Title:

Study of MOSFET operations and characteristic curves.

Abstract:

A MOSFET transistor is a three terminal semiconductor device. To understand the operation of a

MOSFET it is necessary to gather sufficient knowledge on MOSFET current voltage or commonly
known as I-V characteristics. This experiment describes the overview of MOSFET characterization
that includes I-V characteristics, and determination of threshold voltage. In addition, the effect of
source-substrate voltage on threshold voltage will be observed.

Introduction :

One of the most common transistor types is Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors
(MOSFETs). BJTs based circuits used to dominate the electronics market in the 1960's and 1970's but
nowadays most electronic circuits, particularly integrated circuits (ICs), are made of MOSFETs. As for
the FET transistors, there are two main types: the junction field effect transistor (JFET) and the metal
oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). The power dissipation of a JFET is high in
comparison to MOSFETs. Therefore, JFETs are less important if it comes to the realization of ICs,
where transistors are densely packed. The power dissipation of a JFET based circuit would be simply
too high. MOSFETs became the most popular field effect device in the 1980's. In this experiment, we
will concentrate on the MOSFET transistor. We will investigate its characteristics and study its
behavior when used as an amplifier or a switch. The objective of experiment is to become familiar with
the characteristics and applications of Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) such as --.

1. To understand the operation of the MOSFET and determine the threshold voltage.

2. To measure the I-V characteristics and find the different operating regions.

3. To obtain MOSFET transfer characteristic curves.

Theory and Methodology:

MOSFETs Structure and Physical Operation

The MOSFETs are the most widely used FETs. Strictly speaking, MOSFET devices belong to
the group of Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor (IGFETs). As the name implies, the gate is
insulated from the channel by an insulator. In most of the cases, the insulator is formed by a
silicon dioxide (SiO2), which leads to the term MOSFET. MOSETs like all other IGFETs have
three terminals, which are called Gate (G), Source (S), and Drain (D). In certain cases, the
transistors have a fourth terminal, which is called the bulk or the body terminal. In PMOS, the
body terminal is held at the most positive voltage in the circuit and in NMOS, it is held at the
most negative voltage in the circuit.
There are four types of MOSFETs: enhancement n-type MOSFET, enhancement p-type
MOSFET, depletion n-type MOSFET, and depletion p-type MOSFET. The type depends whether
the channel between the drain and source is an induced channel or the channel is physically
implemented and whether the current owing in the channel is an electron current or a hole
current. If the channel between the drain and the source is an induced channel, the transistor is
called enhancement transistor. If the channel between the drain and source is physically
implemented then the transistor is called depletion transistor. If the current owing in the channel
is an electron current, the transistor is called an n- type or NMOS transistor. If the current flow is
a hole current then the transistor is called p-type or PMOS transistor. Throughout the handout we will
concentrate on analyzing the enhancement type MOSFET. The cross section of an
enhancement NMOS transistor is shown in figure 1. If we put the drain and source on ground
potential and apply a positive voltage to the gate, the free holes (positive charges) are repelled
from the region of the substrate under the gate (channel region) due to the positive voltage
applied to the gate. The holes are pushed away downwards into the substrate leaving behind a
depletion region.

Figure 1: Schematic cross section of an enhancement-type NMOS transistor

At the same time, the positive gate voltage attracts electrons into the channel region. When the
concentration of electrons near the surface of the substrate under the gate is higher than the
concentration of holes, an n region is created, connecting the source and the drain regions. The
induced n-region thus forms the channel for current flow from drain to source voltage attracts
electrons into the channel region. When the concentration of electrons near the surface of the
substrate under the gate is higher than the concentration of holes, an n region is created, connecting the
source and the drain regions. The induced n-region thus forms the channel for
current flow from drain to source. The channel is only a few nanometers wide. Nevertheless, the entire
current transport occurs in this thin channel between drain and source. Now if a voltage is applied
between drain and source electrodes an electron current can flow through the induced channel.
Increasing the voltage applied to the gate above a certain threshold voltage enhances the channel. In
the case of an enhancement type NMOS transistor the threshold voltage is positive, whereas an
enhancement type PMOS transistor has a negative threshold voltage. So, in order for the current to
flow from drain to source, the condition that should be satisfied is VG > Vth, where VG is the gate
voltage and Vth is the minimum voltage required to form a channel between drain and source so that
carriers can ow through the channel. By changing the applied gate voltage, we can modulate the
conductance of the channel.
 Figure 2: Symbols for Enhancement NMOS and PMOS transistors

NMOS Transistor

MOSFET I-V Characteristics

MOSFET I-V characteristics depend on the voltage supplied to the drain terminal. There are two
possibilities, one is small signal operation and another one is large signal operation. If drain
voltage is very small (in mv range), the characteristics can be represented by the Ohm’s Law.
That means it shows the linearity. Since VDS is kept small the transistor acts as a resistor with a
value that is determined by the gate voltage, if this voltage is 0.2V so that the transistor will act
as an electronically controlled resistor. Figure 3 shows the MOSFET circuit that used to analyze
the I-V characteristics I-V characteristics.

Figure 3: MOSFET circuit

Figure 4: Output curves of an n-type enhancement MOSFET when (a) VDS is small (b) VDS is large
Figure 4a shows the I-V characteristics of MOSFET circuit when VDS is very small. Now if drain
voltage is gradually increased the output curves will not show the linearity it becomes non-linear.
Therefore for the large signal operation is established, we will introduce now the description of
the I-V characteristics of enhancement n-type MOSFETs when drain voltage is high. The output
curves of an enhancement n-type MOSFET are shown in figure 4b.
The drain current ID is shown as a function of drain source voltage, VDS. The drain current is
shown for different gate voltage VGS. Based on the output curves three different device regions of
operation can be distinguished: cut-off region, linear (triode) region, and saturation region.
Digital circuits usually make excursions into all three regions, whereas analog circuits such as
amplifiers typically only use the saturation region.

