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Tutorial 1

ELE421 (BASIC ELECTRONICS)

Part A : Choose the BEST answer for each of the following questions.

1) Valence electrons are electrons

a) In various orbits around the nucleus
b) In the closest orbit to the nucleus
c) In the most distant orbit from the nucleus
d) Has the lowest energy level in the atomic structure

2) Which of the following statement is NOT true about energy levels and bands?
a) Silicon has a higher energy gap than germanium
b) Electrons in conduction band originate from valence band when acquired sufficient
energy to escape from any atom
c) The higher the energy gap, the easier the electrons to become free carriers
d) Electrons in conduction band are tightly bounded to parent atoms and not free to
move throughout the material

3) When a pn junction is formed, electrons move across the junction and fill holes in the p-
region. The filled hole is a
a) Neutral atom
b) Minority carrier
c) Positive ion
d) Negative ion

4) A metallic conductor has

a) Many free electrons held by the attraction of positive ions
b) Covalent bonds between neighbouring atoms
c) Four electrons in its outer shell
d) A filled valence shell
5) A semiconductor is a crystalline material with
a) Many free electrons held by the attraction of positive ions
b) Strong covalent bonds between neighbouring atoms
c) Only one electron in its outer shell
d) A filled valence shell

6) When a pn junction is reverse biased, the current is carried by the ____________ carrier
a) Minority
b) Majority
c) Electron
d) Hole

7) Zener breakdown
a) Occurs in lightly doped or medium doped zener diode
b) Occurs in heavily doped zener diode
c) Has wide depletion layer
d) b and c

8) Ionization is a/an
a) Process when an electron bonded to an atom absorb enough energy to escape from the
electric potential and free to move
b) Amount of energy
c) Physical process of converting an atom into ion by adding or removing charged
particles
d) Recombination process after electron-hole pair generation

9) Dynamic resistance also known as

a) Dc resistance
b) Ac resistance
c) a and b
d) average dc resistance

10) When an atom contains four electrons in a valence shell it is also know as
a) Conductor
b) Semiconductor
c) Insulator
d) Gas
11) Conductor, semiconductor and insulator can be described as

a) Conductor has only one valence electron, semiconductor has four valence electrons
and insulator has ten valence electrons

b) Semiconductor has four valence electrons, conductor has one valence electron and
insulator has eight valence electrons

c) Conductor, semiconductor and insulator has eight valence electrons

d) Insulator has eight valence electrons, conductor has two valence electrons and
semiconductor has three valence electrons

12) The number of free electrons and holes in an intrinsic semiconductor increase when the
temperature

a) Remain the same

b) Decreases

c) Increases

d) Is zero

13) All about zener breakdown/effect is true EXCEPT that it

a) Occurs normally at low reverse voltages

b) Causes a narrow depletion region

c) Is caused by ionization through high-speed collisions of minority carriers

d) Occurs in heavily doped zener diodes

14) What causes the depletion layer?

a) Doping

b) Recombination

c) Barrier potential

d) Ions
15) Maximum numbers of electrons in a valence shell is

a) 4

b) 6

c) 8

d) 12

16) The difference between an insulator and a semiconductor is

a) Having a wider energy gap between the valence band and the conduction band

b) In the number of free electrons

c) In the atomic structure

d) As mentioned in (a), (b) and (c)

17) In a semiconductor crystal, the atoms are held together by

a) The interaction of valence electrons

b) Forces of attraction

c) Covalent bonds

d) As mentioned in (a), (b) and (c)

18) The current in semiconductor devices is due to the movement

a) Electrons only

b) Holes only

c) Negative ions

d) Both electrons and holes

19) The purpose of a pentavalent impurity in intrinsic silicon is to

a) Reduce the conductivity of silicon

b) Increase the number of holes

c) Increase the number of free electrons

d) Create minority carriers

20) The process of adding an impurity to an intrinsic semiconductor diode is called

a) Doping

b) Recombination

c) Atomic modification

d) Ionization

21) Atoms within a semiconductor crystal are held together by

a) valence band

b) covalent bonds

c) subatomic particles

d) atomic glue

22) Free electrons exists in the

a) Valence band\

b) Recombination band

c) Conduction band

d) Farthest band
23) The process of adding impurity atoms to a pure semiconductor is called

a) Bonding

b) Crystallization

c) Recombination

d) Doping

24) A hole is

a) A vacancy in the valence band left by an electron

b) A vacancy in the conduction band

c) A positive electron

d) A conduction band electron

25) A dc voltage that sets the operating condition of a semiconductor device is called

a) Barrier potential

b) Bias

c) Depletion voltage

d) Small battery

26) The region near the pn junction consisting of positive and negative ions is called

a) Recombination region

b) Neutral zone

c) Depletion region

d) Diffusion zone
 27) If silicon valence shell has energy of 0.7 eV and its conduction shell has energy of 1.8
eV, electron must absorb ____ eV in order to jump from valence band to conduction
band.

a) 2.5 eV

b) 1.26eV

c) 1.1eV

d) 1.8eV

PART B : For each of the following statements, state whether it is TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)

1) ( ) An impurity such as antimony (Sb) has five valence electrons. When silicon has Sb
impurities, an n-type material is formed

2) ( ) All diode models namely piece-wise, simplified (practical) and ideal employ the
largest reverse resistance

3) ( ) The forward biased knee voltage of a semiconductor diode is approximately equal to

the bias supply voltage

4) ( ) In semiconductor device , the most accurate resistance method used for small signal
is average ac resistance and for large signal is ac or dynamic resistance

5) ( ) The forward bias voltage for diode conduction is reduced by an increase in

temperature

6) ( ) The more distant the electron is from the nucleus of the atom , the higher its energy

7) ( ) Group III impurities are used to produced a p-type semiconductor

8) ( ) The current in a semiconductor is produced by electrons only

9) ( ) Extrinsic semiconductor is produced to increase conductivity of a pure

semiconductor

10) ( ) An insulator has a narrower band gap between the valence band and the conduction
band compare to a semiconductor

11) ( ) A positive ion is formed when a free electron losses energy and falls into the outer
shell of an atom
12) ( ) Diode is forward biased when the positive battery terminal connected to the anode
through a resistor and negative battery terminal connected to the cathode

13) ( ) Ideal diode has 0.7 V barrier potential across its terminals

14) ( ) Covalent bond is each neighbouring atom shares an electron with the central atom

15) ( ) N-type semiconductor contains free electrons and positive ions

16) ( ) Diode cannot be constructed using intrinsic material

17) ( ) Electrons are part of the nucleus of an atom

18) ( ) Crystals are formed by the bonding of atoms

19) ( ) all basic diodes have one PN junction

20) ( ) At room temperature there are some amounts of free carriers in an intrinsic silicon
block

21) ( ) Electrons do not exist in conduction band but they are from the valence band that
gain sufficient energy through excitation

22) ( ) The maximum no of electron that can exist in both 2nd and 4th shell are 8 and 30
respectively.

23) ( ) When a valence electron escape from the outer shell, the atom become negative ion.

24) ( ) The purpose of doping process is to improve the conductivity of the semiconductor

25) ( )Trivalent atom when added to intrinsic semiconductor will result in n-type material

26) ( ) The pentavalent atom also known as donor atom

27) ( ) The depletion region is narrow when diode reverse biased..

28) ( ) Free electron is also known as current carrier.