Grown-junction transistor

An NPN grown-junction transistor is made of a single crystal of semiconductor material which has two PN junctions grown into it. During the growth process, a seed crystal is slowly pulled from a bath of molten semiconductor, which then grows into a rod-shaped crystal (boule). The molten semiconductor is doped N-type at the start. At a predetermined moment in the growth process a small pellet of a P-type dopant is added, almost immediately followed by a somewhat larger pellet of an N-type dopant. These dopants dissolve in the molten semiconductor changing the type of semiconductor subsequently grown. The resulting crystal has a thin layer of P-type material sandwiched between sections of N-type material. This P-type layer may be as little as a thousandth of an inch thick. The crystal is sli

Grown-junction transistor

An NPN grown-junction transistor is made of a single crystal of semiconductor material which has two PN junctions grown into it. During the growth process, a seed crystal is slowly pulled from a bath of molten semiconductor, which then grows into a rod-shaped crystal (boule). The molten semiconductor is doped N-type at the start. At a predetermined moment in the growth process a small pellet of a P-type dopant is added, almost immediately followed by a somewhat larger pellet of an N-type dopant. These dopants dissolve in the molten semiconductor changing the type of semiconductor subsequently grown. The resulting crystal has a thin layer of P-type material sandwiched between sections of N-type material. This P-type layer may be as little as a thousandth of an inch thick. The crystal is sli