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From MEC WIKI

JFET - Junction Field-effect Transistor

The junction gate field-effect transistor (JFET or JUGFET) is the simplest type of field effect transistor. Like other transistors, it can be used as an electronically-controlled switch. It is also used as a voltage-controlled resistance. An electric current flows from one connection, called the source, to a second connection, called the drain. A third connection, the gate, determines how much current flows. By applying an increasing negative (for an n-channel JFET) bias voltage to the gate, the current flow from source to drain can be impeded by pinching off the channel.

Structure

The JFET consists of a long channel of semiconductor material. This material is doped so that it contains an abundance of positive charge carriers (p-type), or of negative charge carriers (n-type). There is a contact at each end; these are the source and drain. The third control terminal, the gate, surrounds the channel, and is doped opposite to the doping-type of the channel, forming a p-n junction at the interface of the two types of the material. Terminals to connect with the outside are usually made Ohmic.

Physical Understanding

The operation of a JFET is analogous to a garden hose. The flow of water through a garden hose can be controlled by squeezing it and reducing its cross section; the flow of electric charge through a JFET is controlled by constricting the cross section of the current-carrying channel.

The JFET gate presents a small current load which is the reverse leakage of the gate-to-channel junction. The MOSFET has the advantage of extremely low gate current (measured in picoamperes) because of the insulating oxide between the gate and channel. However, compared to the base current of a bipolar junction transistor the JFET gate current is much lower, and the JFET has higher transconductance than the MOSFET. Therefore JFETs are used to advantage in some low-noise, high input-impedance op-amps and sometimes used in switching applications.