Only older fans of radio technology are familiar with the name of an electronic part, which sounds like "Tsvitektor" (otherwise it was called "Westektor"). Modern young people who are interested in the history of the formation of electronics should definitely familiarize themselves with what it is and how the element itself works.
Zveitektor's device
The Zvitector is a copper-oxide rectifier invented in the United States back in 1927. Its production technology is very simple; to do this, you need to take a small copper plate and then place it in a well-heated oven. After that, it remains to wait for the moment when a layer of copper oxide appears on its surface.
The resulting boundary transition has a one-sided conductivity characteristic of diodes. This means that in one of the directions an electric current flows through it, and in the other its value will be so scanty that it may not be taken into account.
Note:The difference in conductivity reaches several thousand units.
At the end of the primary heat treatment, a number of operations are performed on the workpiece, which are as follows:
- First, the plate, still not cooled down after the oven, is immersed in a special solution (diluted butyl alcohol).
- When a chemical reaction proceeds, copper is reduced.
- After its completion, the oxide layer obtained earlier is, as it were, "sealed" between two copper layers.
As a result of all these operations, a kind of "sandwich transition" is formed, which has the properties of one-sided conductivity.
The difficulties of production and the appearance of the first samples in the USSR
Over time, this seemingly quite uncomplicated technology revealed its own difficulties that urgently needed to be overcome. It turned out that extra pure copper was needed to obtain a high-quality transition. In addition, the oxidation process itself proceeded successfully only if a strictly fixed temperature was maintained.
Important! Its deviation from the norm should not have exceeded 1 percent.
At first, this element was used exclusively for rectifying current, which charged batteries from a 220 Volt electrical network. But gradually it began to be used in radio electronics, where Zvitector replaced diodes in the detector units of radio receivers.
The name Tsvitektor is a derivative of TsVI (Central Institute of Radio), based in the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). In 1936, the production of such detecting elements was launched at the local radio-electronic plant. The start of production was a huge event for millions of radio amateurs who received an almost perpetual detector with a high sensitivity at their disposal.
In conclusion, we note that acquaintance with the rare exhibit is very useful for beginner electronics lovers. The knowledge gained will allow them to better understand the production technology of modern radio-electronic elements.