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Physical Electronics: Fall 2014
Department of Electrical Engineering
Instructor: Madhusudan Singh
Solutions
0-5 5-10 10-15 15-21 21-26 26-31 31-36 36-41 41-46 46-52 52-57 57-62
2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
Score
N
u
m
b
e
r
o
f
s
t
u
d
e
n
t
s
Figure 1: Score distribution for Mid Term 1.
To put it mildly, the class performance on mid term 1 was underwhelming. This is a core course,
and it is to be expected that there will be some students who are not interested in this part of electrical
engineering. There is nothing wrong with that attitude. However, youstill needto turn in a performance
that permits you to move to the next semester with a decent, or at the very least a passing grade. To help
such students, I had designed the exam to provide a oor below which no student with any interest in
graduating on time could fall. Specically,
Two of the questions (question 2 and 3) were designed to be give aways (totalling 34 points) of
the kind that are plug and chug. You read o the formula from the book or your notes, and ll in
the numbers, and you are done. Even writing the correct expression would have gotten you 12
points out of those 34. A minimal eort that might be expected even of a student from a regional
engineering college would get you a further 7 points, bringing your total to 19 from Q2 and Q3
alone.
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Question 1 was largely a test of your ability to recall basic facts. With memory having been taken
out of the equation by the open book and open notes nature of the exam, it is puzzling how so
many of you could mess this one up. Seven of these questions were directly from the class or your
book. That meant that unless you are a gambler who likes to guess, you should have found it hard
to score less than 14 on question 1. Too many people decided to guess their way through question
1. Maybe you need to take the negative scoring into account.
In light of the above factors, unless you are mentally checked out of the class and actually do not
care if you pass or fail, I expected no less than 33 points. That is just above the D/F threshold
1
. Please
understand the following clearly:
On the very rst day of classes, I made it clear that the A and the F grade will have to be earned. I
am not the type of instructor who will articially keep you from what you have earned, good or bad.
I do not care about how popular I am as a teacher. I care about your hard work, honesty, standards,
fairness, and that you learn this subject to the best of my ability. If you like my teaching so much that
you would want to stay back a year, and try this again in Fall 2015, thereby possibly graduating late, its
your call. If half the class earned their F grades, I will hand them out. Like candy. There is no express
skate route out of this class. This is fortunately just the rst mid term. You still have two other exams
to go through.
Table 1: This examwas designed for some archetypal students to yield the following minimal performance. Along
for comparison is the past / expected performance of students from other IITs / comparable or superior Universities
in the West. You may nd it instructive to see where you underperformed or overperformed, depending on how
you classify yourself.
Student archetype Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total Expected
Grade
Never attends class, readthe textbook/-
copied notes on the night before the
exam, loves guessing.
-4 6 6 0 8 F
Never attends class, readthe textbook/-
copied notes on the night before the
exam.
4 6 6 0 16 F
Rarely attends class but kept tabs on
what is going on, prepared on the night
before the exam.
14 9 10 10 43 C-
Attends class regularly, prepared on
the night before the exam.
16 13 14 10 53 B-/C
Attends class regularly, prepared
ahead of the exam
20 20 14 15 69 B
Attends class regularly, prepared
ahead of the exam, thinks about the
subject because he/she wants tospecial-
ize in this eld
24 20 14 20 76 A-
Attends class regularly, prepared
ahead of the exam, thinks about the
subject because he/she wants to spe-
cialize in this eld, has developed an
understanding of engineering ethics
24 20 14 30 86 A
Average EE sophomore at IIT Kanpur
taking EE210
14 20 14 10 58 B-
Average sophomore at a Tier 1 / Ivy
League University taking his/her rst
semiconductor devices class
14 20 14 15 63 B-
1
I hate to be the bearer of further bad news, but it is possible that the E grade will be abolished at some point this semester.
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ELL111/EEL218 (Mid Term 1): Aug 29 2014
Exam start: 11:00 AM. Duration: 60 minutes. Location: VI.LT1/VI.LT2.
Question 1 (26 points)
Multiple choice questions. Create a table for all the answers, with parts (a), (b), (c), etc. of this
question as the rows of that table. Put your answers in the second column. Some of the questions
may have more than one correct answer. In those cases, you will need to nd all the right answers,
and none of the wrong answers, to get any credit. If you select any wrong answer(s), you will lose
a point (negative scoring).
(a) (2 points) Why do all bulk crystalline semiconductors exhibit velocity saturation?
A. All semiconductors have multiple valleys in the conduction band. As electrons gain
momentum, they transfer to those valleys, resulting in sudden changes in eective
mass and reduction in velocity.
B. Every material has a maximum value of current that it can carry. That maximum
current corresponds to velocity saturation.
C. Collisions with lattice points combined with externally imposed elds, lead to a
steady state in terms of the net energy of the carrier.
D. Fast moving electrons interact strongly with each other leading to current spreading
and reduction of velocity.
(b) (2 points) How does electronic bandstructure simplify the equation of motion of an electron?
A.
dp
dt
= 0 B.
dp
dt
=
k
crystal

