linear region of MOS FET

Ghar

Joined Mar 8, 2010
655
(All comments apply to a lateral FET in an IC, not a vertical power FET)


You have 4 terminals you're looking at:
Gate
Source
Drain
Bulk

Usually the bulk is tied to 0. Let's say the source is also 0.
Vb = 0
Vs = 0

To turn the NMOS on you apply a positive Vgs.
That gives you:
Vgs = Vg

Notice that the FET is symmetrical though, the source and drain are the same thing.

When you apply a Vd, you get:
Vds = Vd

Now, look at the gate to terminal voltages:

Vgs = Vg
Vgd = Vg - Vd

Vgd is smaller than Vgs.
Electric field is voltage / distance.
The distances are equal from gate-to-source and gate-to-drain

This gives you much weaker electric field between gate and drain than gate and source.
This means the channel is larger at the source than at the drain.
 
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