Lecture – 19

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 MOSFET

• Construction & operation of Depletion

type MOSFET
•Plotting transfer characteristic curve

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 MOSFETs Basics
• MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field
Effect Transistors) have been used in power
electronics applications since thee early 80's
due to their appreciable current carrying and off-
state voltage blocking capability with low on-
state voltage drop.
• They have managed to replace BJTs in many
applications due to their simpler gate drive
requirements and higher positive temperature
coefficient which allows devices to be paralleled
for higher current capabilities.

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 MOSFET Types

•N-channel enhancement type MOSFETS are the most

popular for use in power switching circuits and
applications.
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 Depletion Type MOSFET
• Depletion type MOSFET has characteristic similar to
those of a JFET between cut off and saturation at IDSS but
then has the added feature of characteristics that extend
into the region opposite polarity for VGS.
• It is also known as IGFET (Insulated Gate Field Effect
Transistor).

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 Basic Construction: n-channel depletion type MOSFET

• A slab of p-type material is formed from Si base and is

referred to as Substrate.
• Source (S) and Drain (D) terminals are connected
through metallic contacts to n-doped region linked by n-
channel.
• The gate is also connected to a metal contact surface
but remains insulated from n-channel by a very thin SiO2
layer.
• SiO2 is a particular type of insulator referred to as a
dielectric that sets up opposing electric fields within
dielectric when exposed to an externally applied field.
• It is the insulating layer of SiO2 in the MOSFET
construction that for the very desirable high input
impedance of the device.
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Farzana R. Zaki CSE 177/ EEE 177 7
 Basic Operation and Characteristics
When VGS=0V

• VGS=0V is done by direct

connection from one
terminal to other and VDS
is applied across the
drain-to-source terminal.
• The result is an attraction
of the positive potential at
the drain by the free
electrons of n-channel
and a current ID=IS=IDSS
will flow.
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 When VGS is negative:
n -ch an n e l
• When VGS is negative, the
negative potential at the gate will S iO 2 e +
tend to pressure electrons toward laye r
p-type substrate (like charges e +
repel) and attracts holes from p-
e +
type substrate (opposite charges
attract) . e
G- +
• Depending on magnitude of –ve
bias established by VGS, a level of e +
recombination between electrons
e p-m ate rial su bstrate
and holes will occur that will Me tal +
reduce the number of free C on tact
electrons in the n-channel e +
available for conduction. The
e +
resulting level of drain current is
therefore reduced with increasing e +
negative bias for VGS.

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 Transfer Characteristic curve for n-channel
depletion type MOSFET
ID mA ID mA

VGS = +1V

VGS

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 When VGS = +ve

• For positive values of VGS, the positive gate will

draw addition electrons (free carriers) from p-
type substrate due to reverse leakage current
and establish new carriers through the collisions
resulting between accelerating particles.
• As VGS continues to increase in the positive
direction, ID will also increase at a rapid rate.
• Due to the rapid rate, the user must be aware of
maximum drain current rating since it could be
exceeded with a positive gate voltage.

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• The application of the +ve VGS has “enhanced”
the level of free electrons in the channel
compared to that encountered with VGS=0V.
• For this reason, the region of +ve gate voltages
on drain or transfer characteristic is called
enhancement region, with the region between
cut-off and saturation level of I DSS referred to as
the depletion region.
• Shockley’s equation is applicable for depletion
type MOSFET.
VGS
I D  I DSS (1  VP ) 2

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Example: Sketch the transfer characteristics for an n-
channel depletion type MOSFET with IDSS=mA and VP=-V

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 P-channel depletion type MOSFET
• The construction of p-channel depletion type MOSFET is exactly the
reverse of that of n-channel.
• It has n-channel substrate and p-type channel.
• The terminals remains the same, but all the voltage polarities and
the current directions are reversed.
• Drain characteristic would exactly the same pattern but with V DS
having –ve , ID having +ve and VGS having opposite polarities.

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