February 02, 2004

Divide by zero

I'm having to re-read the readings in my Electronic Devices book. I had to go over some parts several times (I won't belabor the re-re-re's). Why? I'm not stupid, but this is taking a while to sink in.

Let me bring you down to my level:

    In III-V compounds, column VI impurities occupying column V sites serve as donors. For example, S, Se, and Te are donors in GaAs, since they substitute for As and provide an extra electron compared with the As atom. Similarly, impurities from column II (Be, Zn, Cd) substitute for column III atoms to form acceptors in the III-V compounds.

This makes sense to me now. It might have been easier if this book had a copy of the periodic chart in the appendices, but no—we have nine periodic-chart-free appendices covering useful topics such as the "Derivation of Fermi-Dirac Statistics" and "Solid Solubilities of Impurities in Si".

I fulfilled the chemistry requirement over two years ago and sold my book back. Obviously I just need to quit whining and pull the periodic chart of the Internet. Besides, we're quickly getting into the physics and leaving the chemistry behind for a garden of Greek letters. If the periodic chart were necessary for this subject, it would have been included.

212 words | February 2, 2004 10:59 PM | Ivory tower