Article
Article
Characteristic curve
Article By:
Lopresti, Philip V. Formerly, Engineering Research Center, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Princeton, New Jersey.
Last reviewed:2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.124800
A graphical display depicting complex nonlinear relationships in electronic circuits. A typical use is to show voltage-current relationships in semiconductor devices. Device amplification capabilities, for example, are exhibited by a characteristic plot which traces output current versus output voltage with a third controlling variable as a parameter. This control variable could be the base current of a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) or the gate-to-source voltage of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor.
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