Semiconductors

Silicon is the most common type of semiconductor material due to its abundance, low cost, and ease of processing.

The energy gap of silicon at room temperature is 1.12 eV.

Intrinsic semiconductors have no impurities, while extrinsic semiconductors have impurities that alter their electrical properties.

The majority carrier in an n-type semiconductor is electrons.

The minority carrier in a p-type semiconductor is holes.

The process of creating a p-n junction is diffusion, where impurities are introduced into a semiconductor to create regions of different conductivity types.

The function of a p-n junction diode is to allow current to flow in one direction only.

The name of the region in a semiconductor where the majority and minority carriers recombine is the recombination region.

The name of the phenomenon where the current in a semiconductor increases with increasing temperature is thermal runaway.

The name of the process by which a semiconductor can generate electricity from light is the photovoltaic effect.

The name of the device that uses the photovoltaic effect to generate electricity is a solar cell.

The name of the device that uses the photoconductivity effect to detect light is a photodiode.

The name of the device that uses the electroluminescence effect to emit light is a light-emitting diode.

The name of the device that uses the laser effect to generate a narrow beam of light is a laser diode.

The name of the material used in the fabrication of integrated circuits is silicon.