TF EIM Chapt6

Field Effect Transistors (FET, JFET, MOSFET)

Properties

FETs differ from the bipolar transistors in the las chapter in that the current from a FET is only due to the majority charge carriers in the semiconductor while bi-polar transistors current is produced from both carrier types; electron and hole.

• higher input impedance than bi-polar
• less gain than bi-polar

JFET

JFET [math]\displaystyle{ \equiv }[/math] Junction Field Effect Transistor

In a bi-polar transistor you have a depletion region with mixed charge carriers

pnp bi-polar transistor	Equivalence circuit	Circuit diagram

In the Junction Field Effect Transistor you have a single charge carrier with the minority charge carriers forming a choke point for the majority carrier current flow. It is similar to "pinching" a garden hose when water is flowing through it.

JFET	Equivalence circuit	Circuit diagram

The semiconductor material of the gate is the opposite of the channel. Here the n-p (or p-n) junction is between the gate and the channel.

The JFET operates by reverse biasing the gate-channel junction (diode) so the gate current doesn't flow in the direction indicated by the circuit diagram symbol. This means that the current through the gate is small (nAmps). As a result the input impedance looking into the gate is high (M[math]\displaystyle{ \Omega }[/math]) for the equivalent circuit.

The current junction rule is

[math]\displaystyle{ I_D = I_S + I_G \approx I_S }[/math]

for the Bi-Polar transistor

[math]\displaystyle{ I_C=I_E +I_B \approx I_E }[/math]

FET resistor

The FET acts like a resistor.

Consider the following circuit

MOSFET

MOSFET[math]\displaystyle{ \equiv }[/math] Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor

Forest_Electronic_Instrumentation_and_Measurement