The First Transistor

The bipolar junction transistor was the first solid-state amplifier element and started the
solid-state electronics revolution. Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley at the Bell Laboratories
invented it in 1948 as part of a post-war effort to replace vacuum tubes with solid-state
devices (Nobel Prize in 1956).
 Types of Field Effect Transistor

• Types of Field Effect Transistors

– MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect
transistors)
• Enhancement mode
• Depletion mode
– JFET (Junction Field-effect transistors)
– MESFET (Metal Semiconductor Field-effect transistor)
– HFET (Heterostructure Field-effect transistor)
– MODFET (Modulation Doped Field-effect transistor)

2
 Field Effect Transistor
 Described as a transconductance amplifier.
 Output current is controlled by an input voltage.

 BJT is a current amplifier.

 Large output current is controlled by small base current.

 In structure, FET is similar to BJT:

BJT FET
Terminal Terminal
Base Gate

Collector Drain

Emitter Source

3
 J-FET (Junction Field Effect Transistor)

Gate material is made of the opposite polarity semiconductor to the

channel material (For a P-channel FET the gate is made of N-type semiconductor material).
Current is high if the junction is forward biased.
Current is small when the junction is reverse biased.

4
 JFET

P- doping is
done by adding boron to
silicon to create holes

N- doping is
done by adding carrier electrons,
phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony

5
 JFET

In an n-channel device, the channel is made of n-type semiconductor.

The charges free to move along the channel are negatively charged (electrons)
In a p-channel device the free charges which move are positively charged (holes).
Source puts fresh charges into the channel while the drain removes them at the other end.

6
JFET
JFET

8
Common Source Circuit
JFET Behavior

10
 Voltmeter

Refrence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m49vM0Ryt8&feature=PlayList&p=8014C973435A758B&index=8
 Application of FET
• Switch

• Voltage Controlled Resistor

• Small Signal Amplifier

12
 Differences Between BJT and FET

BJT FET
Input current controls output Input voltage controls output
current current
Base, collector, emitter Gate, drain, source
Cheaper More expensive
Can be used as a variable resistor

13
 FET (Field Effect Transistor)
The field-effect transistor (FET) controls the current between two points but does so
differently than the bipolar transistor. The FET operates by the effects of an electric field on
the flow of electrons through a single type of semiconductor material. There are two basic
types of FET.

The J-FET (Junction Field Effect Transistor ) and the MOS-FET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor
FET) are voltage controlled devices: that is a small change in input voltage causes a large
change in output current.

FET operation involves an electric field which controls the flow of a charge (current ) through
the device. In contrast, a bipolar transistor employs a small input current to control a large
output current.

The source, drain, and gate terminal of the FET are analogous to the emitter, collector, and
base of a bipolar transistor .

The terms n-channel and p- channel refer to the material which the drain and source are
connected.