5 ms·
To me even a diode is slightly mysterious, or at least the "electrons and holes" explanation is. It kind of skips what happens at the metal-silicon (n-doped) ju
by praptak 4y ago
To me even a diode is slightly mysterious, or at least the "electrons and holes" explanation is. It kind of skips what happens at the metal-silicon (n-doped) junction and why this doesn't work like a diode even though "holes meet electrons".
- Koshkin 4y agoBut neither the n-doped semiconductor nor the metal have holes, isn’t that the case?
- praptak 4y agoMy mistake, make that p-doped. Anyway, from the pure "electrons and holes" view the diode is actually electrons(metal), electrons (silicon), holes(silicon), electrons(metal). So electrons-holes-electrons. No explanation for the asymmetric behaviour.
- Koshkin 4y agoPerhaps you are thinking of the Schottky barrier. (Curioisly though, in the Schottky diode they typically do use the n-doped silicon, although the p-type also forms the Schottky barrier with metals.)