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Electrical & Electronics Engineering vocabulary · Circuits and Components

MOSFET

Meaning in electrical & electronics engineering, with examples

/ˈmɑsfɛt/abbreviationCommon term

In electrical & electronics engineering, MOSFET means: A type of field-effect transistor controlled by the voltage on its gate. It is the most common switch in power electronics and digital chips, and its terminals are called gate, drain and source.

In Turkish: MOSFET, alan etkili transistör

How it is used

Pronounced 'MOSS-fet'. Engineers talk about N-channel and P-channel MOSFETs, the gate threshold voltage, the on-resistance (RDS(on)) and the gate driver. A logic-level MOSFET can be switched fully on directly from a microcontroller pin.

Example sentences

  1. The MOSFET runs hot because the gate voltage is too low to switch it fully on.

  2. Pick a logic-level MOSFET so that the 3.3 V output can drive it directly.

Common collocations

  • N-channel MOSFET
  • power MOSFET
  • gate driver
  • on-resistance
  • logic-level MOSFET
  • transistorA semiconductor device used to switch or amplify signals. A small current or voltage at one terminal controls a much larger current through the other two.
  • switchA device that opens or closes a circuit, either by hand or automatically. It can be mechanical, like a toggle switch or a push button, or electronic, like a transistor.
  • heat sinkA metal part, usually finned aluminium, attached to a hot component such as a transistor or a regulator to carry heat away into the surrounding air.
  • PWMShort for pulse-width modulation: switching a signal on and off quickly and changing how long it stays on in each cycle (the duty cycle) to control the average power.

More terms: Circuits and Components

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