[R-390] Current direction

[2002tii]

Mark wrote:

>With tubes, the difference between hole flow and electron flow is HUGE.
>It actually determines the physical placement of the elements.  Is there
>an equivalent difference in the operation of solid-state?

Holes can only exist in atomic lattices (i.e., some solids) not in a 
vacuum.  You can make electrons leave a material by heating it until 
some electrons get dislodged, but there is no way to boil holes off 
into a vacuum.

I suppose if your anode is a Hydrogen plasma, you might be able  to 
emit Hydrogen ions (i.e., protons), but the mass of protons (nearly 
2000 times the mass of an electron) makes "protonics" a less than 
suitable substitute for electronics.  Not to mention that you would 
have to replenish the hydrogen in the anode plasma, as well as remove 
the reconstituted Hydrogen (either in gaseous form, or as chemically 
reacted) from the cathode.

If you want reverse vacuum tubes, you need positrons.  Lots of 
them.  Get thee to a big hospital and ask the radiologist operating 
the PET scanner for some. . . .  Inconveniently, all the solid 
components the positrons need to flow through or contact will need to 
be made of antimatter, too, because the lifetime of a positron in 
condensed conventional matter is only around 10 e-10 
seconds.  Perhaps you can just let them annihilate at the cathode.

Best regards,

Don