Pssst... we made flashcards to help you review the content in this episode! Find them on the free Crash Course App! Download it here for Apple Devices: apple.co/3d4eyZo Download it here for Android Devices: bit.ly/2SrDulJ
In this episode, we talk about Silicon Valley's namesake and how network solids are at the heart of it all. ***** also discusses Solid-State Semiconductors, N-Type and P-Type Semiconductors, Diodes, Transistors, Computer Chips, and Binary Code. All from the same thing that makes up sand! Silicon - The Internet's Favorite Element: Crash Course Chemistry #35
some people complain about these crash course chemistry vids because they are too fast, and have to pause/rewind... I have to pause them to laugh and rewind over what I laughed through!!!! the hand with the clay and the "ahh" sound, killed me. such comedic gold. relatively low brow, at the same time high brow... love it. thanks.
I seriously love this whole series, I'm a physics major and am well versed in chemistry, but I still find it so entertaining, and it gives me great ammo to teach others with.
I think there's a problem with the card for Diode at 6:14... It says "A method for determining the concentration of a solute in a solution." Great video as always. Crash Course Computer Science...?
I like how easy he just made 1/4 of an EE course from this video, some instructors at my university could learn some teaching skills from Hank. One specific skill; not putting the class to sleep! I enjoy every one of your SS/CC videos , and this one gets my approval the most, because it's in my field!
"The structure of glass, you may notice, is very similar to the structure of quartz, only the structure of glass looks like Mother Nature tried to make quartz while she was a little drunk." LOL Oh, Edi or Hank never stop being awesome.
Would love it if Crash Course could do an Electronics Engineering and Computer Science series :) SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY! (I'm actually really glad I still understand this stuff, I've forgotten a lot of stuff since my days as an Electronics Engineering student, designing op-amps and power supplies, whilst learning Java programming, totally cringeworthy...)
Sean Dafny Depending on the school and the course level, the methods of teaching are different. University level engineering throws you straight into the deep end with mathematics (definitely Calculus) and little practical application; but technical college/trade level gives you all the practical experience too. I mean, university will do some practical, but nowhere near what one would do, say, in low voltage electronic equipment (service tech) work or high voltage mains and transmission line (electrician) work. Engineering also focuses on design and project management, R&D, touching on computer science and programming (particularly microcontroller programming). All these things tie with in electrical engineering. From my experience, I went the trade route and started from the basics of DC and Ohm's law, some maths (okay, a lot of maths), wiring little circuits with light bulbs, all the way through AC principles, amplifier basics, digital electronics (logic gates and microcontrollers), electronic security, advanced radio comms (totally got to build a Yagi antenna!), computer repairs, to designing and building my own analog op amp with a 471 chip (once I hit diploma level). Everything comes back to Ohm's law. I did electronics, not electrical; I am definitely not interested in touching anything to do with mains power. Already knowing how to solder gives you an instant advantage if you're going to university; some students wind up in work placement without even knowing what components look like in real life; or which part of the soldering iron is the one you're supposed to hold... I came into my course with that knowledge already; from 9 months making audio signal cabling and boxes for a job. Good luck!
WOO. THANK YOU HANK GREEN. I am doing a science project on silicon. (Everybody is assigned an element. I got Silicon.) I was about to start researching when I got the urge to procrastinate on youtube and BAM this is posted. You never fail to amaze me.
This episode is more information dense than others. It was very good, and I learned quite a bit. Granted, I had to watch it a few times to digest it all.
Bigger remark: I think the explanation under "Diode" at 6:12 (method for determining the concentration of a solute in a solution) doesn't exactly belong there.
1 - Greetings and love from a physics grad student. Thanks for your awesome video. 2 - It's pity that a few amount of people are watching these awesome-informative-FREE-educational videos. 3 - I would like to personally meet those people who disliked this. I wanna weigh their heads (without any kinda violence and decapitation!) . Theirs must be MUCH lighter than yours and mine. Just saying you know!!!
