Semiconductor Devices (Spring: 2023-24): Tutorial Sheet-IV

1. The following parameters are given for a tunnel diode:

Peak current = 10 mA, Peak voltage =0.15 V, Valley current= 2 mA, Valley voltage = 0.6 V.
Assuming a straight-line approximation to the I-V characteristics between peak and valley
points, calculate the value of the differential negative resistance.
2. A Si solar cell with a dark saturation current Ith of 5 nA is illuminated such that the short-
circuit current is 200 mA. Plot the I-V curve for the cell.
3. A Si solar cell 2 cm x 2cm with Ith =32 nA has an optical generation rate of 1018 EHP/cm3-s
within Lp = Ln = 2 μm of the junction. If the depletion width is 1 μm, calculate the short-circuit
current and the open circuit voltage for this cell.
4. A Si solar cell has a short-circuit current of 90 mA and an open-circuit voltage of 0.75 V
under solar illumination. The fill factor is 0.8. What is the maximum power delivered to a load
by this cell?
5. A 1 cm2 solar cell has a saturation current of 10-12 A and is illuminated by sunlight yielding
a short-circuit photocurrent of 25 mA. Calculate the solar cell efficiency and fill factor,
assuming an incident power of 100 mW/cm2.
6. Consider a Si p-n junction solar cell at 300 K with an area of 4 cm2 with the following
parameters:
ND = 1018 cm-3, NA = 3 x 1017 cm-3, Dn = 15 cm2/s, Dp = 7.5 cm2/s, τn = τp = 10-7 s, Iop = 1.0 A.
Calculate the open circuit voltage of the diode. If the fill factor is 0.75, calculate the maximum
power output.
7. If and LED is made in a semiconductor with a band gap of 2.5 eV, what wavelength of light
will it emit? Can it be used to efficiently detect photons of wavelength 900 nm, 100 nm?
8. An LED is made from AlxGa1-xAs material. It is to emit red light at the 680 nm wavelength.
Find the mole fraction x of Al, assuming that the Eg= 1.42 +1.2x in the range 0≤x≤0.4.
9. If the photon output of a laser diode is equal to the bandgap energy, find the wavelength
separation between adjacent modes in a GaAs laser with L = 75 μm. Assume the average
refractive index for GaAs 3.6 and its bandgap 1.42 eV.
10. A Schottky barrier is formed between a metal having a work function of 4.3 eV and p-type
Si (electron affinity = 4 eV). The acceptor doping in the Si is 1017 cm-3. (a) Draw the
equilibrium band diagram, showing a numerical value for equilibrium contact potential. (b)
Draw the band diagram with 0.3 V and 2 V forward biases.
11. Calculate the theoretical barrier height and built in potential (Vo) in a metal-semiconductor
diode for zero applied bias. Assume qՓm =4.55 eV, qχ = 4.01 eV, ND = 2 x 1016 cm-3 and
T=300 K.
12. Copper is deposited on a carefully prepared n-type silicon substrate to form an ideal
Schottky diode. If qՓm =4.65 eV, qχ = 4.01 eV, ND = 3 x 1016 cm-3 and T=300 K, calculate the
barrier height, built in potential, the depletion layer width and maximum electric field at zero
bias.
13. Consider a contact between tungsten (W) and n-type silicon doped to ND = 1016 cm-3 at
T=300 K. Calculate the theoretical barrier height, built-in potential barrier and maximum
electric field in a metal semiconductor diode for zero applied bias. [Given φm=4.55 V, χs=4.01
V, Nc=2.8x1019 cm-3].
14. The capacitance of an Au -n-type GaAs Schottky barrier diode is given by the relation
1/C2 =1.57 x 105 – 2.12 x 105 Va
Where C is expressed in μF and Va in volts.
Taking the diode area to be 10-1 cm2, calculate the built-in potential, the barrier height, the
dopant concentration and the work function.

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