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krisgreen · 23rd Sep 2005, 6:24 pm

I am that Chris. The whiskers definitely grow from the case. As I said, there is rainbow colouring, changing colour even along one and the same fiber. That means the diameter is changing (narrowing down towards the end). Although measuring only 1/200th of a hair in diameter, the whiskers are still some tenthousand atomic layers across. There may be quite high electric fields near the tip, although the voltages used are low. I remember, however, to have read that such whiskers consist of a single monocrystal, and grow unidirectionally under the influence of the much higher internal electric field gradients alone.
I still have the opened transistor and am happy to follow suggestions what to do with it.

23rd Sep 2005, 6:24 pm	#8
krisgreen Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1	Re: Whiskers in germanium transistors etc I am that Chris. The whiskers definitely grow from the case. As I said, there is rainbow colouring, changing colour even along one and the same fiber. That means the diameter is changing (narrowing down towards the end). Although measuring only 1/200th of a hair in diameter, the whiskers are still some tenthousand atomic layers across. There may be quite high electric fields near the tip, although the voltages used are low. I remember, however, to have read that such whiskers consist of a single monocrystal, and grow unidirectionally under the influence of the much higher internal electric field gradients alone. I still have the opened transistor and am happy to follow suggestions what to do with it.