Would have been great to hear a little about the MOS structure. The Transistor that you started to describe is (I believe) the BJT, which uses current to turn on or off. What we use most of the time today is the MOSFET, which uses voltage to turn on or off. This is a much lower power device.
They used to teach that, but not any more. Very old glass windows which are thicker at the bottom were made that way. It was before the "float glass" technique was invented. The installers put them in with the thick edge down.
There are aspects of SVOs that use a fair amount of processing power. I'm working on a game engine at the moment that's based off of voxels, and I can tell you that there are a lot of places where voxels reduce processing power, and other places where it doesn't.
I think the one fingered push up of the glasses is needed to prove his nerdiness and enforces the "I know what I'm talking about" part of his shows. ;)
glass can conduct electricity rather well if it gets hot enough. If it glows it should conduct and if allowed will cause a run away effect. This can happen in a microwave oven. It can also occur on failing outdated electrical insulators. It can be done easily on purpose in a microwave. I have only read about it happening accidentally during fault tests and repair.
Hey hank, I'd like to point out something in this video. Your explanation on why not type and P type semiconductors are called so is a bit misleading. Both n type and p type semiconductors are electrically neutral - ie they have no net charge. This is so because the dopant itself is neutral and so is silicon. DFTBA ;)
how Mother Nature makes glass is how I think my aunt made all of her children: slightly drunk. great and informative video! we're actually studying silica bonds this week in my chem class. DFTBA hank :)
I did some research and it looks like you are right: Oxygen is the most abundant in the crust. This makes sense if we assume most of the silicon is as SiO2, which has 28 grams/mol of Si and 32 grams/mol of oxygen. Oxygen is also found in many other minerals and ores.
Thanks for this comment; I was sitting here feeling not quite right about that. Like how does adding something neutral to something neutral make it charged? I'll have to check out the video you mentioned next!
Just to clear something up: sand is not a particular mineralogy, it is a grain/sediment size. What you scoop up at the beach may be composed of several varieties of quartz in addition to various iron oxides and other detrimental minerals. In many places the sand size fraction lacks quartz all together, e.g. White Sands New Mexico is nearly all gypsum sand and Papakolea Beach in Hawaii is mostly olivine. Btw minerals are minerals regardless of their size or habit, quartz sand is exactly quartz.
So this was an awesome video... ...but the one thing I was hoping to learn is exactly how the set of 3 p/n-type semi-conducting silicon actually work together to create an on/off switch. As I understand, a second current is used to prevent electron flow, but I can't remember which ones require which connection, and how the electrons cause the effect.
Good, but 2 complaints: Clays and glass are not just "different forms of SiO2". They contain other elements besides silicon and oxygen, and it is because of those elements that they have different silicon-oxygen networks. Molten quartz solidifies into an amorphous glass unless it is cooled very slowly. While crystalline quartz melts at 1713C, silica glass (called "fused quartz") begins to soften at 1665C.
That's actually a great question. Carbon's utility for life comes from its 4 valence electrons, allowing it to make a variety of chemical bonds and even hold electrons temporarily when made into organic compounds. BUT Silicon also has 4 valence electrons, so I think the answer comes down to its simplicity: its the first atom with 4 valence electrons in the Periodic Table.
Hey Hank, quick question, what is the deal with solar photovoltaic panels in this regard ? They are made from doped silica crystals as well, are they not ? Do you think you can find the time to talk about them a little ?
I think "insulator" here refers to the inability to conduct electricity, not heat. While it's true that metals conduct both heat and electricity very well due to their free electrons, other solids which are not electrical conductors may still conduct heat due to lattice vibrations. Some ceramics (e.g. the heat shield tiles on the Space Shuttle) are amazing thermal insulators, usually due to pockets of air trapped inside, while others are not.
It is an amorphous solid, meaning a solid that the structure of the atoms that make it up is pretty much random. The lack of organization in the structure allows them to move a little bit, causing amorphous solids to flow very slowly. After a hundred years, a glass window will be a little wider at the bottom than the top because of this.
