Field Effect Transistor, FET history
Before the first FETs were introduced into the electronic components market, the concept had been known for a number of years.
There had been many difficulties in realising this type of device and making it work.
Some of the early concepts for the field effect transistor were outlined in a paper by Lilienfield in 1926, and in another paper by Heil
in 1935.
The next foundations were set in place during the 1940s at Bell Laboratories where the semiconductor research group was set up.
This group investigated a number of areas pertaining to semiconductors and semiconductor technology, one of which was a device
that would modulate the current flowing in a semiconductor channel buy placing an electric field close to it.
During these early experiments, the researchers were unable to make the idea work, turning their ideas to another idea and
ultimately inventing another form of semiconductor electronics component: the bipolar transistor.
After this much of the semiconductor research was focussed on improving the bipolar transistor, and the idea for a field effect
transistor was not fully investigated for some while. Now FETs are very widely used, providing the main active element in many
integrated circuits. Without these electronic components electronics technology would be very different to what it is now.
Field Effect Transistor – the basics
The concept of the field effect transistor is based around the concept that charge on a nearby object can attract charges within a
semiconductor channel. It essentially operates using an electric field effect - hence the name.
The FET consists of a semiconductor channel with electrodes at either end referred to as the drain and the source.
A control electrode called the gate is placed in very close proximity to the channel so that its electric charge is able to affect the
channel.
In this way, the gate of the FET controls the flow of carriers (electrons or holes) flowing from the source to drain. It does this by
controlling the size and shape of the conductive channel.
The semiconductor channel where the current flow occurs may be either P-type or N-type. This gives rise to two types or categories
of FET known as P-Channel and N-Channel FETs.
In addition to this, there are two further categories. Increasing the voltage on the gate can either deplete or enhance the number of
charge carriers available in the channel. As a result there are enhancement mode FET and depletion mode FETs.
FET circuits
Field effect transistors are widely used in all forms of circuit from those used in circuits with discrete electronic components, to those
employed in integrated circuits.
Note on Field Effect Transistor Circuit Design:
The field transistor transistors can be used in many types of circuits although the three basic configurations are common source,
common drain (source follower) and common gate. The circuit design itself if fairly straightforward and can be undertaken quite
easily.
Read more about Field Effect Transistor Circuit Design
As the field effect transistor is a voltage operated device rather than a current device like the bipolar transistor, this means that some
aspects of the circuit are very different: the bias arrangements in particular. However electronic circuit design with FETs is relatively
easy - it is just a bit different to that using bipolar transistors.
Using FETs, circuits like voltage amplifiers, buffers or current followers, oscillators, filters and many more can all be designed, and
the circuits are very similar to those for bipolar transistors and even thermionic valves / vacuum tubes. Interestingly valves / tubes
are also voltage operated devices, and therefore their circuits are very similar, even in terms of the bias arrangements.
Field Effect Transistor types
There are many ways to define the different types of FET that are available. The different types mean that during the electronic
circuit design, there is a choice of the right electronic component for the circuit. By selecting the right device it is possible to obtain
the best performance for the given circuit.
FETs may be categorised in a number of ways, but some of the major types of FET can be covered in the tree diagram below.