How the first transistor worked

[@DaveScottAggie]

This is the first time that I've seen a physical model of the first transistor. Interesting.

[@ngochao4889]

Khi .

[@I_am_a_cat_]

David Scott nuh uh

[@Dennis19901]

All transistors are physical :) You just need a lot of magnification to see the ones we use the most today!

[@WatchesOnYou]

This is an unbelievably helpful video for visualizing the functionality of a transistor. As a biomedical engineering student, I can say that this topic is not often taught well. Thanks!

[@super266]

If you want proof we live a broken world, education is it. How many trillions do economies and companies lose because of unfulfilled human capital? How much potential innovation is lost every year because of bad teachers? Bad teachers destroy beautiful minds, minds that could have go on to invent and fix the world? We pay our teachers peanuts, allowing rotten ones tenure, and invest nothing in training-standardizing intuitive schools' curriculum. I look back at the failure points in my career and they all point back to bad teachers. I am one of countless many.

[@SteveMillerhuntingforfood]

You are a fantastic educator. I took lots of physics as an undergrad and in graduate school. I had many excellent prof's but you are really good. If I had you maybe that C I got in 3Q physics (E&M) would have been an A. I'm a subscriber now. BTW, my father was a recent graduate of EE in the early 50's and worked for Shockley at Bell Labs. Same for my father in law, one the first employees at Fairchild in the 50's. This stuff is in my heritage.

[@flip4119]

that is awesome, be sure to pick their brains as much as you can :)

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

I've struggled for years to understand exactly how transistors work, and this is the first time that it seemed blindingly simple. Thank you so much!

[@rich1051414]

It is a 'debt thief' :) I have never looked at it that way until I saw this model though, but man, that is much easier to explain than how I was taught.

[@joevignolor4u949]

Amplification can seem strange in that you are putting in a small signal and getting a larger one out. It's almost like you are getting something for nothing. But note that the power output is actually produced by the bigger battery on the output side. All the transistor does is to increase or decrease the output current, which comes from the bigger battery, and how much it changes the output current is determined by the smaller input current.That's how amplification works.

[@Radvous]

Now we can fit 12 billion of those things in a modern GPU

[@ashleymalamute]

Radvous How? My small mind boggles at the thought.

[@MC-mx1mt]

Ashley McCallum transistors nowadays are 500 times smaller than our red blood cells.

[@thepope2412]

Not as small as my penis though

[@michaelfixedsys7463]

Zaraki 8 Science is great

[@TheRguru1]

Crazy when it's so small that it literally can only be made using tiny wavelength light waves.

[@LilNewo]

Just discovered this channel. . . so long day.

[@TylerWhelen]

I... I... Just finished a 6 hour stint?! How did my kids get so big? What year is this?! Damn engineerguy... your videos are so fluid we didn't notice the passing of time?!

[@Nhatanh0475]

Hello the past, we are the future and it comming 2020

[@genesysdominus3068]

@@Nhatanh0475 Year of the pandemic

[@SteadyAlexVortex]

Don't understand a single thing, but my god is this awesome to listen and watch

[@MrKukujiao]

This video just explained to me in 4 minutes what i failed to grasp in my 4 years of engineering studies. Excellent explanation Sir!

[@jen3800]

after over 20 years as a successful, working audio engineer, recording, live sound and theatre and corporate, and film work, i finally found someone who took the science out of the science and made it understandable to me thank you, sir!

[@gunnerdavidson7287]

I'm trying to build one for an experiment and this was a huge help. Thank you!

[@nikanj]

Really cool stuff. Bell Labs changed the world more than a few times. It would have been so incredible to work their during their golden age.

[@siamsadik9867]

This is just wonderful. I have a class test tomorrow and coming here helped me a lot, thanks!!

[@wgoulding]

I've watched a few different videos on transistors and one of my materials engineering classes went over semiconductors briefly, but I never completely and fundamentally understood how they work until I saw this video. Thank you so much and keep up the good work!

[@HenriFaust]

Technically the part about "positive charge carriers" a simplification. I'm sure you don't want to be burdened with a thirty-minute explanation of quantum mechanics.

[@PauloConstantino167]

Your explanation of the transistor is the very best one I've ever seen. Your understanding is magnificent. I think you should do your best to get this video out there as much as possible. I will share it as much as I can.

[@bk9001]

wow ! -- it is amazing to see that such a simple design revolutionized the human lives. This the best of the best channel on you tube. Thank you - Bill.

