holes are equal n = p. The conductivity of intrinsic semiconductors can be
due to crystal defects or to thermal excitation. In an intrinsic semiconductor
the number of electrons in the conduction band is equal to the number of
holes in the valence band. An indirect gap intrinsic semiconductor is one
where the maximum energy of the valence band occurs at a different k (k-
space wave vector) than the minimum energy of the conduction band.
Examples include silicon and germanium. A direct gap intrinsic
semiconductor is one where the maximum energy of the valence band
occurs at the same k as the minimum energy of the conduction band.
Examples include gallium arsenide.
Extrinsic Semiconductor
9 An extrinsic semiconductor is a semiconductor that has been doped, that
is into which a doping agent has been introduced, giving it different
electrical properties than the intrinsic (pure) semiconductor.Doping
involves adding dopant atoms to an intrinsic semiconductor, which changes
the electron and hole carrier concentrations of the semiconductor at thermal
equilibrium. Dominant carrier concentrations in an extrinsic semiconductor
classify it as either an n type or p type semiconductor. The electrical
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properties of extrinsic semiconductors make them essential components of

many electronic devices.
Semiconductor doping
10 Semiconductor doping is the process that changes an intrinsic
semiconductor to an extrinsic semiconductor. During doping, impurity
atoms are introduced to an intrinsic semiconductor. Impurity atoms are
atoms of a different element than the atoms of the intrinsic semiconductor.
Impurity atoms act as either donors or acceptors to the intrinsic
semiconductor changing the electron and hole concentrations of the
semiconductor. Impurity atoms are classified as donor or acceptor atoms
based on the effect they have on the intrinsic semiconductor. Donor
impurity atoms have more valence electrons than the atoms they replace in
the intrinsic semiconductor lattice. Donor impurities donate their extra
valence electrons to a semiconductor conduction band providing excess
electrons to the intrinsic semiconductor. Excess electrons increase the
electron carrier concentration (n0) of the semiconductor making it n type.
Acceptor impurity atoms have less valence electrons than the atoms they
replace in the intrinsic semiconductor. They accept electrons from the
semiconductor valence band. This provides excess holes to the intrinsic
semiconductor. Excess holes increase the hole carrier concentration (p0) of
the semiconductor, creating a p type semiconductor. Semiconductor and
dopant atoms are defined by the column of the periodic table of elements
they fall in. The column definition of the semiconductor determines how
many valence electrons its atoms have and whether dopant atoms act as the
semiconductor's donors or acceptors.
N type semiconductors
11 Band structure of an n type semiconductor. Dark circles in the
conduction band are electrons and light circles in the valence band are
holes. The image shows that the electrons are the majority charge
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carrier.Extrinsic semiconductors with a larger electron concentration than

hole concentration are known as n type semiconductors. The phrase n-type
comes from the negative charge of the electron. In n type semiconductors,
electrons are the majority carriers and holes are the minority carriers. N type
semiconductors are created by doping an intrinsic semiconductor with
donor impurities. In an n type semiconductor the Fermi energy level is
greater than the that of the intrinsic semiconductor and lies closer to the
conduction band than the valence band.
P type semiconductors
Band structure of a p type semiconductor. Dark circles in the conduction
band are electrons and light circles in the valence band are holes. The image
shows that the holes are the majority charge carrier. As opposed to n type
semiconductors, p type semiconductors have a larger hole concentration
than electron concentration. The phrase p type refers to the positive charge
of the hole. In p type semiconductors, holes are the majority carriers and
electrons are the minority carriers. P type semiconductors are created by
doping an intrinsic semiconductor with acceptor impurities. P type
semiconductors have Fermi energy levels below the intrinsic Fermi energy
level. The Fermi energy level lies closer to the valence band than the
conduction band in a p type semiconductor.
Conductivity
12 If a body has more or fewer electrons than are required to balance the
positive charge of the nuclei then that object has a net electric charge. When
there is an excess of electrons the object is said to be negatively charged.
When there are fewer electrons than the number of protons in nuclei the
object is said to be positively charged. When the number of electrons and
the number of protons are equal, their charges cancel each other and the
object is said to be electrically neutral. A macroscopic body can develop an
electric charge through rubbing, by the triboelectric effect. Independent
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electrons moving in vacuum are termed free electrons. Electrons in metals

also behave as if they were free. In reality the particles that are commonly
termed electrons in metals and other solids are quasi electrons, quasi
particles which has the same electrical charge spin and magnetic moment
as real electrons but may have a different mass. When free electrons both in
vacuum and metals move they produce a net flow of charge called an
electric current which generates a magnetic field. Likewise a current can be
created by a changing magnetic field. These interactions are described
mathematically by Maxwell's equations.At a given temperature, each
material has an electrical conductivity that determines the value of electric
current when an electric potential is applied. Examples of good conductors
include metals such as copper and gold, whereas glass and Teflon are poor
conductors. In any dielectric material, the electrons remain bound to their
respective atoms and the material behaves as an insulator.
13 Most semiconductors have a variable level of conductivity that lies
between the extremes of conduction and insulation. On the other hand
metals have an electronic band structure containing partially filled
electronic bands. The presence of such bands allows electrons in metals to
behave as if they were free or delocalized electrons. These electrons are not
associated with specific atoms so when an electric field is applied they are
free to move like a gas (called Fermi gas) through the material much like
free electrons.Because of collisions between electrons and atoms the drift
velocity of electrons in a conductor is on the order of millimeters per
second. However the speed at which a change of current at one point in the
material causes changes in currents in other parts of the material the
velocity of propagation is typically about 75% of light speed. This occurs
because electrical signals propagate as a wave, with the velocity dependent
on the dielectric constant of the material. Metals make relatively good
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conductors of heat primarily because the delocalized electrons are free to

transport thermal energy between atoms. However unlike electrical
conductivity, the thermal conductivity of a metal is nearly independent of
temperature. This is expressed mathematically by the Wiedemann Franz
law which states that the ratio of thermal conductivity to the electrical
conductivity is proportional to the temperature. The thermal disorder in the
metallic lattice increases the electrical resistivity of the material producing a
temperature dependence for electrical current. When cooled below a point
called the critical temperature materials can undergo a phase transition in
which they lose all resistivity to electrical current in a process known as
super conductivity. In BCS theory this behavior is modeled by pairs of
electrons entering a quantum state known as a Bose Einstein condensate.
These Cooper pairs have their motion coupled to nearby matter via lattice
vibrations called phonons, thereby avoiding the collisions with atoms that
normally create electrical resistance. Cooper pairs have a radius of roughly
100 nm, so they can overlap each other.However the mechanism by which
higher temperature superconductors operate remains uncertain. Electrons
inside conducting solids which are quasi particles themselves when tightly
confined at temperatures close to absolute zero behave as though they had
split into two other quasi particles spinons and holons. The former carries
spin and magnetic moment while the latter electrical charge. Fast switching
speeds because electrons can start to flow from drain to source as soon as
the channel opens.
Bloch Boltzmann theory
14 The long mean free path of electrons in metals is the key to formulating a
theory. In a perfect crystal the quantum description of electrons as particle
wave entities is similar to the idea of electromagneticwaves confined in a
resonant cavity. The wavelengths have to fit the dimensions of the cavity
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which causes quantization of wavelength λ. The individual quantum states

or orbitals are labeled by their wavevectors k = 2π/λ. The orbital labeled by
k has an energy ε(k) and is pictured as a wave oscillating with a space and
time dependence given approximately by cos [kx − ε(k)t] like a traveling
electromagneticwave with frequency ω(k)=ε(k). A wave packet built from
such orbitals moves with velocity. It has to be measured by photoemission
or computed using band theory and varies from metal to metal. The wave
packets in real metals do not remain phase coherent over the whole sample
only over the distance between collisions. Provided this distance is longer
than a wavelength the wavelength and wavevector remain meaningful
quantities which can be used to build a theory. Bloch’s theory starts from
the recognition of Bloch orbitals with wavevectors k. It then adopts from
Boltzmann the notion of the distribution F(k) which gives the probability
that the state k is occupied. Because of the Pauli principle, this probability
cannot exceed 2 (one for spin up and one for spin down). For states of low
energy [ε(k) far below the Fermi level εF] the occupancy is very close to 2
and for states of high energy [ε(k) far above the Fermi level εF] the
occupancy is very close to 0. In thermal equilibrium the occupancy F(k) is
equal to the Fermi Dirac function. The conductivity is calculated by
summing the velocities of the occupied states When the field E is zero the
distribution F(k) is f(k) which has j = 0 because states with positive and
negative velocities v(k) are equally populated. The effect of the field E is to
cause the k vectors of the occupied states to change according to Bloch’s
law. This is the quantum version Newtonian acceleration by the electric
force using de Broglie’s momentum k of a quantumwave. The acceleration
is continuously resisted by scattering. Therefore the total shift of the typical
k vector where τ is the time between collisions. The last part of integration
by parts after substituting the expression and can be interpreted as electron
density times reciprocal effective mass.
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15 The Bloch theory recovers a result proposed on classical grounds by

Paul Drude shortly after the discovery of the electron, namely σ = ne2τ /m.
However, the interpretation is quite different. A proper quantum theory for
the scattering rate τ is needed, and was provided by Bloch by making a
quantum generalization of the Boltzmann scattering operator. An
approximate solution of Bloch’s theory knownas the BlochGruneisen
formula is often very successful in fitting data for magnesium diboride
(MgB2). In this example theory deviates from experiment at higher
temperatures because high frequency lattice vibrations involving boron
atoms, are not well represented by the form of the approximate theory.
Bloch’s theory has failures, but they are out numbered by the successes.
One failure is that collective behavior can sometimes be seen at low
temperature, the outstanding example being superconductivity. Other
examples are more controversial, and include so called Luttinger liquid
behavior which definitely happens in ideal one dimensional theoretical
models and probably is seen in careful experiments on such systems as
carbon nanotubes. Another case is transport by so called sliding charge
density waves perhaps seen in quasi one dimensional metals like NbSe3. A
more common failure is that in metals which are very impure or which have
very strongs cattering, the mean free path between scattering events may
become so short that the wavelength and wave vector of electron quantum
states is no longer definable. This undermines the basis of Bloch’s theory.
Such a failure of the theory (technically, a failure of the quasiparticle
picture) showing the resistivity of Ti1−xAlx alloys. At the lower aluminum
concentrations, x = 3% and 6%, the ρ(T) curves shift upward, obeying
Mattheissen’s rule, given by Eq. (14), where the residual resistivity ρ = ρ0 +
ρpure(T) (14) ρ0 is proportional to impurity concentration x. For the larger
concentrations, a too short mean free path causes the quasiparticle picture
underlying Bloch Boltzmann theory to fail. This in turn causes failure of
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Mattheissen’s rule. The quasiparticle picture also fails at high temperature

for all concentrations x. A more abstract formulation of nonequilibrium
effects like conductivity exists under the name of Kubo formulas. These
provide a route to improved theories.
Small Signal Model
16 The Concept of FET small signal model is to find an equivalent circuit
which interrelates the incremental changes in ID,VGS,VDS etc. Since the
changes are small, the small signal equivalent circuit has linear elements
only (e.g., capacitors, resistors, controlled sources) and the derivation for
that we consider for example the relationship of the increment in drain
current due to an increment in gate source voltage when the FET is
saturated with all other voltages held constant.

