MOS Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs)

Tyler Wengerd
Abstract
Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors
(MOSFETs) are three-terminal voltage-sensitive
current-conductive devices. Their chemical structure
causes an electric field to occur when a high enough
voltage is applied to a certain terminal, and current
will flow through the other two terminals based on the
input voltage. It has many applications in integrated
circuits.

MOSFET Basics

When viewed as circuit components, MOSFETs are

composed of three (or four) basic parts: the Gate, the
Source, and the Drain (the Body is also a large component, but it is usually not shown in circuit diagrams).
There is a lot going on at the silicon level, however,
that cant be explained simply by listing those connections.
Figure 2 shows a cross-section view of an n-type MOSFET. This device is composed of a Body, which is a
p-type substrate (p-doped silicon). The body makes
up the bulk of the transistor.
Two sections of heavily doped n-type silicon also exist
on the transistor - these are marked as n+ in Figure
2. The figure also shows an Oxide (SiO2 ) layer above
the body, laying between the two n+ regions. This is
an insulating layer, and it causes the current in the
gate terminal to be very small. [1]
Generally, the n-type regions and the p-type region act as back-to-back diodes facing opposite ways,
which creates a very high resistance between the
source and the drain. However, when a voltage is
applied to the gate terminal, current will be able to
flow between the source and the drain - this means
that the MOSFET is a device that controls current
flow based on an input voltage. Note that when no
voltage is applied (or the applied voltage is not high
enough) the MOSFET is off and is said to be in the
Cutoff region.

Chemsitry and Physics

Figure 3 shows a possible connection diagram for a

MOSFET. Here, a positive voltage is applied to the
gate terminal, relative to ground. This is labeled as
vGS . Since the gate is now positively charged, the ptype particles (holes) in the p-type substrate will be
repelled from the area close to the gate. This creates
a depletion region below the gate (and therefore also
between the source and the drain).
Since the charge at the gate is positive, n-type particles (electrons) from the surrounding regions are
also attracted to the channel that was created. Once
enough electrons are gathered between the two n-type
regions, a third n region is created. Its essentially a
material doped with n-type particle. The depletion
region thus creates a connection between the source
and the drain.
When a voltage is applied between the drain and the
source, current will be able to flow between the two
terminals (by being carried by the free electrons) [1].
The channel that the current is able to flow through is
also called the inversion layer, as that section of the
p-type material is now effectively an n-type material.
When enough electrons are available to conduct
through the channel, current can flow. The amount of
voltage applied at the gate determines how many electrons are attracted to it, and so it determines when
current can flow. The amount of voltage needed to
cause the desired channel is called the threshold voltage, or Vt .
What about the amount of current that can flow once
voltage is applied?
Note that the gate and the channel region, in combination with the oxide layer, form a sort of capacitor,
with the oxide as the dielectric. When the gate voltage is above the threshold voltage, a positive charge
will form on the gate side, and a negative charge will
form below the oxide. This causes an electric field to
be generated. This field (caused by the excess volt-

age on the gate)will dictate the amount of charge in

the channel, which determines the conductivity of the
channel, which then determines how much current can
flow through the channel. Note that this field that occurs is the reason the devices are called Field effect
transistors. Since metal and oxide are also used in
construction, the full name of this device is a Metal
Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. [1]

current can be changed based on the gate voltage and

the drain-source voltage. Note that the current slope
is nearly linear when vDS is close to 0.

3.2

The Saturation region is also shown in Figure 4. Once

vDS is greater than VOV , the channel depth on the
drain side is reduced to zero, causing a channel pinchoff. Even though vDS can be increased, it has no
effect on the channel anymore because the depth at
the drain is already zero.

The actual amount of current that can flow is proportional to the charge in the channel, but also is related
to the capacitance of the gate-channel capacitor mentioned earlier, the device size, and the various voltages
applied to it.

The depth of zero at the drain does not mean that

no current will flow through the channel, however.
Electrons have been moving through the channel from
the source and they wont stop at the drain junction theyll be propelled through the depletion region that
exists and into the drain terminal [1].

MOSFET Modes

Because of the charges and other aspects mentioned

in the previous section, MOSFETs dont simply act as
an on/off switch based on voltage. There are multiple
modes in which current flow will be different. The
Cutoff region, when the transistor is turned off due to
the pn junctions that block current flow.

The current behavior in saturation mode can be seen

on the right side of Figure 4.

Before the other modes are listed, note that the voltage at the gate is labeled as vGS , and the amount of
voltage needed for current to flow between the source
and drain is the threshold voltage, Vt . When vGS is
greater than Vt , this excess voltage is called the overdrive voltage, or VOV . VOV determines the amount
of current that can flow through the channel.

Conclusion

MOSFETs are composed of junctions between n-type

and p-type regions. A high enough voltage applied
at the gate of a MOSFET will cause certain particles
the be attracted and others to be repelled, which allows a conductive channel to form. The size of this
channel is proportional to the voltages applied at the
terminals. If the channel exists and a voltage exists
between the drain and the source terminals, current
will flow through source, into the channel, and out the
drain. Current flow depends on the amount of voltage at the gate and the voltage between the drain and
source.

The voltage between the drain and the source vDS is

also important when determining which region the
MOSFET is in.

3.1

Saturation

Triode

Since the source is the grounded end in the examples

given, as vDS grows, it will have a larger impact on
the channels size close to the drain, since vGD equals
the difference between vGS and vDS . Since the gatesource junctions depth is only proportion to VOV ,
but the gate-drain junctions depth is proportional to
VOV - vDS , the channel will be smaller in the gatedrain junction than the gate-source junction.

While n-type MOSFETs were only discussed in this

report, p-type MOSFETs certainly exist and can be
created using essentially the opposite construction - a
body made up of n-type material and terminals made
up of p-type materials. Note that polarities will also
need to be opposite in order for attractions and repulsions to work the same way as demonstrated with
the n-type MOSFET.

As the depth of the channel tapers (while vDS is increasing), the conductance of the channel will also
change - it gets lower because there is less available
material to conduct current through. The current behavior in this region is displayed in Figure 4.

Addendum: Matlab

Below is the Matlab code for instantaneous power of a

digital circuit as assigned, along with the corresponding graph.

This region is known as the Triode region - where

2

5.1

Code

t = 0:1e-12:40e-9; %0s to 40uS

Vdd = 5;
C = 1e-12; %standard capacitance guess: 100pF
Rl = 5000; %5kOhm load
ee = exp(1); %e
Vt = Vdd*(1-ee.^((-t)/(Rl*C)));
It = (Vdd/Rl)*(ee.^((-t)/(Rl*C)));
Pt = Vt.*It
plot(t,Pt)

5.2

Graph

Figure 1: Graph of power from 0S to 40S

References
[1] Sedra, Adel S. and Smith, Kenneth C., Microelectronic Circuits, 6th Edition, Oxford University Press, 2010.

Figure 2: Cross-section view of an n-type MOSFET. [1]

/centering
Figure 3: n-type MOSFET with standard connections. [1]

Figure 4: Graph of current behavior and MOSFET regions. [1]