[@DigGil3]

This video has great production value and does well for what it does: introducing the history and physics of a transistor. But it really misses to give understanding on how they function. In case you are interested, here's a basic explanation. A semiconductor isn't a material halfway between an insulator and a conductor. If one wants to get picky about it, no material is an insulator under enough voltage and we ought to only talk in terms of a continuum (or gradient) of resistance in different materials. We call an insulator to a material with such high resistance we can disregard any current through it for a given voltage (usually 5 volts, nowadays). What distinguishes a semiconductor is that its resistance varies depending on a physical phenomenon like light or heat. That non-fixed resistance what makes it special. Thus you can use it to increase or decrease the output voltage of a voltage divider (Google is your friend) without having a human turning knobs. By default, semiconducting materials are usually quite good conductors by themselves! Now, we can make them out of 2 flavours using doping which make one semiconductor have a bias towards either rejecting or absorbing electrons. It so happens that having both flavours together will cause the diode effect where the boundary will have an ever growing resistance when reverse fed. In transistors (the bipolar kind) there's a current entry terminal made of one flavour which bonds with an unlike flavour (for the base) and then an exit for the current. If the entry (collector) and base are reverse biased (as if a diode), then high resistance will build up. Otherwise, collector to emitter (the exit), through the base, resistance will be little and the transistor can conduct well.

[@acmefixer1]

Visual_Vexing You have confused the emitter, which is *not* the output, with the collector, which is *not* the input. The base to emitter circuit controls the current to the collector where it exits.

[@DominicRiv]

I'm an electrical engineer and you made this sound so simple! great job man! I wish you were around when my head was buried in text books.

[@MisakaMikotoDesu]

The transistor changed the lives of billions of people DRAMATICALLY, yet this video only has 300k views.

[@injusticeanywherethreatens4810]

Certain people do not understand English. Or know of this channel's existence.

[@atelectro1]

The rest of idiots are following Kardhasians and the Royal family.

[@nileshw1368]

Billions of people are not scientific.

[@josuel.9598]

Well... at least we can say it has 600k views now

Great way to learn how a transistor works! If you never understood it this video shows it in a very simple and great way.

[@madamerotten]

Great video. I have never seen the transistor concept explained more clearly!

[@seeanthonyn]

The voice of this man is so easy to listen to

[@AaronHollander314]

I hope I never meet someone who would dislike this video.

[@wbeaty]

@JagdtygerII two-whisker detector diodes were probably just voltage-biased, but not amplifying. With two contacts, a diode's turn-on voltage could be canceled out by a separate power supply. In the mid 1950s someone (Banbury/Gebbie/Hogarth) managed to make a galena point-contact transistor. They found that amplification appeared when the whiskers were positioned within 0.0004" of each other. They had to etch the tips into very sharp points to do this.

[@Techno4more]

i love your vidoes man. its also cool you still read the comments on old videos!

[@imalwayswatchingu00]

KZbin needs more videos like these.

[@MaoRuiqi]

By employing sensible terminology coherently transitioned from element to element, without resorting to dumbing-down, you've empowered your students to better understand the complex hitherto thought unapproachable. You embody the truest notion of being teacher.

[@NihilisticRealism]

Thanks for spreading your understandings

[@V60DS]

I absolutely loved this video. I have a physics test coming up and this cleared my concepts. Thank you so much Bill!

[@Trinivalts]

Perfect, I'm taking electrician courses at the moment and this is very helpful. Hope to see more about electricity and magnetism.

[@ai6mk897]

Bill, best description of this seminal device developed by Brattain and Bardeen. I'm trying to put together a very detailed description of the development of this device, including the Physics, but I'm coming up short. Questions: 1. Do you know if the Germanium slab (BASE) was intrinsic or was it prepared ? On some X-sections a P layer appears on top of an N layer ? 2. Were the top gold contacts, the so-called point contacts, ohmic ? It seems this is where the action takes place. Is this how the P region was developed using the gold contacts ? Of course gold does not readily oxidise so it's hard to understand if the B-C and B-E diodes were something like Schottky diodes. 3. Do you know what is the spacing between the C and E gold contacts ? Comment: As I understand Bill S was leading the effort, but was not convinced of the path Brattain and Bardeen were taking, so they didn't tell him much. He was pretty mad with them, when they got the glory for the invention. But he redeemed himself and got the last laugh with his invention of the junction transistor including a rigorous mathematical description of how the device actually worked. You may not care for Bill S and some of his orthogonal ideas, but he does deserve a mention ;)

[@weylin6]

What I'm curious about is HOW they came up with the hypothesis that such a contraption would even work. It's oddly specific to dope a small area of germanium, and use a razor blade to make the slightest of gaps in a gold film point contact. So they certainly had a solid understanding of the materials before making a rig to test it.

