PHYSICS VIVA QUESTIONS

WITH ANSWERS
PREPARED BY GAJENDRA & PARAG (CIVIL BRANCH)
 SEMICONDUCTOR

1. WHAT ARE SEMICONDUCTORS?

ANS- Semiconductors are materials which have a conductivity between
conductors (generally metals) and nonconductors or insulators (such as most
ceramics). Semiconductors can be pure elements, such as silicon or
germanium, or compounds such as gallium arsenide or cadmium selenide.
Conductivity of semiconductors is from 10-6 to 104 ohm-1.
 DOPING
o Doping is a process in which a selected impurity is mixed in
measured quantity to an intrinsic semiconductor.
o Impurity is called a ‘dope’ and material prepared is called
extrinsic semiconductor.
o Conductivity increases
 N - TYPE
o Extrinsic semiconductor doped with pentavalent impurity like As, Sb,
Bi, etc in which negatively charged electrons works as charge carrier,
is called n-type semiconductor.
o Every pentavalent impurity atom donate one electron in the crystal,
therefore it is called a doner atom
 P – TYPE
o Extrinsic semiconductor doped with pentavalent impurity like As, Sb,
Bi, etc in which negatively charged electrons works as charge carrier,
is called n-type semiconductor.
o Every trivalent impurity atom have a tendency to accept one electron,
therefore it is called an acceptor atom.

2. What is Fermi energy and Fermi level?

Ans – The energy corresponding to the highest occupied level at absolute
zero temperature (0K) is called the Fermi energy and the energy level is
called Fermi level”. It is denoted by 'Ef
Fermi level
 In case of pure semiconductor it lies exactly midway between valence
band and Conduction band, in case of a n-type semiconductor it lies
very close to conduction band and in case of p-type it lies very close to
valence band.
 3. BOLTZMANN CONST.
 Boltzmann’s constant = 8.62 × l0–5 eV/K
 1.38064852 × 10-23 m2 kg s-2 K-1

4. ENERGY BAND GAP.

 A band gap is the distance between the valence band of electrons and
the conduction band. Essentially, the band gap represents the
minimum energy that is required to excite an electron up to a state in
the conduction band where it can participate in conduction.
 Si (Silicon) has a band gap of 1.12 eV (electron volt).
 Ge(germanium) has a band gap of 0.67 eV.

5. FACTORS DEPENDING ENERGY BAND GAP

 Temperature and heat energy: high temperature and high heat energy
distorts the bond between crystals and makes bounded electrons free
to move from the valence band to conduction bands.
 The lattice parameter of the crystals, and wave vectors
 the angle of projections for the electron motion from the valence band
to the conduction band and thus the geometry of the crystals
 Potentials such as Bloch Potential and etc.
 The concentration of doping atom. For the case of diluted magnetic
semiconductors, increasing the concentration of magnetic ions will
reduce the bandgap of semiconductors. For example, adding Mn ions
in the ZnO will reduce its bandgap from 3.37eV to 3.26eV.

DIODE
1. DIODE
 a semiconductor device with two terminals, typically allowing the flow of
current in one direction only.
 An ideal diode is a two terminal polarity sensitive device that has zero
resistance when it is forward biased and infinite resistance when
reverse biased.

 TYPES
i. Basic p-n Junction Diode or
Simple Diode
 1. This is the basic diode formed with the interaction of p-type
and n-type materials. It deals with the concept of biasing. This
biasing make it classify into various operating modes.
2. This diode conducts only during forwarding bias. In reverse
bias, there is no evident flow of the current. It indicates that
current gets blocked during reverse bias.

ii. Zener Diode

1. It is the diode designed in such a way that it can operate in the
reverse bias mode. For the applied forward bias the operating
characteristics will be similar to that of normal diode with the
basic p-n junction
2. When the diode is in reverse bias mode after it reaches the
minimum Zener voltage there we can see the increment in the
values of current but the voltage remains constant after that
point.

iii. Varactor Diode or Varicaps

1. This is another special category of the diode where the application of
reverse voltage varies the capacitance at the junction. As it is
variable capacitance diode it can be abbreviated as varicap.
2. The applied value of the reverse voltage can affect the junction
width. These are directly proportional to each other. But these are
inversely related with capacitance at the junction.

iv. Light Emitting Diode (LED)