MOSFET Regions of Operation

In order for the MOSFET to work in any of the three regions, some conditions should be
satisfied which in turn control the performance of the transistor, as follows:

Cut-off Region
MOSFETs are in the cut-off region when there is no current flow between source and drain
terminals. This happens when the gate-to-source voltage is less than the threshold voltage, i.e.,
VGS < Vth.

Triode region
For voltages higher than the threshold voltage, the transistor operates in the linear or triode
region if at the same time the voltage VDS is smaller than VGS – Vth. In this case, the current flow
is a function of both gate-to-source voltages higher than the threshold voltage. When the drain to
source voltage VDS is smaller than VGS-Vth, the transistor operates in the triode region. The
currents-voltage relationship is given by,

The parameter kn = μnCox is the trans conductance parameter, μn is the mobility, Cox is the
capacitance of the oxide layer and W/L is the ratio of the channel (or gate) width over length.
Notice that when VDS is much smaller than VGS – Vth, the current can be approximated as follows,

Thus the transistor acts as a voltage-controlled resistor whose value is given by (provided that
vGS > vth),
Saturation region
When the drain to source voltage exceeds the value VGS – Vth, the channel will be pinched off and
the current can be written as-

Experimental Circuit:

Figure 6: Basic NMOS circuit for observing its operation and characteristics.

Experimental Procedure:

Problem 1: Determination of Threshold Voltage (Vth)

The purpose of this part of experiment is to determine the threshold voltage of NMOS. Threshold
voltage is the minimum required voltage by a MOSFET to begin the operation.
1. Construct the circuit as shown in figure 6 to determine Vth..
2. By keeping VDD=5V change VGS from 0V to 5V and measure VDS and ID.
3. Complete the following table 1.

Simulation :

Figure 7: Simulation for determining Threshold Voltage

Table 1 Determination of NMOS Threshold Voltage :

Figure 8: Simulated circuit when gate and drain shorted

Now short gate and drain which implies that Vth = VGS = VDS. Record following values.

Determination of Transfer Characteristic Curve

1. Use the same circuit to measure the transfer characteristic (Don’t short G and D).
2. Make that VDD is kept constant at 5V constant and scan VGS from 0V to 7V.
3. Record the changes in VDS for every change in VGS and complete the following table 2.
Simulation:

Figure 9: VDS calculation by the help of VGS values

Table 2 VDS and VGS values for transfer characteristic curve :

Determination of NMOS I-V Characteristic Curve or Output characteristic curve

1. Use the same circuit and measure the output characteristic for gate source voltages.
2. Keep gate to source voltage at 2V and change drain source voltage from 0V to 4V.
3. Record ID current for every VDS value.
4. Repeat 1 to 3 for VGS= 3V, 3.4V, and 3.6V.
5. Complete the following table 3.
Simulation :

Hardware Implementation :
Results and Discussion:
In this experiment, we mostly observed three different types of MOSFET characteristics. N-Channel
MOSFETs are used here. First, we determine the threshold voltage of the MOSFET in question. Then
the current Id was determined by putting a resistor on the drain. We measured the voltage across the
drain resistor and using the resistor value find the drain current . In this case, the MOSFET threshold
voltage is around 2.5 volts. When the gate voltage is less than 2.5 volts, all of the voltage drop is
acquired at the drain to source junction, and the Id current is zero & fill up table -1( part -1).After that,
we shorted the drain and gate and took the same value, which we recorded in table 1 (part-2). We can't
take the Id current directly with the multimeter current mode, therefore we require a drain resistor;
otherwise, we have no issues with this portion.
In the second stage, we change the gate voltage from 0 to 5V and record the drain to source
voltage for each gate voltage. Then we record all of the data in table 2. The transfer characteristic curve
is then drawn on graph paper using this value. We had no problems with this portion, however we
didn't remove the drain resistor because we couldn't determine the Id current for MOSFET safety
reasons.
To determine output characteristics, we modify gate and drain voltages in the third step. We
varied the drain voltage for drain to source (0 to4) volt when we applied 2 volt to the gate, but
there was no current flow because we were at the cut off region. Then we add 2.5 volts to the
gate and change the drain voltage to obtain Id current. Because the current is so low, our
multimeter's current mode displays 0 amp, so we utilize the drain resistor to determine the Id
current. After this reading we put 2.7v & this time current value is increasing then finally the
curve goes to its saturation point. After that, we apply 3 drain to source voltage at the same time. As
we fulfill our lab requiring & got the desert output so we can say that our lab was successfully achieved
it’s goal.
Reference(s):
1. A.S. Sedra, K.C. Smith, Microelectronic Circuits, Oxford University Press (1998).
2. J. Keown, ORCAD PSpice and Circuit Analysis, Prentice Hall Press (2001).
3. P. Horowitz, W. Hill, The Art of Electronics, Cambridge University Press (1989).
4. David Comer & Donald Comer, "Fundamentals of Electronic Circuit Design".
5. http://electrotopic.com/what-is-the-difference-between-enhancement-and-depletion-mosfet/
6. http://electrotopic.com/difference-between-nmos-pmos-and-cmos-transistors/
7. https://slideplayer.com/slide/6193398/