MOS Transistor

Dr. Arti Noor,

Sc.-E, CDAC Noida.
Email : artinoor@cdacnoida.in

23-9-2009 BVD-Lecture-3
 

MOS Structure:

MOS stands for Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor. It is two-terminal device

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MOS Energy-band Diagram:

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• The location of equilibrium Fermi-level EF is determined by the

doping type and concentration in Si-substrate. The different
terms can be defined as
E F −Ei
φF =
q
kT ni
φFp = ln
q NA
kT ND
φFn = ln
q ni
qφS =qχ+( Ec −E F )
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• Three components are brought in physical contact.

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MOS Structure Under External Bias

• Now set the substrate voltage VB at 0 and vary the Gate

voltage Vg.
Flat-Band Condition
• Band bending is due to work function difference of metal and Si i.e. ΦM –
ΦS.
• If a voltage equal and opposite to this potential difference is applied
externally between gate and bulk, then bending near surface can be
compensated.
• In that case bands become flat and condition is called Flat band condition.

• This voltage is defined as VFB

VFB = φ M − φ S
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Flat-Band Condition

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MOS under External Bias other than VFB

MOS System has three regions of Operation:

With p-type bulk :

• Accumulation (VG < 0).

• Depletion (VG > 0, but small voltage).

• Inverse (VG >> 0, high).

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Accumulation Region
Accumulation (VG < 0).

• Negative voltage is applied on gate, which attracts hole from bulk and
pushed electrons into deep bulk.
• Concentration of holes increases at the Si-SiO2 surface and results in the
accumulation of holes near surface.
• Oxide electric field directed towards gate, negative surface potential results
in upward band bending near surface.

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Depletion Region
(VG > 0) : small positive voltage is applied on gate wrt bulk

• Positive voltage pushes holes back to bulk. Near surface hole

concentration decreases.
• Holes leave acceptor ions behind and region near the surface becomes
free of mobile carriers. This is called depletion region.
• Downward band bending takes place because of increase in surface
potential.

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Depletion Region
• Positive voltage is further increase, the depletion region increases.
• One can calculate the width of depletion region by solving Poisson
equation.

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  Depletion Region

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Inversion Region
• With increasing Vg, downward bending also increases. Minority carriers are
attracted from bulk to surface.
• The p and n concentration becomes equal. The difference between Ei and
Efp at surface becomes ‘0’. At this point onwards depletion region does not
increase further. The surface becomes intrinsic.
• As Vg increases again, Ei becomes smaller than EFp on the surface. The
electrons concentration becomes lager than holes concentration on
surface. The n-type region created near the surface is called inversion
layer.
• When density of electrons on surface becomes equal to holes
concentration in bulk, surface is said to be inverted and Φs = -ΦF. Depletion
width is maximum and is defined as

2ε Si 2φF
xdm =
qN A
VGB =VTo
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 Threshold Voltage calculation
• The voltage on gate required to create inversion layer is called threshold
voltage.
• Increasing Vgs beyond Vto will not increase surface potential and depletion
width, thus both are approximately constant.
• To calculate the threshold voltage consider the following four components :

1. The work function difference between gate and channel.

2. The gate voltage component to change the surface potential.

3. The gate voltage component to off-set the depletion charge.

4. Oxide charges are present within the oxide layer. The gate voltage
component to off-set the oxide layer charges.

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 Threshold Voltage calculation(1)
• First component is work-function difference which reflects built-in potential
of MOS system.

• The second component externally applied voltage to change the surface

potential by - 2ΦF.

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 Threshold Voltage calculation(2)

• The third component is externally applied voltage to

off-set the depletion charges due to ionized acceptors
near the interface.

• Depletion charge density at surface inversion ( Φs =

-ΦF) can be defined as

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 Threshold Voltage calculation(3)
• Thus voltage component that off-sets the depletion charge is
equal to

• -QB/Cox where Cox is gate oxide capacitance per unit area and
is defined as

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 Threshold Voltage calculation(4)
• The fourth component is due to Non-ideal Oxide layer. Some undesired
charges are present in Oxide layer.
• Oxide fixed positive charges: exists very close to Si-SiO2 interface. Oxide
layer formation time come into the picture. Results due to sudden
termination of Si crystal lattice at Oxide layer. They are positive in nature
and fixed (1010 to 1012 /cm2).
• Oxide Trapped Charges : exist throughout the oxide layer. May be positive
or negative. They may result from ionized radiation, high current in oxide
layer and are immobile under electric field application.
• Mobile ionic charges: exist due to contamination of alkali (Na) ions
introduced by environment. They are mobile in presence of electric filed.
• Interface Trap Charges : exist at interface due to defects at interface.
Normally produced by excess of Si or O2. These defects can work as
acceptors or donors.

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 Threshold Voltage calculation(5)
Normally only fixed positive Oxide charges are considered

• After combining all four expression the final equation for Vt0 is

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 Threshold Voltage calculation(5)
ΦF = -.35V, ΦGC = -0.9V, QBo = -4.82 e-8 C/cm2, Qox = 6.4 e-9 C/cm2, Cox = 7.03
e-8 F/cm2, then by putting values in expression Vto = 0.4V.

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 Next Class Topic

MOSFET Operation and I-V Characteristics

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