EEB 332 Assignment 1

due 13th September 2019

1. (a) Calculate the value of ni for gallium arsenide (GaAs) at T = 300 K. The constant
B = 3.56 × 101 4cm−3 K3/2 and the bandgap voltage Eg = 1.42 eV. [5 marks]
(b) In a phosphorus-doped silicon layer with impurity concentration of 1017 /cm3 , find
the hole and electron concentrations at 27o C and 125o C [5 marks]

2. A young designer, aiming to develop intuition concerning conducting paths within an

integrated circuit, examines the end-to-end resistance of a connecting bar 10µm long,
3µm wide, and 1µmthick, made of various materials. The designer considers:

(a) intrinsic silicon

(b) n-doped silicon with ND = 5 × 1016 /cm3
(c) n-doped silicon with N D = 5 × 1018 /cm3
(d) p-doped silicon with NA = 5 × 1016 /cm3
(e) aluminum with resistivity of 2.8µΩcm

Find the resistance in each case. For doped silicon, assume µn = 3µp = 1200cm2 /V s.
(Recall that R = ρL/A.) [25 marks]

3. Assuming that the diodes in the circuits shown in Figure 1 are ideal, utilize Thévenin’s
theorem to simplify the circuits and thus find the values of the labeled currents and
voltages. [25 marks]

4. Sketch the transfer characteristic vo versus vI for the limiter circuits shown in Figure 2.
All diodes begin conducting at a forward voltage drop of 0.5 V and have voltage drops of
0.7 V when conducting a current iD ≥ 1mA. What type of circuits are these [20 marks]

1
Figure 1:

Figure 2: