University of Pennsylvania

ESE206: Electrical Circuits and Systems II Lab

MOSFET (Field Effect Transistor) Lab 1:
NMOS Measurements and Characterization

1. Objectives
The objectives of this first Field Effect Transistors (FETs) lab is:
1. To understand the operation of the MOSFET
2. To measure the I-V characteristics and to determine the transistor parameters:
a. Threshold voltage Vt,
b. Transconductance parameter kn'W/L
c. Channel length modulation parameter (or Early voltage VA)
3. To illustrate amplification using a MOSFET

2. Background
A MOSFET transistor is a three terminal semiconductor device in which current, flowing
from the drain-source terminals, is controlled by the voltage on the gate terminal ( Figure
1a). The current-voltage characteristics of a NMOS transistor are shown in Figure 1b. In
order for current to flow the gate voltage VGS has to be larger than the threshold voltage
Vt.

(a)

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(b)
Figure 1 (a) NMOS transistor showing two different symbols (with biasing voltages) and
(b) Drain current ID vs. drain-source voltage VDS with gate-source voltage VGS as a
parameter (VGS=1 to 3V in steps of 0.2V).
There are two regions in which the transistor operates depending on the voltages one
applies. The first region is called the "triode" region and the second one is called
"saturation" as indicated in Figure 1b. The current-voltage relationship in each region is
given below.
2.1 Triode region (vDS < vGS-Vt)
When the drain to source voltage vDS is smaller than vGS-Vt, the transistor operates in the
triode region. The currents-voltage relationship is given by,
i D = k n'

W
L

1 2

(vGS Vt )v DS 2 v DS

when vDS < (vGS - Vt)

(1)

The parameter kn' = nCox is the transconductance parameter, n is the mobility, Cox is the
oxide thickness and W/L the ratio of the channel (or gate) width over length.
Notice that when vDS is much smaller than vGS-Vt, the current can be approximated as
follows,
i D k n'

W
(vGS Vt )v DS
L

when vDS << (vGS - Vt).

(2)

Thus the transistor acts as a voltage-controlled resistor whose value is given by (provided
that vGS > Vt),

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rDS =

(3)

W
k
(vGS Vt )
L
'
n

2.2. Saturation region (vDS > vGS-Vt)

When the drain to source voltage exceeds the value vGS-Vt, the channel will be pinchedoff and the current can be written as
iD =

1 'W
k n (vGS Vt ) 2
L
2

when vDS > (vGS - Vt)

(4)

In the expression above, the drain current is independent of the drain-source voltage what
implies that the transistor acts as an ideal current source in this region. This is only an
approximation. In reality, the current will vary slightly with the drain voltage. This
variation can be modeled by adding a parameter , called the channel length modulation
parameter, as shown in the following expression,
iD =

1 'W
k n (vGS Vt ) 2 (1 + v DS )
L
2

when vDS > (vGS - Vt)

(5)

The channel length modulation parameter is usually pretty small (typical values are
0.02 V-1). The output resistance of the transistor in saturation can now be written as,

ro =

1
I D

VA
ID

(6).

in which ID is the drain current, and VA (=1/) is the Early voltage.

2.3 Determination of the transistor characteristics.

The main parameters that characterize a MOSFET are the threshold voltage Vt, the
parameter (kn'W/L) and the channel length modulation parameter . The first two
parameters can be easily found by plotting the square root of the drain current versus the
gate voltage vGS, when the transistor is in saturation. Indeed, using equation (4) one can
write that

1 'W
k n (vGS Vt )
(7)
2
L
The intersection with the horizontal axis gives the threshold voltage Vt. and the slope of
this graph corresponds to,
iD =

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1 '
k nW / L .
2

Slope =

(8)

2.4 PMOS transistor

The PMOS transistor has similar characteristics. The only difference is that the polarity
of the voltages changes, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: PMOS transistor showing two symbols and direction of the current flow.
The values of the threshold voltage Vt (for enhancement transistor), and of and kp' are
now negative. The current expressions are then given by,

Triode region:
i D = k p'