We have the functional dependence of the total drain current in saturation

Taylor expansion around the DC operating point (also called the quiescent
point or Q point) defined by the DC voltages Q (VGS,VDS,VBS). If the small
signal voltage is really small, then we can neglect all everything past the
linear term where the partial derivative is depend as the transconductance.
Hall Effect
17 If an electric current flows through a conductor in a magnetic field the
magnetic field exerts a transverse force on the moving charge carriers which
tends to push them to one side of the conductor. This is most evident in a
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thin flat conductor as illustrated. A buildup of charge at the sides of the

conductors will balance this magnetic influence producing a measurable
voltage between the two sides of the conductor. The presence of this
measurable transverse voltage is called the Hall effect. As we know that the
direction of the current I in the diagram is that of conventional current so
that the motion of electrons is in the opposite direction. That further
confuses all the right hand rule manipulations you have to go through to get
the direction of the forces. The Hall effect can be used to measure magnetic
fields with a Hall probe. The Hall effect is a conduction phenomenon which
is different for different charge carriers. In most common electrical
applications, the conventional current is used partly because it makes no
difference whether you consider positive or negative charge to be moving.
But the Hall voltage has a different polarity for positive and negative charge
carriers and it has been used to study the details of conduction in
semiconductors and other materials which show a combination of negative
and positive charge carriers. Low gate signal power requirement. No gate
current can flow into the gate after the small gate oxide capacitance has
been charged.The Hall effect can be used to measure the average drift
velocity of the charge carriers by mechanically moving the Hall probe at
different speeds until the Hall voltage disappears showing that the charge
carriers are now not moving with respect to the magnetic field as shown in
fig 2.
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Fig 2.Hall Effect in FET

Fermi Energy
18 The Fermi energy is a concept in quantum mechanics usually referring to
the energy of the highest occupied quantum state in a system of fermions at
absolute zero temperature. This article requires a basic knowledge of
quantum mechanics.As we know that the term Fermi energy is often
confusingly used to describe a different but closely related concept the
Fermi level (also called chemical potential).The Fermi energy and chemical
potential are the same at absolute zero but differ at other temperatures. In
quantum mechanics a group of particles known as fermions ( example
electrons, protons and neutrons) obey the Pauli exclusion principle, which
states that no two fermions can occupy the same quantum state. The states
are labeled by a set of quantum numbers. In a system containing many
fermions each fermion will have a different set of quantum numbers. To
determine the lowest energy a system of fermions can have, we first group
the states into sets with equal energy and order these sets by increasing
energy. Starting with an empty system we then add particles one at a time,
consecutively filling up the unoccupied quantum states with the lowest
energy. When all the particles have been put in, the Fermi energy is the
energy of the highest occupied state. What this means is that even if we
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have extracted all possible energy from a metal by cooling it down to near
absolute zero temperature (0 kelvin), the electrons in the metal are still
moving around; the fastest ones would be moving at a velocity that
corresponds to a kinetic energy equal to the Fermi energy. This is the Fermi
velocity. The Fermi energy is one of the important concepts of condensed
matter physics. It is used for example to describe metals, insulators, and
semiconductors. It is a very important quantity in the physics of supe
rconductors in the physics of quantum liquids like low temperature helium
(both normal and superfluid He) and it is quite important to nuclear physics
and to understand the stability of white dwarf stars against gravitational
collapse.
Fermi Level
19 In semiconductor physics it is conventional to work mainly with
unreferenced energy symbols. This is possible because the relevant formula
of semiconductor physics mostly contain differences in energy levels, For
example (EC-EF). Thus, for developing the basic theory of semiconductors
there is little merit in introducing an absolute energy reference zero. The
central task of basic semiconductor physics is to establish formula for the
position of the Fermi level EF relative to the energy levels EC and EV (the
level of the bottom of the conduction band and the top of the valence band)
taking into account the effects of doping. Doping introduces additional
electron energy levels into the band gap, that may or may not be populated
by electrons dependent on circumstances and temperature, and causes the
Fermi level EF to shift from the energy level (relative to the band structure)
that it would have had in the absence of doping. This energy level that the
Fermi level has in the absence of doping is called the intrinsic Fermi level
intrinsic level and is usually denoted by the symbol Ei. The theory of
semiconductor physics is constructed in such a fashion that in a situation of
complete thermodynamic equilibrium the position of the Fermi level
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relative to the band structure determines both the density of electrons and
the density of holes.
Fermi Dirac statistics
20 Fermi Dirac statistics (F D statistics) is a part of the science of physics
that describes the energies of single particles in a system comprising many
identical particles that obey the Pauli Exclusion Principle. It is named after
Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac, who each discovered it independently. F D
statistics applies to identical particles with half-integer spin in a system in
thermal equilibrium. Additionally, the particles in this system are assumed
to have negligible mutual interaction. This allows the many particle system
to be described in terms of single-particle energy states. The result is the
Fermi Dirac distribution of particles over these states and includes the
condition that no two particles can occupy the same state which has a
considerable effect on the properties of the system. Since Fermi–Dirac
statistics applies to particles with half-integer spin, they have come to be
called fermions. It is most commonly applied to electrons which are
fermions with spin 1/2. Fermi Dirac statistics is a part of the more general
field of statistical mechanics and uses the principles of quantum mechanics.
Suppose we have a number of energy levels, each level having energy εi
and containing a total of ni particles. Suppose each level contains gi
distinct sublevels, all of which have the same energy, and which are
distinguishable. For example, two particles may have different momenta, in
which case they are distinguishable from each other, yet they can still have
the same energy. The value of gi associated with level i is called the
degeneracy of that energy level. The Pauli exclusion principle states that
only one fermion can occupy any such sublevel.

FET as a Voltage Variable Resistor

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21 FET is operated in the constant current portion of its output

characteristics for the linear applications .In the region before pinch off ,
where Vds is small the drain to source resistance rd can be controlled by the
bias voltage Vgs.The FET is useful as a voltage variable resistor (VVR) or
Voltage Dependent resistor.In FET the drain source conductance gd =
Id/Vds for small values of Vds which may be expressed as gd = gdo [ 1-
( VgsVp)1/2 ] where gdo is the value of drain conductance when the bias
voltage Vgs is zero.The variation of the rd with vgs can be closely
approximated by rd = ro / 1- KVgs ro – drain resistance at zero gate bias
and K constant dependent upon FET type.Small signal FET drain resistance
rd varies with applied gate voltage Vgs and FET act like a Variable Passive
Resistor.
FET Source Follower Circuit
22 When measuring the fet and you observed all the readings moved toward
the 0 ohms range then the FET is considered shorted and need to be replace.
The common drain amplifier or source follower is a particularly valuable
configuration its high input impedance and low output impedance make it
very useful for impedance transformations between FET and bipolar
transistors. By considering eight circuits (Fig) which represent virtually
every source follower configuration, the designer can obtain consistent
circuit performance despite wide device variations. There are two basic
connections for source followers with and without gate feedback. Each
connection comes in several variations. Circuits through have no gate
feedback their input impedances therefore are equal to RG. When measuring
the fet and you observed all the readings moved toward the 0 ohms range
then the FET is considered shorted and need to be replace. Circuits through
employ feedback to their gates to increase the input impedance above
RG.Before getting into the details of bias circuit design several general
observations can be made about the circuits of Fig 3.
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(a) Circuits can accept only positive and small negative signals, because
these circuits have their source resistors connected to ground. The
other circuits can handle large positive and negative signals limited
only by the vailable supply voltages and device breakdown voltage.
(b) Circuits employ current sources to improve drain current (ID) stability
and increase gain.
(c) Circuits employ JFET as current sources.
(d) Circuits employ a source resistor RS which may be selected to set the
quiescent output voltage equal to zero.
(e) Circuits use matched FET. RS is selected to set ID .The DC input
output offset voltage is zero.

Fig 3. Source Follower Circuit for FET

Testing of FET
23 Checking components that have two leads such as the resistor, capacitor,
diode etc are much easier than checking transistor and FET which have
three leads. Quite often technicians get confused with the three leg devices.
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In this report i will share with you on how to accurately check Field Effect
Transistor (FET) using analog multimeter. Firstly identify the gate, drain
and source pin from semiconductor.Once you have locate each pin of the
FET then use your analog meter set to times 10K ohm range. If you are
measuring an N channel FET then place the black probe to the drain pin.
Then touch the gate pin with the red probe to discharge any internal
capacitance in the fet. Now move the red probe to source pin while the
black probe still touching the drain pin. Use your finger and touch the gate
and drain pin together and you will see the analog meter needle will kick
forward to middle range of the meters scale. Removing the red probe from
the source pin and touching it back again the source pin the needle will still
remain at the center of the meters scale. To discharge it you have to remove
the red probe and touch one time on the gate pin. This will discharge the
internal capacitance again. Now using the red probe to touch on the source
pin again, the needle would not move at all because you already discharge it
by touching the gate pin. I know is a little bit of confusion but after some
practice you will be able to test all types of FET. When measuring the fet
and you observed all the readings moved toward the 0 ohms range then the
FET is considered shorted and need to be replace. Checking the P channel is
similar to checking an N channel FET just switch the probe polarity when
measuring the P channel. If you having an analog multimeter with a times
100k Ohm range then you might not be able to accurately check the FET
due to the missing of 9 Volt battery in the meter. The missing of 9 volt
battery will have not enough power to trigger the FET. Make sure your
meter have the time 10k ohm range. Typical N channel FET part numbers
are K792, K1118, IRF630, IRF 840. P channel FET part number are J306,
J512, IRF9610 etc.
Types of FET
 21

There are three types of field-effect transistors, the Junction Field Effect
Transistor (JFET) and the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect
Transistor (MOSFET) or Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor (IGFET). In
our trainer Kit we use MOSFET because they are easier to drive in high
current applications The principles on which these devices operate (current
controlled by an electric field) are very similar the primary difference being
in the methods by which the control element is made. This difference,
however results in a considerable difference in device characteristics and
necessitates variances in circuit design. The description of the FET types
are mentioned below in this report.
Junction Field Effect Transitor
24 The JFET is a long channel of semiconductor material doped to contain
an abundance of positive charge carriers (P type) or of negative carriers (N
type). Contacts at each end form the source and drain. The gate (control)
terminal has doping opposite to that of the channel which it surrounds so
that there is a PN junction at the interface. Terminals to connect with the
outside are usually made ohmic. In its simplest form the junction field effect
transistor starts with nothing more than a bar of doped silicon that behaves
as a resistor (Fig 4). By convention the terminal into which current is
injected is called the source terminal, Since as far as the FET is concerned,
current originates from this terminal. The other terminal is called the drain
terminal. Current flow between source and drain is related to the drain
source voltage by the resistance of the intervening material. In Fig 4 P type
regions have been diffused into the N type substrate of Fig 4 leaving an N
type channel between the source and drain. (A complementary P type
device is made by reversing all of the material types.) These P type regions
will be used to control the current flow between the source and the drain
and are thus called gate regions. As with any PN junction, a depletion
region surrounds the PN junctions when the junctions are reverse biased. As
 22

the reverse voltage is increased, the depletion regions spread into the
channel until they meet, creating an almost infinite resistance between the
source and the drain. If an external voltage is applied between source and
drain with zero gate voltage, drain current flow in the channel sets up a
reverse bias along the surface of the gate, parallel to the channel. As the
drain source voltage increases, the depletion regions again spread into the
channel because of the voltage drop in the channel which reverse biases the
junctions. As VDS is increased, the depletion regions grow until they meet,
whereby any further increase in voltage is counter balanced by an increase
in the depletion region toward the drain. There is an effective increase in
channel resistance that prevents any further increase in drain current. The
drain source voltage that causes this current limiting condition is called the
pinchoff voltage (Vp). A further increase in drain source voltage produces
only a slight increase in drain current. The variation in drain current (ID)
with drain source voltage (VDS) at zero gate source voltage (VGS). In the low
current region, the drain current is linearly related to VDS. As ID increases,
the channel begins to deplete and the slope of the ID curve decreases. When
the VDS is equal to Vp, ID saturates and stays relatively constant until drain
to gate avalanche, VBR(DSS) is reached. If a reverse voltage is applied to the
gates, channel pinchoff occurs at a lower ID level because the depletion
region spread caused by the reverse biased gates adds to that produced by
VDS. Thus reducing the maximum current for any value of VDS. Due to the
difficulty of diffusing impurities into both sides of a semiconductor wafer, a
single ended geometry is normally used instead of the two-sided structure.
Diffusion for this geometry is from one side only. The substrate is of P type
material onto which an N type channel is grown epitaxially. A P type gate is
then diffused into the N type epitaxial channel.
 23