1. This is the types of diodes that operate during forwarding bias
operating region. As the diode starts conducting during this
region there is a flow of the current. This current is referred to
as forwarding current. During this process, the light gets
emitted from the diode.
2. These include various types in LED. Namely blinking one that
can act as on and off for a certain amount of time. They can be
tricolor leads more than two colors get emitted based on the
amount of received a positive amount of voltage.

v. PHOTO DIODE
1. As the name suggests when the diode gets interacted with the
light current gets generated. That means during the stage of
 darkness there cannot be any flow of the current indicating that
it is an open circuit condition.
2. When the diode comes in contact with the light it gets
interacted and the amount of current flows in the circuit making
the diode bright. The functionality of photodiode resembles
more zen diode because it can also conduct during reverse bias.

vi. LASER DIODE

1. It cannot be referred to as the same as that normal LED.
Because other than normal light is emitted from this type of
diode is termed as coherent light. This light is focused as a spot
that consists of diameter less than one micrometer.
2. As the response time is faster in this type of diodes these are
used as optical storage devices as well as in CD players.
Nowadays one can see bar code scanners these are one of the
applications of LASER diode. These are also seen in the
printers of LASER’s, Fax machines, etc…

2. How to form a diode ?

 A diode is formed by joining two equivalently doped P-Type and N-
Type semiconductor. When they are joined an interesting phenomenon
takes place. The P-Type semiconductor has excess holes and is of
positive charge. The N-Type semiconductor has excess electrons. At
the point of contact of the P-Type and N-Type regions, the holes in the
P-Type attract electrons in the N-Type material. Hence the electron
diffuses and occupies the holes in the P-Type material. Causing a
small region of the N-type near the junction to lose electrons and
behaves like intrinsic semiconductor material, in the P-type a small
region gets filled up by holes and behaves like an intrinsic
semiconductor

3. biasing
 forward biasing
i. If the anode is connected to positive terminal of a battery and
cathode to the negative terminal, the set up is called forward bias.
 reverse biasing
 i. When the positive of the battery is connected to the N side and
negative of the battery is connected to the P side, then the diode is
called to be reverse biased.

4. GRAPH OF FORW. AND REV. BIASED

 FORWARD

 Reverse bias

5. KNEE VOLTAGE
 The forward voltage at which the flow of the current during the PN
Junction of the diode begins increasing very quickly is commonly
known as knee voltage. This voltage is also known as cut-in voltage

6. Depletion layer
  a small region of the N-type near the junction to lose electrons and
behaves like intrinsic semiconductor material, in the P-type a small
region gets filled up by holes and behaves like an intrinsic
semiconductor. This thin intrinsic region is called depletion layer

7. Potential barrier
 The potential barrier in the p-n junction is a type of barrier which
does not allow the normal flow of charge across the junction and
this resistance to the flow of charge is known as barrier potential

8. BREAKDOWN
 ZENER BREAKDOWN
i. The Zener breakdown can be defined as the flow of electrons across
the p kind material barrier of the valence band to the evenly filled n-
type material conduction band.
ii. The breakdown voltage of the Zener decreases when the temperature
increases whereas the avalanche increases when the temperature
increases.

 AVALANCHE BREAKDOWN
i. The avalanche breakdown is an occurrence of raising the flow of
electric current or electrons in insulating material or semiconductor
by giving the high voltage.
ii. The Zener breakdown V-I characteristics have a sharp curve whereas
the avalanche doesn’t have a sharp curve.

9. WHY IS CURRENT LOW IN REVERSE BIAS?

 Reduction in the Depletion Layer due to Forward Bias. This condition
represents the low resistance path through the PN junction allowing
very large currents to flow through the diode with only a small increase
in bias voltage.
 Reverse leakage current. ... This produces a current of minority charge
carriers and hence its magnitude is extremely small. For constant
temperatures, the reverse current is almost constant although the applied
reverse voltage is increased up to a certain limit. Hence, it is also called
reverse saturation current.
10. Light emitting diode (LED)
 A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source that emits light
when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine
with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the
light (corresponding to the energy of the photons) is determined by the
energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the semiconductor.[5]
White light is obtained by using multiple semiconductors or a layer of light-
emitting phosphor on the semiconductor device.

