WHAT IS FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR?

The unipolar transistor is known as field effect

transistor. It depends on only majority charge
carriers. In FET, The current is controlled by
electric field. There are two main classes of field
effect transistor.
1 Junction Field Effect Transistor.
2 The Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor. It is
also called metal oxide semiconductor Field Effect
Transistor.
WHY IT IS CALLED FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR?

The drain current through the channel depends

on the electric field extend into the channel.So it
is called Field Effect Transistor.
 Working
 In n channel FET, the main current is composed of
electrons as they are majority charge carriers in n type,
the n layer provides a path to the main current. The main
current is controlled by applying a reverse bias to both the
pn junctions.
 When drain is made +ve w.r.t source, the majority carriers
in the bar starts flowing from source to drain. This flow of
electrons maintain the drain current.
 When the junction b/w the gate and source is reverse
biased, the width of depletion region increases on both
sides of the channel and reduces the width of the channel.
So the drain current decreases.
 If the reverse bias b/w the gate and source is further
increased, the width of the depletion region further
increased and the channel becomes narrow at the drain
end. At sufficient large reverse bias the depletion region
will extend into the channel and meet. This pinches of all
the current flow. The gate source voltage at which pinch
off occurs is called pinch off voltage. Then constant Id flow
through the channel.
 Applications of FET:
 FET is a linear device, So it can be used in
TV receivers.
 Due to high input impedance, FET is used
in electronic voltmeters.
 Due to a small size, It can be used in
computer memories.
 It is also used in the tuners of radio.
 Characteristics of FET
1. Output or static drain characteristics:

The curves b/w drain source voltage

and drain current at constant gate
source voltage are called output
characteristics of FET.

2. Transfer or mutual characteristics:

The curves b/w gate source voltage and

drain current at constant drain source
voltage are called transfer
characteristics of FET.