to accompany
Electronic Devices and
Circuit Theory
Tenth Edition
Robert L. Boylestad
Louis Nashelsky
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Columbus, Ohio
, Contents
Solutions to Problems in Text 1
Solutions for Laboratory Manual 185
iii
, Chapter 1
1. Copper has 20 orbiting electrons with only one electron in the outermost shell. The fact that
the outermost shell with its 29th electron is incomplete (subshell can contain 2 electrons) and
distant from the nucleus reveals that this electron is loosely bound to its parent atom. The
application of an external electric field of the correct polarity can easily draw this loosely
bound electron from its atomic structure for conduction.
Both intrinsic silicon and germanium have complete outer shells due to the sharing (covalent
bonding) of electrons between atoms. Electrons that are part of a complete shell structure
require increased levels of applied attractive forces to be removed from their parent atom.
2. Intrinsic material: an intrinsic semiconductor is one that has been refined to be as pure as
physically possible. That is, one with the fewest possible number of impurities.
Negative temperature coefficient: materials with negative temperature coefficients have
decreasing resistance levels as the temperature increases.
Covalent bonding: covalent bonding is the sharing of electrons between neighboring atoms to
form complete outermost shells and a more stable lattice structure.
3. −
4. W = QV = (6 C)(3 V) = 18 J
5. 48 eV = 48(1.6 × 10−19 J) = 76.8 × 10−19 J
W 76.8 × 10−19 J
Q= = = 6.40 × 10−19 C
V 12 V
6.4 × 10−19 C is the charge associated with 4 electrons.
6. GaP Gallium Phosphide Eg = 2.24 eV
ZnS Zinc Sulfide Eg = 3.67 eV
7. An n-type semiconductor material has an excess of electrons for conduction established by
doping an intrinsic material with donor atoms having more valence electrons than needed to
establish the covalent bonding. The majority carrier is the electron while the minority carrier
is the hole.
A p-type semiconductor material is formed by doping an intrinsic material with acceptor
atoms having an insufficient number of electrons in the valence shell to complete the covalent
bonding thereby creating a hole in the covalent structure. The majority carrier is the hole
while the minority carrier is the electron.
8. A donor atom has five electrons in its outermost valence shell while an acceptor atom has
only 3 electrons in the valence shell.
9. Majority carriers are those carriers of a material that far exceed the number of any other
carriers in the material.
Minority carriers are those carriers of a material that are less in number than any other carrier
of the material.
1