[@50srefugee]

A solid understanding of solid state physics? Yes, they absolutely had that. The transistor was an extension of previous work by this team and others. A leap, to be sure, but from a solid foundation nevertheless.

[@kahlzun]

I am also wondering what they were trying to achieve with this. In retrospect, its obvious it works, but at the time.. were they just mucking around?

[@50srefugee]

Not just mucking around, no. They were specifically trying to develop an amplifier. This was Bell Labs, remember: they had a huge interest in being able to amplify signals for long distance phone calls without the power expense of vacuum valves/tubes.

[@nosignalism]

Your videos are the best, thank you!

[@XmarkedSpot]

Neat and simple, just enough to get the idea. Very good.

[@Rusch89]

Thanks for describing this, i've been wondering what the purpose of these transistors were. definitely helps my understanding towards them in my circuit analysis class.

[@geobenne]

Thanks for the great video, I fully understand the concept. It' s really an amazing device.

[@PacoOtis]

This guy is good! Thanks!!!

[@cyclenut]

I wonder just how many people truly understand just how much the transistor changed the world. When I was little transistors where just starting to take over. It was a cool time to be alive.

[@MrCunth]

I remember watching this when it came out long ago, finally need to know this for physics, this is easily the best way to learn!

[@HarpreetBhatia7]

This video was enlightening. Thank you :)

[@LaughingManRa]

Awesome explanation!

[@jgubash100]

As I understand it, electron flow is from negative to positive (although, "hole" or charge flow) is from positive to negative. Thank you Ben Franklin.

[@fernandoescobar4039]

awesome explanation.... Thanks for the share

[@Thegamer-ey9py]

Please keep going, I want to hear the rest of the story of the transistor! Fet, mos, nmos, bjt, jfet!!

[@cecilbroom5652]

Another outstanding video. (but you forgot Dr Shockley)

[@TheAwesomeVideoMan1]

+Cecil Broom Shockley was actually their supervisor. He contributed little to the experiment itself, but tried to take all the credit

[@OtterSwims]

+TheAwesomeVideoMan1 Well he deserves some credit...he did come up with the Junction transistor after all..

[@PeterWillard]

But Shockley DID want more credit than he deserved

[@dfpolitowski2]

He was conveniently, left out because Dr Shockely was out spoken on differences be the races. And I speculate in order to fit in with the university he works at he did this.

[@DrCrowie]

William Shockley lead the team, Brattain and Bardeen's work was primarily this particular point contact transistor, but Shockley literally wrote the book on diodes and pn junctions. and even as early as 1925 discovered the field effect. The point contact was really only a proof of concept, the BJT (Shockleys invention) was a much more successful design. Although Shockley ideas on races were quite racist, unscientific and flawed, its amazing that someone so talented in semiconductor physics, was so stupid to spend so much time on eugenics.

[@waynec369]

The Nuvistor, as far as I know, was the smallest vacuum tube ever mass produced and was done so by RCA. They were about the size of a thimble. Even still, you certainly wouldn't want to carry a pocket radio that utilized them. They used a steel envelope and got hotter than three yards of hell. My OCD is forcing me to point out that I do believe the diagram of the working transistor has a couple minor errors. The emitter and collector voltage (Ve and Vc respectively) designators are reversed. (Time stamp ~3:55). Don't get me wrong, I love the work Bill does. Including this and hope to see more of it.

[@ketutwiadnyana2610]

He had another video; kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqfVm3yArJiCibc Same thing: I think the diagram is drawn as a common base amplifier but the input and output seem to be reversed. OK we are talking about a historical discovery here and maybe that was really how it was discovered? A reversed common base amplifier that brought light to the world. Dunno?

[@Klaudiosable]

Brilliant channel.

[@8180634]

This is both the simplest and best description of how a transistor works that I have ever seen. Where were you when I was a first year student? :)

[@lmeza1983]

+Matt South I didnt get shit and I kinda know how transistors work from before, I was expecting to be fully clear after this. And I even get how vaccum tubes work =(

[@marhar2]

This is really well done, just like all your videos. Perhaps in a future video you can go into a bit more detail about the diode (around 2:06). I didn't quite get how the negative and positive charge carriers worked, or how the flow of electrons through them were any different than through a normal conductor. I did get that if the positive side of the diode points to positive power, then the current will flow. Many Thanks!!

