DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL

EDUCATION,A.P.
Name : B.RAJARAO
Designation : Lecturer
Branch : Electronics & communication Engg
Institute : Govt. Polytechnic, Visakhapatnam
Year/Semester : III Semester
Subject : Electronics -I
Subject Code :EE-305
Topic : Special devices
Duration : 50Mts.
Sub Topic : Drain characteristics of FET
Teaching Aids : Diagrams

EE-305.47
 Recap

• Already we discussed about the terminals of FET.

• Functions of Drain,Source,Gate terminals of FET.

• Working principle of FET.

EE-305.47 2
 Objectives

• Upon completion of this period the student will be

able to know

• On condition of FET.

• Drain characteristics of FET.

• Drain resistance of FET.

EE-305.47 3
 Do you know

• Behavior of FET channel.

• Effect of channel width on working of FET.

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JUNCTION FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR

DEVICE CIRCUIT SYMBOL

EE-305.47 5
 Drain characteristics of FET

• Source :It is the terminal from

which the majority carriers enter
the bar.

• Drain : It is the terminal from

which the majority carriers leave
the bar.

• Gate: The two sides of a N-type

bar contains heavily doped P-
region called gate.

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 Drain characteristics of FET

• The gate and channel

form a P-N junction.

• Circuit Symbols: Arrow

indicates direction of
current flowing.

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Circuit diagram for Drain characteristics of

N-Channel FET
- (0-10) mA
+
D Id

+
G Vds
- _ VDD
Vgs S (0-30) V (0-30) V
VGG
+ (0-10) V
(0-10) V

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

8
Drain characteristics of FET

EE-305.47 9
Working principle of JFET using simulation

EE-305.47 10
 Drain characteristics of FET

• Fig. shows the drain

characteristics of N-
channel JFET.

• The variation of drain

current Id, with Drain to
source voltage Vds is
plotted for different values
of Vgs.

EE-305.47 11
 Drain characteristics of FET

• Let us consider the curve

for Vgs = 0. When Vds =
0, Id is also zero.

• When Vds is increased,

small drain current flows.

• This current produce

small voltage drop along
the channel.

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 Drain characteristics of FET

• This reverse biases the

gate-channel junctions by
a small amount causing
little penetration of
depletion region into the
channel.

• This does not cause

much effect on the
channel resistance.

EE-305.47 13
 Drain characteristics of FET

• At the initial stage,

current Id varies almost
linearly with Vds. A

• This region is called

“Channel ohmic region”
(from point O to A)
because the channel o

behaves as a resistance

EE-305.47 14
 Drain characteristics of FET

• After the channel ohmic

region, when Vds is
increased the current Id
doesn’t increase with
Vds.

• That is maintains a
constant value

EE-305.47 15
 Drain characteristics of FET

• The drop along the

channel which provides
more reverse bias for the
junctions causing
considerable penetration
by the depletion regions.

• Due to this the

resistance of the channel
is increased which
causes decrease in drain
current Id.
EE-305.47 16
 Drain characteristics of FET

• Therefore even though

the current is increased
by increase in Vds.

• it is again reduced by the

increase in reverse bias
of the junctions.

EE-305.47 17
 Drain characteristics of FET

• At one stage, a saturation

level of Id is reached
where it maintains an
almost constant value.

• The drain current at this

point (A) is known as
drain-source saturation
current, designated as
Idss.

EE-305.47 18
 Drain characteristics of FET

• The value of Vds at which Id

levels off is called “Pinch Off A
Voltage” (Vp).

• The region of the curve for

which Id is almost constant
is called “Pinch Off Region”.
O

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Ohmic Pinch-off Breakdown
region region region

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 Drain characteristics of FET

• When Vds is increased beyond a certain level, the gate-

channel junctions break down and the drain current
shoots to a high value and the device may be destroyed.

• This region is called ‘Avalanche Bread down Region’

For normal applications this region is to be avoided.

EE-305.47 21
 Drain characteristics of FET

• When a negative voltage is

applied to the gate, it causes
more reverse bias for the
junctions than Vgs = 0.

• Therefore pinch off and

breakdown occurs for small
values of Vds as shown in
the fig.

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 Drain characteristics of FET

• It is to be noted that when

Vgs is made negative, the
curve is shifted down-
ward .

• The saturation drain

current becomes smaller
due to the narrow
conducting channel.

EE-305.47 23
 Summary

• At the initial stage of the characteristic the current Id

varies almost linearly with Vds.

• The linear portion of the characteristic is called ohmic

region.

• When Vds is increased beyond a certain level, the gate-

channel junctions break down and the drain current
shoots to a high value and the device may be destroyed.

EE-305.47 24
 Quiz

• 1) The drain resistance is the ratio of

(a) The change in VGS to IG at constant VDS

(b) The change in VDS to IG at constant VGS

(c) The change in VDS to ID at constant VGS

(d) The change in VDS to IG at constant VGS

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 Frequently asked questions

3. Explain the drain characteristics of JFET?

5. Draw the drain characteristics of JFET and mark the

linear region ,saturation region and break down region?

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