AKGEC/IAP/FM/03

Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College, Ghaziabad

Department of ECE
Pre-University Test
Course:
B.Tech
Session:
2015-16
Subject:
Fundamentals of Electronic Devices
Max Marks: 100

Semester: III
Section: EC-1,2,3 & EI
Sub. Code: NEC-302
Time: 3 hours

Note : Attempt all Sections.

Section-A
Q.1 Attempt all parts. All parts carry equal marks. Write answer of each part in short.
(2x10 = 20)
(a) What is short diode?
A "short" diode is a diode with quasi-neutral regions, which are much shorter than the minoritycarrier diffusion lengths. As the quasi-neutral region is much smaller than the diffusion length
one finds that recombination in the quasi-neutral region is negligible.
(b) Why direct bandgap semiconductors are preferred for LED operation?
In direct recombination, an excess potation of electrons and holes delays by electrons falling
from the conducting band to empty state (holes) in the valence. Energy lost by an electrons in
making the transition is given up as a photon. Direct recombination occurs spontaneously.
(c) What is law of mass action?
Under thermal equilibrium the product of the free electron concentration and the free hole
concentration is equal to a constant equal to the square of intrinsic carrier concentration .
The equation for the mass action law for semiconductors is:

(d) What is the property of heavily doped semiconductors used in Tunnel diode?
The conditions for electron tunneling are: filled and empty states separated by a narrow potential
barrier of finite height. Since the bands overlap under equilibrium conditions, a small reverse
bias allows electron tunneling from the filled valence-band states below EFp to the empty
conduction-band states above EFn,
(e) Comment over the maximum value of Voc of photodiode.
Voc cannot increase indefinitely with increased generation rate; in fact, the limit on Voc is the
equilibrium contact potential V0, as

KT g op
ln
for g op g th

q
gth
since the contact potential is the maximum forward bias that can appear across a junction. The
appearance of a forward voltage across an illuminated junction is known as the photovoltaic
effect.
Voc

(f) Why minority carriers generation is limited within one diffusion (outside depletion
region) for increasing reverse saturation current.
When V is negative (reverse bias), the exponential term approaches zero and the current is -I0,
which is in the n to p (negative) direction. This negative generation current is also called the
reverse saturation current. As:

(g) Mention the application of negative conductance devices.

Negative resistance oscillators are mainly used at high frequencies in the microwave range or
above, since feedback oscillators function poorly at these frequencies. Microwave diodes are
used in low- to medium-power oscillators for applications such as radar speed guns, and local
oscillators for satellite receivers. They are a widely used source of microwave energy, and
virtually the only solid-state source of millimeter wave and terahertz energy
(h) Differentiate florescence and phosphorescence.
If the recombination occurs for direct rather than via a defect level band, band gaps light is given
off in the process. Direct recombination is a fast process and is called as florescence. Unlike
florescence, a Phosphorescent material does not immediately re-emit the radiation it absorbs.
This slow process is called phosphorescence and the material is called phosphorus.
(i) What is injection electroluminescence?
Radiation resulting from recombination of minority charge carriers injected in a pn or pin
junction that is biased in the forward direction. It is also known as recombination
electroluminescence.
(j) Comment over the assumption of ZERO electric field in neutral region of diode.
Fermi level deep inside each neutral region is essentially the equilibrium value; therefore, the
shifting of the energy bands under bias implies a separation of the Fermi levels on either side of
the junction.
Section- B
Note: Attempt any five questions from this section.
(10x5=50)
Q(2) Prove that the charge transport mechanism in valance band is mainly due to holes.
What is effective mass concept
(5+5)

In semiconductors as the temperature is raised from 0K, some electrons in the valence band
receive enough thermal energy to be excited across the band gap to the conduction band. The
result is a material with some electrons in an otherwise empty conduction band and some
unoccupied states in an otherwise filled valence band . In a filled band, all available energy states
are occupied. For every electron moving with a given velocity, there is an equal and opposite
electron motion elsewhere in the band. If we apply an electric field, the net current is zero
because for every electron jth moving with velocity vj there is a corresponding electron; with
velocity (-vj). Figure (below) illustrates this effect in terms of the electron energy vs. wave vector
plot for the valence band. Since k is proportional to electron momentum, it is clear the two
electrons have oppositely directed velocities. For a group of N electrons, current density is given
as
N