C.
dp
dt
= F
external
D.
dp
dt
= F
periodic
(c) (2 points) True or false: the minority carrier concentration at reverse bias in a p-n diode is
nearly zero at the edges of the depletion region?
A. True B. False
(d) (2 points) Why do the conduction and valence bands bend over the depletion region in a p-n
junction at equilibrium?
A. It is the inescapable result of the relative depletion of majority carriers from the
junction region and the constancy of the Fermi level.
B. Field-induced ionization of carriers creates conditions ripe for an avalanche eect,
and bands must provide an opposing electric eld to prevent that.
C. The bandstructure in the depletion region changes, as the pseudopotential method
used to commonly calculate bandstructure contains discontinuous source charge
terms.
D. Electrically induced strain produced by the built-in eld pushes the ion cores closer
together, which changes the bandstructure, and consequently the dependence of
electron energies on the spatial coordinate.
(e) (2 points) Which of the following forms of silicon is the purest?
A. Elemental silicon B. Metallurgical-grade silicon C. Quartz D. Semiconductor-
grade silicon
(f) (2 points) Why are source/drain (S/D) regions in MOSFETs created using counterdoping?
A. It is the most straightforward method of creating S/D regions using the planar
fabrication process.
B. Counterdoping reduces the bulk conductivity of those regions, resulting in better
control over the drain current.
C. The premise of the question is incorrect - counterdoping is not used to form S/D
regions. It is used to form the channel region instead.
D. Counterdoping reduces the resistivity of the S/D contacts.
(g) (2 points) At which spatial dimension does the density of states available to electrons and holes
become independent of carrier energy?
A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3 E. Not possible
(h) (2 points) A2 second pulse of deep UV light is incident on an indirect bandgap semiconductor
with a bandgap of 8 eV (energy of the photons > 8 eV) for 10 s, in a Haynes Shockley setup
(drift voltage = 1V). What is the current measured by the probe after 180 seconds?
A. 0 nA B. 0.103 nA C. 1.03 nA D. 10.3 nA
Aug 29 2014 Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Page 1 of 7
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Fall 2014 Page 2 of 7 Physical Electronics
(i) (2 points) Which transport mechanism is primarily responsible for the majority carrier current
in a biased p-n junction?
A. Drift B. Diusion C. Tunneling D. Thermionic emission
(j) (2 points) True or false: the energy gap between most of the excited electrons in the conduction
band and most of the holes in the valence band, is the semiconductor band gap?
A. True B. False
(k) (2 points) A sample of silicon is doped with 210
14
cm
3
of phosphorous at a low tempera-
ture. A Haynes-Shockley measurement is carried out immediately after doping. What is the
approximate hole carrier density in the sample that you should expect to see?
A. 10
12
cm
3
B. 10
10
cm
3
C. 10
8
cm
3
D. 10
6
cm
3
E. Unknown
(l) (2 points) Assume that you have a Si p-n junction that you put in an oven and start heating
slowly, and stop well short of its melting point. Which of the following statements are false?
A. The respective eective masses of electrons and holes in the semiconductor are
unaected.
B. The built-in electric eld in the depletion region decreases.
C. The mobility of electrons and holes increases.
D. All of the above.
(m) (2 points) In a Si sample, a certain shallow trap is very ecient at trapping electrons but not
holes. Which of the following statements is true?
A. It is possible to drive this trap level deeper through annealing.
B. You can potentially use this trap level to assist in producing trap-assisted lumines-
cence.
C. This trap level will act like a charged impurity and add to scattering cross-sections
for electrons.
D. The probability of trapped electrons directly recombining with holes is high.
Question 2 (20 points)
A p-n junction with a cross-sectional area of 8000 m
2
is formed by epitaxially growing p-type Si
(N
A
=10
16
cm
3
) on an n-Si substrate (N
D
=5 10
14
cm
3
). Assuming that the recombination time
constants for electrons and holes are 0.9 s and 18 s respectively at 300K, and that electron and
hole mobilities are 1250 cm
2
/(Vs) and 450 cm
2
/(Vs), respectively,
(a) (15 points) Find the current at 0.2, 0.8 V, and at -1.2 V.
Solution: The diode equation,
I = qA
_
D
p
L
p
p
n
+
D
n
L
n
n
p
_ _
exp
_
qV
k
B
T
_
1
_
(1)
= qAn
2
i
_

