Lecture 11

Amplifiers and Switches

Now that we have the operational modes of the MOSFET and some DC circuit behavior under our belt, we can take a look at the useful functions of the MOSFET: as an amplifier or switch. Looking at amplifiers first, we already saw an example of how a MOSFET could be used as an amplifier.
In the saturation region, the MOSFET acts as a voltage controlled current source (ignoring channel length modulation) But we also saw that the current followed a square law relationship to the gate voltage, not at all close to the linear behavior we want.

The way around this is to consider small signals approaches again, much like what we did in the diode But first, lets look at the large signal response.

Large Signal
A very common configuration for a MOSFET is called a common-source (cs) circuit. This circuit can be operated in two different modes:
Small signal amplifier Switch

We will explore over what values of inputs the circuit will act as one or the other. We can surmise what the ranges will be though:
Large for switching because we want either a lot of current or none. Small, with a DC offset for amplification

Transfer Curve
Since this circuit outputs a voltage for an input voltage, we can devise a transfer curve for it. The curve is considerably more complicated that those we saw in the past because it passes through three regions:
In cutoff, no current flows, thus the voltage at the drain is pinned to VDD When the channel does start to conduct, it will be in saturation (This is almost universally true) With a large enough bias at the gate, the triode condition (VGSVt>VDS) is satisfied and the circuit enters the third region.

The Saturation and Triode Region

You might be confused about the saturation region. After all at this point the MOSFET is a constant current source. So why isnt the curve just a straight line?
Dont forget that the current is independent of the drain-source voltage, not the gate voltage.
So we expect that the current will increase as the square of the gate voltage The voltage drop across R will increase, pushing the drain voltage down faster and faster, giving rise to the downward curving part near the cutoff region.

We can see how a small input signal, with a DC offset could have an amplified output

Lights On
In the Triode region, we should expect this increasing rate of change in the slope to end. There is a minimum voltage that can be obtained from the negative power supply. But for that to happen, we would need an infinite gate voltage because the channel resistance would have to be zero. Of course even an infinite gate voltage wouldnt cut it, the channel will always have some resistance!

Operation as a Switch and Amplifier

In switching mode, we can see that the gate voltage must swing between two extremes:
High output voltages require operation in the cutoff region Low output voltages require operation in the triode region

In amplification, we are looking for a region that is linear

The saturation region is the best candidate for that Here we would want to have a low amplitude input to stay along a nearly linear part of the curve The amplification will be based on the slope of the transfer curve are the bias point

AV

dvO dvI

v I =VIQ

Note that the slope is negative and as such the amplifier is inverting

Inverter
We can apply what we just learned to making a very simple (but powerful) switch. If we operate this circuit in cutoff and triode, what happens to the output? Cutoff:
iD=0, thus no voltage drop across RD. Output is high (VDD) No power consumed

Inverter II
In triode, we want to operate with the highest gate bias possible... With VDD applied:
iD = k n W 2 (VGS Vt )VDS VDS L

vo = VDD iD RD

The power dissipated in the transistor is

PFET = iDVDS