OPTICS
1. INTERFERENCE
 Interference is the phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form the
resultant wave of the lower, higher or same amplitude
 Types of interference:
 Constructive interference: So, constructive interference is defined as
the superposition of two waves to get a greater amplitude. like we
use speakers to get the greater amplitude of sounds.
 Destructive interference: You can observe the scenario of destructive
interference in cases when two waves in opposite polarity or direction
superimpose on each other in a way that they cancel each other.

2. conditions for interference

 In interference the source of light should be monochromatic.
 Here waves should be of the same frequency.
 Direction of waves should also be the same.
 The amplitudes of both the waves should also be the same.

3. Diffraction
 Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes around the
edge of an object.
 the spreading of waves around obstacles. Diffraction takes
place with sound; with electromagnetic radiation, such as light,
X-rays, and gamma rays; and with very small moving particles
such as atoms, neutrons, and electrons, which show wavelike
properties.
 TYPES
  Frensel diffraction: When the light from the point source
reaches the obstacle, the waves produced are spherical and
the pattern of the image of the object is a fringed image.
 Fraunhofer diffraction: When the waves from the light
source are in the form of wavefronts, and they are infinite.
 CONDITION
 The amount of bending depends on the relative size of the
wavelength of light to the size of the opening. If the
opening is much larger than the light's wavelength, the
bending will be almost unnoticeable. However, if the two
are closer in size or equal, the amount of bending is
considerable, and easily seen with the naked eye.

4. SPECTROMETER
 An apparatus used for recording and measuring spectra, especially as a
method of analysis.
 A prism spectrometer is an optical spectrometer which uses a
dispersive prism as its dispersive element. ... The dispersion occurs
because the angle of refraction is dependent on the refractive
index of the prism's material, which in turn is slightly dependent
on the wavelength of light that is traveling through it.

5. LEAST COUNT
 The smallest value up to which an instrument can measure is called least
count
 Least count of Spectrometer is 1 minute.

6. REFRACTIVE INDEX
 When a ray of light travels from one medium to the other medium then ratio
of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is always constant and
it is called refractive index of the second medium with respect to the first
medium.

7. SNELL’S LAW
  Snell's law states that
the ratio of the sines of
the angles of incidence
and refraction is
equivalent to the ratio
of phase velocities in
the two media, or
equivalent to the
reciprocal of the ratio
of the indices of
refraction

8. Total internal reflection

 The phenomenon of complete reflection of light back into the
same medium for angles of incidence greater than the critical
angle is called total internal reflection.

9. REFRACTION
 The bending of the light-ray from its path in passing from one
medium to the other medium is called ‘refraction’ of light
 If the refracted ray bends towards the normal relative to the incident ray,
then the second medium is said to be ‘denser’ than the first medium. But if
the refracted ray bends away from the normal, then the second medium is
said to be ‘rarer’ than the first medium

10. Angle of minimum deviation

 The angle between incident and emergent ray for a prism is called
as angle of deviation. The angle of deviation is called as minimum
angle of deviation when angle of emergence becomes equal to
angle of incidence

11. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle

 The position and the velocity of an object cannot both be
measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. The very
 concepts of exact position and exact velocity together, in fact,
have no meaning in nature..

12. De Broglie
 The de Broglie equation is an equation used to describe the wave
properties of matter, specifically, the wave nature of the electron:
λ = h/mv, where λ is wavelength, h is Planck's constant, m is the
mass of a particle, moving at a velocity v. de Broglie suggested
that particles can exhibit properties of waves.
 The wavelength (λ) that is associated with an object in relation to its
momentum and mass is known as de Broglie wavelength. A particle’s de
Broglie wavelength is usually inversely proportional to its force.
 λ=h/p
 The thermal de Broglie wavelength is given by the expression:
 λD = h / √ 2 π m kBT
 where,
 h = Planck constant,
 m = mass of a gas particle,
 kB = Boltzmann constant,
 T = temperature of the gas,
 λD = λth = thermal de Broglie wavelength of the gas particles.

13. Compton effect

 The Compton effect (also called Compton scattering) is the result of a high-
energy photon colliding with a target, which releases loosely bound electrons
from the outer shell of the atom or molecule. ... The effect is important
because it demonstrates that light cannot be explained purely as a wave
phenomenon.
14. LASER
 The term LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation. It is a device
 which produces a powerful, monochromatic collimated beam of
light in which the waves are coherent.
 PRINCIPLE OF LASER
 stimulated emission within an amplifying medium .
 population inversion of electronics.
 an optical resonator.

