Please recommend common FET + MosFETs

[Newbie]

Hello All

Could someone please recommend the part numbers of some typical common
FET's and MOSFET transistors. Kind of like the 3904 and 3906 NPN, PNP
transistors. Not that the FETs have to be exact replacements for the
3904 or anything like that, I would just like to know what are the
most common types of FETs people usually use.

I am just getting started with electronics. The reason I'm asking for
generic parts is that I will shortly be placing an order for some
other components and to save on shipping I would like to order a few
generic FETs now which I would probably be able to use later as part
of my learning.

Sooo.. Could someone please advise which are the most commonly
specified FETs etc. suitable for a newbie to keep on hand.

Thanks
Dale

 

[Fritz Schlunder]

"Newbie" <NoSpam@DontEmailHere.com> wrote in message
news:8hhg4097cvbdhtp0gaja0hgqjlv78bo29k@4ax.com...

Hello All

Could someone please recommend the part numbers of some typical common
FET's and MOSFET transistors. Kind of like the 3904 and 3906 NPN, PNP
transistors. Not that the FETs have to be exact replacements for the
3904 or anything like that, I would just like to know what are the
most common types of FETs people usually use.

I am just getting started with electronics. The reason I'm asking for
generic parts is that I will shortly be placing an order for some
other components and to save on shipping I would like to order a few
generic FETs now which I would probably be able to use later as part
of my learning.

Sooo.. Could someone please advise which are the most commonly
specified FETs etc. suitable for a newbie to keep on hand.

Thanks
Dale

Well certainly the 2N7000 (a TO-92 part) N-channel MOSFET would match your
criteria extremely well. Its surface mount brother the 2N7002 (SOT-23) is
also a very good choice for your low power, but very easy drive and high
speed requirements. Definitely get a bunch of these as they are very
cheap.

As far as power MOSFETs are concerned I wouldn't say there is any one
standard or anything that gets used over and over again to obtain truly
ubiquitous status like the 2N7000. There are a few devices that are used
more often than others however (and are made by several manufacturers under
the same part number). Those devices might include the IRF510, IRF520,
IRF620, IRF640, IRF740, IRFZ44, BUZ71 to name a few of the more common. In
my opinion however, you should not buy or use any of those parts themselves
as they are all slightly obsolete or otherwise not very well adapted to any
specific purpose and have been surpassed by slightly superior devices such
as the IRF520N, IRF644N, IRF740A, IRFZ44N, IRFZ48V, IRL2703, etc.

If I were you and wanted to get a few different kinds to play with I would
get a bunch of 2N7000 and 2N7002 devices, and several each (perhaps 10 or
whatever the price break occurs at) of some parts like the IRL2703, IRFZ48V,
IRF644N, IRLMS2002 and maybe a couple of extremely robust devices like the
IRF2804 and IRF1407. All of the parts mentioned in this paragraph offer
excellent price/performance or otherwise offer unique capabilities worth
paying for. Digikey distributes all of these parts, although Mouser has a
much better price on the 2N7000/2N7002 last time I checked. To round out
the mix it might be wise to get a few P-channel devices like the IRF9Z24 and
BSS84, although I find P-channel devices aren't anywhere near as useful as
their N-channel counterparts since they offer inferior performance/cost/gate
charge specifications.

Note, the datasheets for all part numbers starting with "IR" can be found
from International Rectifier's website: http://www.irf.com

The datasheets for other devices like the 2N7000 and BSS84 can be found at
Fairchild's website:
http://www.fairchildsemi.com/

Very few people use things like JFETs and MESFETs so I wouldn't be too
concerned about getting any of them. They aren't very useful for typical
applications. Nevertheless they might be educational to play with so you
might get one or so for the fun of it. IGBTs are useful for some (high
power) things but they are very similar to power MOSFETs with a few caveats,
so I wouldn't be worried about playing with them until you find yourself
actually needing any of them and are already well experienced with MOSFETs.

Good luck. MOSFETs are soooo superior compared to BJTs in many cases, but
that is partly just my enthusiastic opinion. There are some BJT bigots out
there.