How Transistor works

How a junction transistor works

Let's know how it works in the case of an n-p-n transistor.

So we know what we're talking about, let's give names to the three electrical contacts. We'll call the two contacts joined to the two pieces of n-type silicon the emitter and the collector, and the contact joined to the p-type silicon we'll call the base. When no current is flowing in the transistor, we know the p-type silicon is short of electrons (shown here by the little plus signs, representing positive charges) and the two pieces of n-type silicon have extra electrons (shown by the little minus signs, representing negative charges).



Another way of looking at this is to say that while the n-type has a surplus of electrons, the p-type has holes where electrons should be. Normally, the holes in the base act like a barrier, preventing any significant current flow flowing from the emitter to the collector and the transistor is in its "off" state.

A transistor works when the electrons and the holes start moving across the two junctions between the n-type and p-type silicon.

Let's connect the transistor up to some power. Suppose we attach a small positive voltage to the base, make the emitter negatively charged, and make the collector positively charged. Electrons are pulled from the emitter into the base—and then from the base into the collector. And the transistor switches to its "on" state:



The small current that we turn on at the base makes a big current flow between the emitter and the collector. By turning a small input current into a large output current, the transistor acts like an amplifier. But it also acts like a switch at the same time. When there is no current to the base, little or no current flows between the collector and the emitter. Turn on the base current and a big current flows. So the base current switches the whole transistor on and off. Technically, this type of transistor is called bipolar because both two different kinds ("polarity") of electrical charge (negative electrons and positive holes) are involved in making the current flow.