ENEE 313, Spr.

09 Midterm II Preparation
1. Be able to solve the quizzes and homework problems.
2. Make sure you retain a general knowledge of what we covered in the earlier part on the class,
especially in Chapter 3.
3. From the book, read:
(a) Chapter 4, sections 4.1, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.4.
(b) Chapter 5, sections 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 (qualitatively), 5.5.1, 5.5.3 (qualitatively), 5.5.4, 5.6.2,
5.7
4. Look through the self-quiz problems at the end of chapters.
5. Equations you might need will be provided.
6. Know the derivations we did in class.
7. There might be true/false or ll-in-the-blanks questions about concepts and denitions.
8. Some study questions:
(a) What is tunneling? How and when can it happen?
(b) What causes diusion current? What causes drift current?
(c) What is velocity saturation and how does it aect drift current?
(d) How is the Fermi level arranged in a system when it is in equilibrium?
(e) What do we mean by excess carriers? What does the net carrier concentration in a
semiconductor consist of?
(f) What controls the generation rate? What controls the recombination rate for direct
recombination?
(g) What is the electron current direction given the electron particle ow direction? What
is the hole current direction given the hole particle ow direction?
(h) Given an electric eld in the semiconductor, what happens to the band diagram repre-
sentation?
(i) What do the terms in the current continuity equation represent?
(j) What do the terms in the electron and hole diusion equations represent?
(k) What does the diusion length (L
n
or L
p
) represent? How is it related to the diusion
coecient and the carrier lifetime?
(l) What kind of an excess carrier prole is set up when there is a constant excess carrier
injection at one point of the semiconductor?
(m) How is the depletion region formed in a pn-junction?
(n) How do we calculate the built-in potential?
(o) How do we calculate the depletion region width at equilibrium? What is the relationship
between the depletion region widths and doping concentrations in the p- and n- regions?
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(p) What is the depletion approximation?
(q) How does the band diagram change when bias is applied to a pn-junction diode? How
do the bands move relative to each other when bias is applied to one side?
(r) How does the bias govern the net and excess minority carrier concentrations at the
depletion region edges on either side? How do these concentrations govern the current?
(s) What controls the time-response of the current to changes in bias?
(t) What makes a metal-semiconductor junction rectifying, ohmic or tunneling?
9. Know about the following:
(a) Fermi-Dirac distribution function, Fermi Level, denition and physical meaning
(b) Doping: Donors, acceptors
(c) Extrinsic semiconductors: n-type and p-type
(d) Impurity compensation
(e) Equilibrium hole and electron concentrations in extrinsic semiconductors, relationships
to dopant concentration and to each other
(f) Law of mass action (n
0
p
0
= n
2
i
) in equilibrium.
(g) Conductivity, mobility, mean free time, average velocity of carriers in an electric eld,
drift current
(h) Generation, recombination, recombination lifetime (minority carrier lifetime).
(i) Direct and indirect recombination
(j) Diusion current, diusion coecient, the Einstein relation in equilibrium
(k) Current continuity equation, carrier diusion equations, excess carrier diusion equa-
tions, excess carrier diusion in space
(l) Depletion and bulk regions in the pn-junction diode
(m) The built-in potential
(n) Eect of bias on the built-in potential and depletion region width
(o) Denitions of forward and reverse bias on a pn-junction
(p) The relationship between majority and minority carrier concentrations (especially at
depletion region edge) , the built-in potential and the bias on either side
(q) Derivation of the ideal diode current
(r) Behaviour in reverse bias
(s) Transient response, eects of carrier lifetime
(t) Depletion (junction) and diusion capacitances in a pn-junction
(u) The ideality factor
(v) Work factors and electron anity of metals and semiconductors
(w) How to draw the band diagram of a metal-semiconductor junction at equiliibrium and
identify the junction type
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