Hello crash course team, I'm a sophomore in high school and I love your videos. I'd like to thank you and ask you to keep up the great work. I'd also like to offer a suggestion that I'm sure you've heard before, but I'll say it anyways; you guys should do a crash course physics. Thank you again. DFTBA
The glass is thicker at the bottom because they made it uneven and the builders weren't stupid, and all amorphous (non crystalline) solids flow, just with stupendously high viscosities (mm per billion years kind of size)
Tiny tiny remark: N-type and P-type silicon have only a *relative* charge. The amount of electrons and amount of protons in the entire crystal still match perfectly. The charge only exists with respect to the "perfect" structure without doping. :) Also: What Doctor Who reference?! O_o
Good video... Minor correction: the most abundant element in the crust is oxygen--not silicon. This makes sense if you consider that silicon exists in a 1:2 ratio with oxygen in a tetrahedron.
Well, when you have heavier elements, the repulsive forces between the protons get stronger, hence the need for more neutrons and why I said silicon was more complex. I didn't take oxidation numbers into account, so that was good to know :)
The transistor at 0:44 looks like a little tripod. Makes me thinking: If those tiny transistor-tripods are everywhere in your modern life, from nuclear weapons to cell phones - maybe the tripods won the War of the Worlds?
I'm sure I am repeating a previous comment, but a subtle point about the doping description seems incorrect. I listened to it twice and the description of the way that doping adds charge carries to N-type and P-type regions seems to describe the process as adding negative and positive charge to the lattice, respectively. This is not the case. There are free negative charge carriers in the form of electrons, for N-type regions, and free positive charge carriers in the form of holes, for P-type regions, added to the lattice but the over all charge of the lattice remains neutral. The reason for this that the atoms used to dope the silicon structure, say phosphorus or boron, are of neutral charge when they are added to the lattice--they have the same number of protons as they have electrons. The lattice remains neutrally charged. They effectively displace a silicon atom in the lattice but they don't have the right number of electrons to exactly satisfy all the bonds for that silicon atom. This leaves either a free electron that can move through the lattice (phosphorus) or a deficiency of an electron that can also move through the lattice (boron). These free charge carriers allow for conduction of electricity.
ah i was just kidding around ^^ but, honestly i learned more on the first video than i did a whole year in 11th grade chemistry, although to be fair i didn't have a good stimulating teacher.
Hank!! Since the most silicon is found in silicate rocks the silicon is bonded to oxygen forming SiO2 so oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth's crust. Maybe there should be a Crash Course Geology to teach this stuff.
The n-type and p-type aren't actually charged, they just have free electrons, in the case of the n-doped silicon, or spots for electrons, in the case of the p-doped silicon.
Silicon most commonly has an oxidation number of +2 or +4, while Carbon most commonly has an oxidation number of +4 or -4 (Although carbon can have anything in between). So even though they have the same number of valence electrons, they don't react the same way. Also, I wouldn't say silicon's higher atomic number makes it more complicated, just heavier. But perhaps you are right that this is the reason for the difference.
Pssst... we made flashcards to help you review the content in this episode! Find them on the free Crash Course App!
Download it here for Apple Devices: apple.co/3d4eyZo
Download it here for Android Devices: bit.ly/2SrDulJ
In this episode, we talk about Silicon Valley's namesake and how network solids are at the heart of it all. ***** also discusses Solid-State Semiconductors, N-Type and P-Type Semiconductors, Diodes, Transistors, Computer Chips, and Binary Code. All from the same thing that makes up sand!
Silicon - The Internet's Favorite Element: Crash Course Chemistry #35
luv u mike ur great
el sam R u dolan? Cuz i crie evrytiem. Dolan, cum bck tu Spoderman.
This is the only competent (and excellent) video on silicates that I've been able to find on RUclips. Also really fun to watch. Thank you sir.
I think Hank would make for a great rapper
멀티팬단
A rap battle with Busta Rhymes.