_
_
D
p

p
1
N
D
+
_
D
n
L
n
1
N
A
_

_
_
exp
_
qV
k
B
T
_
1
_
= An
2
i
_
qk
B
T
_

_
_

p
1
N
D
+
_

n
1
N
A
_

_
.,.
I
0
_
exp
_
qV
k
B
T
_
1
_
At 300K,
k
B
T
q
= 0.0259eV. Using that and the values provided, I
0
can be found. I
0
=
6.36 10
15
A or 6.36 fA.
(9 points, partial credit for correct expression=5 points)
The values of the current at these three voltages are found to be 14.61 pA, 0.18 A and -6.36
fA.
(2+2+2 points, 1+1+1 if the value of I
0
was wrong)
Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Question 2 continues . . .
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Fall 2014 Page 3 of 7 Physical Electronics
(b) (5 points) Sketch the I-V characteristic approximately in the range [-1.5,1] on a semilog (in y)
scale.
Solution: The plot is shown in Fig. (2).
1.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 1
10
16
10
14
10
12
10
10
10
8
10
6
10
4
10
2
10
0
10
2
10
4
pn junction characteristics
Voltage (V)
C
u
r
r
e
n
t

(
A
)
Figure 2: Diode I-V characteristics.
(5 points, 1 point for showing an attempt to plot a semilogy plot, +1 for plotting it but not
getting it quite right, 0 for a linear plot)
Question 3 (14 points)
An GaAs p-n junction dening the source/channel for transistor consists of p-doping of 10
11
cm
3
and channel n-doping of 10
8
cm
3
. At room temperature (300K),
(a) (7 points) Find the Fermi level positions in the source and the channel.
Solution:
Using the 3k
B
T approximation, and the value of the intrinsic carrier concentration in GaAs
(2.110
6
),
(3 point for expression)
p = n
i
exp
_
E
i
E
F
k
B
T
_
E
i
E
F
= k
B
T log
_
p
n
i
_
= 0.026 log
_
10
11
2.1 10
6
_
0.280 eV
(2 points)
A similar calculation for the n-side yields,
E
F
E
i
0.11 eV
(2 points)
Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Question 3 continues . . .
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Fall 2014 Page 4 of 7 Physical Electronics
(b) (7 points) Find the built-in voltage of the junction.
Question 4 (40 points)
(Based on a true story. The names and some details have been changed to protect the innocent,
. . . and the guilty.)
John places a Hall sample of p
+
-GaAs (N
A,Si
= 10
9
cm
3
, E
A
= 26meV), secured on a cold nger
with thermal grease, in a cryostat, to do a mobility measurement at 77K. The probe current is xed
at 4 mA. In the midst of this measurement, the temperature of the cryostat suddenly rises by 60K
before John brings it back down hastily by dunking in more liq. N
2
. At 1 AM the next morning,
while analyzing the data after a nice date with his girlfriend, he nds that his measured mobility
of GaAs is higher by around 16%, when compared to recently grown similar devices, with a 2%
increase in measured Hall voltages. For reasons of laziness and a general weakness of character,
John doesnt repeat the measurement but decides to blame this all on the instability of the magnetic
eld. He falsies the Gaussmeter log to make it appear that the magnetic eld was changing wildly.
To makes things worse, he fudges the repeat data to show a cluster of values roughly centered at
his measurement value. The sample is subsequently damaged, with John claiming that he had
scratched o the Hall probe pads in his zealous attempts to get a better contact. Instead of four
pads, you just have the two pads left for the probe current.
Next Monday, unsatised by Johns explanation for the anomalous measurement, his Ph. D. advisor
(you) decides to investigate this matter. You do not knowwhat John has done. It is time-consuming
and expensive to grow another device. If you assume that your lab has suddenly started producing
poor devices, it will take a long time to re-qualify the growth and may set your research program
back by weeks. You have an interest in nding more easily xable problems before resorting to
more extreme measures.
Wherever needed, use simpler expressions even for degenerate semiconductors if you need to, and
assume that the Fermi level is essentially coincident with the valence band.
(a) (20 points) Assuming that the temperature of the device instantaneously and precisely mirrors
that of the cold nger,
2
and the sensor calibrations are spot on, nd the percentage varia-
tion needed in the magnitude of the normal magnetic eld to maintain the ction that the
temperature was never changed.
In what follows, the subscript N refers to a normal device, which your lab has produced for
weeks leading up to this. Its performance is well known. The subscript M refers to the device
that John tested. In this p
+
-type sample, electron density is likely to be low. This allows us to
express hole mobility and concentration as:

