LAB 3: MOSFET I-V CHARACTERISTICS

LEARNING OUTCOME:
In this lab, the students discover two voltage-control terminals of the four-terminal
MOSFET. The students will construct a circuit to observe the change in threshold voltage
of a MOSFET transistor due to the change in substrate-to-source voltage. The students will
collect and analyze data to find the transconductance parameters of a particular MOSFET.
The students will acquire the MOSFET I-V by setting up a simple circuit connecting to the
Analog Discovery equipment.
MATERIAL AND EQUIPMENT
Material
MIC94050 p-channel MOSFET
BS107 n-channel MOSFET
Resistors

Equipment
Analog Discovery
Digilent Waveforms software
Breadboard

BACKGROUND:
The MOSFET is actually a four-terminal device, whose substrate, or body terminal must be
always held at one of the extreme voltage in the circuit, either the most positive for the
PMOS or the most negative for the NMOS. One unique property of the MOSFET is that the
gate draws no measurable current. Another is that either polarity of voltage maybe applied
to the gate without causing damage to the transistor. Although enhancement-mode
MOSFETs respond to only one polarity, the students need not fear the consequences of
using the opposite polarity.
A MOSFET with its gate and drain connected together always operates in the constantcurrent region, its iD-VGS relationship is
iD = K vGS K VTR

(1)

where the threshold voltage depends on the source-body potential vSB as

VTR = VTR 0 [ VSB + 2F 2F

(2)

Using the typical values =0.4 V0.5 and F=0.3 V gives the following values for the change
in threshold voltage of an nMOS.
vSB (V)
1
2
3

VTR-VTR0
0.20
0.34
0.45

OBSERVE THE CHANGE IN THRESHOLD VOLTAGE DUE TO SUBSTRATE-TOSOURCE VOLTAGE:

Set up the circuit as shown in Figure 1 below. Use the MIC94050 p-channel MOSFET, this
transistor has 4 terminals in which the substrate is marked on the mounting PCB. Connect
the circuit to the Analog Discovery equipment, pay attention to the polarities of the scope
channels 1 and 2. Start Digilent Waveforms software and WaveGen (out). Set-up the 2
output waveforms AWG1 and AWG2 using the parameters provided in Table 1. Consult the
detailed information at the end of this document of how to set-up the desired waveforms in
the Analog Discovery. Start the Scope (in) and set-up the channels (C1, C2, and Math
Channel M1) as shown in the example waveforms in Figure 3. Add XY in the Oscilloscope
1 window and select X=C1 and Y=M1. Run two waveforms generated in the WaveGen (Run
all). Run the oscilloscope and observe the waveform of the window XY#1. The waveform
should be similar to the samples in Figure 3.
Table 1: Initial Waveforms parameters set-up
Waveform Gen.

Frequency

Amplitude

Offset

AWG1 (sawtooth)

10

2.5V

-2.5V

AWG2 (5 steps)

1.5V

1.5V

Channel

Math

Offset

Range

C1

-1.1V

100mV/div

C2

-2V

500mV/div
1mA/div

M1

C2/RD

-5mA

Time

Start 0

Base
200ms/div

MIC940500

Substrate

RD,560

To AWG2

+
Channel 1
_
+
Channel 2
_

To AWG1

Figure 1: Circuit set-up to observe the substrate voltage

The plots of iD vs vGS will look like these in Figure 2. Each curve corresponds to a
different value of vSB. The slope of each curve is K . Extrapolating each curve to iD=0
gives threshold voltage, VTR, for each value of vSB. The curves are not equally spaced
because the change in VTR is proportional to VSB . Measure the voltage vGS, current iD with
the Digilent scope for different values of vSB. Plot as shown in Figure 2.
Obtain a printout of the XY waveform, label the values of VSB on each curve. The
waveform can be exported as data and can be saved into your computer. Use appropriate
software to plot the linear region of the curves. The slope of each curve is K . Find K in
mA/V2. Find VTR0 (i.e., VSB=0V).

Setup of step voltage on AWG:

-

Digilent waveforms 1
Analog
Out Wave Gen
Open new.

DWF1 Arbitrary Waveform Generator 1 will appear.

Generator 1
Select Channels
Channel 1 (AWG1)
Chanel 2 (AWG2)

Selecting Ch. 2 AWG2 Generator opens the second Generator. Run All, Stop All will
control both Generators.

Generator AWG2
Custom
File
Four Setps.csv
open
open. This file was
created in exel (1 column with 4 rows of values: 1, 2, 3, 4).

Adjust Gen. Frequency, Amplitude and Offset.

Use Figure 1:
-

Connect substrate to source

Disconnect AWG2

From XY Plot determine VTR.

Substrate Source Files.

Increasing vSB

iD

VGS
Figure 2: Effect of bulk (substrate) voltage on the drain current

Figure 3: Sample waveform generator and source current vs. substrate-source voltage

MIC94050 TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS EXPERIMENT ON

ANALOG DISCOVERY
The experiment shows Id as function of Vds, with Vgs parameter using the Analog Discovery
and Waveform tool.
- Build the circuit as shown in the schematic diagram of Figure 4 and connect the Analog
Discovery instruments as indicated. Connect Scope probes and power supply of the
Analog Discovery as shown.
- Start the Digilent WaveForm software
The initial settings of the generated waveforms are:
AWG1: generates Vss. A triangle browses the range from (0V-5V) = (Amplitude =
2.5V, Offset=-2.5V, frequency=200Hz).
AWG2: generates VG. There are 11 steps uniformly distributed in the range (create an
exel file to generate 11 steps). Adjust Amplitude=100mV, Offset=300mV,
frequency=10Hz.
Set Vsb=1.5V (i.e., Vb=-1.5V).