I would totally watch this with
absolute delight.
Hank, this video was recommended by my chem course at UBC! I love that crash course is getting the attention it deserves :)
I was studying for my chemistry test, and I end up this video. I learned something more about my geology major! Thank you!
This video just made me realize that I have forgotten absolutely everything I learned about chemistry in high school.
Dennis Chaves I have nothing to say nothing
some people complain about these crash course chemistry vids because they are too fast, and have to pause/rewind...
I have to pause them to laugh and rewind over what I laughed through!!!! the hand with the clay and the "ahh" sound, killed me. such comedic gold. relatively low brow, at the same time high brow... love it. thanks.
Steve mold does an amazing job at explaining this more detail if anyone wants to delve deeper. his video is how LED's work.
I seriously love this whole series, I'm a physics major and am well versed in chemistry, but I still find it so entertaining, and it gives me great ammo to teach others with.
I recall seeing semiconductors in the Physics syllabus... Good job Hank pls remember to continue to create a Crash Course Physics Series too!
pretty funny the way the baseball bat goes limp in the analogy for doping 4:44 :D
Arsenic is pretty scary looking :P (4:57).
Hey Crash Course, can you make a video where you show all the animations you all made for each element?
I want a full sized poster of the periodic table with each of the little spren.
@CrashCourse I think the definition of diode(6:14) is wrong. It's not a "method for determining the concentration of a solute in a solution".
I picked it up straight away too! No reply from crash course yet? Still good though, and we all make typos. :-)
+Louis Speer that's one hell of a typo...
helll yeah all of u ignored
And what's the correct definition?
Edit: nvm
I think there's a problem with the card for Diode at 6:14... It says "A method for determining the concentration of a solute in a solution."
Great video as always. Crash Course Computer Science...?
I like how easy he just made 1/4 of an EE course from this video, some instructors at my university could learn some teaching skills from Hank. One specific skill; not putting the class to sleep! I enjoy every one of your SS/CC videos , and this one gets my approval the most, because it's in my field!
"The structure of glass, you may notice, is very similar to the structure of quartz, only the structure of glass looks like Mother Nature tried to make quartz while she was a little drunk." LOL Oh, Edi or Hank never stop being awesome.
Would love it if Crash Course could do an Electronics Engineering and Computer Science series :)
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
(I'm actually really glad I still understand this stuff, I've forgotten a lot of stuff since my days as an Electronics Engineering student, designing op-amps and power supplies, whilst learning Java programming, totally cringeworthy...)
Please tell me more about electrical engineering I'm planning on studying it
Sean Dafny
Depending on the school and the course level, the methods of teaching are different. University level engineering throws you straight into the deep end with mathematics (definitely Calculus) and little practical application; but technical college/trade level gives you all the practical experience too. I mean, university will do some practical, but nowhere near what one would do, say, in low voltage electronic equipment (service tech) work or high voltage mains and transmission line (electrician) work. Engineering also focuses on design and project management, R&D, touching on computer science and programming (particularly microcontroller programming). All these things tie with in electrical engineering.
From my experience, I went the trade route and started from the basics of DC and Ohm's law, some maths (okay, a lot of maths), wiring little circuits with light bulbs, all the way through AC principles, amplifier basics, digital electronics (logic gates and microcontrollers), electronic security, advanced radio comms (totally got to build a Yagi antenna!), computer repairs, to designing and building my own analog op amp with a 471 chip (once I hit diploma level). Everything comes back to Ohm's law. I did electronics, not electrical; I am definitely not interested in touching anything to do with mains power.
Already knowing how to solder gives you an instant advantage if you're going to university; some students wind up in work placement without even knowing what components look like in real life; or which part of the soldering iron is the one you're supposed to hold... I came into my course with that knowledge already; from 9 months making audio signal cabling and boxes for a job.
Good luck!
Lara Schilling Thank you for such a prompt, detailed response. I really appreciate it.