[@cherylhugle7354]

I would like to know how important the type of crystal used was to this discovery. In particular, was exsolution important to making the crystal?

[@sagarpuri7838]

Amazing video

[@NXTpro2000]

My favorite engineer

[@SAMIMYS]

very informative video ! thank you

[@Cloudy-es3hs]

Really, @engineerguy, I enjoy your videos big time!!!

[@tarihad1145]

Thank for the video. I still do not understand how can connecting the two diode together and making a small current flow from the forward biased diode to the reverse biased diode make a acurrent flow on the reverse biased diode?!

[@derasor]

Grat video. Thanks!

[@ConditionBleen]

This video has been added to your Favorites. :)

[@the81kid]

Very interesting and accessible!

[@gustavgnoettgen]

As beautiful as a crystal radio. I'd love to see both things in one project.

[@Tadesan]

Haha! Both things in one…

[@gustavgnoettgen]

@@Tadesan An amplifier maybe, for crystal radio.

[@Christer2222]

I got some parts of the video, but not exactly why it works. For example, why doesn't the right side give off a lesser current than the left side when the contact point is smaller? Is there less resistance on the right side?

[@snesaddict1370]

Interesting video.

[@Creeperboy099]

This looks exactly like the electrical diagram symbol for the transistor

[@jozefnovak7750]

Super! Thank you.

[@eliasurrejola]

I like your easy explanation about semiconductors. Would you like to make also a video about a solar cell?

[@JagdtygerII]

Also what can you tell me about the "Flame Tube" diodes and amplifiers>?

[@bobthescientist]

wow. awesome videos.

[@Krankie_V]

So is this where the circuit symbol for diode came from?

[@Skiddla]

every time i watch one of your videos i get so curious about the world and i wonder why no one is talking about this. where should i go to learn more?

[@imalwayswatchingu00]

woah my comment is at the top :0 I finally need to really learn this, so glad I remembered watching this last year!

[@jackTHErampage]

this is cool in all but is there a series for beginners into tech and sience i really like science and tech but i dont know were to start

[@JagdtygerII]

I have read that many of the old radio operators of the WWI era and after, made something similar using their Galena "cats whisker" diodes with a second whisker. How possible is that to accomplish? I do know that the Galena semiconductor is very voltage sensitive, but would it work??

[@Francisco-j1e]

Crazy how someone came up with that!!!!!

[@leerman22]

Slap together a thin layer of p-silicon, n-silicon, and p-silicon in that order, attach wires to each layer and cover it with plastic and you got a modern transistor. Is that right?

[@roguepackets2198]

Well, BJT's aren't that popular anymore. Instead, you want something like raw silicon, silicon oxide, n- or p-silicon- a MOSFET.

[@blackgraylightgray9416]

leerman22 But where can you find silicon and how can you distinguish a p-silicon from a n-silicon?

[@pressyspikes]

Why wound't the current just flow through the very low resistance copper plate on the bottom directly from one battery to the other?

[@Classicdriver]

I would like to see this one-dimensional device.. oh wait I guess I couldn't see it if there was one! Great video however, thanks and keep up the good work.

[@apburner1]

I'm not sure I understand the concept of a positive charge carrier or positive current flow. In the negative charge case electrons are flowing, what is flowing in the positive charge case, surely not protons or other naked nuclei?

[@Josearnaldomanuel2]

Holes. Assume that we have a normal element, then you take away an electron, it leaves a space where it was and now the element is a positive ion. Holes in semiconductors works the exact same way. Say you have a semiconductor, it has 4 valence electrons, following the octet rule the 4 electrons will do their best to either form an 8 or 0, doping the semiconductor with donor atoms which have 5 electrons will make a doped semiconductor with just 1 valence electron which will more likely to have free electrons. Think of this line of 1s as a lineof N type semiconductor. 11111111 then you remove a single electron on the right side then move to the left 11111110 11111101 11111011 ........ 01111111 the electrons moved right but since the electron is negative, we can also say that there is a hole that moving to the left. so that's the conventional and electron current flow.

[@AF-nh2ux]

Except that Shockley explicitly stated that " In fact, in a good emitter point it can be shown that more than 90 per cent of the current is carried by the process which injects holes into the semiconductor, and less than 10 per cent by the process which removes electrons." www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/shockley-lecture.pdf Might be related to the differences between holes/electrons. (holes are in the valence band, electrons are thought to be in the conduction band). Not too certain of this myself because metal/semiconductor diodes are also majority carrier devices. Electrons should be going from semiconductor to the metal because it has a lower work function.(Its electrons are at a higher energy, so it migrates to lower energy in metal) The original comment is on to something, it really is a confusing topic.

