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Plot Basic Characteristics for Semiconductor Blocks

A quick plot feature lets you visualize the basic I-V characteristics for semiconductor switching devices, based on the current block parameter values.

This feature is implemented for nonthermal variants of the following blocks in the Semiconductors library:

To plot the characteristics, right-click an appropriate semiconductor block in your model and, from the context menu, select Electrical > Basic characteristics.

Note

For surface-potential-based N-Channel MOSFET and P-Channel MOSFET blocks, the Electrical > Explore characteristics option is also available. This option opens the Characteristics Viewer tool, which lets you perform an in-depth study of block characteristics and match the block behavior to a set of target characteristics. For more information, see MOSFET Characteristics Viewer.

To plot the basic characteristics:

  1. Right-click a semiconductor block in your model and, from the context menu, select Electrical > Basic characteristics. The software automatically computes a set of bias conditions, based on the block parameter values, and opens a figure window containing a plot of the DC I-V characteristics for the block.

    For example, the following plot corresponds to the default parameter values of a threshold-based N-Channel MOSFET block.

  2. If you change the block parameter values and plot the characteristics again, the plot opens in a new window. This way, you can compare the plots side-by-side and see how the parameter values affect the resulting DC I-V characteristics for the block.

    For example, if you change the Gate-source voltage, Vgs, for R_DS(on) parameter value to 20 V, the new plot looks like this.

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