SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

Physics By:
ASSERTION AND REASONING TYPE
HITEN PARMAR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
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Read the Assertion and Reason carefully to mark the correct option out of the options given
below :
(a) If both Assertion and Reason are true and the Reason is the correct explanation of the
Assertion.
(b) If both Assertion and Reason are true but Reason is not the correct explanation of the
Assertion.
(c) If Assertion is true but Reason is false.
(d) If the Assertion and Reason both are false.
(e) If Assertion is false but Reason is true.

1. Assertion :The number of electrons in a P-type silicon semiconductor is less than the
number of electrons in a pure silicon semiconductor at room temperature.
Reason : It is due to law of mass action.
2. Assertion :In a common emitter transistor amplifier the input current is much less
than the output current.
Reason : The common emitter transistor amplifier has very high input impedance.
3. Assertion : A transistor amplifier in common emitter configuration has a low input
impedence.
Reason : The base to emitter region is forward biased.
4. Assertion :The resistivity of a semiconductor increases with temperature.
Reason : The atoms of a semiconductor vibrate with larger amplitude at higher
temperature there by increasing it's resistivity.
5. Assertion :If the temperature of a semiconductor is increased then it's resistance
decreases.
Reason : The energy gap between conduction band and valence band is very small
6. Assertion : The temperature coefficient of resistance is positive for metals and negative
for P-type semiconductor.
Reason : The effective charge carriers in metals are negatively charged whereas in P-
type semiconductor they are positively charged.
7. Assertion : Electron has higher mobility than hole in a semiconductor.
Reason : Mass of electron is less than the mass of hole.
8. Assertion : An N-type semiconductor has a large number of electrons but still it is
electrically neutral.
Reason : An N-type semiconductor is obtained by doping an intrinsic semiconductor
with a pentavalent impurity.
9. Assertion : The crystalline solids have a sharp melting point.
Reason : All the bonds between the atoms or molecules of a crystalline solids are
equally strong, that they get broken at the same temperature.
10. Assertion : Silicon is preferred over germanium for making semiconductor devices.
Reason : The energy gap for germanium is more than the energy gap of silicon.
11. Assertion : We can measure the potential barrier of a PN junction by putting a
sensitive voltmeter across its terminals.
Reason : The current through the PN junction is not same in forward and reversed
bias.
12. Assertion : Semiconductors do not Obey's Ohm's law.
Reason : Current is determined by the rate of flow of charge carriers.
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 SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

13. Assertion : Two P-N junction diodes placed back to back, will work as a NPN transistor.
Reason : The P-region of two PN junction diodes back to back will form the base of
NPN transistor.
14. Assertion : In transistor common emitter mode as an amplifier is preferred over common
base mode.
Reason : In common emitter mode the input signal is connected in series with the
voltage applied to the base emitter function.
15. Assertion : The dominant mechanism for motion of charge carriers in forward and
reverse biased silicon P-N junction are drift in both forward and reverse bias.
Reason : In reverse biasing, no current flow through the junction.
16. Assertion : A transistor is a voltage-operating device.
Reason : Base current is greater than the collector current.
17. Assertion : At 0 K Germanium is a superconductor.
Reason : At 0 K Germanium offers zero resistance.
18. Assertion : Base in a transistor is made very thin as compared to collector and emitter
regions.
Reason : Due to thin base power gain and voltage gain is obtained by a transistor.
19. Assertion : The current gain in common base circuit is always less than one.
Reason : At constant collector voltage the change in collector current is more than the
change in emitter current.
20. Assertion :V-i characteristic of P-N junction diode is same as that of any other
conductor.
Reason : P-N junction diode behave as conductor at room temperature.
21. Assertion : Zener diode works on a principle of breakdown voltage.
Reason : Current increases suddenly after breakdown voltage.
22. Assertion : NOT gate is also called inverter circuit.
Reason : NOT gate inverts the input order.
23. Assertion :In vacuum tubes (valves), vacuum is necessary for the movement of
electrons between electrodes otherwise electrons collide with air particle and
loses their energy.
Reason : In semiconductors devices, external heating or vacuum is not required.
24. Assertion :A P-N photodiode is made from a semiconductor for which Eg = 2.8 eV. This
photo diode will not detect the wavelength of 6000 nm.
: A PN photodiode detect wavelength  if
hc
Reason  Eg .