p


qp
=
1
qp
(3)
p =
IB
qtV
H
(4)
R
H
=
1
qp
(5)

p
=
tV
H
IB
(6)
, where R
H
is the Hall factor. We can write (from Eq. (4)),
p
M
p
N
=
B
M
B
N

V
H,N
V
H,M
Assuming that the sample measured by John was kosher, there is no reason to suppose a wild
change in the hole concentration from the normal run of devices,
2
This assumption is almost never true in reality.
Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Question 4 continues . . .
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Fall 2014 Page 5 of 7 Physical Electronics
B
M
B
N
=
V
H,M
V
H,N
1.02 (7)
Now, nothing seems to be wrong with this picture. A2%variation in magnetic eld, which can
arise from a 2% variation of the supplied current to the electromagnet (not to be confused with
the Hall probe current, I above), is a believable variation. John could well be right. Maybe the
power supply usedfor the measurement setuphas conkedout, andits time to get a replacement.
(Finding the 2% variation: 5 points)
At this point it is also useful to see what happens to the mobility data as a result of this variation
in magnetic eld.

N
= 1.16

R
H,M

N
R
H,N

M
= 1.16
Since it is Johns claim that it was the magnetic eld that messed up the measurement, there is
no reason to nd any change in the resistivity ( =
AR
l
) under normal measurement conditions.
That means that we can write (assuming that there is very little change in resistivity with
magnetic eld - or magnetoresistance of the sample is low),
R
H,M
R
H,N
= 1.16 (8)

