CH-14-SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

1.The resistance of the pn junction is low when forward biased and is high when it is reverse
biased. Explain.
Ans: The resistance of pn junction is low when it is forward biased because force acts on charge
carriers to move them across the junction whereas the force in reverse biasing acts in opposite
direction which opposes the motion of charge carriers across the junction.
2. What is the effect of temperature on the conductivity of a semiconductor?
Ans: The conductivity of the semiconductor increases with the increase in temperature because
as the temperature increases more and more covalent bonds break resulting in the release of
charge particles.
3. Why does the thickness of depletion region in a pn junction diode increases with increase in
reverse bias?
Ans When a pn junction is formed, a small potential difference is set up across the depletion
layer. But when it reverse biased the charges move away from the junction thus increasing the
width of the depletion region.

4. Why is the depletion region formed at the pn junction?

Ans: The depletion region is formed because of the recombination of electrons and the holes at
the junction
5. What is Fermi level and what is Fermi energy?
Ans: Fermi energy level is the highest energy level occupied by the electrons at zero-kelvin and
the energy of that level is fermi energy.
6. When semiconductor junction diode is formed electrons should flow from n to p region but
all the electrons do not do so? Explain why?
Ans: When electrons are transferred from p type to n type, the n type semiconductor gets
positively charged and p type gets negatively charged which creates potential difference across
junction. This potentialdifference after some time prevents the flow of electron from n type to p
type.

7. Is the number of free electrons and holes equal in extrinsic semiconductors. Are they
charged?
Ans: No, the number of electrons and holes are not equal in extrinsic semiconductors. Both n
type and p type semiconductors are electrically neutral.
8. Is the junction diode linear or a non linear circuit element?
Ans: Junction diode is a non linear circuit element because the V-I curve is not a straight line
9. How will you detect intensity of light using diode?
Ans: Light intensity is proportional to the intensity of current which can be measured by using a
photodiode in reverse biasing.
10. What type of charge carriers flow during reverse biasing of the diode?
Ans: In reverse biasing the charge carriers flowing in a semiconductor are minority charge
carriers.
11. Why an extrinsic semiconductor gets permanently damaged if temperature is increased
beyond a certain limit?
Ans: If temperature is increased beyond a limit large number of covalent bonds break in the
structure resulting in release of charge carriers and making it highly conducting
12. What is the potential barrier of pn junction in a silicon transistor?
Ans: Potential barrier for silicon transistor is of the order of 0.3V and for germanium transistor it
is of the order of 0.7V.

13. In the depletion region of pn junction what are the charge carriers in its unbiased state?
Ans: In depletion region there are no charge carriers present
14. Can we measure the potential barrier of a pn junction by putting voltmeter across is?
Ans: In the depletion layer, there are no free charges present, thus it offers infinite resistance to
the flow of current through it. Therefore potential barrier across a p-n junction cannot be
measured using voltmeter.
15. The graph shown in the figure represents a plot of current versus voltage for a given
semiconductor. Identify the region, if any over which the semiconductor has a negative
resistance.

Ans:Resistance of a material can be found out by the slope of the curve V versus I. Part BC of the
curve shows the negative resistance as with the increase in current and decrease in voltage.
16. What happens to the width of depletion layer of a p-n junction when it is
(i)forward biased? (ii)reverse biased?
ANS: (i) Width of depletion layer’s decreases in forward bias
(ii) Width depletion layer increases in reverse bias.

