Lab Experiment no 5

Understand the structure and characteristics of MOSFET. MANIPULATE the parameters

and plot the characteristic curve of MOSFET using IT-9010 Module.

Objective
 Understanding the structures and characteristics of JFETs.
 Plotting the characteristics curves of a JFET.
 Understanding the structures and characteristics of MOSFETs.
 Plotting the transfer characteristics curve of a MOSFET.
 Implementing and measuring a MOSFET motor-speed control circuit.

Apparatus required
 Power Supply Module IT-9000
 Module IT-9010
 Analog Multimeter
 Digital Multimeter

MOSFET
MOSFET stands for Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor or Metal Oxide Semiconductor
Field Effect Transistor. This is also called as IGFET meaning Insulated Gate Field Effect
Transistor. The FET is operated in both depletion and enhancement modes of operation. The
following figure shows how a practical MOSFET looks like.

Construction of a MOSFET

The construction of a MOSFET is a bit similar to the FET. An oxide layer is deposited on the
substrate to which the gate terminal is connected. This oxide layer acts as an insulator
(sio2 insulates from the substrate), and hence the MOSFET has another name as IGFET. In the
construction of MOSFET, a lightly doped substrate, is diffused with a heavily doped region.
Depending upon the substrate used, they are called as P-type and N-type MOSFETs.
The following figure shows the construction of a MOSFET.

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The voltage at gate controls the operation of the MOSFET. In this case, both positive and
negative voltages can be applied on the gate as it is insulated from the channel. With negative
gate bias voltage, it acts as depletion MOSFET while with positive gate bias voltage it acts as
an Enhancement MOSFET.
Fig. 22-3 shows the structure and characteristic o an n-channel MOSFET. Similar to the JFET, it
can be considered as a gate-voltage-controlled variable resistor and it is a three-terminal device
containing the source (S), gate (G), and drain (D) terminals. The main difference between
MOSFET and JFET is an oxide layer between the gate and p-substrate (not a p-n junction) of the
NMOSFET. Therefore the MOSFET'S input resistance is much higher than the JFET.

Fig. 22-4 shows the transfer characteristics of depletion and enhancement NMOSFETS. The
depletion MOSFET of Fig. 22-4(a) is shown to operate with either positive or negative gate-
source voltage, negative values of Vas reducing the drain current until the pinch-off voltage Vr,
after which no drain current occurs. The transfer characteristic is the same for negative gate-
source voltages, but it continues for positive values of VGs. Since the gate is isolated from the
channel for both negative and positive values of VGS, the device can be operated with either
polarity of VGs and no gate current resulting in either case.

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Classification of MOSFET
Depending upon the type of materials used in the construction, and the type of operation, the
MOSFETs are classified as in the following figure.

After the classification, let us go through the symbols of MOSFET.

The N-channel MOSFETs are simply called as NMOS. The symbols for N-channel MOSFET are
as given below.

Drain Characteristics
The drain characteristics of a MOSFET are drawn between the drain current ID and the drain
source voltage VDS. The characteristic curve is as shown below for different values of inputs.

Actually when VDS is increased, the drain current ID should increase, but due to the applied
VGS, the drain current is controlled at certain level. Hence the gate current controls the output
drain current.
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Transfer Characteristics
Transfer characteristics define the change in the value of VDS with the change in ID
and VGS in both depletion and enhancement modes. The below transfer characteristic curve is
drawn for drain current versus gate to source voltage.

MOSFET Transfer Curve

Circuit Diagram

Procedure
1. Draw a circuit diagram by connecting points as shown above.
2. Connect the 12V-0V-12V AC supply from module IT-9000 to IT-9010.
3. Turn VR1 fully CW and VR2 to CCW.
4. Two DMMs are required in the following procedure for measuring Vgs and Id.
5. Turn on the power of IT-9000.
6. Connect a DVM across JFET G-S terminal for measuring the VGs.
7. Adjust VR1 and set Vds=10V.
8. Adjust VR2 for each listed Vgs and record Id.
9. Make the connection as shown.

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 10. Adjust VR2 for each listed VGS and measure ID.
11. Plot Vgs-Id and determine thereshold voltage VT value.

Observation and Calculation

Reverse Region
VGS 0V -0.5V -1V -1.5V -2V -3V -4V -5V -6V
ID 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Forward Region
VGS 0V 0.5V 1V 1.5V 2V 2.5V 3V 3.5V 4V
ID 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.14mV 17mV 1.716mV

VGS 4.5V 5V 5.5V 6V

ID 17.3mA 17.23mA 17.34mA 17.38mA

From the observed values we can say that VTH =2.5V

Hardware Implementation

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Graph

VGS-ID
1

0.8

0.6
ID

0.4

0.2

0
0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6
VGS

Conclusion
So, by implementing on the IT-9010 module, we have been able to comprehend the design and
construction of MOSFETs and also examine their transfer curves.

Post Lab Assignment

Elaborate and justify the condition at which a MOSFET can be used as an
Amplifier.
If we apply a small time-varying signal to the input, then under the right circumstances the
MOSFET circuit can act as a linear amplifier providing the transistors Q-point is somewhere
near the center of the saturation region, and the input signal is small enough for the output to
remain linear. Consider the basic MOSFET amplifier circuit below.

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Basic MOSFET Amplifier

This simple enhancement-mode common source MOSFET amplifier configuration uses a single
supply at the drain and generates the required gate voltage, VG using a resistor divider. We
remember that for a MOSFET, no current flows into the gate terminal and from this we can make
the following basic assumptions about the MOSFET amplifiers DC operating conditions.

Then from this we can say that:

and the MOSFET gate-to-source voltage, VGS is given as:

As we have seen above, for proper operation of the MOSFET, this gate-source voltage must be
greater than the threshold voltage of the MOSFET, that is VGS > VTH. Since IS = ID, the gate
voltage, VG is therefore equal too:

To set the MOSFET amplifier gate voltage to this value we select the values of the
resistors, R1 and R2 within the voltage divider network to the correct values. As we know from
above, “no current” flows into the gate terminal of a MOSFET device so the formula for voltage
division is given as:

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MOSFET Amplifier Gate Bias Voltage

Note that this voltage divider equation only determines the ratio of the two bias
resistors, R1 and R2 and not their actual values. Also it is desirable to make the values of these
two resistors as large as possible to reduce their I2*R power loss and increase the MOSFET
amplifiers input resistance.

MOSFET Amplifier Summary

A MOSFET amplifier's primary objective, or the objective of any amplifier for that matter, is to
generate an output signal that is an exact replica of its input signal but magnified in strength. A
MOSFET device must be biased to operate inside its saturation area in order to function as an
amplifier. The input signal may be either a current or a voltage.
Comments:

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Lab Instructor Signature: ______________________

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