ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.

BHEEMA KUMAR

GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GOOTY

ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS

TWO MARK QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1) Define semiconductor.
Semiconductor is a substance, which has resistivity in between Conductors and insulators.
Eg. Germanium, Silicon.

2) Define intrinsic semiconductor.

Semiconductor in an extremely pure form is called intrinsic semiconductor. Electron and hole concentration is of
equal. It is also known as pure semiconductor.

3) What are the types of extrinsic semiconductor?

a) N-type semiconductor
b) P-type semiconductor.

4) Define doping.
The process of adding impurities to an intrinsic semiconductor is called doping.

5) What is ‘peak inverse voltage ‘? What is its value for the HWR?
The peak inverse voltage is the peak voltage across the diode in the reverse direction i.e. when the diode reverse
biased. HWR when the diode is reverse biased and hence the maximum value of voltage that can exist across the diode
is nothing but Em.

6) Define efficiency of a half wave rectifier along with its maximum value.
The efficiency of a half wave rectifier is defined as ratio of d.c output power to a.c input power.
Efficiency = d.c output power / a.c input power.
= Pdc / Pac
The maximum efficiency is 40.6 %

7) Define breakdown voltage?

It is the reverse voltage of a PN diode at which the junction breakdown and there will be a sudden increase in
reverse current.

8) What are the types of junction capacitances?

a) Transition capacitance or space charge capacitance.
b) Diffusion or storage capacitance.

9) Define diffusion?
It is defined as the gradual flow of charge from a region of high density to a region of low density.

10) Define Hall Effect.

When a transverse magnetic field is applied to a thin strip of metal or a semiconductor carrying current I, an
electric field E is induced in the direction perpendicular to both I and B.

11) What are the applications of Hall Effect?

Used to determine whether a semiconductor is of N-type or P-type.
Used to find carries concentration.

GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE

ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.BHEEMA KUMAR

Used to measure the conductivity of the material.

Used to find carrier mobility.
12) List the advantages of Zener regulator.
Simple circuits
Only 2 or 3 components are required to be used
Low cost.
13) What are the two mechanism of break down in Zener diodes?
Zener break down
Avalanche break down.

14) Define Zener breakdown.

In a heavily doped PN region, direct rupture of covalent bonds takes place because of the strong electric field
applied. This new electron hole pair increases the reverse current.

15) Define avalanche breakdown.

In a Zener diode if the applied reverse bias voltage exceeds 6 volts, then the breakdown is through avalanche
multiplication. Here a thermally generated carrier falls down the junction barrier and acquire energy from the applied
voltage. This collides with a crystal ion and a new electron hole pair gets created. These in turn may acquire enough
energy, collide with another crystal ion and create still another electron hole pair. This is a cumulative process and
known as avalanche multiplication.

16) What is rectifier?

Rectifier is a device, which converts a.c voltage to pulsating D.C voltage, using one or more pn junction.

17) Define forbidden energy gap.

It is the separation between conduction band and valence band on energy band diagram.

18) Define form factor.

It is the ratio between rms value and average value of voltage or current.
Form factor= Rms value / Average value.

19) Define Ripple factor and give the value of for half wave rectifier.
The ratio of rms value of the a.c component to the d.c component in the output is known as ripple factor (r).
R = √ (Vrms / Vdc)2 – 1
Mathematically the value of r is calculated to be 1.21 for a half wave rectifier.

20) Define biasing?

Applying external d.c. Voltage to any electronic device is called biasing.

21) What is forward biasing?

Forward biasing means connecting P- region to +ve and N - region to-ve of the battery.

23) Give the expression for ripple factor (r) and its value in case for a full wave rectifier.

R = √ (Vrms/Vdc)2 – 1

For the full wave rectifier the value of ripple factor r = 0.428.24) Give the value of form factor and peak factor
for a full wave rectifier.
GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE
ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.BHEEMA KUMAR

For a full wave rectifier ,

Form factor = 1.11
Peak factor = √2

24) what is a LED?

A PN junction diode which emits light when forward biased is known as Light emitting diode (LED).

25) What is TUF?

The factor, which indicates how much, is the utilization of the transformer in the circuit, is called Transformer
utilization factor.
Its value is 0.287 for the HWR
Its value is 0.812 for the FWR

26) What are the disadvantage of bridge rectifier?

The only disadvantage of Bridge rectifier is the use of four diodes as compared to normal full wave rectifier.
This cause the additional voltage drop.

27) Define percentage regulation of a rectifier.