17. Why cannot we take one slab of p-type semiconductor and physically join it to another slab
of n-type semiconductor to get p-n junction?
ANS: In this way, continuous contact cannot be produced at atomic level and junction will
behave as a discontinuity for the flowing charge carrier.
18. At what temperature would an intrinsic semiconductor behave like a perfect insulator?
Ans.At O° K temperature, an intrinsic semiconductor behaves like a perfect insulator
19. Explain, with the help of a circuit diagram, the working of a p-n junction diode as a half-wave
rectifier.
20. Draw energy band diagram of n-type and p-type semiconductor at temperature T > OK.
Mark the donar and acceptor energy level with their energies.
21. .Distinguish between a metal and an insulator on the basis of energy band diagram.
(i) Metal For metals, the valence band is completely filled and the conduction band can have
two possibilities either it is partially filled with an extremely small energy gap between the
valence and conduction bands or it is empty, with two bands overlapping each other
(i) Insulators : for insulator, the energy gap between the conduction and valence bands are very
large, also the conduction band is practically empty,
(ii) On applying an small even electric field, metals can conduct electricity.
ii) When an electric field is applied across such a solid, the electrons find it difficult to acquire.
So, a large amount of energy is required to reach the conduction band.Thus, the conduction
band continues to be empty. That is why no current flows through insulators
22. Write two characteristics features to distinguish between n-type and p-type semiconductors
23. .Explain, how a depletion region is formed in a junction diode?[
24. Carbon and silicon both have four valence electrons each, then how are they distinguished?
Ans.The four valence electrons of carbon are present in second orbit while that of silicon in third
orbit. So, energy required to extricate an electron from silicon is much smaller than carbon.
Therefore, the number of free electrons for conduction in silicon is significant on contrary of
carbon. This makes silicon conductivity much higher than carbon. This is the main
distinguishable property.
25. Draw the circuit diagram of a full-wave rectifier using p-n junction diode. Explain its working
and show the output input wave forms
26. (i)Why is the current under reverse bias almost independent of the applied potential up to a
critical voltage?
(ii)Why does the reverse current show a sudden increase at the critical voltage?
(i)Under the reverse bias condition, the holes of p-side are attracted towards the negative
terminal of the battery and the electrons of the n-side are attracted towards the positive
terminal of the battery. This increases the depletion layer and the potential barrier. However,
the minority charge carriers are drifted across the junction producing a small current.
At any temperature, the number of minority carriers is constant, so there is the small current at
any applied potential. This is the reason for the current under reverse bias to be almost
independent of applied potential.
(ii) At the critical voltage, the holes in the n-side and conduction electrons in the p-side are
accelerated due to the reverse bias voltage. These minority carriers acquire sufficient kinetic
energy from the electric field and collide with a valence electron.
Thus, the bond is finally broken and the valence electrons move into the conduction band
resulting in enormous flow of electrons and thus, formation of hole-electron pairs. Thus, there is
a sudden increase in the current at the critical voltage.
27. (i) With the help of circuit diagrams, distinguish between forward biasing and reverse biasing
of p-n junction diode.
(ii)Draw V-I characteristics of a p-n junction diode in
(a)forward bias. (b)reverse bias.
28. (i)State briefly the processes involved in the formation of p-n junction, explaining clearly
how the depletion region is formed.
(ii)Using the necessary circuit diagrams, show how the V-I characteristics of a p-n junction are
obtained in (a) forward biasing (b) reverse biasing How are these characteristics made use of in
rectification?
29. A p-type semiconductor is_uncharged
30. Number of electrons in the valence shell of a pure semiconductor is 4
31. In a half wave rectifier, the r.m.s. value of the a.c. component of the wave is more than the
dc value.
32. In semiconductors, at room temperature the valence band is partially empty and the
conduction band is partially filled
33. Barrier potential of a P-N junction diode does not depend on diode design
34. If the two ends of a p-n junction are joined by a wire there will not be a steady current in the
circuit
35. Forward biasing is that in which applied voltage cancels the potential barrier.
36. When p-n junction diode is forward biased then both the depletion region and barrier
height are reduced
37. Filter circuit eliminates a.c. component
38. Bridge type rectifier uses four diodes
39. What is the resistivity of a pure semiconductor at absolute zero ? infinity
40.In half wave rectifier what is the output frequency if the input frequency is 50 Hz.What is the
output frequency of a full wave rectifier for the same input frequency?
The output is 50 Hz for the half wave rectifier and 100 Hz for full wave rectifier.
41.The energy gap of silicon is 1.14 eV. What is the maximum wavelength at which silicon begin
absorbing energy.
E=hc/λ = 10901 A
42.Find the equivalent ressistance of the network in the figure between the points A and B if i)V A
> VB ii) VA < VB

i)Potential at A is greater than B, so resistance of diode is taken as zero and forward biased.
So equivalent resistance is 3ohm.
ii) potential at A is lower than B so the diode is reverse biased hence no current so equivalent
resistance is 12 ohm.
43.In a pn junction having depletion layer 10-6 m the potential across it is 0.3 V.Then the electric
field is _____________
Ans: E =V/d 3x105 V/m