How a transistor works

Ben Eater · 847.6K views · 2015-03-20 · 11:23

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Ben Eater gives a detailed look at how an NPN bipolar junction transistor works and what it does. It is an eleven-minute explanation aimed at building real understanding of the device.

On Hacker News

HN commenters prefer it over other transistor explanations as an enlightening starting point that leads into building logic gates and a CPU.

Recommended by 4 HN people across 4 months · HN mentions 2020–2023

Topics

Electronics & circuit design Semiconductors & chip manufacturing

What people said

1000100_1000101 · 2023-12 · Recommendation
Aside from his basic 8-bit CPU, Ben Eater goes into how transistors work too: [VIDEO] . Once you've got transistors, his videos walk you through making gates. Once you've got gates, he switches to the 74xx series and builds a CPU.
Read the original HN comment ↗

npilk · 2022-11 · Recommendation
As someone who is not an electrical engineer, I found Ben Eater's videos on how semiconductors work and how transistors work interesting and enlightening. How semiconductors work: [LINK] How a transistor works: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

ceronman · 2022-09 · Recommendation
This is a good explanation, but I prefer the one by Ben Eater: How semiconductor works: [LINK] How a transistor works: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Ben Eater, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks

SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources