Semiconductor physics

What is the crystal structure of single-crystal silicon?

  1. ABody-centered cubic
  2. BDiamond structure
  3. CSodium chloride (rock-salt) structure
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Answer: B. Diamond structure

Silicon has the diamond structure, in which each atom is covalently bonded to four neighbors. Germanium has the same structure. Many III-V compound semiconductors such as GaAs have the zinc-blende structure, in which different atoms occupy the two kinds of sites of the diamond structure.

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More Semiconductor physics questions

  1. What is the drift velocity of electrons with a mobility of 1000 cm²/V·s in an electric field of 100 V/cm?
  2. What is the mass introduced so that the motion of an electron in a crystal can be treated like that of a free electron in response to external forces?
  3. What does the Fermi level mean?
  4. What is the approximate hole density in n-type silicon with a donor concentration of 1×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ (all donors ionized, intrinsic carrier density ni = 1×10¹⁰ cm⁻³)?
  5. Which light can silicon absorb?