Anyone know how to make transistors?

[Test Electrix]

Apparently it's quite possible to make your own transistors, anyone here done this? There was some books printed in the 50s on how to do so, not much showing through google searches at the moment though I'm really hoping something turns up

[jcx]

FET Transistor Homemade From Cadmium Sulfide Photocell.

http://www.andaquartergetsyoucoffee....eriments-i.pdf

I don't know if these worked but should provide search terms

[Test Electrix]

Cheers at least there's some info around at least! Must be more lying about...

[wakibaki]

How to make transistors is well known, but as for making your own, with any kind of repeatability, no. You might be able to cobble together something that would produce amplification by bodging together some existing components into a FET, but you need pure crystalline silicon of a high grade to start with to make a BJT. I don't see how you could make this at home. Of course there are other materials such as germanium or diamond and more exotic ones like gallium arsenide, but I don't think these are necessarily any more accessable or easy to work with.

Any FET you make will only have the same kind of appeal as a crystal radio, although this is not to be dismissed, it's nice to see simple principles demonstrated. I couldn't get the black strap iron diode to work, I had to go for a germanium one.

If you had a wafer, creating a mask on it and diffusing some dopant might be doable, but I'm not sure you could really claim to have made a transistor even then. Making a triode valve is more reachable. You don't see people wearing masks in films of valve factories like you do in semicon fabs, although maybe they do now...

w

[Damon Hill]

There's some fellow in France who makes all of his own tubes, completely. Do a search on Youtube under "hand making vacuum tubes". I was amazed by his craftsmanship; appears to be all triode devices.

YouTube - hand making vacuum tubes Part 1

Making semiconductor devices seems to be a challenge, but some bright and determined person may be doing it. Vacuum state technology is obviously simpler in both principle and practice.

[poynton]

Originally Posted by Test Electrix

Apparently it's quite possible to make your own transistors, anyone here done this? There was some books printed in the 50s on how to do so, not much showing through google searches at the moment though I'm really hoping something turns up

I had an old copy of "Wireless World" from around 1954 which showed how to make a point contact transistor from 2 similar diodes.

IIRC, it was very clumsy and 'Heath-Robinson' using lab stands to hold the parts.

All-in-all, not a usable idea !


Andy


.