Layperson asking intuitive question about bipolar junction transistor

Question

I am a layperson trying to understand how the bipolar junction transistor works from this excellent article: https://spectrum.ieee.org/transistor-history

The relevant paragraphs are as follows:

Consider an NPN device. The base is p-type, so it has excess holes. But it is very thin and lightly doped, so there are relatively few holes. A tiny fraction of the electrons flowing in combines with these holes and are removed from circulation, while the vast majority (more than 97 percent) of electrons keep flowing through the thin base and into the collector, setting up a strong current flow.

But those few electrons that do combine with holes must be drained from the base in order to maintain the p-type nature of the base and the strong flow of current through it. That removal of the “trapped” electrons is accomplished by a relatively small flow of current through the base. That trickle of current enables the much stronger flow of current into the collector, and then out of the collector and into the collector circuit. So, in effect, the small base current is controlling the larger collector circuit.

From these paragraphs, if I understand correctly, a more positive voltage at the base increases emitter-collector current flow. However, if one applied a sufficiently negative voltage at the base, all the holes in the base would be obliterated, thus turning the transistor into a giant slab of N type silicon and supporting a high emitter-collector current.

Could you help me reconcile the discrepancy in my understanding here?

Answer 1

Promoting my comment to an answer (although I confess an incomplete one) - A filled hole is not the same as an N-type dopant atom. The OP is content to quantify the difference themselves :-)

Answer 2

Bob - you are "trying to understand how the bipolar junction transistor works" - and you want to solve "the discrepancy in my understanding here?"

In this context, I like to point your direction to another discrepancy in the quoted text:

Sentence 1: A tiny fraction of the electrons flowing in combines with these holes and are removed from circulation, while the vast majority (more than 97 percent) of electrons keep flowing through the thin base and into the collector, setting up a strong current flow.

Sentence 2: That trickle of current enables the much stronger flow of current into the collector, and then out of the collector and into the collector circuit. So, in effect, the small base current is controlling the larger collector circuit.

Does this sound logical to you?

A "tiny fraction" forms the base current - and this tiny fraction (which is "removed" from the emitted electron flow) should "enable the much stronger flow of curent into the collector" ? And the conclusion is that "the small base current is controlling the larger collector circuit."

To me, this is a simple claim without any evidence. On the other hand, there are many design rules, observations and theoretical explanations which clearly show that (and why) the bipolar transistor is a voltage-controlled device (Ebers-Moll equations) - with the transconductance gm as the most important parameter. The base current is nothing else than an unavoidable side effect.

(I know that there are some books and other publications which state that the BJT would be current-controlled. However, the authors could not present a single proof for such a claim - except the wrong interpretation of the relation Ib=Ic/B. But such an expression must not be used to derive any statement about cause and effect.)

Remark

In the above context, the following article may be of interest: "Barrie Gilbert, Fellow IEEE: Introduction To The Transistor - A New Semiconductor Amplifier, (Proceedings of the IEEE 1999)"

In this paper, the late Barrie Gilbert explains why the „older beta-view Ic=B*Ib is still taught in many textbooks“ (historical reasons) and why „the BJT is ...being decidedly a transconductance device“.