Sean Dafny
Good luck in your studies! It's a really interesting field.
1:13 CC "one of the most intriguing element[s] in the universe"
I just love the animation and the click sound when the bonds change!
WOO.
THANK YOU HANK GREEN.
I am doing a science project on silicon. (Everybody is assigned an element. I got Silicon.)
I was about to start researching when I got the urge to procrastinate on youtube and BAM this is posted.
You never fail to amaze me.
TIL that a diode is a method for determining the concentrarion of a solute in a solution. That or Thought Café forgot to change the text at 6:14.
This episode is more information dense than others. It was very good, and I learned quite a bit. Granted, I had to watch it a few times to digest it all.
Bigger remark: I think the explanation under "Diode" at 6:12 (method for determining the concentration of a solute in a solution) doesn't exactly belong there.
I love these!!! I do wish Crash Course was a bit slower with the delivery. A lot work goes into these and it shows.
0:35 like could you not?
1 - Greetings and love from a physics grad student. Thanks for your awesome video.
2 - It's pity that a few amount of people are watching these awesome-informative-FREE-educational videos.
3 - I would like to personally meet those people who disliked this. I wanna weigh their heads (without any kinda violence and decapitation!) . Theirs must be MUCH lighter than yours and mine. Just saying you know!!!
Would have been great to hear a little about the MOS structure. The Transistor that you started to describe is (I believe) the BJT, which uses current to turn on or off. What we use most of the time today is the MOSFET, which uses voltage to turn on or off. This is a much lower power device.
As a ceramic artist, I appreciate the nod to my favorite applied technology. Silica is a fascinating molecule.
They used to teach that, but not any more. Very old glass windows which are thicker at the bottom were made that way. It was before the "float glass" technique was invented. The installers put them in with the thick edge down.
I love that subtle reference to "doping" in the intro!
I love learning about Chemistry. One Gripe though, you got Angus Young's guitar wrong. He uses a Gibson SG not a fender Stratocaster
There are aspects of SVOs that use a fair amount of processing power. I'm working on a game engine at the moment that's based off of voxels, and I can tell you that there are a lot of places where voxels reduce processing power, and other places where it doesn't.
REVERSE THE POLARITY OF THE NEUTRO- I mean, ELECTRON FLOW
I'm learning semi-conductor at school and I'm really confused, Hank explained it better in 2-3 minutes than my teacher in,like, 9 hours
You just described one semester course of my electrical/ Computer Engenerring courses
Yay! 35th chemistry video!
This is an amazing series/channel. I so wish this was around when I was a kid. Seriously easy to follow and understand. Thank you!!!
I think the one fingered push up of the glasses is needed to prove his nerdiness and enforces the "I know what I'm talking about" part of his shows. ;)
I wish you made this video like 9 months ago, it would have made my electronics class WAY easier.
2:02 secret triforce
6:15 testing to see if we're paying attention, Hank?
Semi-conductors are so new to me that I needed to re watch that segment and take down the speed all the way from 200% to 100%.
crash course should do a computer science course!
LOL I was just about to write: This episode blew my mind than Hank said: 8:59
4:42 - That looks too similar to Ichiro; don't you dare! He's completely honorable!
I always enjoy the Doctor Who references.
glass can conduct electricity rather well if it gets hot enough. If it glows it should conduct and if allowed will cause a run away effect. This can happen in a microwave oven. It can also occur on failing outdated electrical insulators. It can be done easily on purpose in a microwave. I have only read about it happening accidentally during fault tests and repair.
I personally feel this needs to be followed up with an episode about either GaAs (Gallium Arsenic), Phosphorus, or Germanium
Hey hank, I'd like to point out something in this video.
Your explanation on why not type and P type semiconductors are called so is a bit misleading.
Both n type and p type semiconductors are electrically neutral - ie they have no net charge. This is so because the dopant itself is neutral and so is silicon.
