Q.

In the figure, silicon diode is carrying a constant current of

1mA. When the temperature of the diode is 20oC, VD is found
to be 700mV. If the temperature rises to 40oC, VD becomes
approximately equal to
(GATE - 02)
(a) 740 mV
(b) 660 mV
(c) 680 mV
(d) 700 mV
Q. A silicon p-n junction biased with a constant current at room
temperature. When the temperature is increased by 10oC, the
forward bias voltage across the PN junction
(GATE - 11)
(a) Increases by 60 mV
(b) Decreases by 60 mV
(c) Increases by 25mV
(d) Decreases by 25mV
Q. A zener diode, when used in voltage stabilization circuits, is
biased in
(GATE - 11)
(a) Reverse bias region below the breakdown voltage
(b) Reverse breakdown region
(c) Forward bias region
(d) Forward bias constant current mode
Q. The i-v characteristics of the diode in the circuit given below
are

The current in the circuit is

(GATE - 12)
(a) 10 mA
(b) 9.3 mA
(c) 6.67 mA
(d) 6.2 mA
Q. In a forward biased P-N junction diode, the sequence of events
that best describes the mechanism of current flow is
(GATE - 13)
(a) injection, and subsequent diffusion and recombination of
minority carriers
(b) injection, and subsequent drift and generation of minority
carriers
(c) extraction, and subsequent diffusion and generation of
minority carriers
(d) extraction, and subsequent drift and recombination of
minority carriers
Q. When the optical power incident on a photodiode is 10µW and
the responsivity is 0.8A/W, the photocurrent generated (in µA)
is ___
(GATE - 14)(Set-1)
Q. A region of negative differential resistance is observed in the
current voltage characteristics of a silicon PN junction if
(GATE-15) (Set-1)
(a) both the P-region and the N-region are heavily doped
(b) the N-region is heavily doped compared to the P-region
(c) the P-region is heavily doped compared to the N-region
(d) an intrinsic silicon region is inserted between the P-region
and the N-region
Q. The I-V characteristics of three types of diodes at the room
temperature, made of semiconductors X, Y and Z, are shown in
the figure. Assume that the diodes are uniformly doped and
identical in all respects except their materials. If EgX, EgY and
EgZ are the band gaps of X, Y and Z, respectively, then
(GATE-16) (Set-3)

