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Homebrew NMOS Transistor Step by Step - So Easy Even Jeri Can Do It

Jeri Ellsworth · 183.6K views · 2010-05-13 · 8:05

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Overview

Jeri Ellsworth shows step by step how to make an NMOS transistor at home using a kiln, rust remover, spin-on dopant, eBay wafers and vinyl stickers.

On Hacker News

HN points to it as the classic example of home-made semiconductors and a fun way to go down to the transistor level.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2010–2023

Topics

Semiconductors & chip manufacturingEmbedded systems & DIY electronics
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transistornmosdiy fabjeri ellsworthsemiconductors

What people said

didericis · 2020-12 · Recommendation

Another book recommendation: "Elements of Computing Systems" by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken. It doesn't go all the way down to the physics of semiconductors, but it goes down to logic gates and all the way up to tetris (there's a related course/website called nand to tetris: [LINK] ) If you want to go further down, check out Jeri Ellsworth's old videos where she built a transistor at home: [VIDEO]

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DanBC · 2013-07 · Recommendation

Jeri Ellsworth, for people who don't know, does really interesting hardware stuff. "TSA body imaging at home" ( [LINK] ) "Home made EL wire" ( [LINK] ) "Recording Audio onto floppy discs" ( [LINK] ) "Home made transistor" ( [LINK] ) "Homebrew NMOS transistor" ( [VIDEO] )

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rrmm · 2012-11 · Recommendation

Check out Jeri Ellsworth's homebrow NMOS transistor for some real fun. Just get your bare silicon wafer from E-bay and have at it. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Jeri Ellsworth, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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