Definition: power MOSFET

A type of metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) used to switch large amounts of current. Power MOSFETs use a vertical structure with source and drain terminals at opposite sides of the chip. The vertical orientation eliminates crowding at the gate and offers larger channel widths. In addition, thousands of these transistor "cells" are combined into one in order to handle the high currents and voltage required of such devices.

Following are the common types of power MOSFETs. The last example is a combination MOSFET and bipolar junction transistor (BJT), known as an "insulated gate bipolar transistor" (see IGBT). See MOSFET.

Power MOSFETs

All power MOSFETs use a vertical structure in which the source and drain are at opposite sides of the chip. The last example is a combination of MOSFET and bipolar technologies, which is typically used in higher power applications.