Practice portal › Semiconductor Electronics › Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors

In an intrinsic semiconductor the number density of free electrons is nₑ and the number density of holes is nₕ. Then ________.

Asked in GSEB Board July 2021 · Doping and carrier concentration

Answer: (3) nₑ = nₕ

Step-by-step solution

Idea: in a pure (intrinsic) crystal the only way to get a free carrier is to break a covalent bond, and thermal energy is what breaks it.

Breaking one bond frees one electron and leaves behind exactly one hole, so carriers are always created in pairs.

There is no impurity adding carriers of one sign only, and recombination also removes them in pairs.

So the two densities stay equal at every temperature: nₑ = nₕ = nᵢ, the intrinsic carrier concentration.

Why the other options are wrong

More Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors questionsAll Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors questions →

Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.

Practise this with a timer