(Analog GND,
Scope 1+)
MIC94050
VG
(AWG2)

Vb

P1, 50K

Vd (Scope 2+, Scope 1-)

R1, 560

-5V (from
Diligent)

AWG1 (Scope 2-)

Figure 4: Schematic diagram to obtain I-V characteristics of the p-channel MOSFET

Scope channels:
C2: the voltage drop across R1
C1: the source to drain voltage drop
M1: Math channel calculating C2/R1 = Id current. Since C2 is expressed in Volts and R1
value is given as Ohm, M1 is expressed in Amps
M2: Math channel calculating C1/R1*C2 = Is*Vs = P, the power dissipated by the transistor.
Expressed in Watts.
M3: Math channel calculating (C1+C2) = Vss, as generated by AWG1.
Main time plot: shows the time diagrams. Only C1, M1 are activated, to keep the image
clean.
XY#1: an XY representation M1 which is Is(Vs) as function of C1. There are multiple
branches, corresponding to different values of Vg. Get the printout of the waveform, label the
values of VGS for each curve.
Measurements: The average value of P (transistor dissipated power) = M3. Expressed in
Watts.
Results:

Adjust Vsb (in step of 500mV) by adjusting the potentiometer P1. Observe, record, describe,
and explain the change in IV characteristic of the transistor due to the change of Vsb.
Can the source is connected to +5V instead of GND? If so, re-draw the schematic diagram of
the circuit (no need to set-up the circuit).

Sample of the scope windows of MIC94050 characteristic:

In the AWG window, observe the preview for the two generated signals: Vg and Vss.
in the oscilloscope Main Time plot, activate M2 to see Vss. Notice the voltage drop at high
currents, as AWG limitation. The triangle signal distortion does not affect the XY
representation, except the high current branches are a bit shorten (upper right end).
Uncheck M2 to return to the clean image.
in the oscilloscope Main Time plot, C1 shows the source voltage, Vs, while M1 shows the
source current, Is.
the XY#1 window shows the Is(Vds) characteristic. Each branch is generated during a single
step in the Vgg signal. The direction of browsing Vss (rising or falling) does not matter in the
XY representation.
o Quiz: what happens if you change the wave shape of AWG2 from triangle to
sinusoid?
the Measurement window shows the transistor dissipated power. This value is computed as
average for the displayed time frame.
You can start a scope ZOOM window to see the time domain and XY view corresponding to
the Zoom1 rectangle in the main time window. Click and drag the Zoom1 rectangle to see
what portion of the time diagram corresponds to each branch in the XY view.
Explore further in amplitude, frequency, offset of AWG1 and AWG2. Change time scale,
offset, range, on C1,C2,M1,M2,M3,M4 as necessary. Report what you have explored and
observed with clear explanation the characteristic of an n-MOSFET.

OPTIONAL:
BS107 N-CHANNEL TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS EXPERIMENT
ON ANALOG DISCOVERY
Revise the above method to obtain an IV characteristic of the n-channel MOSFET
BS107. Describe your work, draw the schematic diagram, build the circuit, take measurements,
and obtain the IV characteristic.
To AWG1

RD,560

To
AWG2

D
BS107A
S

Figure 5: Setup for BS107A IV characteristic experiment

+
Channel 2
_
+
Channel 1
_

Sample scope window of BS107 IV characteristic:

SOME DETAILED INFORMATION IN THE EXPERIMENT:

Some hints for experiment building:
- To generate the stairs signal of AWG2, start from an Xcel file with 1,2,3,4,5 in 5 rows.
Save that in .csv or .txt format (source file) and then import in the AWG (set Channel 2 to
Custom, click File and select the source file). When imported, the data in the source
file is scaled both in time and range domain:
o Each value in the source file is replicated as needed, such a way to fulfill the
AWG buffer (in our case, each of the 100 records generated 20 (or 21) samples, to
fill the 2048 samples in the AWG buffer.
o Each value in the source file is scaled to (-100%...+100%) range. The smallest
value results in -100%, the biggest one results in +100% and all other data is
linearly interpolated.

After importing the file, the amplitude, frequency and offset can be set to fit the needed
signal specs. Frequency is here understood as the buffer iteration frequency; 10Hz
means that the whole stair sequence takes 100mS (10ms/step).
To generate the triangle signal of AWG1, set the initial Phase to 270 degrees. This way
the project uses each rising and falling ramp for a value of Vbb. Frequency is set to 50Hz,
to result in 10ms for each rising or falling ramp.
To hide the connections between branches of the XY view of the characteristic family,
the XY view of the Oscilloscope is set (by default) to show only points. You might
change to the curve mode by clicking in the Oscilloscope window: Settings-OptionsDisplay-XY dots = False.
To keep absolute synchronism between AWG1 and AWG2, I set Auto sync mode,
With AWG2 as Master. I also set Repeat: Infinite, for AWG2 channel. Then I clicked
Run All instead of individually starting the two channels. Auto sync mode resynchronizes channels at the largest period of the two channels (100ms from AWG2, in
this case).

Appendix 1 MIC94050 Specifications: http://www.micrel.com/_PDF/mic94050.pdf