J ( q ) vi 0 filled band
i

Now if we create a hole by removing the j th electron, the net current density in the valence band
involves the sum over all velocities, minus the contribution of the electron we have removed:
N

J ( q) vi ( q)v j

jth eleectron band

But the first term is zero, from previous equation.Thus the net current is +qvj. In other words, the
current contribution of the hole is equivalent to that of a positively charged particle with velocity
vj that of the missing electron. Of course, the charge transport is actually due to the motion of the
missing electron. Its current contribution ( - q) (-vJ) is equivalent to that of a positively charged
particle with velocity +vj. For simplicity, it is customary to treat empty states in the valence band
as charge carriers with positive charge and positive mass.

Electron-hole pairs in a semiconductor.

Effective Mass
The electrons in a crystal are not completely free, but instead interact with the periodic potential
of the lattice . Electrons and holes can be treated as "almost free" carriers in most computations.
The effective mass of an electron in a band with a given (E, k) relationship is given as
h2
m* 2
d E / dK 2
Thus the curvature of the band determines the electron effective mass. The curvature of d2E/dk2
is positive at the conduction band minima, but is negative at the valence band maxima. Thus, the
electrons near the top of the valence band have negative effective mass. Valence band electrons
with negative charge and negative mass move in an electric field in the same direction as holes
with positive charge and positive mass.

Q(3) Discuss in detail the electron occupancy probability with respect to temperature.
Derive the equilibrium concentration of holes.
(5+5)
To obtain equations for the carrier concentrations we must investigate the distribution of carriers
over the available energy states. Electrons in solids obey Eermi-Dirac statistics given as:
1
f (E)
E EF
1 exp
KT
Where EF is defined as Fermi energy. Function f(E) gives the probability that an available energy
state at E will be occupied by an electron at absolute temperature T. For an energy E equal to the
Fermi level energy EF, the occupation probability .Thus an energy state at the Fermi level has a
probability of 1/2 of being occupied by an electron.
A closer examination of f(E) indicates that at 0 K the distribution takes the simple rectangular
form as shown in Fig. With T = 0 in the denominator of the exponent, f(E) is 1/(1 + 0) = 1 when
the exponent is negative (E < EF), and is 1/(1 +) = 0 when the exponent is positive (E > EF).

Plot of Fermi energy function for different temperatures.

At temperatures higher than 0 K, some probability exists for states above the Fermi level to be
filled. For any given temperature, electron occupancy probability f(E) that states above EF are
filled is same as electron unoccupancy probability [1 f(E) ) ] that states below EF are empty.
The Fermi function is symmetrical about EF for all temperatures.
equilibrium concentration for holes,

Q(4) Correlate the external optical excitation (gop) rate with steady state excess carrier
concentration. In a Si sample 1013 EHP/cm3 are created optically per microseconds with
n0=1014cm-3 and n=p=2s. Calculate percentage change in majority and minority carrier
concentrations from its equilibrium values (ni=1.5x1010cm-3). Also calculate the respective
quasi Fermi levels with respect to intrinsic energy level.
Q(5) How the random motion of particle results in diffusion process. Derive the equation of
continuity.(5+5)
When excess carriers are created no uniformly in a semiconductor, the electron and hole
concentrations vary with position in the sample. Any such spatial variation (gradient) in n and p
calls for a net motion of the carriers from regions of high carrier concentration to regions of low
carrier concentration. This type of motion is called diffusion and represents an important charge
transport process in semiconductors.

Spreading of a pulse of electrons by diffusion.

. Consider a differential length x of a semiconductor sample with area A in the yz-plane.

Current entering and leaving volume Ax.

