A
Andrew
Guest
I'm not an electronics engineer or physicist, so I'm turning to this
group for some help for a research project I'm doing.
Can anyone confirm whether the "Surface Barrier" of the 'Surface
Barrier Transistor', first manufactured commercially by Philco in
1954, is the same thing as what is now called a "Schottky barrier"?
To help you decide, here's a description of the Surface Barrier
Transistor, from the Proceedings of the IRE, Dec 1953;
"The Surface Barrier of N-Type Germanium - The useful current of the
surface-barrier transistor is a current of holes moving from the
emitter to the collector. The free electrons which are normally
present in a large quantity in N-type germanium would short-circuit
the device if it were not for the action of the surface barrier which
tends to push the free electrons back from the surface.
The surface barrier includes the surface and a layer of germanium
just beneath the surface of the crystal which is about one
ten-thousandth of an inch thick and contains almost no free charge
carriers, either electrons or holes. This layer (shown schematically
in Fig. 1) is practically an insulator, but contains a strong electric
field, like a charged condensor, in such a direction as to move a free
electron from the surface towards the interior.
The formation of the surface barrier is related to the fact that
electron energy levels, or orbits, may exist on the surface of a
crystal which are quite different from those in the interior of the
crystal...Thus insulating crystals may exhibit high surface
conductivity due to a layer only one or two atoms thick which can pass
electrons from atom to atom along the surface freely."
rgds, Andy
group for some help for a research project I'm doing.
Can anyone confirm whether the "Surface Barrier" of the 'Surface
Barrier Transistor', first manufactured commercially by Philco in
1954, is the same thing as what is now called a "Schottky barrier"?
To help you decide, here's a description of the Surface Barrier
Transistor, from the Proceedings of the IRE, Dec 1953;
"The Surface Barrier of N-Type Germanium - The useful current of the
surface-barrier transistor is a current of holes moving from the
emitter to the collector. The free electrons which are normally
present in a large quantity in N-type germanium would short-circuit
the device if it were not for the action of the surface barrier which
tends to push the free electrons back from the surface.
The surface barrier includes the surface and a layer of germanium
just beneath the surface of the crystal which is about one
ten-thousandth of an inch thick and contains almost no free charge
carriers, either electrons or holes. This layer (shown schematically
in Fig. 1) is practically an insulator, but contains a strong electric
field, like a charged condensor, in such a direction as to move a free
electron from the surface towards the interior.
The formation of the surface barrier is related to the fact that
electron energy levels, or orbits, may exist on the surface of a
crystal which are quite different from those in the interior of the
crystal...Thus insulating crystals may exhibit high surface
conductivity due to a layer only one or two atoms thick which can pass
electrons from atom to atom along the surface freely."
rgds, Andy