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The band gaps of an insulator, semiconductor and conductor are respectively E_g1, E_g2 and E_g3. The relationship between them can be given as ________.

Asked in GSEB Board July 2018 · Energy bands and band gap

Answer: (3) E_g1 > E_g2 > E_g3

Step-by-step solution

Idea: read the symbols in the order the question gives them -- insulator, semiconductor, conductor -- and then rank the forbidden gaps.

An insulator has the widest gap, about 5.4 eV in diamond, so E_g1 is the largest of the three.

A semiconductor has a narrow gap: 1.1 eV in silicon, 0.72 eV in germanium. That is E_g2, smaller than E_g1 but not zero.

In a conductor the valence and conduction bands overlap, so there is no gap at all to cross and E_g3≈0 is the smallest.

So E_g1 > E_g2 > E_g3.

Why the other options are wrong

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