p
N
p
M
= 1.16

B
N
V
M
B
M
V
N
= 1.16

B
N
B
M
=
1.16
1.02

B
M
B
N
0.88 (9)
That means that the magnetic eld applied went down by 12%. In an electromagnet, with a
xed geometry of the pole pieces, the only way this can happen is through a corresponding
12% reduction in the supplied drive current.
(Finding the 12% reduction in magnetic eld: 10 points)
Eqs. (7) and (9) are in contradiction. You might be tempted to cut John some slack at this point
and assume that he was mistaken about the variation in Hall voltages. Didnt he say that he
was trying to get a good contact to his devices and ended up scratching o the Hall probe
pads as a result? Maybe this small 2% variation is just an artifact of the badness of the contact
(getting good contact to devices isnt as trivial as you might think). A rookie rst year grad
student. Having a dicult time adjusting to the pace in the research group. Maybe he needs
some more training.
(Correlating the probe pad damage to rule out the contradiction: 5 points)
So, you conclude - a 12% variation in the magnetic eld did indeed occur and that can explain
these results. But its troubling that the electromagnet supply current varied by this much.
These things dont generally fail so catastrophically over the course of a single evening. True,
the Gaussmeter log says so, but is there any harm in checking things out for yourself?
No. If something is so wrong with the magnet power supply, you need to see for yourself.
Solution:
Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
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Fall 2014 Page 6 of 7 Physical Electronics
(b) (10 points) Can you nd an explanation of the results you were given by John that do not
involve accepting this change in the magnetic eld?
(c) (10 points) What should you do with John on the basis of what you discover in the previous
parts of this question? Explain your reasoning in detail.
Solution:
The temperature derived from the true hole carrier concentration makes it clear that some-
thing was seriously amiss with the temperature control during the measurement. In a
low temperature measurement, it is impossible to mistake the temperature by such a large
amount. A liquid nitrogen cryostat of the design commonly used in the lab usually will
manifest signs of a leak or poor insulation (such as ice formation). These are signs that are
impossible to miss. Remaining within the connes of this course, it would be impossible
for John to possess such internally inconsistent data.
John went beyond simply being lazy - he lied and destroyed evidence in an attempt
to cover up his tracks. He even planted a somewhat believable variation in the Hall
voltage data that would be consistent with his story of how the Hall voltage pads came
to be damaged. This is gross academic misconduct of the severest kind, professionally
unethical, and reveals a personality that is calculatingly dishonest. Regardless of whether
he continued in academics as a Ph. D. student, a researcher / professor, or joined industry,
he would be a menace to the profession and a future danger to his colleagues. In this
light, it would be your duty to your profession (and yourself - see below) to systematically
collect the evidence, confront John, give him a chance to explain himself, and then re him
immediately, followed by informing the relevant authorities, who could in turn initiate
their own proceedings against him. You cannot wait for the University to take action.
Since you are the closest to the scene of the misconduct, you are obliged to take action rst.
Perhaps this message does not go out uniformly in your various interactions with the world
around you, but as engineers, one of your biggest assets is professional integrity and the
capacity of others to trust you and your work. Think about it - if you are untrustworthy,
nobody would want to do business with you unless they had no other options. Everything
would need to be rule bound, subject to intrusive enforcement, which even if completely
honest and above board, would slowdown your work by adding administrative overhead.
Businesses (and Universities) worldwide operate on a basic assumption of trust. Once
trust is broken, no amount of money can bring back a client, or vendor, or a collaborator,
who will simply go to the next option. Ultimately, while the society will suer for lack
of integrity of its engineers, the biggest losers in all of this are the engineers themselves.
Thus, cutting corners, ignoring good engineering practice, misleading your future clients,
or a general chalta hai attitude will likely not take you far in this profession.
Unfortunately, not all real-life cases of unethical behavior are detected, or worse, prosecuted
after detection. Some people like John, even in the US, make it to their intended position
intact either due to sheer luck, or reluctance of their peers to punish them. Asmall number
even rise to the top of their career ladder and become famous scientists. There are no
statistics on the incidence of such cases. However, dierent societies treat revelations of
unethical behaviour dierently, and that creates a tension in an increasingly globalized
workplace. What needs to be understood is that dishonesty of this scale is a personality
trait, and can manifest itself in smaller acts of dishonesty that can serve as a warning
of a deeper problem. Occasionally, you may nd yourself working for a person who
acts in a way that you nd questionable. In such a case, regardless of the professional
reputation, you owe it to yourself to quietly nd alternate employment. Reason - when
the proverbial thing hits the fan (this is really a ticking time-bomb situation), everyone
around that person gets splattered with it, and tainted by association. There is no loyalty
or friendship worth the aftermath. Professional societies like the IEEE,

APS, MRS, etc.


all have statements of ethics that are rather central to the way they operate. This is not
vacuous idealism - its the only way for this profession to be economically viable.
(Recommending ring John as the right course of action: 10 points. All other answers: 0
points.)
Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Question 4 continues . . .
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Fall 2014 Page 7 of 7 Physical Electronics
(Inreal-life, Johnwas terminatedfromhis researchgroup, foundguilty of academic miscon-
duct and unethical behavior by the Honor council at the University, and expelled without
his degree, a month after the events described in this question. It took hima couple of years
to nd a job, during the course of which he became a drug addict, and attempted suicide.
On the basis of his undergraduate degree, he currently works on Wall Street. Perhaps
ttingly.)

If you arent already a member of the IEEE - you should consider joining. If interested, please email
me requesting aninvitation, or use myreferral (membership#40313482) inyour online application.
Physical Electronics (Fall 2014): Mid Term 1
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
End of exam.

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