W
L

1 2

(vGS Vt )v DS 2 v DS

when vDS > (vGS - Vt)

(9)

when vDS < (vGS - Vt)

(10)

Saturation region:
iD =

1 ' W
k p (vGS Vt ) 2
2
L

If can takes into account the channel length modulation, the current is given by
iD =

1 ' W
k p (vGS Vt ) 2 (1 + v DS )
2
L

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when vDS < (vGS - Vt)

(11)

2.5 Precaution when handling MOSFETs

MOSFET transistors are easily damaged, mainly as a result of static discharge at the gate
terminal. For that reason, one should handle MOSFETs with care and not touch the pins
of the package. In many cases one uses a ground strap to ground oneself when handling
MOSFETs.

3. Pre-lab assignment
3.1 Read the section on "The MOSFET as an Amplifier and Switch," (section 4.4,
Sedra-Smith, 5th edition).
3.2 Consider the circuit of Figure 4 in which the gate and drain terminals of the NMOS
are shorted together. Assume that the transistor has a Vt=0.7V and a kn'=
0.125mA/V2 and W/L= 5.
a. In what region is the transistor operating (Triode, Saturation)?
b. Calculate the drain current for the following gate-to-source voltages, vGS=vDS=0,
1, 2, 3, 4, and 6V. Plot the current vs. voltage (use excel or Matlab).
3.3 The same transistor as above is used as a resistor, shown in Figure 5, with the drainsource voltage VDS=0.2V.
a. Calculate the value of the drain-source resistance rDS for the following gate
voltages: vGS = 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10V.
b. Plot the value of the resistance as a function of the gate voltage (using excel or
Matlab).
3.4 Consider the circuit of Figure 6 in which the NMOS transistor is used as a basic
common-source amplifier. The transistor characteristics are given in Figure 1b.and
the Appendix A.
a. Using the graph of Figure 1b (see appendix A) and the load line, find graphically
the output voltage vDS=vo as a function of the gate voltage vGS, for vGS varying
from 1 to 3V in steps of 0.2V. Use the same procedure as explained in the
textbook section 4.4.1 (Transfer Characteristic) of Sedra-Smith 5th ed.). Plot the
output voltage vDS=vo as a function of the input voltage vin = vGS. Use excel or
Matlab to draw this graph (called the transfer function).
b. Find the value of the slope of the graph at the point where the output is 5V. This
slope corresponds to the amplification of the amplifier.
c. For the pre-lab include the two graphs (i.e. the IDS-vGS) with load line and the
Transfer characteristic (vDS-vGS).

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4. In-Lab Experiments
Parts
1 - CD4007 MOS transistor array (data sheet from National Semiconductor)
2 - 0.1 microFarad capacitors
2 - 10 kOhm resistor
Power supplies
Oscilloscope with FFT module
Digital multimeter (Voltage and Current meter)
Procedure
You will be using the CD4007 MOSFET array that contains three NMOS and three
PMOS transistors as shown in Figure 3. The key point to remember when using this array
is that the substrate of the NMOS (bulk connection) is connected to pin 7 and should
always be connected to the most negative supply voltage. Pin 14 is the substrate of
the PMOS and must be connected to the most positive supply voltage in the circuit!

Figure 3: The CD4007 MOSFET array.

Pin 7 is connected to the substrate of the
NMOS and should be connected to the
most negative voltage of the circuit; pin
14 is the bulk of the PMOS and should
be connected to the most positive voltage
in the circuit. (Source: National
Semiconductor CD4007 Datasheet)
4.1. IDSvGS characteristics and determination of Vt and kn'W/L
The goal of this experiment is to determine the drain current as a function of the gate
voltage when the transistor is in saturation. From this characteristic you can determine the
threshold voltage and the transconductance parameter.
a. Build the circuit of Figure 4. You can use any of the three NMOS transistors of
the CD4007 array. The node numbers given on the schematic assume that you
use the transistor between the pins 3, 4 and 5. Do not forget to connect the
substrate pin 7 to the ground. Place a 0.1 microFarad capacitor between Pin 14
and the ground. Notice that the transistor is always in saturation since vGS= vDS
or vGS - Vt < vDS.