The Continuity Equation

The hole current density leaving the volume, Jp(x + x), can be larger or smaller than the current
density entering, Jp(x), depending on the generation and recombination of carriers taking place
within the volume (Fig. 2.13). The net increase in hole concentration per unit time, dp/dt, is the
difference between the hole flux per unit volume entering and leaving, minus the recombination
rate. We can convert hole current density to hole particle flux density by dividing Jp by q. The
current densities are already expressed per unit area; thus dividing Jp(x)/q by x gives the
number of carriers per unit volume entering xA per unit time, and (1/q)Jp{x + x)/x is the
number leaving per unit volume and time:

As x approaches zero, we can write the current change in derivative form

The above expression is called the continuity equation for holes. For electrons we can write

since the electronic charge is negative.

When the current is carried strictly by diffusion (negligible drift), we can replace the currents in
Eqs. by the expressions for diffusion current, for electron diffusion
Thus the diffusion equation for electron is given as

Similarly, for hole

Q(6) Describe the constructional features and operation of MESFET.

Metal-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MESFETs)
The Metal-Semiconductor-Field-Effect-Transistor (MESFET) consists of a conducting channel
positioned between a source and drain contact region as shown in the Fig. The carrier flow from
source to drain is controlled by a Schottky metal gate. The control of the channel is obtained by
varying the depletion layer width underneath the metal contact which modulates the thickness of
the conducting channel and thereby the current between source and drain.

Structure of a MESFET with gate length, L, and channel thickness, d.

The key advantage of the MESFET is the higher mobility of the carriers in the channel as
compared to the MOSFET. Since the carriers located in the inversion layer of a MOSFET have a
wavefunction, which extends into the oxide, their mobility - also referred to as surface mobility is less than half of the mobility of bulk material. As the depletion region separates the carriers
from the surface their mobility is close to that of bulk material. The higher mobility leads to a
higher current, transconductance and transit frequency of the device.
Working Principles
Using a third electrode (the gate) to control the conducting between two electrodes (source and
drain) is the basic principle of operation of field effect transistors (FETs). Unlike the bipolar
junction transistor majority charge carriers are controlled in FETs. MOSFET is a kind of FETs
where the metallic control gate is separated from the semiconductor channel by an insulator
(usually an oxide).The basic structure is drawn is Fig. There are two kinds of MOSFETs:
depletion mode (Fig.a and c) or enhancement mode (Fig. b and d) transistors, which are
distinguished by the presence or absence of a conducting, channel below gate when no voltage is
applied to the gate. The structures of Si-based and InP-based MOSFETs are different as shown in
Fig. Here we only consider the InP-based depletion mode.
In MOSFETs, an electric field EGS perpendicular to the surface of the device induces charge in
the surface. The field is generated by a voltage V GS applied to the metal gate (gate voltage). If
there are interface and insulator states which can be charged or discharged, a certain fraction V T
(the threshold voltage) of VGS is necessary to charge these states until mobile charges (electrons
for device in Fig.) are generated. The interface states will be discussed further in the following
section. When this happens the barrier at the drain and source p-n junctions disappear and the ntype channel between the source and drain forms. Thus ideally the drain current ID to exists only
if VGS > VT for n-type channels. Now if a positive voltage is applied to the drain, the channel at
that end becomes depleted. When VDS = VDS-SAT the n-channel is pinch-off from the drain. The
formation of pinch off of an n-channel MOSFET is shown in Fig. Increasing it further makes the
channel shorter.

a.

b.

c.

Error: Reference source not found

d.

Main types of MOSFETs: a. Si-based n-channel MOSFET

(depletion mode).b. Si-based n-channel MOSFET
(enhancement mode). c. InP-based n-channel MOSFET (depletion mode) d. InP-based n-channel (enhancement
mode)

Formation and pinch-off of an n-channel in a MOSFET

Error: Reference source not found

Q(7) Derive the capacitance of PN junction in forward and reverse bias case.
(5+5)
There are basically two types of capacitance associated with a junction: (1) the junction
capacitance due to the dipole in the transition region and (2) the charge storage capacitance
arising from the lagging behind of voltage as current changes, due to charge storage effects. The
junction capacitance (1) is dominant under reverse-bias conditions, and the charge storage
capacitance (2) is dominant when the junction is forward biased.
The depletion layer of a PN junction is much like a parallel plate capacitance. As the voltage
change, the charge in depletion region changes accordingly and hence the immobile charge
present therein . An expression for the depletion layer charge q j can be derived ( on one side)
using the n-side.

