All CMOS digital integrated circuits I've ever seen connect all the nFET substrates together to GND.
In particular, the IC CMOS NAND gate has one nFET that has its substrate connected to GND, but its source pin connected to some other internal node.
If I build a NAND gate out of discrete nFET and pFET transistors for educational reasons, do I need to duplicate that substrate connection by using a 4-terminal transistor (with the substrate separately pinned out) to get it to work? Or would that NAND still work just as well with 3-pin discrete transistors, with the substrate "incorrectly" connected to the source pin?
Is there something magic about a 4-terminal transistor that has a "source" pin not tied to its substrate, such as the ones inside an IC, that can't be duplicated by an individual discrete 3-terminal transistor?
(This question was inspired by some coments at Recomendation for a digital inverter made of discrete components ).