Integrated Electronics & Design

ELEC 100

Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-effect

transistor (MOSFET)

M. Raja [2010]
Typical conventional silicon transistors

Transistors

FET Others BJT

JFET MOSFET PNP NPN

pMOS nMOS

M. Raja [2010]
Basic definitions
 MOSFET is a unipolar transistor which acts as a voltage-controlled current device

 The gate voltage VG determines the formation and conductivity of the channel
 The drain voltage VD controls the current in the channel after formation
 The source contact is normally grounded i.e. VS = 0 V

 MOSFETs operates in ‘inversion mode’ i.e. the minority carriers (electrons) from
the bulk of the p-substrate are generated on the surface

Gate
Source Drain
VG
VS VD
 For an n-MOSFET, it consists of
an n-channel formed between
the source and drain contacts
n+ n+
p MOS capacitor
MOSFET as two diodes
VG = 0
VS = 0 VD > 0

n+ n+

SOURCE n p p n DRAIN
I =0

 When no voltage is applied to the gate, the MOSFET looks like two ‘back to
back’ diodes and no current flows because one diode is reverse biased

M. Raja [2010]
 Basic operation of the n-MOSFET
VG >> 0
VS = 0 VD > 0

Inversion
---------
layer with electrons
n+ n+
Depletion layer with fixed

p
ionised acceptor ions

 When a large voltage is applied on the gate, an inversion layer is formed, with electrons
accumulated on the surface. A depletion is present at the back of the inversion layer

 With application of drain voltage, current and/or electrons flow from the source to drain

 What is the current flowing in the channel (below and above VT)?
 X

Diffusion drain current Z

 When VG < VT, electron concentration VT > V G > 0 W

at the interface is less than the VS = 0
concentration of fixed acceptor ions in VD > 0
depletion region

 The ions control surface potential and n+ acceptor ions n+

remain constant resulting in zero field
in x- direction
L

 The current in this case (i.e. low VG) is simply due to the diffusion of electrons caused by
the difference in concentration between the contacts

 The current density is thus given as:

dn
J diff q D
dx

D is the diffusion coefficient of the electrons, dn/dx is the change of electron concentration
with distance and q is the electronic charge (1.6 x 10-19 C)
 X

Drift drain current Z

 When VG > VT, electron concentration V G > VT W

at the interface is increases
VS = 0
 The transport mechanism for electrons VD > 0
between the contacts changes to drift
- - - - -x - - - -dz
 The channel obeys the ‘gradual n+ Id e n+
approximation’ i.e. Ex reduces along the
channel as the voltage drops the
channel and also the field in the z- L
direction is greater than in x-direction

 The charge induced per unit area in the channel is given as:

-ve sign due to opposite charge

Qs Cox VG Vx from the gate

Cox is the oxide capacitance per unit area and (VG - Vx) is potential across the oxide at point x

 The charge is also given as:

Qs n q dz or n q dz Cox VG Vx
 Drift drain current
 The current density flowing through the channel in x-direction is :

J nq Ex

Where n is the number of carriers in the channel, Ex is field in x- direction, W is the

channel width, dz is thickness of the channel layer and µ is the mobility of the electrons

ID ID
J or n q Ex
Also, W dz W dz

Then, ID
Cox VG Vx Ex
W

or ID dVx
Cox VG Vx
W dx

Rearranging the equation and integrating both sides,

 Drift drain current
 Rearranging the equation and integrating both sides,

L VD

I D dx W Cox VG Vx dVx
0 0

Threshold voltage VT is
 Current in linear (triode) region is thus introduced due to work
function difference, oxide
and interface charges
2 2
VD VD
ID VG VD VG VT VD
2 2

 Where VT is the threshold or turn-on voltage is the voltage required on the gate for
onset of conduction and β is the device constant given as:
W
Co
L
 The drain current increases linearly with drain voltage (for a given gate voltage) until a
‘pinch-off’ point is reached when the current begins to saturate
 EX

Pinch-off effect EZ

 Pinch off occurs when the potential in VG > VT

the drain-source (in the channel) is VD = VG - VT
VS = 0
greater than the gate voltage resulting
in a reverse in the field in the dielectric
i.e. when VD = VG – VT
n+ n+
 There are no inversion charge under
the gate, close to the drain contact L

 Any further increase in drain voltage

(i.e. VD > VG – VT ) increase the
potential drop across the reversed VG > VT
VD >VG - VT
diode and hence causes the channel to VS = 0
‘shift’ further towards the source side

 In this saturation region, the drain

current is simply given as: n+ n+
VG VT
2
L*
ID
2
shift in the pinch-off point
 Typical Output characteristics of the transistor
 The characteristics shows the variation of drain current with drain voltage, for different
gate voltages

 The drain current increases with increase in gate voltage due to increase in electron
concentration in the channel
pinch-off point
VD = VG - VT

Increase in VG
 Typical Transfer characteristics of the transistor
 The characteristics shows the variation drain current with gate voltage for a given drain
voltage

40
Drain current [arbitrary unit]

at constant VD

30

20

10

0
-2 0 VT 2 4 6
Gate to source voltage [V]
 Sub-threshold plot
 The subthreshold plot is the log ID against VG for a given VD. The plot shows the small
subthreshold current flowing when VG < VT. The slope is important in the design of
dynamic circuits and useful in low power operations
on current when VD = VG -VT
2
10
at constant VD
Drain current [arbitrary unit]

1
10
drift
0
10
Sub-threshold slope

-1
10
diffusion
-2
10

-3 off current
10
-2 0 VT 2 4 6
Gate to source voltage [V]
Performance of MOSFET and parameter extraction
 Drain Conductance (Output conductance)  Transconductance is related to the speed
is obtained in the linear or ohmic region of the device and obtained in the
and is given as: saturation region and

ID ID
gD at constant VG gm at constant VD
VD VG

For small values of VD in linear region, In the saturation region,

2 2
VD VG VT
ID VG VT VD negligibly ID
2 small 2

Thus, Thus,

gD VG VT gm VG VT

By plotting gD against VG or gm against VG, the field effect mobility and turn-on voltage can
be estimated
 Transistor symbols
 Enhancement mode MOSFETs: No channel is present at VG = 0. The channel is formed
with applied gate voltage

n-channel p-channel

 Depletion mode MOSFETs: A channel is present even at no gate bias (due to the
presence of a doped layer). The gate voltage controls the conductivity of the channel as
in enhancement mode (e.g. ‘deplete’ a channel)

n-channel p-channel