How Does the Transistor Work?

The Composition of a Transistor

 A transistor is made of at least three external terminals on a piece of semiconducting material.
The three terminals are labeled as the base (b), collector (c) and emitter (e). The most important
part of a transistor is the semiconductor, which is generally made of materials such as silicon.
This semiconductor is the rectifier and amplifier for the system. During the construction of a
transistor, certain impurities are placed in different parts of the semiconducting material. These
impurities are either positively or negatively charged. The way they are placed in the
semiconducting material determines the amplifying power of the transistor. The positive or
negative impurities are generally placed in order to create junctions between the layers, so no two
positive impurities are placed next to each other. The arrangement of positive (p) impurities and
negative (n) impurities can follow different arrangements to create junctions. Some sample
arrangements are n-p-n and p-n-p. The junction between the negative and positive sections is
called an n-p junction.
The Functions of the N-P Junction
 The junctions between n and p sections of the semiconductor are the amplifiers for the
transistor. As a note, the n-p junction is a rectifier, meaning that current can only flow in one
direction. For the explanation of a transistor, the p-n-p type works well as an example. In a p-n-p
transistor, there's a small layer of n material between two layers of p material. This means that
the emitter terminal is connected to the p, the base is connected to the n, and the collector is
connected to the other p. It's very important that in all three terminal transistors, the base is
connected to the opposite type of semiconducting material than the collector or emitter. The
emitter, connected to the p, has a slightly negative voltage relative to the base terminal, which
has a slightly positive voltage. The collector, connected to the other p, has a positive voltage.
Electricity flows from the emitter to the base due to their difference in voltage. The flow of current
between the emitter and the base has a low resistance, meaning that the current flows easily.
The collector, which is connected to an output circuit, attracts the current flowing through the
base because the collector is positive. The resistance between the base and collector is very
high.
Importance of the Difference in Resistance
This difference in the resistance between the base and emitter and the base and collector is
the central reason the transistor is such a good amplifier of electricity. Because the resistance is
low in the current flowing from the emitter to the base and the resistance is high in the current
flowing from the base to the collector, a very small change in voltage from the emitter to the base
will be magnified between the base and the collector. Hence, this transistor can adequately
amplify electricity running through it.