(a) EgX > EgY > EgZ

(b) EgX = EgY = EgZ
(c) EgX < EgY < EgZ
(d) no relationship among these band gaps exists.
Q. In a p-n junction diode at equilibrium, which one of the
following statements is NOT TRUE?
(GATE - 18)
(a) The hole and electron diffusion current components are in
the same direction.
(b) The hole and electron drift current components are in the
same direction.
(c) On an average, holes and electrons drift in opposite
direction.
(d) On an average, electrons drift and diffuse in the same
direction
Q. A p-n step junction diode with a contact potential of 0.65V has
a depletion width of 1 µm at equilibrium. The forward voltage
(in volts, correct to two decimal places) at which this width
reduces to 0.6 µm is ____________.
(GATE - 18)
Q. Consider the recombination process via bulk traps in a forward
biased pn homo junction diode. The maximum recombination
rate is Umax. If the electron and the hole capture cross-sections
are equal, which one of the following is FALSE ?
(GATE - 20)
(a) Umax depends exponentially on the applied bias
(b) Umax occurs at the edges of the depletion region in the
device
(c) With all other parameters unchanged, Umax decreases if the
intrinsic carrier density is reduced.
(d) With all other parameters unchanged, Umax increases if the
Q. The switching speed of p+ n junction (having a heavily doped P
region) depends primarily on
(GATE - 89)
(a) The mobility of minority carriers in the P+ -region.
(b) The lifetime of minority carriers in the P+ -region.
(c) The mobility of majority carriers in the N-region.
(d) The lifetime of majority carriers in the N- region.
Q. Compared to a p-n junction with NA = ND = 1014/ cm3 , which
one of the following statement is TRUE for a P-N Junction
with NA= ND = 1020/ cm3 ?
(GATE - 10)
(a) Reverse breakdown voltage is lower and depletion
capacitance is lower
(b) Reverse breakdown voltage is higher and depletion
capacitance is lower
(c) Reverse breakdown voltage is lower and depletion
capacitance is higher
(d) Reverse breakdown voltage is higher and depletion
capacitance is higher
Q. For a silicon diode with long P and N regions, the accepter
and donor impurity concentrations are 1×1017 cm-3 and
1×1015 cm–3, respectively. The lifetimes of electrons in P
region and holes in N region are both 100 µs. The electron
and hole diffusion coefficients are 49cm2 /s and 36cm2 /s,
respectively. Assume kT/q = 26mV, the intrinsic carrier
concentration is 1 × 1010 cm-3and q = 1.6 ×10–19 C. When a
forward voltage of 208 mV is applied across the diode, the
hole current density (in nA/cm2 ) injected from P region to N
region is _________.
(GATE-15) (Set-1)
Q. Consider avalanche breakdown in a silicon p+ n junction. The
n-region is uniformly doped with a donor density ND. Assume
that breakdown occurs when the magnitude of the electric
field at any point in the device becomes equal to the critical
filed Ecrit. Assume Ecrit to be independent of ND. If the built-in
voltage of the p+ n junction is much smaller than the
breakdown voltage, VBR, the relationship between VBR and ND
is given by
(GATE-16) (Set-1)
Q. The I-V characteristics of the zener diodes D1 and D2 are
shown in Figure I. These diodes are used in the circuit given in
Figure II. If the supply voltage is varied from 0 to 100V, then
breakdown occurs in
(GATE-16) (Set-3)
(a) D1 only
(b) D2 only
(c) both D1 and D2
(d) none of D1 and D2
Q. For a particular intensity of incident light on a silicon pn
junction solar cell, the photocurrent density (JL) is 2.5
mA/cm2 and the open-circuit voltage (VOC) is 0.451V.
Consider thermal voltage (VT) to be 25mV. If the intensity of
the incident light is increased by 20 times, assuming that the
temperature remains unchanged, Voc (in volts) will be _____
(GATE-17)(Set 2)
Q. Red (R), Green (G) and Blue (B) Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
were fabricated using p-n junctions of three different
inorganic semiconductors having different band-gaps. The
built-in voltages of red, green and blue diodes are VR, VG and
VB, respectively. Assume donor and acceptor doping to be the
same (NA and ND, respectively) in the p and n sides of all the
three diodes. Which one of the following relationship about
the built-in voltages is TRUE?
(GATE-18)
(a) VR > VG> VB
(b) VR< VG < VB
(c) VR = VG= VB
Q. A solar cell of area 1.0 cm2 , operating at 1.0 sun intensity,
has a short circuit current of 20 mA, and an open circuit
voltage of 0.65V. Assuming room temperature operation and
thermal equivalent voltage of 26 mV, the open circuit voltage
(in volts, correct to two decimal places at 0.2 sun intensity is
__________
(GATE-18)
Q. In an ideal pn junction with an ideality factor of 1 at T = 300 K,
the magnitude of the reverse bias voltage required to reach
75% of its reverse saturation current, rounded off to 2 decimal
places, is _____mV.
[k = 1.38×10-23 JK-1, h = 6.625×10-34 J-s, q = 1.602×10-19C]
(GATE-19)
Q. A pn junction solar cell of area 1.0 cm2 , illuminated uniformly
with 100 mW cm-2 , has the following parameters: Efficiency =
15%, open circuit voltage = 0.7V, fill factor = 0.8, and
thickness = 200 mm. The charge of an electron is 1.6 × 10-19
C. The average optical generation rate (in cm-3 s-1 ) is
(GATE-20)
(a) 83.60 × 1019
(b) 1.04 × 1019
(c) 5.57 × 1019
(d) 0.84 × 1019
Q. An increase in the base recombination of a BJT will increase
(GATE - 14)(Set2)
(a) the common emitter dc current gain 
(b) the breakdown voltage BVCE0
(c) the unity-gain cut-off frequency fT
(d) the trans conductance gm
Q. If the base width in a bipolar junction transistor is doubled, which
one of the following statements
will be TRUE?
(GATE-15) (Set-3)
(a) Current gain will increase.
(b) Unity gain frequency will increase.
(c) Emitter-base junction capacitance will increase.
(d) Early voltage will increase.
Q. The Ebers - Moll model of a BJT is valid
(GATE-16) (Set-2)
(a) only in active mode
(b) only in active and saturation modes
(c) only in active and cut-off modes
(d) in active, saturation and cut-off modes
Q. The figure shows the I-V characteristic of a solar cell illuminated
uniformly with solar light of power 100 mW/cm2. The solar cell
has an area of 3cm2 and a fill factor of 0.7. The maximum
efficiency (in%) of the device is ________
(GATE-16) (Set-3)
Q. For a narrow base PNP BJT, the excess minority carrier
concentrations (nE for emitter, pB base, nC for collector)
normalized to equilibrium minority carrier concentrations (nE0 for
emitter, pB0 for base, nC0 for collector) in the quasi-neutral
emitter, base and collector regions are shown below. Which one
of the following biasing modes is the transistor operating in?
(GATE-17)(Set 1)
(a) Forward active
(b) Saturation
(c) Inverse active
(d) Cutoff
Q. An npn bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is operating in the active
region. If the reverse bias across the base-collector junction is
increased. Then
(GATE-17)(Set 2)
(a) the effective base width increases and common-emitter
current gain increases
(b) the effective base width increases and common emitter
current gain decreases
(c) the effective base width decreases and common-emitter
current gain increases
(d) the effective base width decreases and common-emitter
current gain decreases
Q. Consider two BJT’s biased at the same collector current with
area A1 = 0.2m0.2m and A2 = 300m300m. Assuming that
all other device parameters are identical, kT/q = 26mV, the
intrinsic carrier concentration is 11010cm-3 and q = 1.6  10-19C,
the difference between the base–emitter voltages (in mV) of the
two BJT ’s (i.e. VBE1 – VBE2) _______.
(GATE - 14)(Set 4)
Q. An npn BJT having reverse saturation current IS = 10-15 A is
biased in the forward active region with VBE = 700mV. The
thermal voltage (VT) is 25mV and the current gain () may vary
from 50 to 150 due to manufacturing variations. The maximum
emitter current (in mA) is _____.
(GATE-15) (Set 3)
Q. The injected excess electron concentration profile in the base region
of an npn BJT, biased in the active region, is linear, as shown in the
figure. If the area of the emitter-base junction is 0.001 cm2,
n = 800 cm2/(V-s) in the base region and depletion layer widths are
negligible, then the collector current Ic (in mA) at room temperature is
–––––.
(Given: thermal voltage VT = 26mV at room temperature, electronic
charge q = 1.6 10-19 C)

(GATE-16) (Set 3)
Q. The base of an npn BJT T1 has a linear doping profile NB(x) as
shown below. The base of another non BJT T2 has a uniform
doping NB of 1017 cm-3. All other parameters are identical for
both the devices. Assuming that the hole density profile is the
same as that of doping, the common-emitter current gain of T2 is
(GATE-20)
(a) approximately 0.3 times that of T1.
(b) approximately 2.0 times that of T1.
(c) approximately 0.7 times that of T1.
(d0 approximately 2.5 times that of T1.