Semiconductor

Choose and write the correct option in the following questions.

1. The usual semiconductors are:
(a) germanium and silicon; (b) germanium and copper;
(c) silicon and glass; (d) glass and carbon.
2. The energy gap between the valence and conduction bands of a substance is 6 eV. The substance is a:
(a) Conductor (b) Semiconductor (c) Insulator (d) Superconductor.
3. In an n-type semiconductor:
(a) Electrons are majority charge carriers and trivalent atoms are the dopants.
(b) Electrons are minority charge carriers and penta-valent atoms are dopants.
(c) Holes are minority charge carriers and penta-valent atoms are dopants.
(d) Holes are majority charge carriers and trivalent atoms are dopants.
4. The conductivity of a semiconductor increases with increase in temperature because:
(a) Number density of charge carriers increases.
(b) Relaxation time increases.
(c) Both number density of charge carriers and relaxation time increase.
(d) Number density of charge carriers increases and relaxation time decreases.
5. In given figure, V0 is the potential barrier across a p-n junction, when no battery
is connected across the junction, then:
(a) 1 and 3 both correspond to forward bias of the junction.
(b) 3 corresponds to forward bias and 1 corresponds to reverse bias of the junction.
(c) 1 corresponds to forward bias and 3 corresponds to reverse bias of the junction.
(d) 3 and 1 both correspond to reverse bias of the junction.
6. In given figure, assuming the diodes to be ideal,
(a) D1 and D2 are both forward biased and hence current flows from A to B.
(b) D1 and D2 are both reverse biased and hence no current flows from A to B.
(c) D1 is forward biased and D2 is reverse biased and hence current flows from A to B.
(d) D2 is forward biased and D1 is reverse biased and hence no current flows from B to A.
7. In a good conductor, the energy gap between the valence and conduction bands is:
(a) 1 eV (b) 6 eV (c) infinite (d) zero.
8. Electrical conduction in a semiconductor occurs due to:
(a) electrons only; (b) holes only
(c) electrons and holes both (d) neither electrons nor holes.
9. If ne and nh are the number density of electrons and holes in pure germanium, then:
(a) ne > nh ; (b) ne < nh ; (c) ne = nh ; (d) ne = finite and nh = 0.
10. When an electric field is applied across a semiconductor:
(a) Electrons move from higher energy level to lower energy level in the conduction band.
(b) Electrons move from higher energy level to lower energy level in the conduction band.
(c) Holes in the valence band move from higher energy level to lower energy level.
(d) Holes in the valence band move from lower energy level to higher energy level.
11. When trivalent impurity is mixed in a pure semiconductor, then conduction is mainly due to:
(a) Electrons (c) protons (b) holes (d) positive ions.
12. The example of p-type semiconductor is:
(a) pure germanium (c) germanium doped with arsenic
(b) pure silicon (d) germanium doped with boron.
13. The impurity atoms to be mixed in pure silicon to form p-type semiconductor are:
(a) phosphorus (b) germanium (c) antimony (d) aluminium.
14. Holes are charge carriers in:
(a) intrinsic semiconductor only (b) p-type semiconductor only
(c) intrinsic and p-type semiconductors (d) n-type semiconductor only.
 2
15. A 220 V A.C. supply is connected between points A and B in the figure. What will be the potential difference
V across the capacitor?
(a) 220V (b) 110 V (c) 0 V (d) 2202 V
16. Hole is:
(a) an anti-particle of electron.
(b) a vacancy created when an electron leaves a covalent bond.
(c) absence of free electrons.
(d) an artificially created particle.
17. To reduce the ripples in a rectifier circuit with capacitor filter:
(a) RL should be decreased.
(b) Input frequency should be decreased.
(c) Junction diodes should be changed.
(d) Capacitors with high capacitance should be used.
18. What happens during regulation action of a Zener diode?
(a) The current in and voltage across the Zener remains fixed.
(b) The current through the series Resistance RS is contant.
(c) The Zener resistance is constant.
(d) The resistance offered by the Zener changes
19. The breakdown in a reverse biased p-n junction diode is more likely to occur due to:
(a) large velocity of the majority charge carriers if the doping concentration is small.
(b) large velocity of the minority charge carriers if the doping concentration is large.
(c) strong electric field in a depletion region if the doping concentration is small.
(d) strong electric field in the depletion region if the doping concentration is large.
20. The output of the given circuit shown in figure.
(a) would be zero at all times.
(b) would be like a half wave rectifier with positive cycles in output.
(c) would be like a half wave rectifier with negative cycles in output.
(d) would be like that of a full wave rectifier.
21. In the circuit shown in figure, if the diode forward voltage drop is 0.3
V, the voltage difference between A and B is:
(a) 1.3 V; (b) 1.7 V; (c) 2.3 V; (d) 0.5 V.