[@shubhamsamrat5750]

Where is the programming code in IC and how does it work?

[@cat2cube]

@ 2:50 How do you change the charge carrier type of Germanium?

[@QuaziGNRLNose]

Hi! I'm currently studying science in college and want to go into engineering (most likely mechanical) when i apply to university this semester. i was just wondering which engineering discipline would be most appropriate if i want to do into a role where ill be doing lots of prototyping and hands on work (like robotics R&D). I really think mechanical is what i'm interested in, but its so hard to just pin down what kind of engineer i want to be already!

[@gadgetwhore2]

I like the subtle music in the background. You probably like Bodies (hit the floor) right? I think it's in Gmaj. His shrugs indicate a humble modesty, a good quality in an engineer. He moves his mouth a lot while he talks, does that bother you also? I understand they used to have a background picture, but they removed it at your suggestion.

[@justimagine2403]

I hate to say this but, huh? This fundamental concept still eludes me. Even after I watch multiple explanations of Vacuum Tubes, transistors etc. Maybe it is just me. Thanks for these videos!

[@ai6mk897]

You are not alone. To me it's a complicated device and most explanations tell you nothing or very little. But Bill does a pretty good job. Just keep reading about it...with all kinds of explanations and over time it will become clearer. Good to have a mentor as well. IMHO, struggling to understand is part of the learning process.

[@CCRoselle]

A copper tube coupling?

[@JLuVeeGee]

We JUST talked about this in my materials class! I knew exactly what was going on!

[@solomanwill1]

Now we can fit 12 billion of those things in a modern GPU

[@AF-nh2ux]

How are holes injected if the metal/semiconductor contacts are majority carrier devices(electrons are injected into the metal, not minority carriers(holes in this case).

[@jrgs906]

Awesome! Subscribed!

[@toonwijnands]

I knew how this stuff was working by education, but after seeing this I now know why the symbol for a diode in electrical wiring looks like a triangle with a straight line under it

[@fjord2141]

@engineerguyvideo how is it that the current on the right is bigger? from the RHS batteries perspective, it is still reversed biased, no? that is, all of the current on the RHS comes from the batter on the LHS, so it should be less current based on my understanding. thanks

[@petsatcom]

More on semi conductors please, other devices and cases, then microwave tubes twt cfa klystron, cfa etc

[@ZhoomTheCool]

i dont understand a thing but i like watching it : D

[@trifio5242]

Sir I have a question - i understand how transistors work now, but how about processors in the computers. can u make a video explaining how they work? how computers brains work generally, can u make a simple case like you always do, so even a non electrical engineer can understand. I mean how this magnificent device (CPU) can process so much date and calculations?

[@abhisheksanandreas]

Please do a video in PNP, NPN and other types of transisters .

[@shivanisharma-kz9pm]

Hy why they used gold foil in this on transistor? Do this gold foil is positive material or what. I mean something like this ..!! Please clear my doubt.

[@kallewirsch2263]

A more in-depth video of what was going on in these years, what the concept were when they started and how they modified it to get it working, can be found here kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2W7nKF9ptdmeNE

[@artemtsvetkov3655]

Is this why op amp represented as a triangle on diagrams?

[@timmbacher]

No.

[@somitomi]

It's what the symbol of transistor is trying to look like

[@50srefugee]

The amplifier triangle predates transistors.

[@ai6mk897]

haha, i don't think so. But it is interesting that we call the bottom of the germanium the BASE since it provides the support.

[@orangejjay]

We miss you, Bill! Now that your book is done, will you be returning to KZbin?

[@Oslokiddo]

1:42 ehm. with eks. a battery. doesnt the power go from - to + ?

[@Degotelo]

thank you!

[@vistigioful]

I like your videos.

[@Armzsta]

@engineerguyvideo where can i get this music?

[@solitude208]

Love your content! Can you do more in-depth on vacuum tubes? Especially in terms of why musicians will spend $1,000’s on tubes vs $30 tubes because of their effect on tone? Or why certain amp makers use 6l6 vs el34 because of how they effect the tone. Another great great idea could be why certain mics such as the Neumann u87 costs $1,000’s whereas other mics are a fraction of the cost and why.

[@L3SAN360TUTORIALS]

wow i got bored after a while, thank god i watched it on youtube and not in class.

[@salmjak]

How can you produce a one dimensional item on 3D space?