Optical Communications test on “Optical Emission From Semiconductors”.
1. A perfect semiconductor crystal containing no impurities or lattice defects is called as __________
a) Intrinsic semiconductor
b) Extrinsic semiconductor
c) Excitation
d) Valence electron
Answer: a
Explanation: An intrinsic semiconductor is usually un-doped. It is a pure semiconductor. The number of charge carriers is determined by the semiconductor material properties and not by the impurities.
2. The energy-level occupation for a semiconductor in thermal equilibrium is described by the __________
a) Boltzmann distribution function
b) Probability distribution function
c) Fermi-Dirac distribution function
d) Cumulative distribution function
Answer: c
Explanation: For a semiconductor in thermal equilibrium, the probability P(E) that an electron gains sufficient thermal energy at an absolute temperature so as to occupy a particular energy level E, is given by the Fermi-Dirac distribution. It is given by-
P(E) = 1/(1+exp(E-EF/KT))
Where K = Boltzmann constant, T = absolute temperature, EF = Fermi energy level.
3. What is done to create an extrinsic semiconductor?
a) Refractive index is decreased
b) Doping the material with impurities
c) Increase the band-gap of the material
d) Stimulated emission
Answer: b
Explanation: An intrinsic semiconductor is a pure semiconductor. An extrinsic semiconductor is obtained by doping the material with impurity atoms. These impurity atoms create either free electrons or holes. Thus, extrinsic semiconductor is a doped semiconductor.
4. The majority of the carriers in a p-type semiconductor are __________
a) Holes
b) Electrons
c) Photons
d) Neutrons
Answer: a
Explanation: The impurities can be either donor impurities or acceptor impurities. When acceptor impurities are added, the excited electrons are raised from the valence band to the acceptor impurity levels leaving positive charge carriers in the valence band. Thus, p-type semiconductor is formed in which majority of the carriers are positive i.e. holes.
5. _________________ is used when the optical emission results from the application of electric field.
a) Radiation
b) Efficiency
c) Electro-luminescence
d) Magnetron oscillator
Answer: c
Explanation: Electro-luminescence is encouraged by selecting an appropriate semiconductor material. Direct band-gap semiconductors are used for this purpose. In band-to-band recombination, the energy is released with the creation of photon. This emission of light is known as electroluminescence.
6. In the given equation, what does p stands for?
p = 2πhk
a) Permittivity
b) Probability
c) Holes
d) Crystal momentum
Answer: d
Explanation: The given equation is a relation of crystal momentum and wave vector. In the given equation, h is the Planck’s constant, k is the wave vector and p is the crystal momentum.
7. The recombination in indirect band-gap semiconductors is slow.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Explanation: In an indirect band-gap semiconductor, the maximum and minimum energies occur at different values of crystal momentum. However, three-particle recombination process is far less probable than the two-particle process exhibited by direct band-gap semiconductors. Hence, the recombination in an indirect band-gap semiconductor is relatively slow.
8. Calculate the radioactive minority carrier lifetime in gallium arsenide when the minority carriers are electrons injected into a p-type semiconductor region which has a hole concentration of 1018cm-3. The recombination coefficient for gallium arsenide is 7.21*10-10cm3s-1.
a) 2ns
b) 1.39ns
c) 1.56ns
d) 2.12ms
Answer: b
Explanation: The radioactive minority carrier lifetime ςrconsidering the p-type region is given by-
ςr = [BrN]-1 where Br = Recombination coefficient in cm3s-1 and N = carrier concentration in n-region.
9. Which impurity is added to gallium phosphide to make it an efficient light emitter?
a) Silicon
b) Hydrogen
c) Nitrogen
d) Phosphorus
Answer: c
Explanation: An indirect band-gap semiconductor may be made into an electro-luminescent material by the addition of impurity centers which will convert it into a direct band-gap material. The introduction of nitrogen as an impurity into gallium phosphide makes it an effective emitter of light. Such conversion is only achieved in materials where the direct and indirect band-gaps have a small energy difference.
10. Population inversion is obtained at a p-n junction by __________
a) Heavy doping of p-type material
b) Heavy doping of n-type material
c) Light doping of p-type material
d) Heavy doping of both p-type and n-type material
Answer: d
Explanation: Population inversion at p-n junction is obtained by heavy doping of both p-type and n-type material. Heavy p-type doping with acceptor impurities causes a lowering of the Fermi-level between the filled and empty states into the valence band. Similarly n-type doping causes Fermi-level to enter the conduction band of the material.
11. A GaAs injection laser has a threshold current density of 2.5*103Acm-2 and length and width of the cavity is 240μm and 110μm respectively. Find the threshold current for the device.
a) 663 mA
b) 660 mA
c) 664 mA
d) 712 mA
Answer: b
Explanation: The threshold current is denoted by Ith. It is given by-
Ith = Jth * area of the optical cavity
Where Jth = threshold current density
Area of the cavity = length and width.
12. A GaAs injection laser with an optical cavity has refractive index of 3.6. Calculate the reflectivity for normal incidence of the plane wave on the GaAs-air interface.
a) 0.61
b) 0.12
c) 0.32
d) 0.48
Answer: c
Explanation: The reflectivity for normal incidence of the plane wave on the GaAs-air interface is given by-
r = ((n-1)/(n+1))2 where r=reflectivity and n=refractive index.
13. A homo-junction is an interface between two adjoining single-crystal semiconductors with different band-gap energies.
a) True
b) False
Answer: b
Explanation: The photo-emissive properties of a single p-n junction fabricated from a single-crystal semiconductor material are called as homo-junction. A hetero-junction is an interface between two single-crystal semiconductors with different band-gap energies. The devices which are fabricated with hetero-junctions are said to have hetero-structure.
14. How many types of hetero-junctions are available?
a) Two
b) One
c) Three
d) Four
Answer: a
Explanation: Hetero-junctions are classified into an isotype and an-isotype. The isotype hetero-junctions are also called as n-n or p-p junction. The an-isotype hetero-junctions are called as p-n junction with large band-gap energies.
15. The ______________ system is best developed and is used for fabricating both lasers and LEDs for the shorter wavelength region.
a) InP
b) GaSb
c) GaAs/GaSb
d) GaAs/Alga AS DH
Answer: d
Explanation: For DH device fabrication, materials such as GaAs, Alga AS are used. The band-gap in this material may be tailored to span the entire wavelength band by changing the AlGa composition. Thus, GaAs/ Alga As DH system is used for fabrication of lasers and LEDs for shorter wavelength region (0.8μm-0.9μm).
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