Depletion capacitance of a junction: (a) p+-n junction showing variation of depletion edge on n side with reverse
bias. Electrically, the structure looks like a parallel plate capacitor whose dielectric is the depletion region, and the
plates are the space charge neutral regions; (b) variation of depletion capacitance with reverse bias .

Space charge in depletion region is correlated as

qj = qN = qND xn.A
Also,
xn N A

x n x p wdepl
xp ND
xn

ND
NA
.x n wdepl x n wdep
NA
NA ND

NAND
. A.wdepl
NA ND
Thus, we have
q j q.

wdepl

2 s
q

1
1
. V0 V R

NA ND

N A .N C
. V0 VR . A
q j 2 s q.
NA ND
the depletion capacitance (junction capacitance to the slope of the qj - VR at the base point Q

Cj
Cj

dq j
dVR

VR VQ

s A

wdep

C j0 A

Ci 0
1

VR
V0

sq N AND
1
.
2 N A N D V0

the capacitance at zero applied voltage.

C s0
Cj
1 V R / V0 m
Q(8) Explain the operation of DIAC.
DIAC
A diac is a full-wave or bi-directional semiconductor switch that can be turned on in both
forward and reverse polarities. The name diac comes from the words Diode AC switch. The diac
is an electronics component that is widely used to assist even triggering of a triac when used in
AC switches and as a result they are often found in light dimmers such as those used in domestic
lighting. These electronic components are also widely used in starter circuits for fluorescent
lamps

Diac operation
Diac circuits use the fact that a diac only conducts current only after a certain breakdown voltage
has been exceeded. The actual breakdown voltage will depend upon the specification for the
particular component type.
When the diac breakdown voltage occurs, the resistance of the component decreases abruptly
and this leads to a sharp decrease in the voltage drop across the diac, and a corresponding
increase in current. The diac will remain in its conducing state until the current flow through it
drops below a particular value known as the holding current. When the current falls below the
holding current, the diac switches back to its high resistance, or non-conducting state.
Diacs are widely used in AC applications and it is found that the device is "reset" to its nonconducting state, each time the voltage on the cycle falls so that the current falls below the
holding current. As the behaviour of the device is approximately equal in both directions, it can
provide a method of providing equal switching for both halves of an AC cycle, e.g for triacs.
Most diacs have a breakdown voltage of around 30 volts, although the exact specifications will
depend upon the particular type of device.. Interestingly their behaviour is somewhat similar to
that of a neon lamp, although they offer a far more precise switch on voltage and thereby provide
a far better degree of switching

Q(9) What is spontaneous and stimulated emission. Describe the operation of

semiconductor diode producing the stimulated emissions.
Spontaneous emission: Transition of an electron from a higher to a lower energy state without
any outside stimulus is called spontaneous emission. The photons so emitted are in random
phases and random directions.
Stimulated emission: When a photon of energy h = E2E1 is incident on an atom which is
already in an excited stateE2, the atom being disturbed or stimulated by the incident photon,
makes a transition to a lower energy state E1 emitting a photon. The emitted photon has the same
frequency, phase & direction as the incident photon. This type of emission is called stimulated
emission.
Einstein obtained a quantitative relation between the stimulated absorption, spontaneous
emission and stimulated emission
dN 1

The rate of stimulated absorption

= B12N1 ()
dt abs
B12 is a constant, characteristic of the atom called Einsteins coefficient of stimulated absorption.
dN 2

dt

The rate of spontaneous emission

= A21 N2
S pont

A21 is a constant, characteristic of the atom called Einsteins coefficient of spontaneous emission.
dN 2

dt

The rate of stimulated emission

St

= B21 N2 ()

B21 is a constant, characteristic of the atom called Einsteins coefficient of stimulated emission.
At thermal equilibrium population densities N1& N2 are fixed at a given temperature T. To keep
these numbers constant, the rates of upward & downward transitions must be equal (Fig.).
B12 N1 () = B21 N2 () + A21 N2 ..(1)
Consider the ratio
dN 2

dt

St

B21 N 2 ( ) N 2

B12 N 1 ( ) N 1

(we will see shortly that B12 = B21)

dN 2

dt abs
N2 > N1 leads to stimulated emission overtaking the absorption which is a necessary condition
for lasing action.

