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Silicon info free#

A hole happily accepts an electron from a neighbor, moving the hole over a space. The absence of an electron creates the effect of a positive charge, hence the name P-type. When mixed into the silicon lattice, they form "holes" in the lattice where a silicon electron has nothing to bond to. Boron and gallium each have only three outer electrons. P-type - In P-type doping, boron or gallium is the dopant.Electrons have a negative charge, hence the name N-type.

Silicon info free#

It takes only a very small quantity of the impurity to create enough free electrons to allow an electric current to flow through the silicon. The fifth electron has nothing to bond to, so it's free to move around. Phosphorus and arsenic each have five outer electrons, so they're out of place when they get into the silicon lattice.

N-type - In N-type doping, phosphorus or arsenic is added to the silicon in small quantities.

A pure silicon crystal is nearly an insulator - very little electricity will flow through it.īut you can change all this through a process called doping. All of the outer electrons in a silicon crystal are involved in perfect covalent bonds, so they can't move around. While silicon crystals look metallic, they are not, in fact, metals. Metals tend to be good conductors of electricity because they usually have "free electrons" that can move easily between atoms, and electricity involves the flow of electrons. This makes a silicon crystal an insulator rather than a conductor. In a silicon lattice, all silicon atoms bond perfectly to four neighbors, leaving no free electrons to conduct electric current.

In silicon, the crystalline form is a silvery, metallic-looking substance. In carbon, we know the crystalline form as diamond. The four electrons form perfect covalent bonds with four neighboring atoms, creating a lattice. Silicon sits next to aluminum and below carbon in the periodic table.Ĭarbon, silicon and germanium (germanium, like silicon, is also a semiconductor) have a unique property in their electron structure - each has four electrons in its outer orbital. If you look "silicon" up in the periodic table, you will find that it sits next to aluminum, below carbon and above germanium. Silicon is a very common element - for example, it is the main element in sand and quartz. But first, let's take a close look at silicon. In this article, you'll learn what a semiconductor is, how doping works and how a diode can be created using semiconductors. A diode is the simplest possible semiconductor device, and is therefore an excellent beginning point if you want to understand how semiconductors work.