Aim: To study Voltage Transfer Characteristic of NMOS inverter with resistive

load and to observe changes in characteristics with change in value of RL

Apparatus Required : Tanner tool installed on given PC
Theory: An inverter circuit outputs a voltage representing the opposite
logic-level to its input. Inverters can be constructed using a single NMOS
transistor or a single PMOS transistor coupled with a resistor.
Digital inverter quality is often measured using the Voltage Transfer Curve,
which is a plot of input vs. output voltage. From such a graph, device
parameters including noise tolerance, gain, and operating logic-levels can be
obtained. Ideally, the voltage transfer curve (VTC) appears as an inverted
step-function - this would indicate precise switching between on and off - but
in real devices, a transition region exists. The VTC indicates that for low input
voltage, the circuit outputs high voltage; for high input, the output tapers off
towards 0 volts.
The slope of this transition region is a measure of quality - steep (close to
-Infinity) slopes yield precise switching. The output voltage, VOH, can be a
measure of signal driving strength when cascading many devices together.
The logic symbol and truth table of ideal inverter is shown in figure given below. Here A is the
input and B is the inverted output represented by their node voltages. Using positive logic, the
Boolean value of logic 1 is represented by Vdd and logic 0 is represented by 0. Vth is the inverter
threshold voltage, which is Vdd /2, where Vdd is the output voltage.
The output is switched from 0 to Vdd when input is less than Vth. So, for 0<Vin<Vth output is equal
to logic 0 input and Vth<Vin< Vdd is equal to logic 1 input for inverter.

Resistive Load Inverter

The basic structure of a resistive load inverter is shown in the figure given below. Here,
enhancement type nMOS acts as the driver transistor. The load consists of a simple linear resistor
RL. The power supply of the circuit is VDD and the drain current ID is equal to the load current IR.
Circuit Operation

When the input of the driver transistor is less than threshold voltage VTH (Vin < VTH), driver
transistor is in the cut off region and does not conduct any current. So, the voltage drop across
the load resistor is ZERO and output voltage is equal to the VDD. Now, when the input voltage
increases further, driver transistor will start conducting the non-zero current and nMOS goes in
saturation region.
Mathematically,

ID=(Kn/2)[VGSVTO]2
Increasing the input voltage further, driver transistor will enter into the linear region and output
of the driver transistor decreases.

ID=(Kn/2)2[VGSVTO]VDSV2DS
VTC of the resistive load inverter, indicates the operating mode of driver transistor and voltage
points.

Fig : Depicting Resistive load inverter

The VTC describing Vout as a function of Vin under DC

condition
Very low voltage level
Vout=VOH
nMOS off, no conducting current, voltage drop across the load is very
small, the output voltage is high

As Vin increases
The driver transistor starts conducting,
the output voltage starts to decrease
The critical voltage point, dVout/dVin=-1
The input low voltage VIL
The input high voltage VIH
Determining the noise margins

Further increase Vin

Output low voltage VOLwhen the input voltage is equal to VOH
The inverter threshold voltage Vth
Define as the point where Vin=Vout