What is an IRF540N MOSFET : Pin Configuration & Its Working

Advanced field-effect transistors like MOSFETs are mainly designed to overcome the drawbacks of a FET like slow operation, higher drain resistance, modest input impedance, and slower operation. There are different kinds of MSFET ICs available in the market like IRF540N MOSFET, IRF730, 40, 820, 830, and many more.

The MOSFET is also insulated gate FET or IGFET which is designed through the thermal oxidation of silicon material. The operation of this transistor can be done in two modes like enhancement and depletion. This article discusses an overview of an IRF540N MOSFET and its working.

What is an IRF540N MOSFET?

An advanced HEXFET power MOSFET like IRF540N is from International Rectifier that uses very complex processing methods to attain very low on-resistance for each ‘Si’ area. The main advantage is the quick switching speed, strong device design, and provide a very efficient, reliable device to the designer to use in different applications.

The TO-220 package is commonly chosen for commercial-based industrial applications. The fewer packages cost and less thermal resistance of this package will give to its broad acceptance all over the industry.

This IC is very flexible through its voltage and current switching capacities, so it is perfect for several electronic applications.

The working principle of IRF540 MOSFET is very simple and it includes three terminals namely source, drain & gate. Once we apply the signal at the transistor’s Gate terminal, then both the terminals like drain & gate will be shorted. Whenever the Drain & the Gate gets shorted, then only we can get the preferred results, or else it will generate unnecessary outputs.

IRF540N MOSFET Pin Configuration

The pin configuration of IRF540N MOSFET includes the following. This MOSFET IC is available with three pins where each pin & its purpose is discussed below. The IRF540N MOSFET symbol and pin configuration diagram is shown below.

• Pin1 (Source): Current supplies out throughout Source terminal
• Pin2 (Gate): This pin controls the MOSFET biasing
• Pin3 (Drain): Current supplies throughout Drain terminal

Features & Specifications

The features and Specifications of IRF540N MOSFET include the following

• N-Channel MOSFET with small signal
• Completely resistant against peak surge/ avalanche currents.
• Drain current (ID) is continuous like 33A at 25°C
• The tolerance capacity of operating temperature is high like 175oCelsius.
• Pulsed Drain Current is 110A
• Switching capacity is very quick
• Gate threshold voltage Min is 2V
• The technology used in this IC is cutting-edge, sophisticated.
• Gate threshold voltage Max is 4V
• It is accessible in the To-220 package
• Voltage from Gate to Source VGS is ±20V
• It is used with the Arduino board because of its fewer thresholds current.
• Voltage from Drain to Source VDS is 100V
• Very less resistance
• Time to Turn ON & OFF as 35ns

Equivalent IRF540N MOSFETs are IRFZ44, RFP30N06, IRF3205 & 2N3055.

How to use/Circuit Diagram

The circuit diagram of a simple two-lamp flasher circuit with an IRF540N MOSFET is shown below. In this circuit, an astable multivibrator is used, so if we want a lap flasher with high power then this circuit is a better choice.

The required components to build this circuit are two 470K resistors, two IRF540N MOSFETs, a 12V battery, 10W lamps-2 & two transistors-1uF.

Here a simple flashing light circuit is designed through a MOSFET. This circuit is very simple to design LED displays. But once you need to utilize high watts lamps/ light bulbs then it will be very difficult.

This circuit uses a 12v battery but to increase the flow of current toward the load, need to add two IRF540N MOSFETs. By using this circuit, we can drive up to 10A/100 watts of lamps. In the above circuit, the values of both the resistors & capacitors will be the same as R1=R2 & C1=C2 to flash the lamp at the same time

Advantages of IRF540N MOSFET

The benefits of using an IRF540N MOSFET include the following.

• The structure is a planar cell for a large safe operating area
• Package capacity is a high current carrying up to 195 A
• Product condition depends on JEDEC standard
• Through-hole Power package based on industry-standard
• Optimized for broadest accessibility from distribution partners
• Optimized with Si for under 100 kHz switching applications

Where to use/Applications

The applications of an IRF540N MOSFET include the following.

• An N-Channel IRF540N MOSFET IC can drive loads up to 23A.
• It is frequently used with different microcontrollers & Arduino for logic switching.
• Speed control of motors and Light dimmers are also possible with this MOSFET since it has good switching characteristics.
• This MOSFET is apt for switching applications as it consumes max current through some logic-level devices.
• It is used to switch high power based devices
• Used in controlling the speed of motors
• LED flashers/ dimmers
• Inverter/ Converters circuits
• This MOSFET IC is suitable for high power-based DC switching applications like high current SMPS, inverter circuits with compact ferrite, iron core, power amplifiers, buck & boost converters, robotics, etc.

Application Circuits

The application circuits of IRF540N MOSFET include the following.

Motor Control

In motor control-based applications, a power device is required that must be rugged, high current, voltage rated, high-speed switching, etc. To satisfy all these, the IRF540 MOSFET is used in all DC motor control applications.

Buck Converter

Buck converter doesn’t work properly by using a device that is rated with normal current, levels of switching, and voltage. The IRF540 MOSFET is used effectively to work below high current, voltage & wonderful switching speeds. So this MOSFET is apt in all the applications of the buck-boost converter

Power Inverter

IRF540 MOSFETs are used in power inverters which are rated through immense power.
Solar Switch with Zero Drops

At present, solar panels are extremely rated which is known as considerable power handling ability. The IRF540 MOSFET is extremely applicable in high power-based solar controller applications because of its power switching capacity.

Thus, this is all about an overview of an IRF540 datasheet and it is an N-Channel MOSFET mainly used for extremely quick switching & amplification purposes. The operation mode used by this MOSFET is enhancement. It is very sensitive because as compared to the normal transistor, it has high input impedance. This MOSFET is used in different applications like regulators & converters switching, relay drivers, motor drivers, power switching drivers with high speed, etc. Here is a question for you, what is the main function of a MOSFET?