Fig 4. Junction Field Effect Transitor

Contact metallization completes the structure. The substrate, which
functions as Gate 2, is of relatively low resistivity material to maximize
gain. For the same purpose, Gate 1 is of very low resistivity material
allowing the depletion region to spread mostly into the N type channel. In
most cases the gates are internally connected together. A tetrode device can
be realized by not making this internal connection.
Operation
25 Consider an N channel JFET and it is assumed that the two terminals
labeled G are joined together. With VGS a voltage VDS = 0 the application of
causes current to flow from the drain to the source. When a negative is
applied, the depletion region of the gate channel junction widens and the
channel becomes correspondingly narrower thus the channel resistance
increases and the current ID (for a given VDS) decreases. Because VDS is
small the channel is almost of uniform width. The JFET is simply operating
as a resistance whose value is controlled by VGS. If we keep increasing VGS
in the negative direction, a value is reached at which the depletion region
occupies the entire channel. At this value of VGS the channel is completely
depleted of charge carriers (electrons); the channel has in effect
disappeared. This value of VGS is therefore the threshold voltage of the
 24

device Vt which is obviously negative for an N channel JFET. For JFET

the threshold voltage is called the pinchoff voltage and is denoted Vp.
Consider next the situation depicted in Fig.5.

Fig 5.Physical Operation of N Channel JFET

Here VGS is held constant at a value greater (that is, less negative) than Vp
and VDS is increased. Since VDS appears as a voltage drop across the length
of the channel, the voltage increases as we move along the channel from
source to drain. It follows that the reverse bias voltage between gate and
channel varies at different points along the channel and is highest at the
drain end. Thus the channel acquires a tapered shape and the ID, VDS
characteristic becomes nonlinear. When the reverse bias at the drain end,
VGD falls below the pinchoff voltage Vp the channel is pinched off at the
drain end and the drain current saturates. Its characteristics should therefore
be similar to those of the depletion type JFET. This is true with a very
important exception While it is possible to operate the depletion type JFET
in the enhancement mode (by simply applying a positive VGS if the device is
 25

n channel) this is impossible in the JFET case. If we attempt to apply a

positive VGS, the gate channel PN junction becomes forward biased and the
gate ceases to control the channel. Thus the maximum VGS is limited to 0 V
though it is possible to go as high as 0.3 V or so since a PN junction
remains essentially cut off at such a small forward voltage.
Conductivity of JFET
26 The property of a metal that measures its ability to conduct electricity
following Ohms law. Electrical conductivity σ is the reciprocal of the
resistivity ρ where resistance R in Ohms is voltage drop V in volts (V)
divided by current I in amperes (A). Ohm’s law V = IR may also be written
where j is current density and E = V/L is electric field or electrical potential
gradient measured in V/m, where V is the voltage drop measured across a
length L of material. The conductivity σ is an intrinsic property of a pure
material related to the measured conductance G = I/V via G = σA/L, just as
resistance R = V/I relates to resistivity ρ via R = ρL/A. Thus a large-gauge
conductor of short length has a high conductance, but the physical
dimensions do not affect the conductivity σ or the resistivity ρ. Positive
current flows from higher to lower voltage and σ is never negative.
Transconductance
27 Transconductance, also known as mutual conductance, is a property of
certain electronic components. Conductance is the reciprocal of resistance
and transconductance is the ratio of the current at the output port and the
voltage at the input ports. It is a contraction of "transfer conductance". The
old unit of conductance, the mho (ohm spelled backwards), was replaced by
the SI (International System) unit, the siemens, with the symbol S (1
siemens = 1 ampere per volt). For vacuum tubes, transconductance is
defined as the change in the plate(anode) cathode current divided by the
corresponding change in the grid/cathode voltage, with a constant
plate(anode)/cathode voltage. Typical values of gm for a small signal
 26

vacuum tube are 1 to 10 millisiemens and the Transresistance, infrequently

referred to as mutual resistance, is the dual of transconductance. It is a
contraction of transfer resistance. It refers to the ratio between a change of
the voltage at two output points and a related change of current through two
input points.
Current Voltage Characteristics
28 The current voltage characteristics of the JFET except that for the JFET
the maximum VGS allowed is normally 0V. Furthermore, the JFET is
specified in terms of the pinchoff voltage Vp (equal to Vt of the FET) and
the drain to source current with the gate shorted to the source.Recalling that
for an N channel device, Vp is negative, we see that operation in the
pinchoff region is obtained when the drain voltage is greater than the gate
voltage by at least Vp. Since the gate channel junction is always reverse
biased only a leakage current flows through the gate terminal. Although IG is
very small, and is assumed zero in almost all applications, it should be
noted that the gate current in a JFET is many orders of magnitude greater
than the gate current in a JFET. Of course the latter is so tiny because of the
insulated gate structure.Another complication arises in the JFET because of
the strong dependence of gate leakage current on temperature
approximately doubling for every 10°C rise in temperature, just as in the
case of a reverse-biased diode. The VI characteristics of JFET as shown in
fig 6 and it can be grouped in three regions viz. ohmic region where it is
steeper and has linear relation between ID and VDS, pinchoff region here
relation between ID and VDS is remains constant and break down region
where ID suddenly increases with small increase in VDS.
 27

Fig 6. Output Characterstics and circuit diagram of JFET

Drift Current
Drift is by definition charged particle motion in response to an applied
electric field. When an electric field is applied across a semiconductor the
carriers start moving producing a current. The positively charged holes
move with the electric field whereas the negatively charged electrons move
against the electric field. The motion of each carrier can be described as a
constant drift velocity vd.This constant takes into consideration the
collisions and setbacks each carrier has while moving from one place to
another. It is considered a constant though, because the carriers will
eventually go the direction they are supposed to go regardless of any
 28

setbacks especially if you look at the direction of all the carriers instead of
each one individually. Drift current in a semiconductor is the resultant of
carrier drift. Because we are talking about a semiconductor or specific areas
in a semiconductor. When dealing with drift current we are interested in the
current density due to drift and drift arises in response to an electric field.
Drift current also depends on the ability of the carriers to move around in
the semiconductor, or the electron and hole mobility. Another parameter
drift current depends on is the carrier concentration because you have to
have carriers in order for there to be current. Each one of these carriers has a
charge but in this case we will only take q as a magnitude. Finally we have
that the current density due to drift depends on four parameters such as the
electric field, the electron or hole concentration, the mobility constant, and
the charge. The reason we use q for both electrons and holes when it's +Q
for holes and -Q for electrons is that the electric field takes care of the sign
or direction of the current. When a negative electric field is applied the
electrons will go opposite the electric field. The electron charge is -Q so the
resulting electron drift current will be positive. On the other hand when the
electric field is negative the holes will go the direction of the electric field.
Their charge is +Q so the resulting hole drift current will be negative.
Diffusion current
Diffusion is the process of particles distributing themselves from regions
of high concentration to regions of low concentration. If this process is left
unperturbed, there will eventually be a uniform distribution of particles.
Diffusion does not need external forces to act upon a group of particles. The
particles move about using only thermal motion. If we let the particles be
carriers so as they move around they take charge with them. The moving of
charge will result in a current. We call this current a diffusion current. A
faradaic current whose magnitude is controlled by the rate at which a
reactant in an electrochemical process diffuses toward an electrode solution
 29

interface and sometimes by the rate at which a product diffuses away from
that interface.There are two common situations in which a diffusion current
can be observed. In one the rate of formation of B from electroinactive C is
small and the current is governed by the rate of diffusion of B toward the
electrode surface. In the other C predominates at equilibrium in the bulk of
the solution, but its transformation into B is fast C diffuses to the vicinity of
the electrode surface and is there rapidly converted into B which is reduced.
Diffusion current occurs even though there is not an electric field applied to
the semiconductor.
Fermi Dirac Distribution
29 The Fermi Dirac distribution applies to fermions particles with half
integer spin which must obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Each type of
distribution function has a normalization term multiplying the exponential
in the denominator which may be temperature dependent. The significance
of the Fermi energy is most clearly seem by setting T=0. At absolute zero
the probability is =1 for energies less than the Fermi energy and zero for
energies greater than the Fermi energy. We picture all the levels up to the
Fermi energy as filled, but no particle has a greater energy. This is entirely
consistent with the Pauli exclusion principle where each quantum state can
have one but only one particle.
Continuous Drain Current
30 MOSFET has an extremely high input gate resistance and as such a
easily damaged by static electricity if not carefully protected. MOSFET are
ideal for use as electronic switches or common source amplifiers as their
power consumption is very small.ID is a rating of the maximum continuous
DC current with the die at its maximum rated junction temperature (max)
and the case at 25°C and sometimes also at a higher temperature. As we
know that there are no switching losses involved in ID and holding the case
at 25°C is seldom feasible in practice. Because of this actual switched
 30

current is typically less than half of the ID rating in a hard switched

application one fourth to one third is common. The control of the drain
current by a negative gate potential makes the Junction Field Effect
Transistor useful as a switch and it is essential that the gate voltage is never
positive for an N-channel JFET as the channel current will flow to the gate
and not the drain resulting in damage to the JFET. The principles of
operation for a P channel JFET are the same as for the N channel JFET
except that the polarity of the voltages need to be reversed.
Drain Source Voltage
This is a rating of the maximum drain source voltage without causing
avalanche breakdown, with the gate shorted to the source and the device at
25°C. Depending on temperature, the avalanche breakdown voltage could
actually be less than the VDS rating. See the description of V(BR)DSS in Static
VI Characteristics.
Gate Source Voltage
VGS is a rating of the maximum voltage between the gate and source
terminals. The purpose of this rating is to prevent damage of the gate oxide.
The actual gate oxide withstand voltage is typically much higher than this
but varies due to manufacturing processes so staying within this rating
ensures application reliability.
Pulsed Drain Current
This rating indicates how much pulsed current the device can handle
which is significantly higher than the rated continuous DC current. The
purposes of the IDM rating are to keep the JFET operating in the Ohmic
region of its output characteristic as shown in fig4. There is a maximum
drain current for a corresponding gate source voltage that a JFET will
conduct. If the operating point at a given gate source voltage goes above the
Ohmic region knee in Fig4 any further increase in drain current results in a
significant rise in drain source voltage (linear mode operation) and a
 31

consequent rise in conduction loss. If power dissipation is too high for too
long the device may fail. The IDM rating is set below the knee for typical
gate drive voltages. A current density limit to prevent die heating that
otherwise could result in a burnout site. To avoid problems with excessive
current through the bond wires in case the bond wires are the weak link
instead of the die.
Ohmic Region
The depletion layer of the channel is very small and the JFET acts like a
variable resistor.
Cut off Region
The gate voltage is sufficient to cause the JFET to act as an open circuit
as the channel resistance is at maximum.
Saturation or Active Region
The JFET becomes a good conductor and is controlled by the gate-
source voltage (VGS) while the drain source voltage (VDS) has little or no
effect.
Breakdown Region
The voltage between the drain and source (VDS) is high enough to causes
the JFET resistive channel to break down and pass current.
Switching Speed
Switching speed and loss are practically unaffected by temperature
because the capacitances are unaffected by temperature. Reverse recovery
current in a diode however increases with temperature, so temperature
effects of an external diode (be it a discrete diode or a MOSFET body
diode) in the power circuit affect turn on switching loss.
Transfer Characteristic
31 The transfer characteristic for an JFET. The transfer characteristic
depends on both temperature and drain current. In Figure 7 below 100
Amps the gate source voltage has a negative temperature coefficient (less
gate source voltage at higher temperature for a given drain current).Above
 32

100 Amps, the temperature coefficient is positive.The gate source voltage

temperature coefficient and the drain current at which it crosses over from
negative to positive are important for linear mode operation.