25. Assertion :When PN-junction is forward biased then motion of charge carriers at
junction is due to diffusion. In reverse biasing. The cause of motion of charge
is drifting.
Reason : In the following circuit emitter is reverse biased and collector is forward
biased. +1V

C
B

0V
E

–2V

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

2 a 3 c 4 a 5 d
6 a 7 b 8 a 9 b 10 a
11 c 12 e 13 e 14 d 15 b
16 d 17 d 19 d 20 a
21 c 22 d 23 a 24 a 25 b
27 a 29 b

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

SOLUTION

1. (a) According to law of mass action, ni2  ne nh . In intrinsic semiconductors ni = ne = nh

and for P-type semiconductor ne would be less than ni, since nh is necessarily more
than ni.
2. (c) In common emitter transistor amplifier current gain   1, so output current > Input
current, hence assertion is correct.
Also, input circuit has low resistance due to forward biasing to emitter base junction,
hence reason is false.
3. (a) Input impedance of common emitter configuration
VBE

iB VCE constant

where VBE  voltage across base and emitter (base emitter region is forward biased)
iB  base current which is order of few microampere.
Thus input impedance of common emitter is low.
4. (d) Resistivity of semiconductors decreases with temperature. The atoms of a
semiconductor vibrate with larger amplitudes at higher temperatures there by
increasing it's conductivity not resistivity.
5. (a) In semiconductors the energy gap between conduction band and valence band is
small ( 1 eV). Due to temperature rise, electron in the valence band gained thermal
energy and may jump across the small energy gap, goes in to the conduction band.
Thus conductivity increases and hence resistance decreases.
6. (b)
7. (a) The ratio of the velocity to the applied field is called the mobility. Since electron is
lighter than holes, they move faster in applied field than holes.
8. (b)
Intrinsic + Pentalvalent
impurity
N-type
semiconductor semiconductor

(Neutral) (Neutral) (Neutral)

9. (a) At a particular temperature all the bonds of crystalline solids breaks and show sharp
melting point.
10. (c) The energy gap for germanium is less (0.72 eV ) than the energy gap of silicon (1.1 eV ) .
Therefore, silicon is preferred over germanium for making semiconductor devices.
11. (e) We cannot measure the potential barrier of a PN-junction by connecting a sensitive
voltmeter across its terminals because in the depletion region, there are no free
electrons and holes and in the absence of forward biasing, PN- junction offers infinite
resistance.
12. (e) The assertion is not true. In fact, semiconductor Obeys Ohm's law for low values of
electric field (~ 106 V/m). Above this, the current becomes almost independent of
electric field.
13. (d) Two PN-junctions placed back to back cannot work as NPN transistor because in
transistor the width and concentration of doping of P-semiconductor is less as
compared to width doping of N-type semiconductor type.
14. (b) Common emitter is prepared over common base because all the current, voltage and
power gain of common emitter amplifier is much more than the gains of common
base amplifier.
15. (d) In PN-junction, the diffusion of majority carriers takes place when junction is forward
biased and drifting of minority carriers takes place across the function, when reverse
biased. The reverse bias opposes the majority carriers but makes the minority
carriers to cross the PN-junction. Thus the small current in A flows during reverse
bias.

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

16. (d) A transistor is a current operating device because the action of transistor is
controlled by the charge carriers (electrons or holes). Base current is very much
lesser than the collector current.
17. (d) At 0K, Germanium offers infinite resistance, and it behaves as an insulator.
18. (a) In a transistor, the base is made extremely thin to reduce the combinations of holes
and electrons. Under this condition, most of the holes (or electrons) arriving from the
emitter diffuses across the base and reach the collector. Hence, the collector current, is
almost equal to the emitter current, the base current being comparatively much
smaller. This is the main reason that power gain and voltage gain are obtained by a
transistor. If the base region was made quite thick, then majority of carriers from
emitter will combine with the carriers in the base and only small number of carriers
will reach the collector, so there would be little collector current and the purpose of
transistor would be defeated.
 IC 
19. (c) The current gain in common base circuit    

 I E  VC
The change in collector current is always less than the change in emitter current.
IC  I E . Therefore,   1.
20. (d) The V-i characteristic of PN- diode depends whether the junction is forward biased or
reverse biased. This can be showed by graph between voltage and current.
Forward current
(A)

Knee voltage
Reverse forward bias
bias (V) (V)
Zener
Reverse current

voltage
(A)

21. (a) When the reverse voltage across the zener diode is equal to or more than the
breakdown voltage, the reverse current increases sharply.
22. (a)
Input (A) Output (Y)

If A = 0, Y = 1 and A = 1, Y = 0.
23. (b) In vacuum tubes, vacuum is necessary and the working of semiconductor devices is
independent of heating or vacuum.
24. (a) For detection of a particular wavelength () by a PN photo diode, energy of incident
hc
light > Eg  
Eg

hc 6.6  10 34  3  10 8
For Eg  2.8 eV ,   441.9 nm
Eg 2.8  1.6  10 19
hc
i.e.  6000 nm, so diode will not detect the wavelength of 6000Å.
Eg
25. (b) In forward biasing of PN junction current flows due to diffusion of majority charge
carriers. While in reverse biasing current flows due to drifting of minority charge
carriers.
The circuit given in the reason is a PNP transistor having emitter is more negative
w.r.t. base so it is reverse biased and collector is more positive w.r.t. base so it is
forward biased.

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