I was wondering, assuming that you could attain these resources, if you could essentially form your own sheets of the 2 different types of silicon.
There are a few university labs that are capable of the kind of precision and cleanliness required. . Silicon doped at .001% is hopelessly contaminated. You would still have to form the oxide insulation layer, etch windows in it for contacts and vacuum-deposit ultrapure metal for electrical conduction. About the best you could manage in a home lab would be a simple diode.Are you a person who is interested in green energy and using Solar Energy Panels or creating your own Home Wind Power, then you are just like myself. I have had a keen interest in green energy every since I studied Architecture many many years ago. At that time I learned that is was possible to build homes that are completely self sufficient which was so compelling to me I had to know more.
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#1 by Undefined at December 16th, 2009
That’s theoretically how it works. But I would not advise doing it by hand, these materials at those temps can be very dangerous.
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#2 by virtualguy92107 at December 16th, 2009
There are a few university labs that are capable of the kind of precision and cleanliness required. . Silicon doped at .001% is hopelessly contaminated. You would still have to form the oxide insulation layer, etch windows in it for contacts and vacuum-deposit ultrapure metal for electrical conduction. About the best you could manage in a home lab would be a simple diode.
References :
Five years laboring in the dungeons of the semiconductor industry. During that time we lost an entire fab line because somebody used a dry-chemical fire extinguisher and we couldn’t clean the building adequately afterward.
#3 by roderick_young at December 16th, 2009
It is possible, but not easy. The temperature of an oven is not enough, but a kiln is. You would want to acquire a scrap diffusion tube from a surplus place. There was someone who actually succeeded in making crude transistors and diodes at home, I believe. I don’t remember who it was but Ms. Ellsworth ("circuitgirl") would probably remember – http://www.fatmanandcircuitgirl.com/
Mind you, it would cost thousands of dollars, and if you did make a solar cell, it would be more like a photodiode, likely far worse than a cuprous oxide cell you could make with a copper sheet, a hot plate, and salt. But like that kid that achieved fusion by plasma pinch in his basement, you’d get the bragging rights of saying that you did it.
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