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<DIV><FONT size=2>Hi All,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>This may sound like a stupid question but I would really like
to know the answer.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I was talking with a friend about bipolar transistors and how
they work. This went ok for a while but</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>after some talking we got into </FONT><FONT size=2>a
problem: what kind of current flows through the collector </FONT><FONT
size=2>during normal</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>operation ?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I</FONT><FONT size=2> understand that the majority carriers
come from the emitter </FONT><FONT size=2>into the base. And t</FONT><FONT
size=2>hen they </FONT><FONT size=2>feel the electric</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>field coming from the collector and are swept over the
</FONT><FONT size=2>reverse biased base </FONT><FONT size=2>collector
junction.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>This sounds all very intuitive (the charge carriers are
attracted by the oppositely charged collector)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>but the </FONT><FONT size=2>base collector junction
is reverse biased. So the current that flows is not a "normal"
current.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>What I would like to know is: what's the conduction mechanism
of this current ? </FONT><FONT size=2>Is it an avalanche type </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>of conduction or something else ? And what's this type
</FONT><FONT size=2>of conduction called ?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I couldn't find a website that explained this aspect of
transistors. Some of them say it's a transistor</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>current etc. So that's not much use either when you want to
understand what is really happening in</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>those little black and silver cans....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Heiko</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>