Introduction: The Nature of VCRs

A voltage-controlled resistor (VCR) may be defined as a three-terminal variable resistor where the resistance value between two of the terminals is controlled by a voltage potential applied to the third.

For a junction field-effect transistor (JFET) under certain operating conditions, the resistance of the drain-source channel is a function of the gate-source voltage alone and the JFET will behave as an almost pure ohmic resistor. Maximum drain-source current, IDSS, and minimum resistance rDS(on),