DFTBA ;)
Steve mold did an amazing job at explaining it. How LEDs work
One direction is confusing the polarity of AC/DC
how Mother Nature makes glass is how I think my aunt made all of her children: slightly drunk. great and informative video! we're actually studying silica bonds this week in my chem class. DFTBA hank :)
Love the 3rd Doctor joke, he shall forever be reversing the polarity of the neutron flow.
I did some research and it looks like you are right: Oxygen is the most abundant in the crust. This makes sense if we assume most of the silicon is as SiO2, which has 28 grams/mol of Si and 32 grams/mol of oxygen. Oxygen is also found in many other minerals and ores.
Thanks for this comment; I was sitting here feeling not quite right about that. Like how does adding something neutral to something neutral make it charged? I'll have to check out the video you mentioned next!
0:44 I never thought I'd see a transistor that I could call cute. Thoughtbubble is impressive!
We just had a glimpse of what 'Crash Course - Electronics' would be like. And it was a wonderful thing :D
Just to clear something up: sand is not a particular mineralogy, it is a grain/sediment size. What you scoop up at the beach may be composed of several varieties of quartz in addition to various iron oxides and other detrimental minerals. In many places the sand size fraction lacks quartz all together, e.g. White Sands New Mexico is nearly all gypsum sand and Papakolea Beach in Hawaii is mostly olivine. Btw minerals are minerals regardless of their size or habit, quartz sand is exactly quartz.
So this was an awesome video...
...but the one thing I was hoping to learn is exactly how the set of 3 p/n-type semi-conducting silicon actually work together to create an on/off switch.
As I understand, a second current is used to prevent electron flow, but I can't remember which ones require which connection, and how the electrons cause the effect.
Good, but 2 complaints:
Clays and glass are not just "different forms of SiO2". They contain other elements besides silicon and oxygen, and it is because of those elements that they have different silicon-oxygen networks.
Molten quartz solidifies into an amorphous glass unless it is cooled very slowly. While crystalline quartz melts at 1713C, silica glass (called "fused quartz") begins to soften at 1665C.
That's actually a great question. Carbon's utility for life comes from its 4 valence electrons, allowing it to make a variety of chemical bonds and even hold electrons temporarily when made into organic compounds. BUT Silicon also has 4 valence electrons, so I think the answer comes down to its simplicity: its the first atom with 4 valence electrons in the Periodic Table.
Suggestion: Crash Course: Electronics Engineering 101, and CC: Information Technology & Programming
Yes, excellent Doctor Who reference Hank, and thanks for expanding on other videos I have seen on this topic.
Hey Hank, quick question, what is the deal with solar photovoltaic panels in this regard ? They are made from doped silica crystals as well, are they not ? Do you think you can find the time to talk about them a little ?
I think that I finally understand networks better could you do an episode on iron networks with carbon a.k.a. Steel!
I think "insulator" here refers to the inability to conduct electricity, not heat. While it's true that metals conduct both heat and electricity very well due to their free electrons, other solids which are not electrical conductors may still conduct heat due to lattice vibrations. Some ceramics (e.g. the heat shield tiles on the Space Shuttle) are amazing thermal insulators, usually due to pockets of air trapped inside, while others are not.
I love your shirt Hank!
because the mongols are the exeption
Yeah "WE'RE THE EXCEPTION" and are you guys selling them?
Dang Hank, you lost me on this one. But I was entertained the whole time!
It is an amorphous solid, meaning a solid that the structure of the atoms that make it up is pretty much random. The lack of organization in the structure allows them to move a little bit, causing amorphous solids to flow very slowly. After a hundred years, a glass window will be a little wider at the bottom than the top because of this.
Yea I'll need to watch this five times to really get it.
I've always been a fan of chemistry! thank you for this!
I wish that my professors could explain things like you can. Amazing short but informative video. Everything makes sense now! Thanks.
Steve mold does an amazing job at explaining it in his video of how an LED works.
I never understood network solids before now, thank you! I finally get it!
