MOSFET

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"MOS technology" redirects here. For the company, see MOS Technology.

MOSFET, showing gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from
the body by an insulating layer (pink).

The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET,

or MOS FET), also known as the metal–oxide–silicon transistor (MOS
transistor, or MOS),[1] is a type of insulated-gate field-effect transistor that is
fabricated by the controlled oxidation of a semiconductor, typically silicon. The
voltage of the covered gate determines the electrical conductivity of the device;
this ability to change conductivity with the amount of applied voltage can be used
for amplifying or switching electronic signals.
The MOSFET was invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell
Labs in 1959, and first presented in June 1960. It is the basic building block of
modern electronics, and the most frequently manufactured device in history, with
an estimated total of 13 sextillion (1.3×1022) MOSFETs manufactured between
1960 and 2018.[2] It is the dominant semiconductor
device in digital and analog integrated circuits (ICs),[3] and the most
common power device.[4] It is a compact transistor that has been miniaturised and
mass-produced for a wide range of applications, revolutionizing the electronics
industry and the world economy, and being central to the digital revolution, silicon
age and information age. MOSFET scaling and miniaturization has been driving
the rapid exponential growth of electronic semiconductor technology since the
1960s, and enables high-density ICs such as memory
chips and microprocessors. The MOSFET is considered the "workhorse" of the
electronics industry.
A key advantage of a MOSFET is that it requires almost no input current to
control the load current, when compared with bipolar junction transistors (BJTs).
In an enhancement mode MOSFET, voltage applied to the gate terminal can
increase the conductivity from the "normally off" state. In a depletion
mode MOSFET, voltage applied at the gate can reduce the conductivity from the
"normally on" state.[5] MOSFETs are also capable of high scalability, with
increasing miniaturization, and can be easily scaled down to smaller dimensions.
They also have faster switching speed (ideal for digital signals), much smaller
size, consume significantly less power, and allow much higher density (ideal
for large-scale integration), compared to BJTs. MOSFETs are also cheaper and
have relatively simple processing steps, resulting in high manufacturing yield.
MOSFETs can either be manufactured as part of MOS integrated circuit chips or
as discrete MOSFET devices (such as a power MOSFET), and can take the form
of single-gate or multi-gate transistors. Since MOSFETs can be made with
either p-type or n-type semiconductors (PMOS or NMOS logic, respectively),
complementary pairs of MOSFETs can be used to make switching circuits with
very low power consumption: CMOS (Complementary MOS) logic.
The name "metal–oxide–semiconductor" (MOS) typically refers to a metal
gate, oxide insulation, and semiconductor (typically silicon).[1] However, the
"metal" in the name MOSFET is sometimes a misnomer, because the gate
material can also be a layer of polysilicon (polycrystalline silicon). Along
with oxide, different dielectric materials can also be used with the aim of
obtaining strong channels with smaller applied voltages. The MOS capacitor is
also part of the MOSFET structure.

A cross-section through an nMOSFET when the gate voltage VGS is below the threshold for making a
conductive channel; there is little or no conduction between the terminals drain and source; the switch
is off. When the gate is more positive, it attracts electrons, inducing an n-type conductive channel in
the substrate below the oxide, which allows electrons to flow between the n-doped terminals; the
switch is on.
 Simulation of formation of inversion channel (electron density) and attainment of threshold voltage (IV)
in a nanowire MOSFET. Note: threshold voltage for this device lies around 0.45 V

Contents

 1Early history
o 1.1Background
o 1.2Invention
o 1.3Commercialization
o 1.4MOS revolution
 2Importance
 3Composition
 4Operation
o 4.1Metal–oxide–semiconductor structure
o 4.2MOS capacitors and band diagrams
o 4.3Structure and channel formation
o 4.4Modes of operation
o 4.5Body effect
 5Circuit symbols
 6Types of MOSFET
o 6.1PMOS and NMOS logic
o 6.2Complementary MOS (CMOS)
o 6.3Depletion-mode
o 6.4Metal–insulator–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MISFET)
o 6.5Floating-gate MOSFET (FGMOS)
o 6.6Power MOSFET
o 6.7Double-diffused metal–oxide–semiconductor (DMOS)
o 6.8MOS capacitor
o 6.9Thin-film transistor (TFT)
o 6.10Bipolar–MOS transistors
o 6.11MOS sensors
o 6.12Multi-gate field-effect transistor (MuGFET)
o 6.13Quantum field-effect transistor (QFET)
o 6.14Radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD)
 7Applications
o 7.1MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC)
 7.1.1MOS large-scale integration (MOS LSI)
 7.1.2Microprocessors
o 7.2CMOS circuits
 7.2.1Digital
 7.2.2Analog
o 7.3MOS memory
o 7.4Consumer electronics
o 7.5MOS sensors
o 7.6Power MOSFETs
 8Construction
o 8.1Gate material
o 8.2Insulator
o 8.3Junction design
 9Scaling
 10Timeline
o 10.1PMOS and NMOS
o 10.2CMOS (single-gate)
o 10.3Multi-gate MOSFET (MuGFET)
o 10.4Other types of MOSFET
 11See also
 12References
 13External links

Early history[edit]
Background[edit]
Main article: Field-effect transistor
The basic principle of the field-effect transistor (FET) was first proposed by
Austro-Hungarian physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1926, when he filed the
first patent for an insulated-gate field-effect transistor. [6] Over the course of next
two years he described various FET structures. In his MOS configuration
aluminum stood for M, aluminum oxide stood for O, while copper sulfide was
used as a semiconductor. However, he was unable to build a practical working
FET device.[7] The FET concept was later also theorized by German
engineer Oskar Heil in the 1930s and American physicist William Shockley in the
1940s.[8] There was no working practical FET built at the time, and none of these
early FET proposals involved thermally oxidized silicon.[7]
Semiconductor companies initially focused on bipolar junction transistors (BJTs)
in the early years of the semiconductor industry. However, the junction transistor
was a relatively bulky device that was difficult to manufacture on a mass-
production basis, which limited it to a number of specialised applications. FETs
were theorized as potential alternatives to junction transistors, but researchers
were unable to build practical FETs, largely due to the troublesome surface state
barrier that prevented the external electric field from penetrating into the material.
[9]
 In the 1950s, researchers had largely given up on the FET concept, and
instead focused on BJT technology.[10]
In 1955, Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derrick accidentally covered the surface of
silicon wafer with a layer of silicon dioxide. They showed that oxide layer
prevented certain dopants into the silicon wafer, while allowing for others, thus
discovering the passivating effect of oxidation on the semiconductor surface.
Their further work demonstrated how to etch small openings in the oxide layer to
diffuse dopants into selected areas of the silicon wafer. In 1957, they published a
research paper and patented their technique summarizing their work. The
technique they developed is known as oxide diffusion masking, which would later
be used in the fabrication of MOSFET devices. At Bell Labs, the importance of
Frosch's technique was immediately realized since silicon oxides are much more
stable than germanium oxides, have better dielectric properties and at the same
time could be used as a diffusion mask. Results of their worked circulated around
Bell Labs in the form of BTL memos before being published in 1957. At Shockley
Semiconductor, Shockley had circulated the preprint of their article in December
1956 to all his senior staff, including Jean