2.
MOS Transistor Inverter: Static Characteristics II
2.1 MOS Inverter Voltage Transfer Characteristic
The schematic diagram of the simple MOS transistor inverter with a
resistive load is repeated in Fig. 2.1. As with the simple bipolar
transistor inverter, the transfer characteristic can be plotted as the
output voltage against input voltage, Vo vs. Vin as shown in Fig.2.2.
VDD
iD
RD
D
G
S
VO = VDS
Vi =VGS
Fig. 2.1 Schematic Diagram of the Simple MOS Inverter
Initially, with Vi = 0 the input voltage to the transistor is below
the threshold voltage and the transistor is OFF or non-conducting so
that the output voltage is pulled up to the supply voltage VDD. Once the
input voltage is increased to be equal to the threshold voltage, V T, the
transistor begins to conduct and so the output voltage falls. Since VDS
> VGS – VT, the transistor operates firstly in the saturation region. As
the input voltage is further increased, the output voltage continues to
fall until eventually VDS < VGS – VT and the transistor comes out of the
saturation region to operate in the non-saturation region. Eventually
the input voltage reaches a maximum of VDD and the output reaches its
minimum value of VOL as previously evaluated.
1
VO
VDD
cut-off
Vi < VT
non-saturation
VDS < VGS - VT
saturation
VDS > VGS - VT
slope = -1
VOH MIN
VDS = VGS - VT
VO = Vi - VT
slope = -1
VOL MAX
VOL
0
VT ViL MAX
ViH MIN
VDD
Vi
-VT
Fig. 2.2 Voltage Transfer Characteristic of the Simple MOS Transistor
Inverter
2
2.2 Critical Logic Voltages
The same critical input and output logic voltages can be
defined as for other logic families namely:
ViL MAX = maximum voltage acceptable as a logic LO input
ViHMIN = minimum voltage acceptable as a logic HI input.
VOL MAX = maximum voltage acceptable as a logic LO output.
VOHMIN = minimum voltage acceptable as a logic HI output.
(a) Critical Point ViL MAX , VOH MIN
This is the point on the upper left-hand part of the transfer
characteristic where the slope is -1. At this point the transistor can be
taken to be operating in the saturation region where, neglecting the
effects of channel length modulation for simplicity, the drain current is
described as:
ID  Kn VGS  VT 
2
But since VO = VDS and Vi = VGS and VO = VDD – iDRD then:
VO  VDD  KnRD Vi  VT 
2
……………Eq. 1
Expanding gives:
VO  VDD  K nR D Vi2  2K nR D ViVT  K nR D VT2
Differentiating:
VO
 2KnR D Vi  2K nR D VT
Vi
At the critical point
VO
 1 with Vi = ViL MAX and VO = VOH MIN so that:
Vi
 2KnRDVi  2KnRDVT  1
3
2KnRDViL MAX  1  2KnRDVT
So that:
ViL MAX  VT 
1
2K nR D
This value is a little higher than VT and for the example given with VT =
1V, RD = 100kΩ and Kn = 100µAV-2 , ViL MAX = 1.05V.
Substituting back into Eq.1 to find the output voltage for this
coordinate gives:
VOH MIN  VDD  K nR D ViL MAX  VT 
2
2
VOH MIN  VDD


1
 KnR D  VT 
 VT 
2K nR D


So that finally:
VOH MIN  VDD 
1
4K nRD
This value is a little lower than VDD and for the example given with VDD
= 10V, VT = 1V, RD = 100kΩ and Kn = 100µAV-2, VOH MIN = 9.98V. The
coordinate of critical point (a) is then:
ViL MAX , VOH MIN  1.05 , 9.98
4
V
(b) Critical Point ViH MIN , VOL MAX
This is the point on the lower right-hand part of the characteristic
where the slope is -1. At this point the transistor can be taken to be
operating in the non-saturation region where the drain current is
described as:
2
ID  Kn[2VGS  VT VDS  VDS
]
But again, since VO = VDS and Vi = VGS and VO = VDD – iDRD then:
VO  VDD  2KnR D Vi  VT VO  KnR D VO2
Expanding:
VO  VDD  2KnR D ViVO  2KnR D VT VO  KnR D VO2
Rearranging:
VO 1  2KnR D VT   VDD  2KnR D ViVO  KnR D VO2
There is a choice here to use implicit differentiation to find
VO
or to
Vi
rearrange the expression as Vi in terms of VO and then find
Vi
. The
VO
latter is simpler as there is only one term in Vi. Then:
2KnR D ViVO  VDD  1  2KnR D VT VO  KnR D VO2
so that:
Vi 
1  2KnRDVT   VO
VDD

2KnRDVO
2KnRD
2
Then:
Vi
VDD
1


VO
2KnR D VO2 2
5
…….Eq.2
For
Vi
VO
 1 so that:
 1 we can use
VO
Vi

VDD
1

 1
2KnRDVO2 2
VDD
3

2
2KnR D VO 2
VO2 
VDD
3K nR D
Taking the positive root as the practical value gives:
VOL MAX 
VDD
3K nRD
which for the example given with VDD = 10V, VT = 1V, RD = 100kΩ and
Kn = 100µAV-2 , VOL MAX = 0.58V.
This is considerably higher than the extreme value of VOL evaluated
previously. Then substituting this back into the expression for Vi in Eq.
2 above gives:
VDD
Vi 
2KnR D
VDD
3K nRD

1  2KnRDVT   1
2KnR D
VDD
2 3K nRD
Rearranging:
2
3K nR D VDD
1
1
VDD
Vi 


V

T
2 3K nR D
4K 2nR 2D VDD 2K nR D
Vi 
3VDD
1
VDD
1

 VT 
4K nR D 2 3K nR D
2K nR D
6
Vi 
3
VDD
1
VDD
1

 VT 
2 3K nRD 2 3K nRD
2K nRD
So that finally the critical input value is given as:
ViH MIN  VT  2
VDD
1

3K nRD 2K nRD
which for the example given with VDD = 10V, VT = 1V, RD = 100kΩ and
Kn = 100µAV-2 gives ViH MIN = 2.1V. This gives the coordinates of critical
point (b) as:
ViH MIN , VOL MAX  2.1, 0.58
V
2.3 Noise Margins
Finally, the noise margins for the simple MOS inverter can be
evaluated approximately from the critical points estimated from the
transfer characteristic as:
NMH  VOH MIN  ViH MIN  9.98  2.1  7.88V
NML  ViL MAX  VOL MAX  1.05  0.58  0.47V
7