One word or one sentence answered Questions

22. Name charge carriers in p-type semiconductor.
23. Name charge carriers in n-type semiconductor.
24. If ni is density of intrinsic charge carriers; nh and ne are densities of hole and electrons in extrinsic
semiconductor, what is the relation among them?
25. What is the net charge on (i) p-type semiconductor (ii) n-type semiconductor?
26. Name the type of charge carriers in p-n junction diode when forward biased?
27. Name the type of charge carriers in p-n junction when reverse biased.
28. Which device is used as a voltage regulator?
29. Can the potential barrier across a p-n junction be measured by connecting a sensitive voltmeter across it?
30. At what temperature would an intrinsic semiconductor behave like perfect insulator? [CBSE East 2010]
31. How does the energy gap in a semiconductor vary, when doped with a penta-valent impurity?
32. What type of extrinsic semiconductor is formed when (i) germanium is doped with indium? (ii) silicon is
doped with bismuth?
33. What happens to the width of depletion layer of a p-n junction when it is (i) forward biased, (ii) reverse
biased? [CBSE Delhi 2011]
34. In a semiconductor the concentration of electrons is 8 × 10 13 cm – 3 and that of holes is 5 × 10 12 cm – 3.
(a) Is it n-type or p-type semiconductor?
(b) What is the charge carrier density in intrinsic semiconductor at the same temperature?
 3
35. State with reason why a photodiode is usually operated at a reverse bias.
36. The energy gaps in the energy band diagrams of a conductor, semiconductor and insulator are E1, E2 and E3.
Arrange them in increasing order.
37. State the reason, why GaAs is most commonly used in making a solar cell.
38. Can the potential barrier across a p-n junction be measured by simply connecting a voltmeter across the
junction?
39. Explain why elemental semiconductor cannot be used to make visible LEDs.
40. Why are elemental dopants for Silicon or Germanium usually chosen from group 13 or group 15?
41. Sn, C, Si and Ge are all group 14 elements. Yet, Sn is a conductor, C is an insulator while Si and Ge are
semiconductors. Why?
42. Draw the output signal in a p-n junction diode when a square input signal of 10 V as shown in the figure is
applied across it.

43. Name the junction diode whose I-V characteristics are drawn below:

44. How does one understand the temperature dependence of resistivity of a semiconductor?
45. In the following diagram, which bulb out of B1 and B2 will glow and why?

46. In the following diagram 'S' is a semiconductor. Would you increase or decrease the value of R to keep the
reading of the ammeter A constant when S is heated? Give reason for your answer.

47. What happens when a forward bias is applied to a p-n junction?

48. Identify the semiconductor diode whose V-I characteristics are as shown.

49. In a half wave rectification, what is the frequency of ripple in the output if the frequency of input ac is 50 Hz?
What is the output ripple frequency of a full wave rectifier?
50. A p-n photodiode is fabricated from a semiconductor with band gap of 2.8 eV. Can it detect a wavelength of
6000 nm?
51. The number of silicon atoms per m3 is 5 × 10 28. This is doped simultaneously with 5 × 10 22 atoms per m3 of
Arsenic and 5 × 10 21 per m3 atoms of Indium. Calculate the number of electrons and holes.
Given that ni = 1.5 × 10 16 per m3. Is the material n-type or p-type?