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Vintage threads from the first ten years

diodes instead of transistors?...

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10/6/2000 12:06 AM
Ian Anderson	*diodes instead* of transistors?...** I seem to remember something from uni about being able to wire up three diodes to work like a transistor. Anyone ever tried this - what results did you get? I always thought it would be an interesting experiment. Guess I should have paid more attention in class (story of my life - lol) ... Ian

10/6/2000 2:28 AM
Don Symes	Well, a diode is a P-N device and stickng two diodes together cathode-to-cathode would produce a P-N:N-P object, but I don't think that's a PNP transistor. Not a good one anyway. I have lots of suspicions about why, but I'll spare you. It might be fun, though.

10/6/2000 3:13 AM
aron	One of my basic electronics books said - you would think you might be able to put two diodes together but.... then it explained why...... So I don't think it will work.

10/6/2000 5:14 AM
Pete	From memory (way back in first year of tech), I remembered something of them explaining it in terms of diodes together (or PN junctions), and that's how transistors were born. Can't remember them saying that it would actually work like a transistor. Drinking too much beer before classes made the memory a bit foggy on that one Pete

10/6/2000 11:34 AM

The UK magazine "Wireless World" had a teriffic article on the invention & early developmentof transistors, Jan 1973 pp 2 to 5.
This contains a reference to an article in the journal "audio Engineering" in August 1948 (only one month after the announcement of the transistor!) showing how to dismantle two point-contact crystal diodes, and reconstruct them as a transistor! I havn't seen this article myself.

10/6/2000 1:03 PM
Ian Anderson	I said three diodes - one for each junction B/E/C - does that make any difference to my proposal? I wish I had the notes on this, but like one of the other posts said... "too much beer before classes" - I can relate to that! ... Ian

10/6/2000 6:14 PM
aron	Yes We know you said three, but I guess the point was that it might be difficult to recreate a transistor from diodes... But who knows!? Of course 3 diodes costs as much or more as a single transistor - so this would be more for fun and experimentation.

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