Hello crash course team, I'm a sophomore in high school and I love your videos. I'd like to thank you and ask you to keep up the great work. I'd also like to offer a suggestion that I'm sure you've heard before, but I'll say it anyways; you guys should do a crash course physics. Thank you again. DFTBA
Silicon doping, this is something that my teachers and professors didn't cover until my second year of electrical engineering in university.
The glass is thicker at the bottom because they made it uneven and the builders weren't stupid, and all amorphous (non crystalline) solids flow, just with stupendously high viscosities (mm per billion years kind of size)
Thank You so much. You have helped me answer few questions I got about transistor
Tiny tiny remark: N-type and P-type silicon have only a *relative* charge. The amount of electrons and amount of protons in the entire crystal still match perfectly. The charge only exists with respect to the "perfect" structure without doping. :)
Also: What Doctor Who reference?! O_o
Good video... Minor correction: the most abundant element in the crust is oxygen--not silicon. This makes sense if you consider that silicon exists in a 1:2 ratio with oxygen in a tetrahedron.
Thanks for this, I've always wondered how diodes could possibly work.
Great stuff! I should be writing a paper for P. Chem. but I'm watching this inside.
6:12 I think the definition is reused from the Solutions episode.
Well, when you have heavier elements, the repulsive forces between the protons get stronger, hence the need for more neutrons and why I said silicon was more complex. I didn't take oxidation numbers into account, so that was good to know :)
Thank you for doing crashcourse. I learn a lot from your channel. :D
"reverse the polarity of the electron flow" I see what you did there Hank. the Doctor would be proud
we're getting closer & closer to physics... come on Hank you can do it, only a week till my exams...
The transistor at 0:44 looks like a little tripod. Makes me thinking: If those tiny transistor-tripods are everywhere in your modern life, from nuclear weapons to cell phones - maybe the tripods won the War of the Worlds?
5:00 thank you for fixing your jacket!
I'm sure I am repeating a previous comment, but a subtle point about the doping description seems incorrect.
I listened to it twice and the description of the way that doping adds charge carries to N-type and P-type regions seems to describe the process as adding negative and positive charge to the lattice, respectively. This is not the case. There are free negative charge carriers in the form of electrons, for N-type regions, and free positive charge carriers in the form of holes, for P-type regions, added to the lattice but the over all charge of the lattice remains neutral.
The reason for this that the atoms used to dope the silicon structure, say phosphorus or boron, are of neutral charge when they are added to the lattice--they have the same number of protons as they have electrons. The lattice remains neutrally charged. They effectively displace a silicon atom in the lattice but they don't have the right number of electrons to exactly satisfy all the bonds for that silicon atom. This leaves either a free electron that can move through the lattice (phosphorus) or a deficiency of an electron that can also move through the lattice (boron). These free charge carriers allow for conduction of electricity.
ah i was just kidding around ^^ but, honestly i learned more on the first video than i did a whole year in 11th grade chemistry, although to be fair i didn't have a good stimulating teacher.
funny "limp" bat reference 4:43
If all instructors had the charisma that you have Hank, we'd live in a smarter world.
reverse the polarity of the neutron flow
Best Quote Ever: 3:26
Hank!! Since the most silicon is found in silicate rocks the silicon is bonded to oxygen forming SiO2 so oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth's crust. Maybe there should be a Crash Course Geology to teach this stuff.
Loved this episode !
The n-type and p-type aren't actually charged, they just have free electrons, in the case of the n-doped silicon, or spots for electrons, in the case of the p-doped silicon.
Silicon most commonly has an oxidation number of +2 or +4, while Carbon most commonly has an oxidation number of +4 or -4 (Although carbon can have anything in between). So even though they have the same number of valence electrons, they don't react the same way.
Also, I wouldn't say silicon's higher atomic number makes it more complicated, just heavier. But perhaps you are right that this is the reason for the difference.
i'm sad I already finished chemistry bc there's so much more i want to know! (Even though it was getting really difficult at the end esp org chem)
This was great!!!! Could you please do videos on electrical engineering topics?