Balance of absorption and emission in steady slate: (a) stimulated emission; (b) absorption; (c) spontaneous
emission.

Under normal conditions, there are more atoms in the ground state than in the excited state:
According to Boltzmann distribution, the number of atoms N occupying an energy level E at any
given temperature T is given by
N Ae

E
kT

If N 1 & N 2 are the number of atoms occupying the energy levels

E 1 & E 2 respectively (E 2 E 1 )
( E2 E1 )

kT

then,

N1 A e

E1
kT

&

N2 A e

E2
kT

hr
........(2)
kt
since E2 > E1 we have N2 < N1.]
N 2 N1 e

N 1e

The amplification of light beam occurs only if the rate of stimulated emission exceeds the rate of
stimulated absorption. For this to happen the higher energy state should contain more number of
atoms as compared to the lower energy state N 2>N1. Such an abnormal condition in which the
higher energy states are more densely populated is called population inversion.
dN 2

dt S t
B21 N 2 ( ) B21

( )
Now, consider
A21 N 2
A21
dN 2

dt spont
This implies that, for stimulated emission to be prominent over spontaneous emission, () must
be large i.e intensity of stimulating photons should be sufficiently high. This saturation intensity
is the sufficient condition for lasing action.
Essential components of a laser
The laser device basically consists of three elements.
1. A pump
2. An active medium
3. A cavity resonator or an optical cavity.
(5+5)
Section- C
Note: Attempt any two questions from this section.

(15x2 = 30)

Q(10) What is the application of negative conductance device? What is TED mechanism?
Describe the domain formation in GUNN diode.
Negative-conductance mode is when the a-c component of current is negative over a portion of
the cycle during which the a-c voltage is positive, and vice versa.
Transferred electron mechanism (GUNN diode)
Gunn diode oscillators operate on the principles of the Gunn Effect. The generalized Gunn Effect
describes the mechanism of electron transfer leading to negative differential conductivity (resistance) in
a homogeneous, bulk semiconductor material . These diodes are unipolar devices and, generally do not
exhibit the distinctive diode characteristics of p-n junctions. The semiconductor materials that exhibit
the Gunn Effect must be direct bandgap materials that have more than one valley in the conduction band
and the effective mass and the density of states in the upper valley(s) must be higher than in the main

valley. The typical velocity-field characteristics of a bulk material exhibiting the Gunn Effect is shown
in Fig.a.

(a) Generalized velocity-field characteristics of a transferred electron device. (b)(d) Simplified energy-band diagram for a
direct two-valley semiconductor showing electron transfer.

The main valley of the conduction band is where the electrons initially reside with little or no external
electric field applied as shown in Fig .b. If the external field is increased to a value above a threshold
field, Fig. c, many of the electrons acquire enough energy to be scattered (transferred) into the upper
satellite valley. Since the effective mass in the upper satellite valley is larger than in the main valley,
the mobility, and the average drift velocity of the electrons is reduced. The mobility is given by

e
m*

where is the relaxation time and m * is the effective mass in a semiconductor material. The
differential mobility, defined as d d dE , becomes negative when the electric field is above the
threshold value as seen in Fig.a. This leads to the negative differential resistance (NDR). Since the
charge is inhomogeneous in the negative differential mobility region, the electric field distribution over
the sample length is also inhomogeneous. A typical electric field distribution in a Gunn diode is shown
in Fig. a.

(a) Electric Field profile for a dipole domain. (b) Carrier concentration for a dipole domain.

