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3. The MOS Transistor

  • Most CPUs are made of MOS transistors.

  • MOS stands for is metal-oxide semiconductor.

  • MOSFET is most commonly used type of FET, the field-effect transistor. The MOSFET has the advantage over JFET because of MOSFET's extremely low gate current (measured in picoamperes.)

  • MOSFET transistors operate logically, just like wall switches.

  • Transistor has three terminals:

    • Gate terminal is controlling the opening and closing of a physical gate.

    • Source

    • Drain

  • Electrons flow from the source terminal towards the drain terminal.

  • See also: wikipedia article about field effect transistor

  • Common MOSFET circuit symbols:

      MOSFET transistor JFET N-type transistor

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