What do you need to make a transistor?

What do you need to make a transistor?

Most transistors are made from very pure silicon, and some from germanium, but certain other semiconductor materials are sometimes used. A transistor may have only one kind of charge carrier, in a field-effect transistor, or may have two kinds of charge carriers in bipolar junction transistor devices.

What materials are used in transistors?

The majority of transistors are made of silicon. A small percentage of transistors are made from germanium, which is another semiconductor material.

Can we make transistor at home?

The first step of making a thread-based transistor is to coat a linen thread with nanotubes. The coating creates a semiconductor surface through which electrons can travel. Attached to the thread are two thin gold wires – a “source” of electrons and a “drain” where the electrons flow in and out.

What kind of voltage do transistors need to work?

Here is a basic circuit where an NPN transistor works as a switch. An input voltage is applied at the base. You need to keep in mind that silicon p-n junction devices need a voltage higher than 0.7V to function. Hence, your base-emitter voltage (V BE) must be higher than 0.7V for the transistor to switch on.

How are transistors used to do mechanical work?

When you need to do mechanical work on something, if you add leverage, you can amplify your work. The physics of transistors allows us to use either voltage or current to manipulate leverage of electrical energy in the transistor. The net effect is that we can use a little voltage or current to control a much larger voltage or current.

What kind of material is a transistor made of?

Transistors are made of a semiconductor material such as silicon, germanium, and others. The addition of impurities into semiconductor wafers allows transistor manufacturers to create n-type and p-type regions. This process is called doping. Doping allows a semiconductor wafer, such as silicon, to divide into two regions; n-type and p-type.

What happens when a transistor is off in a circuit?

When it’s OFF, no current can flow. In the example circuit below, the transistor is OFF. That means no current can flow through it, so the Light-Emitting Diode (LED) is also off. To turn the transistor ON, you need a voltage of about 0.7V between the base and the emitter.