It can be seen from Fig. a that there is a region of high electric field surrounded by a region of
low electric field. The corresponding charge distribution is shown in Fig. b. In Fig.the
accumulation of charge in the region where the electric field is increasing is a result of
significant decrease in mobility caused by scattering of electrons into the upper valley. In the
region of the sample where the electric field is decreasing, the electrons accumulated in the upper
valley lose energy and scatter back into the lower valley of the conduction band. When this
happens, a depletion region is created. The accumulation and the depletion regions together
form the dipole domain.
Q(11) Describe in detail the various physical features of Bipolar junction transistor.
Describe the amplification and base current controls process.
(5+10)
Transistors are three terminal active devices made from different semiconductor materials that
can act as either an insulator or a conductor by the application of a small signal voltage. The
transistors ability to change between these two states enables it to have two basic functions:
switching (digital electronics) or amplification (analogue electronics). Then Bipolar
Transistors have the ability to operate within three different regions:
Active Region the transistor operates as an amplifier and Ic = .Ib
Saturation the transistor is Fully-ON operating as a switch and Ic = I(saturation)
Cut-off the transistor is Fully-OFF operating as a switch and Ic = 0
The Bipolar Transistor basic construction consists of two PN-junctions producing three
connecting terminals with each terminal being given a name to identify it from the other two.
These three terminals are known and labelled as the Emitter ( E ), the Base ( B ) and the
Collector ( C ) respectively.

Bipolar Transistors are current regulating devices that control the amount of current flowing
through them in proportion to the amount of biasing voltage applied to their base terminal acting
like a current-controlled switch. The principle of operation of the two transistor types PNP and
NPN, is exactly the same the only difference being in their biasing and the polarity of the power
supply for each type.

Bipolar Transistor Construction

Amplification with BJT

The transistor is useful in amplifiers because the currents at the emitter and collector are
controllable by the relatively small base current. The essential mechanisms are easy to
understand if various secondary effects are neglected. We shall use total current (d-c plus a-c) in
this discussion, with the understanding that the simple analysis applies only to d-c and to smallsignal a-c at low frequencies. We can relate the terminal currents of the transistor iE, iB, and ic by
several important factors. In this introduction we shall neglect the saturation current at the
collector (Fig. , component 3) and such effects as recombination in the transition regions. Under
these assumptions, the collector current is made up entirely of those holes injected at the emitter
which are not lost to recombination in the base. Thus ic is proportional to the hole component of
the emitter current iEp:

Summary of hole and elecfron flow in a p-n-p transistor with proper biasing: (1) injected holes lost to recombination
in the base; (2) holes reaching the reverse-biased collector junction; (3) thermally generated electrons and holes
making up the reverse saturation current of the collector junction; (4) electrons supplied by the base contact for
recombination with holes; (5) electrons injected across the forward-biased emitter junction .

The proportionality factor B is simply the fraction of injected holes which make it across the base
to the collector; B is called the base transport factor. The total emitter current iE is made up of
the hole component iEp and the electron component iEn) due to electrons injected from base to
emitter (component 5 in Fig.). The emitter injection efficiency is

For an efficient transistor we would like B and 7 to be very near unity; that is, the emitter current
should be due mostly to holes ( = 1), and most of the injected holes should eventually
participate in the collector current (B = l).The relation between the collector and emitter currents
is

The product B is defined as the factor , called the current transfer ratio, which represents the
emitter-to-collector current amplification. There is no real amplification between these currents,
since a is smaller than unity. On the other hand, the relation between ic and iB is more promising
for amplification. In accounting for the base current, we must include the rates at which electrons
are lost from the base by injection across the emitter junction (iEn) and the rate of electron
recombination with holes in the base. In each case, the lost electrons must be resupplied through
the base current iB. If the fraction of injected holes making it across the base without
recombination is B, then it follows that (1 - B) is the fraction recombining in the base. Thus the
base current is
neglecting the collector saturation current. The relation between the collector and base currents
using above two equations is given as

The factor p relating the collector current to the base current is the base-to collector current
amplification factor.}
Q(12) Derive the expression of current flowing through a homojunction diode under
various bias conditions. What is minority carrier extraction?
(10+5)