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Figure 4: NMOS transistor in saturation used to measure iD-vGS characteristic.

b. Vary the gate voltage (vGS= vDS) from 0 to 6V in steps of 1V and record the
corresponding drain current iD.
c. For the report: Plot the ID-vGS graph. Also, calculate the square root of iD and plot the
iD - vGS relationship. Use the method outlined in section 2.3 to find the threshold
voltage Vt (the intersection with the horizontal axis) and the transconductance
parameter (kn'W/L).
4.2 ID - vDS characteristics and determination of the output resistance ro and
The objective of the following experiment is to measure the output characteristics of the
NMOS transistor: iD-vDS with vGS as a parameter. From this graph you will be able to
determine the output resistor ro and the channel length modulation parameter .

Figure 5: Circuit to measure the output characteristics of a transistor.

a. Build the circuit of Figure 5 (or modify the circuit of Figure 3). Use the same
transistor as you used for the previous experiment.
b. Keep the gate voltage constant at 3V and measure the drain current while varying
the drain voltage from 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 4, 6, 8 to 10V.
c. Do the same of a gate voltages vGS of 5V.
d. For your report: Plot the two curves on the same graph. Determine the output
resistance ro (i.e. the inverse of the slope of the graphs) at a drain voltage of 5V
for each graph. Notice that the output resistance decreases with current, as one
expects from expression (6). Find the corresponding value of and the Early

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voltage VA. It is likely that the values you find for are slightly different for each
graph. In that case, take the average value as the value for the transistor.
4.3 ID - vGS for small values of vDS (determination of the resistance of a MOSFET)
In this experiment you will keep the value of the drain voltage small so that the transistor
operates in the triode region. Since vDS is kept small the transistor acts as a resistor with a
value that is determined by the gate voltage (see expression (3) above).
The goal of this experiment is to experimentally determine the resistor values rDS for
various gate voltages.
a. In the circuit of Figure 5, set the voltage vDS=0.2V so that the transistor will act as
a electronically controlled resistor.
b. Vary the gate voltage vGS from 3 to 10V in steps of 1V, and record the
corresponding drain current iDS. Find also the value of the resistor rDS = (vDS/iDS).
c. For the report: determine the resistance rDS from the measurements and plot the
value of rDS as a function of the gate voltage vGS. Also, calculate the value of the
resistance according to the expression (3) and using the measured values of Vt and
kn'W/L. Plot the measured and calculated resistor values on the same graph.
Notice the 1/x relationship.
4.4 Large-Signal Operation: Transfer characteristic
The objective of this measurement is to determine the transfer characteristic of the
MOSFET amplifier, shown in Figure 6. You will determine the output versus the input
voltage. The graph you'll obtain will be similar to the one in Fig. 4.26(b) of the textbook
(Sedra-Smith, 5th ed., section 4.4.1). From this characteristic you will be able to
determine the amplification of this circuit.

Figure 6: Common Source NMOS amplifier.

a. Build the circuit of Figure 6.
b. Vary the gate voltage between 0 and 6V, and record the output voltage vDS. You
will notice that the output will change rapidly at one point. When that happens

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vary the input voltage in small steps of 0.1V so that you can record the transfer
characteristic accurately. It will be useful to make a rough sketch of the
characteristic in your lab notebook (or using excel) so see how the transfer
characteristic looks like.
c. For your report: plot the output voltage as a function of the input voltage. Find the
slope of the transfer characteristic around the point where the characteristic is
steepest. The slope is the amplification of the amplifier (i.e. the ratio of the output
to the input voltage). You'll notice that when the changes in the input voltage
around the Q point are kept small, the characteristic is quite linear and gives a
constant amplification. For larger values of the input voltage, one will see some
distortion in the output signal since the characteristic is not linear for large input
signals. Determine the maximum value (in peak-to-peak voltage) of the input
signal that gives a relatively constant amplification.
4.5. The MOSFET as a voltage amplifier
In this experiment you will build a simple common-source voltage amplifier, similar to
the one shown in Figure 6. From the previous experiment you have noticed that the
amplification (i.e. the change of output voltage over input voltage) is relatively large
around a narrow range of the input voltage (see e.g. Fig. 4.26c in Sedra-Smith, 5th ed.).
So, it is important to bias the transistor in the region where the amplification is large. It is
for that reason that we need to apply a DC input voltage V1 shown in Figure 7. The
actual input signal vin will be superimposed on this DC signal. This can be done by a
coupling capacitor C1 shown in Figure 7. The voltage seen at the gate terminal of the
transistor will than be the sum of V1 and vin.