Fig 7. Transfer Characterstics of JFET

Threshold Voltage
The threshold voltage, denoted as VGS(th) is really a turn off specification.
It tells how many milliamps of drain current will flow at the threshold
voltage so the device is basically off but on the verge of turning on. The
threshold voltage has a negative temperature coefficient meaning the
threshold voltage decreases with increasing temperature. This temperature
coefficient affects turn on and turn off delay times and hence the dead-time
requirement in a bridge circuit.
Thermal Characteristics (TJ, RθJC, RθSA, ZθJC(t))
32 The power loss of the device turns into heat and increases the junction
temperature. This degrades device characteristics and reduces its life span.
It is very important to lower the junction temperature by discharging heat
from the chip junction. The thermal impedance (ZθJC(t)) is used to
monitor.Thermal characteristics terminology is shown below in fig 8.
(a) TJ (Junction Temperature)
 33

(b) TC (Case Temperature).

(c) TS (Heat Sink Temperature).
(d) TA (Ambient Temperature)
(e) RθJC (Junction to Case Thermal Resistance)
(f) RθCS (Case to Sink Thermal Resistance)
(g) RθSA (Sink to Ambient Thermal Resistance)

Fig 8. Parameters of Thermal Characterstics

As shown in Figure 8 the heat produced at the chip junction normally
discharges over 80% in the direction and about 20% in the direction. The
path of the thermal discharge is the same as the movement of the current,
and is represented in Figure after considering thermal resistance. This is
true only for DC operation. Most JFET are used in switching operations
with a fixed duty factor. Hence, thermal capacitance should be taken into
consideration along with thermal resistance. The thermal resistance from
the chip junction to the ambient is RθJA (junction to ambient thermal
resistance) and the equivalent circuit can be expressed as the following
equation.
 34

RθJC (Junction to Case Thermal Resistance)

RθJC is the internal thermal resistance from the chip junction to the
package case. Once the size of the die is decided, this thermal resistance of
pure package is only determined by the package design, and lead frame
material. RθJC can be measured under the condition of TC = 25°C and can be
written as the following equation.

The condition TC = 25°C means that the infinite heat sink is mounted.
Infinite heat sink. The case temperature of the package is equal to the
environment temperature. It is the heat sink, which can realize TC = TA.
RθCS (Case to Sink Thermal Resistance)
This is the thermal resistance from the package case to the heat sink. It
can vary due to the package and the mounting method to the heat sink.
RθSA (Sink to Ambient Thermal Resistance)
This is the thermal resistance from the heat sink to the ambient, and it is
determined by heatsink design.
Advantages of JFET
33 JFET has following advantages which are mentioned below.
(a) Very high input impedance order of 100 ohm
(b) Operation of JFET depends on the bulk material current
carriers that do not cross junctions.
(c) Negative temperature coefficients.
(d) Very high power gain.
(e) Smaller size longer life and high efficiency.
(f) AC drain resistance rd it is the ratio of change in drain source
voltage to the change in drain current at constant gate source
voltage.
 35

(g) Transconductance it is the ratio of change in drain current to

the change in gate source voltageat constant drain source
voltage .
(h) Amplification factor it is the ratio of change in drain source
voltage to the change in gate source voltage at constant drain
current.
Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor
34 The MOSFET type of field effect transistor has a Metal Oxide gate
(usually silicon dioxide commonly known as glass) which is electrically
insulated from the main semiconductor N channel or P channel. This
isolation of the controlling gate makes the input resistance of the MOSFET
extremely high in the Mega ohms region and almost infinite. As the gate
terminal is isolated from the main current carrying channel No current flows
into the gate and like the JFET, the MOSFET also acts like a voltage
controlled resistor. Also like the JFET, this very high input resistance can
easily accumulate large static charges resulting in the MOSFET becoming
easily damaged unless carefully handled or protected. MOSFET is a voltage
controlled majority carrier device. As the name suggests, movement of
majority carriers in a MOSFET is controlled by the voltage applied on the
control electrode (called gate) which is insulated by a thin metal oxide layer
from the bulk semiconductor body. The electric field produced by the gate
voltage modulate the conductivity of the semiconductor material in the
region between the main current carrying terminals called the Drain (D) and
the Source (S). This device promised extremely low input power levels and
no inherent limitation to the switching speed. Consequently the use of
MOSFET has been restricted to low voltage (less than about 500 volts)
applications where the ON state resistance reaches acceptable values.
Inherently fast switching speed of these devices can be effectively utilized
to increase the switching frequency beyond several hundred KHz.
 36

MOS Technology
35 The bipolar and the MOSFET transistors exploit the same operating
principle. Fundamentally, both type of transistors are charge controlled
devices which means that their output current is proportional to the charge
established in the semiconductor by the control electrode. When these
devices are used as switches, both must be driven from a low impedance
source capable of sourcing and sinking sufficient current to provide for fast
insertion and extraction of the controlling charge. From this point of view,
the MOSFET have to be driven just as hard during turn on and turn off as a
bipolar transistor to achieve comparable switching speeds. Theoretically,
the switching speeds of the bipolar and MOSFET devices are close to
identical, determined by the time required for the charge carriers to travel
across the semiconductor region. Typical values in power devices are
approximately 20 to 200 picoseconds depending on the size of the device.
The popularity and proliferation of MOSFET technology for digital and
power applications is driven by two of their major advantages over the
bipolar junction transistors. One of these benefits is the ease of use of the
MOSFET devices in high frequency switching applications. The MOSFET
transistors are simpler to drive because their control electrode is isolated
from the current conducting silicon, therefore a continuous ON current is
not required. Once the MOSFET transistors are turned on their drive
current is practically zero. Also, the controlling charge and accordingly the
storage time in the MOSFET transistors is greatly reduced. This basically
eliminates the design trade off between on state voltage drop which is
inversely proportional to excess control charge and turn off time. As a
result MOSFET technology promises to use much simpler and more
efficient drive circuits with significant economic benefits compared to
bipolar devices. Furthermore, it is important to highlight especially for
power applications, that MOSFET have a resistive nature. The voltage drop
 37

across the drain source terminals of a MOSFET is a linear function of the

current flowing in the semiconductor. This linear relationship is
characterized by the RDS(on) of the MOSFET and known as the on resistance.
On resistance is constant for a given gate-to-source voltage and temperature
of the device. As opposed to the 2.2mV/°C temperature coefficient of a p n
junction, the MOSFET exhibit a positive temperature coefficient of
approximately 0.7%/°C to 1%/°C. This positive temperature coefficient of
the MOSFET makes it an ideal candidate for parallel operation in higher
power applications where using a single device would not be practical or
possible. Due to the positive TC of the channel resistance, parallel connected
MOSFET tend to share the current evenly among themselves. This current
sharing works automatically in MOSFET since the positive TC acts as a
slow negative feedback system. The device carrying a higher current will
heat up more don’t forget that the drain to source voltages are equal and
the higher temperature will increase its RDS(on) value. The increasing
resistance will cause the current to decrease, therefore the temperature to
drop. Eventually, an equilibrium is reached where the parallel connected
devices carry similar current levels. Initial tolerance in RDS(on) values and
different junction to ambient thermal resistances can cause significant up to
30% error in current distribution.
Construction
36 MOSFET is a device that evolved from MOS integrated circuit
technology. The first attempts to develop high voltage MOSFET were by
redesigning lateral MOSFET to increase their voltage blocking capacity.
The resulting technology was called lateral double diffused MOS. However
it was soon realized that much larger breakdown voltage and current ratings
could be achieved by resorting to a vertically oriented structure. Since then
vertical DMOS structure has been adapted by virtually all manufacturers of
MOSFET. MOSFET using MOS technology has vertically oriented three
 38

layer structure of alternating P type and N type semiconductors which is the

schematic representation of a single MOSFET cell structure as shown in
fig9. A large number of such cells are connected in parallel to form a
complete device same level. The P type middle layer is termed the body (or
substrate) and has moderate doping level ( magnitude lower than n+
regions on both sides). The n- drain drift region has the lowest doping
density. Thickness of this region determines the breakdown voltage of the
device. The gate terminal is placed over the n- and p type regions of the cell
structure and is insulated from the semiconductor body be a thin layer of
silicon dioxide (also called the gate oxide). The source and the drain region
of all cells on a wafer are connected to the same metallic contacts to form
the Source and the Drain terminals of the complete device. Similarly all
gate terminals are also connected together. The source is constructed of
many (thousands) small polygon shaped areas that are surrounded by the
gate regions. The geometric shape of the source regions, to same extent,
influences the ON state resistance of the MOSFET. In the design of the
MOSFET cells special care is taken so that this resistance is minimized and
switching operation of the parasitic BJT is suppressed. With an effective
short circuit between the body and the source the BJT always remain in cut
off and its collector base junction is represented as an anti parallel diode
(called the body diode) in the circuit symbol of a MOSFET.In a MOSFET
device no such limitations applies so it is possible to bias the gate in either
polarity. This makes MOSFET specially valuable as electronic switches or
to make logic gates because with no bias they are normally non conducting
and the high gate resistance means that very little control current is needed.
 39

