Show HN: I made some transistor animations

2026-07-24 | original

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Why This Matters

This collection of transistor animations provides a detailed visual understanding of charge carrier movements and electrical behaviors within semiconductor devices. Such visualizations can enhance education, improve design accuracy, and foster innovation in semiconductor technology. By illustrating complex processes, it helps both industry professionals and students better grasp transistor operation fundamentals.

Key Takeaways

Visual animations clarify complex transistor behaviors for learners and engineers.
Including diffusion and drift offers a more accurate depiction of charge carrier dynamics.
Probing voltages and currents aids in understanding device performance and troubleshooting.

Transistor animations made with semiconductor simulator.

In the following animations, blue and red dots represent electrons and holes, respectively. White flashes indicate recombination events. In this first set of animations, the velocity of charge carriers is equal to the combined diffusion and drift currents divided by the total charge. Diffusion is not shown here.

NPN BJT

n-ch MOSFET

n-ch JFET

In the next set of animations, the carriers undergo diffusion and drift. This is the most accurate way of depicting charge carrier motion, but is also more visually confusing.

NPN BJT (w/ diffusion)

n-ch MOSFET (w/ diffusion)

n-ch JFET (w/ diffusion)

The final set of animations shows the currents and voltages at each terminal.

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