Figure 7: Common source amplifier with input signal vin is superimposed on the bias
voltage V1, using a coupling capacitor C1.
a. Build the circuit of Figure 7. Adjust the voltage V1 so that the output voltage vo is
around 5V (you can the corresponding vGS from the previous measurement of the
transfer characteristic). Use the oscilloscope to verify the value of vo. For the
input signal vin use a sinusoidal signal of 5 kHz and amplitude of 200 mV (i.e.
400 mV peak-to-peak). Display this signal on the oscilloscope to verify it value.
b. Display the output vo of the amplifier on the oscilloscope together with the input
signal. Measure the amplitude of the output signal. What is the corresponding

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c.

d.

e.

f.

value of amplification (i.e. the ratio of the amplitude of the output sinusoid to the
input sinusoid)? What do you notice about the phase relationship between the
input and output signal? Is the signal distorted? Take a snapshot of the input and
output signals for your report.
You may change the amplitude of the input and see if the distortion improves or
deteriorates. You can see the effect of the non-linearity of the amplifier better
when you switch to a triangular input signal. Notice the distortion (or lack of
distortion). Take a snapshot for your report.
Switch the input back to a sinusoid with 5 kHz frequency. Set the amplitude so
that the output signal is not too much distorted. Take the FFT of the output signal
and determine the amplitude (in dB) and position (frequency) of the peaks. If the
signal is not distorted you should have a single peak at a frequency of 5kHz. The
presence of peaks at multiples of the fundamental frequency of 5kHz indicates
that the signal is distorted. It is normal to see multiple peaks for this simple
amplifier. Later we'll discuss ways to reduce the distortion. Take a snapshot for
your report.
Determine the cut-off frequencies (i.e. the 3-dB where the amplitude of the output
signal has decreased by 3-dB). Do this by changing the frequency of the input
signal from a few tens of Hz up to hundred of kHz. Record the values of the two
3-dB points. What is bandwidth of the amplifier?
For your report:
Compare the value of the amplification determined in this experiment with
the value obtained from the transfer characteristic (previous experiment of
section 4.4).
What is the phase relationship between input and output? Can you explain
the phase relationship?
From the FFT determine the total harmonic distortion THD of the output
signal (for definition of total harmonic distortion see previous lab on AM
Demodulator: www.seas.upenn.edu/~ese216/labs/
AMDemodLabOpAmpPart2.pdf.
The coupling capacitor and resistor R1 in Figure 7 acts as a high pass
filter. Calculate the corresponding 3-dB point of this filter. Express the
value in Hz. Compare this value to the one measured in the lab (low
frequency 3-dB point).

References
1. "Microelectronic Circuits, Sedra, Smith, 5th edition, Oxford University Press, New
York, 2004.
2. "The Art of Electronics", Horowitz and Hill, Cambridge University Press.
3. "CD4007M/CD4007C Dual Complementary Pair Plus Inverter" Datasheet, National
Semiconductor, 1995.
Created by Jan Van der Spiegel
jan_at_seas.upenn.edu
April 5, 2005

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Appendix A (MOSFET Lab1)

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2.0mA

Saturation

1.5mA

Vgs=3V

Triode

2.8

2.6

1.0mA

2.4

2.2
2.0
0.5mA
1.8
1.6
1.0
0A

0V

ID(M1)

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