If manufacturing printed circuit boards has become too easy you should try your hand at producing transistors. [Jeri Ellsworth] put together a collection of videos outlining the process. These go way beyond the IC fabrication we saw from her in the past. It doesn’t take much, a 1000 degree oven with steam option, silicone wafers, and a variety of chemicals. We’ve embedded the instructional video as well as two demonstrations of her N-style FET after the break.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_znRopGtbE]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYAk7rIaQb8]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qph8BNrnLY]
Interesting factoid: you can actually make silicon react using toothpaste and heat.
The reaction is NaF + H2O + heat = HF + NaO
Reaction 2: SiO + 2HF = Si + H2O
The slight problem is that unless you do this in a hydrogen atmosphere the silicon will *almost* *immediately* oxidize back to SiO and become useless again.
Greetings:
First, this is not crazy post:
There is a book titled 1632 (baen Publishing http://www.1632.org) and I am a writer who has published stories in the environment (http://orion.crucis.net/Eric-Flint/gazette30/1011250075___5.htm)
The premise of the story is that a town in West Virginia, from the year 2000, was transferred to 17th century (1632) Germany.
I am in charge of the character Blaise Pascal who is in ‘Grantville – near Bamberg now) who is very interested in ‘reinventing’ the computer industry. Just stay with me…
I want him to ‘make’ macro transistors. i was told it could not be done with present tech and that ‘large’ transistors won’t work like ‘small’ ones.
Then I stumble head long into your post…
To write stories in the 1632 fictional universe you need to PROVE the story is accurate. I would love, very much, to use your ‘information’ to prove that a child, (Blaise Pascal in 1636 is 13) could make transistors with available tech (whatever Grantville, based on real Mannington WV brought with it and what is available in Europe) and begin the climb up to where WV came from.
Thoughts?