viscousflow said:Lets examine a PNP transistor.
The base is what controls the collector and the emitter, i.e. it acts as a flood gate and accepts only a tiny amount of current.
the collector is the part that collects the current you want to control.
The emitter is the part that releases the current you want to control.
Imagine a door choking a river, the base would be the door, the collector the inlet, and the emitter the outlet.
The collector is responsible for collecting the majority charge carriers (electrons or holes) that flow from the emitter and controlling the amount of current that passes through the transistor.
The base acts as a gate that regulates the flow of electrons from the emitter to the collector. By applying a small current or voltage to the base, the transistor can be turned on or off, allowing for control of the larger current flowing from the collector to the emitter.
The collector and emitter are both terminals of a transistor, but they serve different functions. The emitter is the source of majority charge carriers, while the collector is responsible for collecting them. In other words, the emitter is where the current enters the transistor, while the collector is where it exits.
No, the collector and emitter cannot be interchanged. The collector is designed to handle a larger current than the emitter, and they have different doping levels and structures. Interchanging them would result in the transistor not functioning properly.
The collector current is directly proportional to the base current in a transistor. This means that as the base current increases, the collector current also increases. However, there is a limit to the collector current, known as the saturation current, which is determined by the transistor's design and characteristics.