Speaking about bonding

[Kevin Weddle]

Remember in chemistry class where they talked about how certain compounds will bond with other compounds depending on the number of valence electrons in the compund. Those were the good old days. For now I would like to talk about silicon and it's doping. I am talking about transistors explicitly. I happened to sketch a drawing of what I thought a transistor might look like from a blueprints perspective. I have convinced myself that the layout of the transistors P type and N type has a pattern to it. I believe that the base type semiconductor stretches out at an angle towards the emitter. The voltage across the PN junction will allow the current to flow. But there exists a gradient such that the current is multiplyed depending on the value of the PN voltage. With this voltage gradient, you can achieve a much greater current for a change in the input voltage. So the voltage gradient extends from the base, at an angle, to the emitter. This allows .7 to produce a certain amount of current and .71 to get a certain amount of current.

[Guest Alun]

Here are some interesting articles on semicondustors:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/diode.htm
http://www.irf.com/technical-info/guide/semi.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolar5.htm
http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/~edudev/LabTutorials/PeriodicProperties/MetalBonding/MetalBonding.html