The Field effect transistor
The Field effect transistor is abbreviated as FET ; it is another semiconductor device like a
BJT which can be used as an amplifier or switch.
2. The Field effect transistor is a voltage operated device. Whereas Bipolar junction transistor is a current controlled device.
Unlike BJT a FET requires virtually no input current.
3. This gives it an extremely high input resistance , which is its most important advantage over a bipolar transistor.
4. FET is also a three-terminal device, labeled as source, drain and gate.
5. The source can be viewed as BJT’s emitter, the drain as collector, and the gate as the counter part of the base.
6. The material that connects the source to drain is referred to as the channel.
7. FET operation depends only on the flow of majority carriers ;therefore, they are called uni polar devices. BJT operation
depends on both minority and majority carriers.
8. As FET has conduction through only majority carriers it is less noisy than BJT.
9. FETs are much easier to fabricate and are particularly suitable for ICs because they occupy less space than BJTs.
10. FET amplifiers have low gain bandwidth product due to the junction capacitive effects and produce more signal
distortion except for small signal operation.
11. The performance of FET is relatively unaffected by ambient temperature changes. As it has a negative temperature
coefficient at high current levels, it prevents the FET from thermal breakdown. The BJT has a positive temperature
coefficient at high current levels which leads to thermal breakdown.
CLASSIFICATION OF FET:
There are two major categories of field effect transistors:
1. Junction Field Effect Transistors
2. MOSFETs
These are further sub divided into P- channel and N-channel devices.
MOSFETs are further classified into two types Depletion MOSFETs and Enhancement . MOSFETs
When the channel is of N-type the JFET is referred to as an N-channel JFET ,when the channel is of P-type the JFET is
referred to as P-channel JFET.
CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF N- CHANNEL FET
A piece of N- type material, referred to as channel has
two smaller pieces of P-type material attached to its
sides, forming PN junctions.
The channel ends are designated as the drain and source.
And the two pieces of P-type material are connected, and
their terminal is called the gate.
Since this channel is in the N-type bar, the FET is known
as N-channel JFET.
OPERATION OF N-CHANNEL JFET:-
The overall operation of the JFET is based on varying the width of the channel to
control the drain current.
A piece of N type material referred to as the channel, has two smaller pieces of P type
material attached to its sites, farming PN –Junctions.
The channel’s ends are designated the drain and the source. And the two pieces of P type
material are connected, and their terminal is called the gate.
With the gate terminal not connected and the potential applied positive at the drain
negative at the source a drain current Id flows.
When the gate is biased negative with respective to the source the PN junctions are reverse
biased and depletion regions are formed.
The channel’s ends are designated the drain and the source. And the two pieces of P type material are connected,
and their terminal is called the gate.
With the gate terminal not connected and the potential applied positive at the drain negative at the source a drain
current Id flows. When the gate is biased negative with respective to the source the PN junctions are reverse
biased and depletion regions are formed.
1 By varying the value of Vgs :-
We can vary the width of the channel and in turn
vary the amount of drain current. This can be done
by varying the value of Vgs.
This point is illustrated in the fig below. Here we are dealing with N channel FET.
So channel is of N type and gate is of P type that constitutes a PN junction. This PN
junction is always reverse biased in JFET operation .
The reverse bias is applied by a battery voltage Vgs connected between the gate and
the source terminal i.e positive terminal of the battery is connected to the source and
negative terminal to gate.
When a PN junction is reverse biased the electrons and holes diffuse across junction by leaving immobile ions on the N and
P sides , the region containing these immobile ions is known as depletion regions.
If both P and N regions are heavily doped then the depletion region extends symmetrically on both sides. But in N channel
FET P region is heavily doped than N type thus depletion region extends more in N region than P region.
When no Vds is applied the depletion region is symmetrical and the conductivity becomes Zero. Since there are no mobile
carriers in the junction.
As the reverse bias voltage increases the thickness of the depletion region also increases. i.e. the effective channel width
decreases . By varying the value of Vgs we can vary the width of the channel.