It is defined as the variation of DC output voltage with respect to load.
Percentage regulation = ( Vnoload – Vload ) / Vload.

28) What is depletion region in PN junction?

The region around the junction from which the mobile charge carriers (electrons and holes) are depleted is called
as depletion region. Since this region has immobile ions, which are electrically charged, the depletion region is also
known as space charge region.

29) List application of PN junction diode?

ANS: 1. it can be used as a switch.

2. It can be used as a rectifier.
3. It can be used as a photo & LED.
4. It can be used in digital logic design switches
5. It can be used in clipping circuits.
6. It can be used in voltage doubler circuits.

30) What is barrier potential?

Because of the oppositely charged ions present on both sides of PN junction an electric potential is established
across the junction even without any external voltage source which is termed as barrier potential.

31) What is meant by biasing a PN junction?

Connecting a PN junction to an external voltage source is biasing a PN junction.

32) What is forward bias and reverse bias in a PN junction?

When positive terminal of the external supply is connected to P region and negative terminal to N region, the PN
junction is said to be forward biased. Under forward biased condition the PN region offers a very low resistance and a
large amount of current flows through it.
GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE
ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.BHEEMA KUMAR

33) What is reverse bias in a PN junction?

When positive terminal of the external supply is connected to N type and negative terminal to P type then the PN
junction is said to be in reverse bias. Under reverse biased condition the PN region offers a very high resistance and a
small amount of current flows through it.

34) What is the reverse saturation current?

The current due to minority charge carriers in reverse bias is said to be saturation current. This current is
independent of the value of the reverse bias voltage.

35) What is the static resistance of a diode?

Static resistance R of a diode can be defined as the ratio of voltage V across the diode to the current flowing
through the diode.
R = V/ I
Where
R - Static resistance of a diode
V - Voltage across the diode
I - current across the diode

36) what is recovery time? Give its types.

When a diode has its state changed from one type of bias to other a transient accompanies the diode response,
i.e., the diode reaches steady state only after an interval of time “ tr” called as recovery time. The recovery time can be
divided in to two types such as
(i) forward recovery time
(ii) reverse recovery time

37) What is meant by forward recovery time?

The forward recovery time may be defined as the time interval from the instant of 10% diode voltage to the
instant this voltage reaches 90% of the final value. It is represented as t f r.

38) What is meant by reverse recovery time?

The reverse recovery time can be defined as the time required for injected or the excess minority carrier density
reduced to zero, when external voltage is suddenly reversed.

38) What is meant by drift current?

When an electric field is applied across the semiconductor material, the charge carriers attain a certain drift
velocity which is equal to the product of the mobility of the charge carriers and the applied electric field intensity E. The
holes move towards the negative terminal of the battery and electron move towards the positive terminal. This combined
effect of movement of the charge carriers constitute a current known as drift current.

39) Distinguish between shunt and series voltage regulator.

Series regulator
In a series regulator the regulating element is in series with the load and the regulation is done by varying
the voltage across the series element.
Shunt regulator
In a shunt regulator the regulating element is in shunt with the load and the regulation is done by varying
the current across the shunt element.

GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE

ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.BHEEMA KUMAR

TRANSISTORS
1) Define Transistor.
Transistor consists of two junctions formed by sand witching either P-type or N-type semiconductor between a
pair of opposite types. Transistor is a three terminal device whose output current, voltage and /or power is controlled by
input current.
Three terminals: emitter, base, collector

2) Why FET is called voltage controlled device?

The output characteristics of FET is controlled by its input voltage thus it is voltage controlled.

3) What is pinch off voltage?

It is the voltage at which the channel is pinched off (ie) all the free charge from the channel get removed. Drain
source voltage above which the drain current become constant is known as pinch off voltage. The point N is called as
pinch off point. Above the pinch off voltage the channel width becomes narrow and drain current remains constant.

4) Define delay time

It is defined as the time required for the current to rise from 0 to 10% of its maximum value.
5) Define rise time.
It is the time required for the current to rise from 0 to 90 percentage of the maximum value.
6) Define turn-on time.
It is the time required for the current to rise from 0 to 90 percentage of the maximum value
ton = td + tr
7) Define fall time
It is the time required for the Collector current to fall from 90 to 10 percentages of Ics.
8) Define Storage time.
It is the time required to fall from 100 to 90 percent of Ics.
9) Define turn-off time.
It is the time required to fall from 100 to 90 percent of Ics.
Toff = ts + tr
10) Define power transistors
Power transistors are those which handles a large amount of current and also dissipates large amount of power
across collector base junction.
11) Which is the most commonly used transistor configuration? Why?
The CE Configuration is most commonly used. The reasons are
 High Current gain
 High voltage gain
 High power gain
 Moderate input to output ratio.
12) What are the advantages of transistors?
 Low operating voltage.
 Higher efficiency.
 Small size and ruggedness.
13) What are the types of transistors?
 Unipolar junction transistor.
 Bipolar junction transistor.
14) What is mean by characteristics of transistor?
The interrelation of the various currents and voltages can be plotted graphically which are commonly known as
the characteristics of transistor.
15) What are the types of BJT?
GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE
ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.BHEEMA KUMAR

 N-P-N type.
 P-N-P type.

