5/4/2011 The MOSFET Unity Gain Frequency 1/2

The MOSFET Unity

Gain Frequency
Consider the short-circuit current gain of the high-frequency
MOSFET small-signal model:
ios (ω )
G
ii (ω ) D
C gd +
+
vi (ω ) vds ro
+
vgs C gs
gmv gs
_
- -
S S

Note that because of the output short, vd = vs , so that

vi = v gs = v gd .

Therefore:
ios (ω ) = gm v gs (ω ) − jωC gd v gd (ω )
= gm v gs (ω ) − jωC gd v gs (ω )
= ( gm − jωC gd )vi (ω )
and
ii (ω ) = jωC gs v gs (ω ) + jωC gd v gd (ω )
= jωC gs v gs (ω ) + jωC gd v gs (ω )
= jω ( C gs + C gd ) vi (ω )
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The short-circuit current gain of the MOSFET is thus:

ios ( gm − jωC gd )vi (ω )

=
ii jω (C gs + C gd ) vi (ω )
( gm − jωC gd )
=
jω ( C gs + C gd )
gm
≈
jω ( C gs + C gd )

Note that this is not a low-pass function! Therefore, there is

no “break” frequency associated with this frequency response.

However, there is a “unity gain” frequency ωT —it’s the

frequency where the short-circuit current gain is equal to one:

ios (ω = ωT ) gm
=1=
ii (ω = ωT ) ωT (C gs + C gd )

Therefore we find that the unity-gain frequency of a MOSFET

is:
gm
ωT =
C gs + C gd

Note as the capacitances get smaller, the unity gain frequency

gets larger. The unity gain frequency is a MOSFET device
parameter—the larger the value, the better the MOSFET high
frequency performance.