15. Einstein Coefficients

 Einstein found that the emission of a photon is possible by two
different processes, spontaneous and stimulated emission, and
that the coefficients describing the three processes—absorption,
stimulated and spontaneous emission—are related to each other
(Einstein relations).
 https://www.elwafa.ps/documents/lect7.pdf
16. META STABLE STATE
 Thus, the state of relatively stable or metastable equilibrium is
defined as the state in which a system remains for a long period of
time, and any slight disturbance causing the system to deviate
from the metastable state does not result in the system passing
into another state

17. Stimulated emission & Spontaneous emission

 Stimulated emission is the process by which an incoming photon of a
specific frequency can interact with an excited atomic electron (or other
excited molecular state), causing it to drop to a lower energy level.
 If an atom is in an excited state, it may spontaneously decay into a lower
energy level after some time, releasing energy in the form of a photon, which
is emitted in a random direction. This process is called spontaneous emission
18. Helium neon laser
 A helium–neon laser or He-Ne laser, is a type of gas laser whose
gain medium consists of a mixture of 10:1 ratio of helium and
neon at a total pressure of about 1 torr inside of a small electrical
discharge. The best-known and most widely used He-Ne laser
operates at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, in the red part of the
visible spectrum.
19. RUBY LASER
 A ruby laser is a solid-state laser that uses a synthetic ruby crystal as its gain
medium. The first working laser was a ruby laser made by Theodore H. "Ted"
Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories on May 16, 1960.[1][2]
 Ruby lasers produce pulses of coherent visible light at a wavelength of 694.3
nm, which is a deep red color. Typical ruby laser pulse lengths are on the
order of a millisecond.

20. SEMICONDUCTOR LASER

 Semiconductor lasers are solid-state lasers based on
semiconductor gain media, where optical amplification is usually
achieved by stimulated emission at an interband transition under
conditions of a high carrier density in the conduction band.
Semiconductor lasers range in wavelength from 0.4–1.8 μm.
 The material which often used in semiconductor laser is the
gallium Arsenide.

21. DIFFRACTION GRATING

 A diffraction grating is an optical element that divides (disperses)
light composed of lots of different wavelengths(e.g., white light)
into light components by wavelength.
 Gratings are used to determine the wavelength of light by
means of diffraction.
 GRATING ELEMENT - It is the distance between the centers of any
two successive ruled lines or transparent stripes.
22. NEWTON’S RING
 Newton's rings is a phenomenon in which an interference pattern
is created by the reflection of light between two surfaces a
spherical surface and an adjacent touching at surface (glass plate).
 WHY NEWTON’S RING ARE CIRCULAR IN SHAPE?
 They are circular because the experiment is usually done
with a flat mirror, and a spherical lens; neither of these
changes the situation for the light if we rotate them, so the
resulting light pattern cannot change. The only patterns
that do not change if we rotate them have circular
symmetry, so the rings are circular.
 SHAPE OF FRINGES
 Because of the 180° phase reversal due to reflection of the
bottom ray, the center where the two pieces touch is dark. This
interference results in a pattern of bright and dark lines or bands
called "interference fringes" being observed on the surface.
 APPLICATION
 Determination of Wavelength of Light
 Determination of Refractive Index of liquid

23. FRESNEL BIPRISM

 A Fresnel Biprism is a thin double prism placed base to base and
have very small refracting angle ( 0.5o). This is equivalent to a
single prism with one of its angle nearly 179° and other two of 0.5o
each.
 APPLICATION - determine the wavelength of a light source
(monochromatic), thickness of a thin transparent sheet/ thin film,
refractive index of medium etc.
 FRINGES - In biprism the zero-order (central fringe) is bright, but
the central fringe of Lloyd's mirror is dark

24. COHERENT SOURCES IN FRENSEL BIPRISM

 A light generated from a single source is made to pass through
two virtual sources. It is due to the refraction in a prism, and thus
the two sources act as coherent sources.
25. COHERENCE
 Coherence describes the properties of the interrelation between physical
quantities of a single wave or between several waves. Two waves are
coherent when they have a constant relative phase or when they have zero
or constant phase difference and the same frequency

26. DISPERSIVE POWER

 The power of a transparent medium to separate different colors of light
by refraction as measured by the difference in refractivity for two
specified widely differing wavelengths divided by the refractivity at
some specified intermediate wavelength.