16) Why do we choose q point at the center of the load line?

The operating point of a transistor is kept fixed usually at the center of the active region in order that the input
signal is well amplified. If the point is fixed in the saturation region or the cut off region the positive and negative half
cycle gets clipped off respectively.
17) List out the different types of biasing.
Voltage divider bias, Base bias,
Emitter feedback bias, Collector feedback bias,
Emitter bias.
18) What do you meant by thermal runway?
Due to the self-heating at the collector junction, the collector current rises. This causes damage to the device.
This phenomenon is called thermal runway.
19) Why is the transistor called a current controlled device?
The output characteristics of the transistor depend on the input current. So the transistor is called a current
controlled device.
20) Define current amplification factor?
It is defined as the ratio of change in output current to the change in input current at constant.
21) What are the requirements for biasing circuits?
• The q point must be taken at the Centre of the active region of the output characteristics.
• Stabilize the collector current against the temperature variations.
• Make the q point independent of the transistor parameters.
• When the transistor is replaced, it must be of same type.
22) When does a transistor act as a switch?
The transistor acts as a switch when it is operated at either cutoff region or saturation region.
23) What is biasing?
To use the transistor in any application it is necessary to provide sufficient voltage and current to operate the
transistor. This is called biasing.
24) What is stability factor?
The rate of change of collector current with respect to the rate of change of reverse saturation current.

AMPLIFIERS

1) Write the current amplification factor for a CB transistor.

α = Change in Collector Current / at constant VCB
Change in emitter current
2) Write the formula for input resistance in a CB transistor
Input resistance = Change in base - emitter voltage /
Change in emitter current/at constant VCB
3) Write the current amplification factor for a CE transistor.
β= Change in Collector Current /Change in base current at constant VCE
4) Explain about the various regions in a transistor?
The three regions are active region, saturation region & cutoff region.
5) What is transconductance in JFET?
It is the ratio of small change in drain current (ΔId) to the corresponding change in gate to source voltage (ΔV gs)
at constant drain to source voltage(ΔVds).
GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE
ELECTRONIC DEVICES & CIRCUITS PREPARED BY: MR M.B.BHEEMA KUMAR

gm = ΔId / ΔVgs , ΔVds = constant

6) What is amplification factor in JFET?
It is the ratio of small change in Drain to Source voltage ,(ΔVds )to the corresponding change in Gate to Source
voltage (ΔVgs) at a constant drain current (Id).
μ = ΔVds / ΔVgs, Id = constant

7) Define hybrid parameters.

Any linear circuit having input and output terminals can be analyzed by four parameters(one measured on ohm,
one in mho and two dimensionless) called hybrid or h-parameters.
8) What are the uses of h - Parameters?
It perfectly isolates the input and output circuits.
Its source and load currents are taken into account.
9) What are advantages of FET?
 It is a voltage control, constant current driven device that is the variation in input voltage controls the output
current.
 The input impedance is very high so it allows a high degree of isolation between the input and the output
circuit.
 the carriers are not crossing the junction hence the noise is highly reduced.
 It has a negative temperature co-efficient of resistance. This can avoid thermal runaway.
10) What are the two types of small signal model?
The small signal model is of two types,
i. Low frequency small signal model.
ii. High frequency small signal model.
11) What are the values of input resistance in CB, CE & CC Configuration?
CB - Low about 75
CE - Medium About 750
CC - Very high about 750
12) Write the voltage and current equation for hybrid parameters.
V1 = h11 i1 + h12V2
I2 = h21 i1 + h22V2
13) What are the values of h-parameters?
h11 = V1/ i1 h12 = V1 / V2
h21 = i2 / i1 h22 = i2 / v2
14) Define amplification factor?
It is the product of drain resistance and Trans conductance. It is the ratio of small change in drain to source
voltage to the corresponding change in Gate to source voltage.

GATES INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, GATES DEPT. OF ECE