Fig 9 MOSFET Construction Diagram

Operating principle of a MOSFET

37 As we know that in first glance it would appear that there is no path for
any current to flow between the source and the drain terminals since at least
one of the PN junctions (source body and body Drain) will be reverse
biased for either polarity of the applied voltage between the source and the
drain. There is no possibility of current injection from the gate terminal
either since the gate oxide is a very good insulator. However, application of
a positive voltage at the gate terminal with respect to the source will covert
the silicon surface beneath the gate oxide into an n type layer or channel
thus connecting the Source to the Drain. The gate region of a MOSFET
which is composed of the gate metallization, the gate (silicon) oxide layer
and the P body silicon forms a high quality capacitor. When a small voltage
is application to this capacitor structure with gate terminal positive with
respect to the source (note that body and source are shorted) a depletion
region forms at the interface between the SiO2and the silicon as shown in
Fig 9. The positive charge induced on the gate metallization repels the
 40

majority hole carriers from the interface region between the gate oxide and
the P type body. This exposes the negatively charged acceptors and a
depletion region is created. Further increase in VGS causes the depletion
layer to grow in thickness. At the same time the electric field at the oxide
silicon interface gets larger and begins to attract free electrons as shown in
Fig 9. The immediate source of electron is electron-hole generation by
thermal ionization. The holes are repelled into the semiconductor bulk
ahead of the depletion region. The extra holes are neutralized by electrons
from the source. As VGS increases further the density of free electrons at the
interface becomes equal to the free hole density in the bulk of the body
region beyond the depletion layer. The layer of free electrons at the
interface is called the inversion layer. The inversion layer has all the
properties of an N type semiconductor and is a conductive path or channel
between the drain and the source which permits flow of current between the
drain and the source. Since current conduction in this device takes place
through an N type channel created by the electric field due to gate source
voltage it is called Enhancement type N channel MOSFET. The value of
VGS at which the inversion layer is considered to have formed is called the
Gate Source threshold voltage VGS. As VGS is increased beyond VGS the
inversion layer gets some what thicker and more conductive, since the
density of free electrons increases further with increase in VGS. The
inversion layer screens the depletion layer adjacent to it from increasing
VGS.The depletion layer thickness now remains constant. This is the active
mode of operation of a MOSFET.
Current Voltage characteristics of a MOSFET
38 The MOSFET is a three terminal device where the voltage on the gate
terminal controls the flow of current between the output terminals such as
Source and Drain. The source terminal is common between the input and
the output of a MOSFET. The output characteristics of a MOSFET is then a
 41

plot of drain current (ID) as a function of the Drain Source voltage (VDS)
with gate source voltage (VGS) as a parameter. Fig 10 shows such a
characteristics. With gate source voltage (VGS) below the threshold voltage
(VGS (th)) the MOSFET operates in the cut off mode. No drain current flows
in this mode and the applied drain source voltage (VDS) is supported by the
body collector PN junction. Therefore the maximum applied voltage should
be below the avalanche break down voltage of this junction (VDSS) to avoid
destruction of the device. When VGS is increased beyond VGS (th) drain
current starts flowing. For small values of VDS (VDS < (VGS – VGS (th)) ID is
almost proportional to VDS. Consequently this mode of operation is called
ohmic mode of operation. In power electronic applications a MOSFET is
operated either in the cut off or in the ohmic mode. The slope of the VDS ID
characteristics in this mode is called the ON state resistance of the
MOSFET (RDS (ON)). Several physical resistances as shown in Fig 10
contribute to RDS (ON). As we know that RDS (ON) reduces with increase in
VGS. This is mainly due to reduction of the channel resistance at higher
value of VGS. Hence, it is desirable in power electronic applications, to use
as large a gate source voltage as possible subject to the dielectric break
down limit of the gate oxide layer. At still higher value of VDS (VDS > (VGS -
VGS (th)) the ID -VDS characteristics deviates from the linear relationship of
the ohmic region and for a given VGS, ID tends to saturate with increase in
VDS. The exact mechanism behind this is rather complex. It will suffice to
state that, at higher drain current the voltage drop across the channel
resistance tends to decrease the channel width at the drain drift layer end. In
addition, at large value of the electric field, produced by the large Drain
Source voltage, the drift velocity of free electrons in the channel tends to
saturate as shown in Fig 10.
 42

Fig 10. MOSFET V-I Characterstics

As a result the drain current becomes independent of VDS and determined
solely by the gate source voltage VGS. Simple, first order theory predicts that
in the active region the drain current is given approximately by
ID = K (VGS - VGS (th))
VDS = VGS - VGS (th)
Therefore ID = K VDS
At the boundary between the ohmic and the active region .However for
power MOSFET the transfer characteristics (ID - VGS) is more linear as
shown in Fig 7. At this point the similarity of the output characteristics of a
MOSFET. Both of them have three distinct modes of operation namely cut
off active and ohmic (saturation for MOSFET) modes.
Controlling the MOSFET
A major advantage of the power MOSFET is its very fast switching
speeds. The drain current is strictly proportional to gate voltage so that the
theoretically perfect device could switch in 50 ps±200 ps, the time it takes
the carriers to flow from source to drain. Since the MOSFET is a majority
carrier device, a second reason why it can outperform the bipolar junction
transistor is that its turn-off is not delayed by minority carrier storage time
 43

in the base. A MOSFET begins to turn off as soon as its gate voltage drops
down to its threshold voltage.
Breakdown Voltage
39 Breakdown voltage BVDSS is the voltage at which the reverse biased body
drift diode breaks down and significant current starts to flow between the
source and drain by the avalanche multiplication process while the gate and
source are shorted together. Current voltage characteristics of a MOSFET
are shown in Figure.BVDSS is normally measured at 250mA drain current.
For drain voltages below BVDSS and with no bias on the gate no channel is
formed under the gate at the surface and the drain voltage is entirely
supported by the reverse biased body drift p n junction. Two related
phenomena can occur in poorly designed and processed devices punch
through and reach through. Punchthrough is observed when the depletion
region on the source side of the body drift p n junction reaches the source
region at drain voltages below the rated avalanche voltage of the device.
This provides a current path between source and drain and causes a soft
breakdown characteristics as shown in Figure . The leakage current flowing
between source and drain is denoted by IDSS. There are tradeoffs to be made
between RDS(on) that requires shorter channel lengths and punch through
avoidance that requires longer channel lengths.The reach through
phenomenon occurs when the depletion region on the drift side of the body
drift p n junction reaches the epilayer substrate interface before avalanching
takes place in the epi. Once the depletion edge enters the high carrier
concentration substrate a further increase in drain voltage will cause the
electric field to quickly reach the critical value of 2x105 V/cm where
avalanching begins.
MOSFET Gate Drive
40 MOSFET being a voltage controlled device does not require a
continuous gate current to keep it in the ON state. However it is required to
 44

charge and discharge the gate-source and the gate drain capacitors in each
switching operation. The switching times of a MOSFET essentially depends
on the charging and discharging rate of these capacitors. Therefore if fast
charging and discharging of a MOSFET is desired at fast switching
frequency the gate drive power requirement may become significant. Fig 8
shows a typical gate drive circuit of a MOSFET. To turn the MOSFET on
the logic level input to the inverting buffer is set to high state so that
transistor Q3 turns off and Q1 turns on. The top circuit of Fig 8 shows the
equivalent circuit during turn on. Note that, during turn on Q1 remains in the
active region. The effective gate resistance is
RG + R1 / (β1+1)
Where β1 is the DC current gain of Q1. To turn off the MOSFET the logic
level input is set to low state. Q3 and Q2 turns on whole Q1 turns off. The
corresponding equivalent circuit is given by the bottom circuit.The
switching time of the MOSFET can be adjusted by choosing a proper value
of RG. Reducing RG will incase the switching speed of the MOSFET.
However caution should be exercised while increasing the switching speed
of the MOSFET in order not to turn on the parasitic BJT in the MOSFET
structure inadvertently. The drain source capacitance (CDS) is actually
connected to the base of the parasitic BJT at the P type body region. The
body source short has some non zero resistance. A very fast rising drain
source voltage will send sufficient displacement current through CDS and RB
as shown in Fig 8. The voltage drop across RB may become sufficient to
turn on the parasitic BJT. This problem is largely avoided in a modern
MOSFET design by increasing the effectiveness of the body source short.
Since MOSFET on state resistance has positive temperature coefficient they
can be paralleled without taking any special precaution for equal current
sharing. To parallel two MOSFETs the drain and source terminals are
connected together . However small resistances are connected to individual
 45

gates before joining them together. This is because the gate inputs are
highly capacitive with almost no losses. Some stray inductance of wiring
may however be present. This stray inductance and the MOSFET
capacitance can give rise to unwanted high frequency oscillation of the gate
voltage that can result in puncture of the gate oxide layer due to voltage
increase during oscillations. This is avoided by the damping resistance R.

Fig 8. Gate Drive circuit of MOSFET

MOSFET Gate Charge
41 Although input capacitance values are useful they do not provide
accurate results when comparing the switching performances of two
devices from different manufacturers. Effects of device size and
transconductance make such comparisons more difficult. A more useful
parameter from the circuit design point of view is the gate charge rather
than capacitance. Most manufacturers include both parameters on their data
sheets. A typical gate charge waveform and the test circuit. When the gate is
connected to the supply voltage, VGS starts to increase until it reaches Vth,
at which point the drain current starts to flow and the CGS starts to charge.
During the period t1 to t2, CGS continues to charge, the gate voltage
continues to rise and drain current rises proportionally. At time t2, CGS is
 46

completely charged and the drain current reaches the predetermined current
ID and stays constant while the drain voltage starts to fall. With reference to
the equivalent circuit model of the MOSFET shown in Figure 13, it can be
seen that with CGS fully charged at t2, VGS becomes constant and the drive
current starts to charge the Miller capacitance, CDG. This continues until
time t3. Charge time for the Miller capacitance is larger than that for the
gate to source capacitance CGS due to the rapidly changing drain voltage
between t2 and t3 (current = C dv/dt). Once both of the capacitances CGS
and CGD are fully charged, gate voltage (VGS) starts increasing again until it
reaches the supply voltage at time t4. The gate charge (QGS + QGD)
corresponding to time t3 is the bare minimum charge required to switch the
device on. Good circuit design practice dictates the use of a higher gate
voltage than the bare minimum required for switching and therefore the gate
charge used in the calculations is QG corresponding to t4. The advantage of
using gate charge is that the designer can easily calculate the amount of
current required from the drive circuit to switch the device on in a desired
length of time because Q = CV and I = C dv/dt, the Q = Time x current. For
example, a device with a gate charge of 20nC can be turned on in 20msec if
1ma is supplied to the gate or it can turn on in 20nsec if the gate current is
increased to 1A. These simple calculations would not have been possible
with input capacitance values.
Transconductance
42 Transconductance gfs is a measure of the sensitivity of drain current to
changes in gate source bias. This parameter is normally quoted for a Vgs
that gives a drain current equal to about one half of the maximum current
rating value and for a VDS that ensures operation in the constant current
region. Transconductance is influenced by gate width, which increases in
proportion to the active area as cell density increases. Cell density has
increased over the years from around half a million per square inch in 1980
 47

to around eight million for planar MOSFET and around 12 million for the
trench technology. The limiting factor for even higher cell densities is the
photolithography process control and resolution that allows contacts to be
made to the source metallization in the center of the cells. Channel length
also affects transconductance. Reduced channel length is beneficial to both
gfs and on resistance with punch through as a tradeoff. The lower limit of
thislength is set by the ability to control the double diffusion process and is
around 1- 2mm today. Finally the lower the gate oxide thickness the higher
gfs.
Threshold Voltage
43 Threshold voltage Vth is defined as the minimum gate electrode bias
required to strongly invert the surface under the poly and form a conducting
channel between the source and the drain regions. Vth is usually measured
at a drain source current of 250mA. Common values are 2-4V for high
voltage devices with thicker gate oxides and 1-2V for lower voltage, logic-
compatible devices with thinner gate oxides. With power MOSFET finding
increasing use in portable electronics and wireless communications where
battery power is at a premium the trend is toward lower values of RDS(on)
and Vth. This is the minimum gate bias which enables the formation of the
channel between the source andthe drain. The drain current increases in
proportion to (VGS–VGS(th)) in the saturation region.
(a) High VGS(th)
It is difficult to design gate drive circuitry for the MOSFET
because a high gate bias voltage is needed to turn it on.
(b) Low VGS(th)
When the VGS(th) of the n-channel power MOSFET becomes
negative due to the existence of charges in the gate oxide, it
shows the characteristics of a normally on state, where the
conductive channel exists even in a zero gate bias voltage. Even
 48

