The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET), is by far the most common field-effect transistor in both digital and analog circuits. The MOSFET is composed of a channel of n-type or p-type semiconductor material (see article on semiconductor devices), and is accordingly called an NMOSFET or a PMOSFET (also commonly nMOSFET, pMOSFET, NMOS FET, PMOS FET, nMOS FET, pMOS FET).
The 'metal' in the name is an anachronism from early chips in which the gates were metal; modern chips use polysilicon gates. IGFET is a related, more general term meaning insulated-gate field-effect transistor, and is almost synonymous with "MOSFET", though it can refer to FETs with a gate insulator that is not oxide. Some prefer to use "IGFET" when referring to devices with polysilicon gates, but most still call them MOSFETs.
Usually the semiconductor of choice is silicon, but some chip manufacturers, most notably IBM, have begun to use a mixture of silicon and germanium (SiGe) in MOSFET channels. Unfortunately, many semiconductors with better electrical properties than silicon, such as gallium arsenide, do not form good gate oxides and thus are not suitable for MOSFETs.
The gate terminal is a layer of polysilicon (polycrystalline silicon; why polysilicon is used will be explained below) placed over the channel, but separated from the channel by a thin insulating layer of what was traditionally silicon dioxide, but more advanced technologies used silicon oxynitride. When a voltage is applied between the gate and source terminals, the electric field generated penetrates through the oxide and creates a so-called "inversion channel" in the channel underneath. The inversion channel is of the same type — P-type or N-type — as the source and drain, so it provides a conduit through which current can pass. Varying the voltage between the gate and body modulates the conductivity of this layer and makes it possible to control the current flow between drain and source.
2006-09-10 23:50:14
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answer #1
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answered by aadhunik.com social networking s 3
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