if VGS(th) is positive, and the value is very small, there could be a

turn-on either by the noise signal of the gate terminal, or by the
increasing gate voltage during high speed switching. The VGS(th)
can be controlled by the gate oxide thickness. Normally the gate
oxide is kept thick in a high voltage device so that the VGS(th) is
set at 2-4[V], and the gate oxide is kept thin in a low voltage
device so that VGS(th) is 1 - 2 [V]. Additionally, VGS(th) can be
controlled by back ground doping (the density of P body for the
N channel MOSFET). It increases in proportion to the square
root of the background doping.
Importance of Threshold Voltage
Threshold voltage VGS(th) is the minimum gate voltage that initiates drain
current flow. VGS(th) can be easily measured on a Tektronix 576 curve tracer
by connecting the gate to the drain and recording the required drain voltage
for a specified drain current, typically 250 mA or 1 mA. (VGS(th) in Figure 9
is 3.5V. While a high value of VGS(th), can apparently lengthen turn-on delay
time a low value for power MOSFET is undesirable for the following
reasons
(a) VGS(th) has a negative temperature coefficient b7 mV/C.
(b) The high gate impedance of a MOSFET makes it susceptible to
spurious turn-on due to gate noise.
(c) One of the more common modes of failure is gate-oxide voltage
punch through. Low VGS(th) requires thinner oxides,which lowers
the gate oxide voltage rating.
Switching characteristics
44 The MOSFET have good switching characteristics as there is no
storage delay caused by the minority carrier, and no variation caused by the
temperature.They are explained in two states such as mentioned below.
(a)Turn On state
 49

Drain current (ID) changes due to the increase in drain-to-source

voltage (VDD) (VGS is constant). ID starts to flow when the
channel has formed and VDD is supplied. When the VGS is a
constant value, and the VDD is increased, the ID also increases
linearly, But as shown in the MOSFET output characteristics
graph, when the real VDD goes over a certain level, the rate of
increase ID decreases slowly. And eventually, it becomes a
constant value independent of VDD, and becomes dependent on
VGS. To understand the characteristics, shown in Figure 11, note
the voltage drop at VCS(x) due to ohmic resistance when ID is
flowing at the inverse layer. VCS(x) is the channel to source
voltage from the source at a distance of x. This voltage is equal
to the VGS–Vox(x) at all x points. Vox(x) is the gate to body
voltage crossing the gate oxide from the source at a distance of
x, and it has the maximum value at VDS at x=L (the drain end of
the channel). As shown in Figure 11(a), when low voltage
VDD=VDD1 is supplied, low ID(=ID1) which has almost no voltage
drop of VCS(x) flows. As Vox(0)~Vox(L) is constant, the
thickness of the inversion layer remains uniform. And as higher
VDD is supplied, ID increases,the voltage drop of VCS(x) occurs,
and the value of Vox(x) decreases. These reduce the thickness
of the inversion layer starting from x=L. Because of this, the
resistance increases, and the graph of ID starts to become flat, as
opposed to increasing with the increment of VDD. When
Vox(L)=VGS–VDS=VGS(th), as ID increases, the inversion layer at
x=L doesn’t disappear due to the high electric field (J=σE)
formed by the reduction in thickness, and maintains the
minimum thickness. The high electric field not only maintains
the minimum thickness of the inversion layer, it also saturates
 50

the velocity of the charge carrier at Vox(L)=VGS–VDS=VGS(th).

The velocity of the charge carrier increases with the increase in
the electric field initially, and at a certain point, it is saturated.
Silicon starts saturating when the electric field reaches 1.5x104
[V/cm], and the drift velocity of the electron is 8x106 [cm/s]. At
this point, the device goes into the active region. When a higher
VDD is supplied, as shown in Figure 11(b), the electric field at
x=L increases more, and the channel region which maintained
the minimum thickness expands towards the source. VDS
becomes VDS>VGS–VGS(th) due to the increase of VDD, and ID is
kept constant.

Fig 11 Turn ON Characterstics

(b) Turn Off State
 51

The description of the turn off procedure for the MOSFET

transistor is basically back tracking the turn on steps from the
previous section. Start with VGS being equal to VDRV and the
current in the device is the full load current represented by IDC in
Figure 12. The drain to source voltage is being defined by IDC
and the RDS(on) of the MOSFET. The four turn off steps are
shown in Figure 12 for completeness. The first time interval is
the turn off delay which is required to discharge the CISS
capacitance from its initial value to the Miller plateau level.
During this time the gate current is supplied by the CISS
capacitor itself and it is flowing through the CGS and CGD
capacitors of the MOSFET. The drain voltage of the device is
slightly increasing as the overdrive voltage is diminishing. The
current in the drain is unchanged. In the second period, the
drain-to-source voltage of the MOSFET rises from ID vs RDS(on)
to the final VDS(off) level where it is clamped to the output voltage
by the rectifier diode according to the simplified schematic of
Figure 12. During this time period which corresponds to the
Miller plateau in the gate voltage waveform the gate current is
strictly the charging current of the CGD capacitor because the
gate to source voltage is constant. This current is provided by
the bypass capacitor of the power stage and it is subtracted from
the drain current. The total drain current still equals the load
current, i.e. the inductor current represented by the DC current
source in Figure 12. The beginning of the third time interval is
signified by the turn on of the diode, thus providing an
alternative route to the load current. The gate voltage resumes
falling from VGS Miller to VTH. The majority of the gate current
is coming out of the CGS capacitor, because the CGD capacitor is
 52

virtually fully charged from the previous time interval. The

MOSFET is in linear operation and the declining gate to source
voltage causes the drain current to decrease and reach near zero
by the end of this interval. Meanwhile the drain voltage is
steady at VDS(off) due to the forward biased rectifier diode. The
last step of the turn off procedure is to fully discharge the input
capacitors of the device. VGS is further reduced until it reaches
0V. The bigger portion of the gate current similarly to the third
turn off time interval, supplied by the CGS capacitor. The drain
current and the drain voltage in the device are unchanged.
Summarizing the results, it can be concluded that the MOSFET
transistor can be switched between its highest and lowest
impedance states (either turn-on or turn-off) in four time
intervals. The lengths of all four time intervals are a function of
the parasitic capacitance values, the required voltage change
across them and the available gate drive current. This
emphasizes the importance of the proper component selection
and optimumgate drive design for high speed, high frequency
switching applications. Characteristic numbers for turn on, turn
off delays, rise and fall times of the MOSFET switching
waveforms are listed in the transistor data sheets. Unfortunately,
these numbers correspond to the specific test conditions and to
resistive load, making the comparison of different
manufacturers products difficult. Also, switching performance
in practical applications with clamped inductive load is
significantly different from the numbers.
Power Dissipation and Losses
 53

45 The maximum allowable power dissipation that will raise the die
temperature to the maximum allowable when the case temperature is held at
250C is important. It is give by Pd where

The switching action in the MOSFET transistor in power applications will

result in some unavoidable losses, which can be divided into two categories.
The simpler of the two loss mechanisms is the gate drive loss of the device.
As described before, turning-on or off the MOSFET involves charging or
discharging the CISS capacitor. When the voltage across a capacitor is
changing, a certain amount of charge has to be transferred. The amount of
charge required to change the gate voltage between 0V and the actual gate
drive voltage VDRV, is characterized by the typical gate charge vs. Gate to
source voltage curve in the MOSFET.
 54

Fig 12. Turn OFF characterstics

This graph gives a relatively accurate worst case estimate of the gate charge
as a function of the gate drive voltage. The parameter used to generate the
individual curves is the drain-tosource off state voltage of the device. VDS(off)
influences the Miller charge the area below the flat portion of the curves
thus also, the total gate charge required in a switching cycle. Once the total
gate charge is obtained from Figure 6, the gate charge losses can be
calculated as

waveform and fDRV is the gate drive frequency which is in most cases equal
to the switchingfrequency. It is interesting to notice that the QGfDRV term in
the previous equation gives the average bias current required to drive the
gate. The power lost to drive the gate of the MOSFET transistor is
 55

dissipated in the gate drive circuitry. Referring back to Figures, the

dissipating components can be identified as the combination of the series
ohmic impedances in the gate drive path. In every switching cycle the
required gate charge has to pass through the driver output impedances, the
external gate resistor, and the internal gate mesh resistance. As it turns out,
the power dissipation is independent of how quicklythe charge is delivered
through the resistors.Using the resistor designators from Figures 4 and 5,
the driver power dissipation can be expressed as

Fig 13 Power Losses

46 In the above equations, the gate drive circuit is represented by a resistive
output impedance and this assumption is valid for MOS based gate drivers.
When bipolar transistors are utilized in the gate drive circuit, the output
impedance becomes non-linear and the equations do not yield the correct
 56

answers. It is safe to assume that with low value gate resistors (<5Ω) most
gate drive losses are dissipated in the driver. If RGATE is sufficiently large to
limit IG below the output In the above equations, the gate drive circuit is
represented by a resistive output impedance and this assumption is valid for
MOS based gate drivers. When bipolar transistors are utilized in the gate
drive circuit, the output impedance becomes non-linear and the equations do
not yield the correct answers. It is safe to assume that with low value gate
resistors (<5Ω) most gate drive losses are dissipated in the driver. If RGATE is
sufficiently large to limit IG below the output .

Assuming that IG2 charges the input capacitor of the device from VTH to VGS
Miller and IG3 is the discharge current of the CRSS capacitor while the drain
voltage changes from VDS(off) to 0V, the approximate switching times are
given as

During t2 the drain voltage is VDS(off) and the current is ramping from 0A to
the load current, IL while in t3 time interval the drain voltage is falling from
VDS(off) to near 0V. Again, using linear approximations of the waveforms he
power loss components for the respective time intervals can be estimated.
 57

where T is the switching period. The total switching loss is the sum of the
two loss components, which yields the following simplifed expression

Even though the switching transitions are well understood, calculating the
exact switching losses is almost impossible. The reason is the effect of the
parasitic inductive components which will significantly alter the current and
voltage waveforms, as well as the switching times during the switching
procedures. Taking into account the effect of the different source and drain
inductances of a real circuit would result in second order differential
equations to describe the actual waveforms of the circuit. Since the
variables, including gate threshold voltage, MOSFET capacitor values,
driver output impedances, etc. have a very wide tolerance, the above
described linear approximation seems to be a reasonable enough
compromise to estimate switching losses in the MOSFET.
MOS Charge Control Model
47 Well above threshold the charge density of the mobile carriers in the
inversion layer can be calculated using the parallel plate charge control
model. This model gives an adequate description for the strong inversion
regime of the MOS capacitor, but fails for applied voltages near and below
threshold (i.e., in the weak inversion and depletion regimes). Several
expressions have been proposed for a unified charge control model
(UCCM) that covers all the regimes of operation.

where ca = ci is approximately the insulator capacitance per unit area (with

a small correction for the finite vertical extent of the inversion channel, see
Lee et al. (1993) no = ns(V = VT) is the density of minority carriers per unit
 58

area at threshold, and η is the so called subthreshold ideality factor, also

known as the subthreshold swing parameter. The ideality factor accounts for
the subthreshold division of the applied voltage between the gate insulator
and the depletion layer, and 1/η represents the fraction of this voltage that
contributes to the interface potential.
Temperature dependence and self heating
48 Since electronic devices and circuits have to operate in different
environments, including a wide range of temperatures it is imperative to
establish reliable models for such eventualities. Heat generated from power
dissipation in an integrated circuit chip can be considerable, and the
associated temperature rise must be accounted for both in device and circuit
design. In conventional silicon substrates the thermal conductivity is
relatively high such that a well-designed chip placed on a good heat sink
may achieve a reasonably uniform and tolerable operating temperature.
However, such design becomes increasingly difficult as the device
dimensions are scaled down and power dissipation increases. The thermal
behavior of MOSFETs has been extensively studied in the past, and the
temperature dependencies of major model parameters. Circuits fabricated
on substrates that are poor heat conductors, such as GaAs and silicon
dioxide, are more susceptible to a significant self heating effect. In thin film
SOI CMOS, the buried SiO2 layer inhibits an effective heat dissipation, and
the self heating manifests itself as a reduced drain current and even as a
negative differential conductance at high power inputs. Hence, for a reliable
design of SOI circuits, accurate and selfconsistent device models that
account for self heating effect are needed for use in circuit simulation.The
influence of self heating effect on the electrical characteristics of SOI
MOSFETs can be evaluated using a two dimensional device simulator
incorporating heat flow or by combining a temperature rise model with an
I–V expression through an iteration procedure. But the effect can also be
 59

described in terms of a temperature dependent model for the device’s I–V

characteristics combined with the following simplified relationship between
temperature rise and power dissipation.

Here T is the actual temperature To is the ambient (substrate) temperature,

and Rth is a thermal resistance that contains information on thermal
conductivity and geometry. The equations can be solved self-consistently,
either numerically or analytically. Once the temperature dependence of the
device parameters are established, the same procedure can also be used for
describing self heating in other types of devices, such as amorphous TFTs.
MOSFET Modeling
49 Analytical or semianalytical MOSFET models are usually based on the
so called gradual channel approximation (GCA). Contrary to the situation in
the ideal two terminal MOS device, where the charge density profile is
determined from a one-dimensional Poisson’s equation the MOSFET
generally poses a two dimensional electrostatic problem. The reason is that
the geometric effects and the application of a drain source bias create a
lateral electric field component in the channel, perpendicular to the vertical
field associated with the ideal gate structure. The GCA states that, under
certain conditions, the electrostatic problem of the gate region can be
expressed in terms of two coupled one dimensional equations a Poisson’s
equation for determining the vertical charge density profile under the gate
and a charge transport equation for the channel. This allows us to determine
self-consistently both the channel potential and the charge profile at any
position along the gate. A direct inspection of the two dimensional
Poisson’s equation for the channel region shows that the GCA is valid if we
can assume that the electric field gradient in the lateral direction of the
 60

channel is much less than that in the vertical direction perpendicular to the
channel. Typically we find that the GCA is valid for long-channel MOSFET
where the ratio between the gate length and the vertical distance of the
space charge region from the gate electrode the so called aspect ratio is
large. However, if the MOSFET is biased in saturation the GCA always
becomes invalid near drain as a result of the large lateral field gradient that
develops in this region. In Figure, this is schematically illustrated for a
MOSFET in saturation. Next we will discuss three relatively simple
MOSFET models the simple charge control model the Meyer model and the
velocity saturation model. These models with extensions can be identified
with the models denoted as MOSFET Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. We
should note that the analysis that follows is based on idealized device
structures. Especially in modern MOSFET/CMOS technology, optimized
for high-speed and lowpower applications the devices are more complex.
Additional oxide and doping regions are used for the purpose of controlling
the threshold voltage and to avoid deleterious effects of high electric fields
and so called short and narrow channel phenomena associated with the
steady downscaling device dimensions. The GCA states that, under certain
conditions, the electrostatic problem of the gate region can be expressed in
terms of two coupled one dimensional equations a Poisson’s equation for
determining the vertical charge density profile under the gate and a charge
transport equation for the channel.
 61

Thermal Stability of MOSFET

50 A MOSFET as a single power transistor but it is a collection of
thousands of tiny power FET cells connected in parallel. In terms of sharing
current, the same application of the positive temperature coefficient applies.
In this case, the thermal path between the cells isbetter than that of separate
packaged devices, because the cells are all on the same die. As the current
density of a small group of cells increases, those cells heat up, increasing
the resistivity of those cells and forcing current to flow in neighboring cells,
which minimizes the thermal gradient and avoids hot spots. This process is
an essential physical tenet that allows the parallel array of cells to function
reliably. If the MOSFET exhibits a negative thermal coefficient, today.s
parallel cell structure would cause serious reliability issues. In fact, in some
modes of operation, the thermal coefficient goes negative. You can easily
understand this phenomenon by looking at the transconductance curves for
a FET device.A typical set of transconductance curves clearly demonstrates
this effect as shown by Figure . Below are curves from three typical devices
used in hot swap applications. All three devices shown have one thing in
common a point of inflection at which the temperature coefficient is zero.
At greater gate to source voltages, the coefficient is positive, and, at lower
gate−to−source voltages it is negative. Figure illustrates the change from
 62

negative to positive. At a gate to source voltage greater than that of the

inflection point (VGS+) a positive temperature coefficient exists. At this gate

voltage, the drain conducts more than 9.0 A of current. However, at 125ฐC
the drain current reduces to less than 7.0 A. The arrow at the left of Figure
which shows the current decreasing due to an increase in temperature
indicates this drop. At a gate to source voltage below the inflection point

(VGS−) a negative temperature coefficient exists. At −40ฐC the drain current

is close to zero. However, at 125ฐC, the drain current is more than 1.0 A. A
second arrow at the left of Figure indicates this relationship, and the current
rises due to an increase in temperature. The implication is that when you are
controlling the FET with a gate to source voltage below the inflection point
thermal runaway can occur. When one cell or a small group of cells
becomes hotter than the surrounding cells, they tend to conduct more
current. This situation, in turn, creates more heat, which allows more
current to flow. These cells can pull a large amount of current and, if not
limited in time, can cause the device to fail. This situation is similar to the
well known phenomenon of secondary breakdown that occurs in bipolar
transistors except that a bipolar junction transistor is a single device and you
can take steps to avoid its destruction. A power MOSFET contains
thousands of parallel devices that are internal to the die, and you cannot
individually protect them. If hot spots occur, the SOA characteristics of the
heavily conducting cells differ greatly from those of the marginally
conducting cells. The implication is that when you are controlling the FET
with a gate to source voltage below the inflection point thermal runaway
can occur. When one cell or a small group of cells becomes hotter than the
surrounding cells, they tend to conduct more current.
 63

Fig 13. Thermal Stablity of MOSFET

The thermal runaway situation occurs when you use large devices at low
current limit settings. Even though it would appear to be desirable to use a
very large MOSFET for an application such as a hot swap and limit it to a
low current, it may be an inappropriate approach. Use of a very low on
resistance device offers low losses for steady state operation but may cause
the device to fail during a short circuit or an overload. One way to
overcome this problem is to directly sense the die temperature of the
MOSFET by integrating the MOSFET with the controller using a
monolithic approach. ON Semiconductor takes this approach with its new
line of hot swap ICs. In this case, the temperature can be sensed directly on
the FET die. The location of the sense element on the die is critical for
ensured protection of the device. If a hot spot occurs too far from the sense
location, the device may be unable to protect itself. Discrete hot swap
controllers employ a number of protection schemes. Thermal instability is
an issue only if the controller can go into a constant current mode of
operation. Some protection circuits simply shut off the MOSFET switch if a
number of conditions indicate a dangerous area of operation. Controllers
that use a constant current method of protection can use timers or other
 64

schemes along with the current limit circuit to reduce the risk of failure.
Because system efficiency is an important parameter it is tempting to use
the largest MOSFET possible to reduce losses. It is important to keep in
mind, however, that this approach may require you to make a trade off with
the system reliability if you are not mindful of the possible thermal
instablity.
MOSFET Totem Pole Driver
51 The MOSFET equivalent of the bipolar totempole driver is pictured in
Figure 14. All the benefits mentioned about the bipolar totem pole driver
are equally applicable to this implementation. Unfortunately, this circuit has
several drawbacks compared to the bipolar version which explain that it is
very rarely implemented discretely. The circuit of Figure 11 is an inverting
driver, therefore the PWM output signal must be inverted. In addition, the
suitable MOSFET transistors are more expensive than the bipolar ones and
they will have a large shoot through current when their common gate
voltage is in transition. This problem can be circumvented by additional
logic or timing components which technique is extensively used in IC
implementations.

Fig 14. Totem Pole Driver Circuit.

Speed Enhancement circuits
When speed enhancement circuits are mentioned designers exclusively
consider circuits which speed-up the turn-off process of the MOSFET. The
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reason is that the turn-on speed is usually limited by the turn-off, or reverse
recovery speed of the rectifier component in the power supply. As discussed
with respect to the inductive clamped model in Figure 3, the turn-on of the
MOSFET coincides with the turn-off of the rectifier diode. Therefore, the
fastest switching action is determined by the reverse recovery characteristic
of the diode, not by the strength of the gate drive circuit. In an optimum
design the gate drive speed at turn-on is matched to the diode switching
characteristic. Considering also that the Miller region is closer to GND than
to the final gate drive voltage VDRV, a higher voltage can be applied across
the driver output impedance and the gate resistor. Usually the obtained turn-
on speed is sufficient to drive the MOSFET. The situation is vastly different
at turn-off. In theory, the turn-off speed of the MOSFET depends only on
the gate drive circuit. A higher current turn-off circuit can discharge the
input capacitors quicker, providing shorter switching times and
consequently lower switching losses. The higher discharge current can be
achieved by a lower output impedance MOSFET driver and/or a negative
turn-off voltage in case of the common N-channel device. While faster
switching can potentially lower the switching losses, the turn-off speed-up
circuits increase the ringing in the waveforms due to the higher turnoff di/dt
and dv/dt of the MOSFET. This is something to consider in selecting the
proper voltage rating and EMI containment for the power device.
MOSFET Amplify Electrical Signals
52 There is a minimum requirement for amplification of electrical signals is
power gain, One finds that a device with both voltage and current gain is a
highly desirable circuit element. The MOSFET provides current and voltage
gain yielding an output current into an external load which exceeds the
input current and an output voltage across that external load which exceeds
the input voltage. The current gain capability of a Field Effect Transistor
(FET) is that no gate current is required to maintain the inversion layer and
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the resulting current between drain and source. The device has therefore an
infinite current gain in DC. The current gain is inversely proportional to the
signal frequency reaching unity current gain at the transit frequency.The
voltage gain of the MOSFET is caused by the fact that the current saturates
at higher drain source voltages. So that a small drain current variation can
cause a large drain voltage variation.By this we can amplify electrical
signals through MOSFET without using of Amplifying circuit.
Small signal Model
53 So far we have considered large signal MOSFET models which are
suitable for digital electronics and for determining the operating point in
small signal applications. The small signal regime is of course a very
important mode of operation of MOSFET as well as for other active
devices. Typically, the AC signal amplitudes are so small relative to the DC
values of the operating point that a linear relationship can be assumed
between an incoming signal and its response. Normally, if sufficiently
accurate large signal models are available the AC designers will use such
large signal models also for small signal applications, since this mode is
readily available in circuit simulators.However in cases when suitable large-
signal models are unavailable or when simple hand calculations are needed,
it is convenient to use a dedicated small signal MOSFET model based on a
linearized network. An intrinsic common source, small signal model for
MOSFET. The model is generalized to include inputs at both the gate and
the substrate terminal and the response is observed at the drain (Fonstad
1994). The network elements are obtained as first derivatives of current
voltage and charge voltage characteristics resulting in fixed small signal
conductances, transconductances, and capacitances for a given operating
point. To build a more complete model, some of the extrinsic parasitics may
be added including the gate overlap capacitances and the source and drain
junction capacitances and the source and drain series resistances. At very
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high frequencies in the radio frequency (RF) range, the junction

capacitances become very important since they couple efficiently to the
MOSFET substrate. Other important parasitics in this range are the gate
resistance and the series inductances associated with the conducting paths.
Types of MOSFET
54 There are two types of MOSFET which are explained in this report.
(a) Depletion Type MOSFET
The Depletion Type MOSFET and the physical construction of a
depletion MOSFET is identical to the enhancement MOSFET,
with one exception. The conduction channel is physically
implanted (rather than induced). Thus for a depletion NMOS
transistor, the channel conducts even if VGS=0. If the value of VGS
is positive, the channel is further enhanced. That is more free
electrons are attracted to the channel, and its conductivity
increases. If the value of VGS is negative, free electrons are
repelled from the channel! The conductivity of the channel is
thus decreased. We call this phenomenon channel depletion. If
the value of VGS becomes sufficiently negative all of the free
electrons in the channel will be repelled the channel is said to be
completely depleted. A channel that is completely depleted
cannot conduct. In other words, the depletion MOSFET is in
cutoff. Thus the negative value of vGS at which the channel is
completely depleted is the threshold voltage Vt for a depletion
NMOS device. In other words to have a conducting channel the
gate to source voltage VGS must be greater than the threshold
voltage. Just like the enhancement NMOS device. Moreover this
means that to have a conducting channel the excess gate voltage
must be positive. There are just two differences to remember
such as
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(a) The threshold voltage for a depletion NMOS device is

negative (i.e., Vt <0). While the threshold voltage for a
depletion PMOS device is positive (i.e., Vt > 0).
(b) The depletion MOSFET has a slightly different circuit
symbol.
(b) Enhancement Mode MOSFET
Both the junction FET and the depletion mode MOSFET operate
in a generally intuitive manner. In both device types, an electric
field is used to deplete the channel of current carriers to one
degree or another so that a control voltage will directly affect and
control the amount of current flowing through the channel. But
what happens if we have a device with no working channel, but
with room to put a channel in place. The mechanical structure of
this device is shown to the right. In an IC, we would place two n
type regions side by side within a p-type area and then place the
gate between the n type regions. However, the important region
still consists of the two n type regions and the p type area
between them. This is the portion we have depicted to the
right.With no applied bias, we have what amounts to an npn
transistor with no base connection. The two n type regions are
isolated from each other and are electrically separate. Even with
a voltage applied between the two n type regions, there is no
channel present and no current flow. While we still apply the
usual positive voltage to the drain with respect to the source, this
time we will also apply a positive voltage to the gate region. This
has the effect of attracting free electrons towards the gate. The
larger the positive gate voltage, the wider its electric field and the
more free electrons it will attract.You might not think this would
have any effect on the p-type region, where the majority current
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carriers are holes. However, there are some free electrons here as
well. In addition, the source junction is forward biased, so the
positive gate voltage can attract electrons across this junction
towards the gate.The net result is that the electrons attracted
towards the gate actually enhance a channel within the p type
region, as shown to the left. This is a channel formed of free
electrons, and actually bridges the gap between source and drain.
Now we have a channel, which can conduct current from source
to drain through the device. Because these devices operate by
having a channel enhanced in the semiconductor material where
no channel was constructed, they are known as enhancement
mode MOSFET. It is just as easy to construct p channel versions
of these devices as n channel versions. Indeed CMOS logic IC
consist of nothing but these devices constructed and used in pairs
such that one will be turned off while the other is turned on. This
is the source of the designation CMOS Complementary MOS.
Enhancement mode MOSFETs have the same advantages and
disadvantages as their depletion-mode cousins. However, when
they are constructed as part of an IC rather than as individual
devices, they are not readily subject to random static charges.
Such ICs are constructed with input protection circuitry for any
MOSFET input that must be made accessible to external
circuitry.
Advantages
55 They have following advantages such as
(a) High input impedance, voltage controlled device easy to drive.To
maintain the on state a base drive current which is 1/5th or 1/10th of
collector current is required for the current controlled device (BJT)
and also a larger reverse base drive current is needed for the high
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speed turn off of the current controlled device (BJT). Due to these
characteristics base drive circuit design becomes complicated and
expensive. On the other hand a voltage controlled MOSFET is a
switching device which is driven by a channel at the semiconductors
surface due to the field effect produced by the voltage applied to the
gate electrode which is isolated from the semiconductor surface. As
the required gate current during switching transient as well as the on
and off states is small, the drive circuit design is simple and less
expensive.
(b) Unipolar device, majority carrier device and fast switching speed. As
there are no delays due to storage and recombination of the minority
carrier, as in the BJT,the switching speed is faster than the BJT by
orders of magnitude. Hence, it has an advantage in a high frequency
operation circuit where switching power loss is prevalent.
(c) Wide SOA (safe operating area). It has a wider SOA than the BJT
because high voltage and current can be applied simultaneously for a
short duration. This eliminates destructive device failure due to
second breakdown.
(d) Forward voltage drop with positive temperature coefficient easy to
use in parallel.When the temperature increases, the forward voltage
drop also increases. This causes the current to flow equally through
each device when they are in parallel. Hence, the MOSFET is easier
to use in parallel than the BJT, which has a forward voltage drop with
negative temperature coefficient.
Disadvantage
(a) In high breakdown voltage devices over 200V, the conduction loss
of a MOSFET is larger than that of a BJT which has the same
voltage and current rating due to the on-state voltage drop.
Safe Area of Operation
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56 The MOSFET is not subject to forward or reverse bias second

breakdown, which can easily occur in bipolar junction transistors. Second
breakdown is a potentially catastrophic condition in bi-polar transistors
caused by thermal hot spots in the silicon as the transistor turns on or off.
However in the MOSFET, the carriers travel through the device much as if
it were a bulk semiconductor, which exhibits a positive temperature
coefficient of 0.6%/§C. If current attempts to self-constrict to a localized
area, the increasing temperature of the spot will raise the spot resistance due
to the positive temperature coefficient of the bulk silicon. The ensuing
higher voltage drop will tend to redistribute the current away from the hot
spot.As we know that the safe area boundaries are only thermally limited
and exhibit no derating for second breakdown. This shows that while the
MOSFET transistor is very rugged, it may still be destroyed thermally by
forcing it to dissipate too much power.
Testing a MOSFET
57 This testing procedure is for use with a digital multimeter in the diode
test range with a minimum of 3.3 volt over d.u.t. (diode-under-test). If your
multi-meter is less than that it will not do the test. Check your meter manual
for the specs.
(a) Hold the MosFet by the case or the tab but don't touch the metal parts
of the test probes with any of the other MOSFET terminals until
needed. Do NOT allow a MOSFET to come in contact with your
clothes, plastic or plastic products, etc. because of the high static
voltages it can generate.
(b) First, touch the meter positive lead onto the MOSFET Gate.
(c) Now move the positve probe to the Drain. You should get a low
reading. The MOSFET internal capacitance on the gate has now been
charged up by the meter and the device is turned on.
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(d) With the meter positive still connected to the drain touch a finger
between source and gate (and drainif you like, it does not matter at
this stage). The gate will be discharged through your finger and the
meter reading should go high, indicating a non conductive device.
When MOSFET fail they often go short circuit drain to gate. This can put
the drain voltage back onto the gate where ofcourse it feeds (via the gate
resistors) into the drive circuitry, prossibly blowing that section. It will also
get to any other paralleled MOSFET gates, blowing them also. So, if the
MosFets are deceased, check the drivers as well! This fact is probably the
best reason for adding a source-gate zener diode; zeners fail short circuit
and a properly connected zener can limit the damage in a failure! You can
also add subminiature gate resistors which tend to fail opencircuit (like a
fuse) under this overload, disconnecting the dud MOSFET gate. Dying
MOSFET often emit flames or blow-out, even more so in hobby built
electronics projects. What that means is that a defective unit can usually be
spotted visually. They show a burned hole or something black somewhere. I
have seen them alot especially in ups's which can have as many as 8 or
more mosfets in parallel. I always replace all of them if a couple are
defective plus the drivers. Never use one of those hand held solder-suckers
(you know, the ones with a plunger) to desolder. They create enough
Electro Static Discharge to destroy a mosfet. Best method is using solder
wick or a professional ESD safe desoldering station. A Proximity Switch.
This design takes advantage of the ultra high input impedance and
powerhandling capabilities of the IRF511 to make a simple, but sensitive,
proximity sensor and alarm driver circuit. A 3x3-inch piece of circuit board
(or similar size metal object), which functions as the pick-up sensor, is
connected to the gate of Q1. A 100 MegaOhm resistor, R2, isolates Q1's
gate from R1, allowing the input impedance to remain very high. If a 100
MegaOhm resistor cannot be located, just tie 5 22- MegaOhm resistors in
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series and use that combination for R2. In fact, R2 can be made even higher
in value for added sensitivity. Potentiometer R1 is adjusted to a point where
the piezo buzzer just begins to sound off and then carefully backed off to
the point where the sound ceases. Experimenting with the setting of R1 will
help in obtainin the best sensitivity adjustment for the circuit. Potentiometer
R1 may be set to a point where the pick up must be contacted to set of the
alarm sounder. A relay or other current hungry component can take the
place of the piezo sounder to control almost any external circuit.
Conclusion
58 This trainer kit is mainly used in labs for practicals and get benefits for
A.I.T. for perform the practical in easier or systematically manner. We
have to draw the characterstics between drain current and drain voltage at
that time when gate voltage are constant. This report demonstrated a
systematic approach to design high performance gate drive circuits for high
speed switching applications.This kit is really help to the students for
finding out the solutions of FET characterstics. As we know that the
Technology is developed day by day. So we are use N channel FET in this
kit due to their fast switching applications. This project is minor but it
really provide priceless knowledge to the students as practically. By this
students also get aware from the terminals of finding out the FET and also
measure the values of IDSS and pinch off voltage Vp. If proper drain load is
chosen, the output power and efficiency goals for the amplifier stage can be
reached. Proper functioning of the circuit in a commercial environment is
very much dependent on the quality and selection of the passive parts in the
circuit as well as the cooling and load protection systems necessary to
support it. By making this project we are really get knowledge about the
making of PCB’s because we make a PCB for FET characterstics and
learning all objectives which are neccessary to making a PCB. So this plays
an valuable thing for student.
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