Microwave Engineering Questions and Answers – GUNN Diodes

This set of Microwave Engineering Multiple Choice Questions & Answers (MCQs) focuses on “GUNN Diodes”.

1. Silicon and germanium are called ___________ semiconductors.
a) direct gap
b) indirect gap
c) band gap
d) indirect band gap
View Answer

Answer: b
Explanation: The forbidden energy gap for silicon and germanium are respectively 1.21 eV in Si and 0.79 eV in germanium. Silicon and germanium are called indirect gap semiconductors because the bottom of the conduction band does not lie directly above the top of the valence band.

2. GaAs is used in the fabrication of GUNN diodes because:
a) GaAs is cost effective
b) It less temperature sensitive
c) it has low conduction band electrons
d) less forbidden energy gap
View Answer

Answer: d
Explanation: In GaAs, the conduction band lies directly above the top of the valence band. The lowest energy conduction band in GaAs is called as primary valley. GaAs consists of six secondary valleys. The bottom of one of the secondary valley is at an energy difference of 0.35 eV with the bottom of the primary valley in conduction band.

3. In a GaAs n-type specimen, the current generated is constant irrespective of the electric filed applied to the specimen.
a) true
b) false
View Answer

Answer: b
Explanation: In a GaAs n-type specimen, when the electric field applied reaches a threshold value of Eth, the current in the specimen becomes suddenly oscillatory and with respect to time and these oscillations are in the microwave frequency range. This effect is called Gunn Effect.
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4. When the electric field applied to GaAs specimen is less than the threshold electric field, the current in the material:
a) increases linearly
b) decreases linearly
c) increases exponentially
d) decreases exponentially
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: When the electric field applied is less than the threshold value of electric field, the electrons jump from the valence band to the primary valley of the conduction band and current increases linearly with electric field.

5. When the applied electric field exceeds the threshold value, electrons absorb more energy from the field and become:
a) hot electrons
b) cold electrons
c) emission electrons
d) none of the mentioned
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: When the applied electric field exceeds the threshold value, electrons absorb more energy from the field and become hot electrons. These electrons jump into the lowest secondary valley in the conduction band. When the electrons become hot, their mobility reduces.

6. GaAs is used in fabricating Gunn diode. Gunn diode is:
a) bulk device
b) sliced device
c) made of different type of semiconductor layers
d) none of the mentioned
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: A GUNN diode is a bulk device, that is, it does not contain any junction but it is a slice of n-type GaAs. P-type GaAs does not exhibit Gunn Effect. Hence it is a reversible and can be operated in both directions.

7. The electrodes of a Gunn diode are made of:
a) molybdenum
b) GaAs
c) gold
d) copper
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: Gunn diode is grown epitaxially onto a gold or copper plated molybdenum electrode, out of gallium arsenide doped with silicon, tellurium or selenium to make it n-type.
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8. When either a voltage or current is applied to the terminals of bulk solid state compound GaAs, a differential ______ is developed in that bulk device.
a) negative resistance
b) positive resistance
c) negative voltage
d) none of the mentioned
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: When either a voltage or current is applied to the terminals of a sample of bulk solid state compound formed by group 5 and 3 elements of periodic table, a differential resistance is developed in the bulk device. This fundamental concept is called RWH theory.

9. The number of modes of operation for n type GaAs is:
a) two
b) three
c) four
d) five
View Answer

Answer: c
Explanation: n-type GaAs used for fabricating Gunn diode has four modes of operation. They are Gunn oscillation mode, limited space charge accumulation mode, and stable amplification mode bias circuit oscillation mode.
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10. The free electron concentration in N-type GaAs is controlled by:
a) effective doping
b) bias voltage
c) drive current
d) none of the mentioned
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: The free electron concentration in n-type GaAs is controlled through effective doping so that they range from 1014 to 1017 per cc at room temperature. The typical specimen of n-type GaAs has the dimensions 150 µm by 150 µm.

11. The modes of operation of a Gunn diode are illustrated in a plot of voltage applied to the Gunn diode v/s frequency of operation of Gunn diode.
a) true
b) false
View Answer

Answer: b
Explanation: A graph of plot of product of frequency and the length of the device plotted along y-axis versus the product of doping concentration and length along X- axis. These are the parameters on which the four modes of operation of Gunn diode are explained.

12. The mode of operation in which the Gunn diode is not stable is:
a) Gunn oscillation mode
b) limited space charge accumulation mode
c) stable amplification mode
d) bias circuit oscillation mode
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: In Gunn oscillation mode, the device is unstable due to the formation of accumulation layer and field domain. This high field domain moves from cathode to anode.

13. The frequency of oscillation in Gunn diode is given by:
a) vdom/ Leff
b) Leff/ Vdom
c) Leff/ WVdom
d) none of the mentioned
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: In Gunn oscillation mode, the frequency of oscillation is given by vdom/ Leff, where vdom is the domain velocity, Leff is effective length that the domain moves from the time it is formed until the time a new domain is formed.

14. In Gunn diode oscillator, the Gunn diode is inserted into a waveguide cavity formed by a short circuit termination at one end
a) true
b) false
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: The Gunn diode is mounted at the centre of the broad wall of a shorted waveguide since for the dominant TE10 mode; the electric field is maximum at the centre.

15. In a Gunn diode oscillator, the electron drift velocity was found to be 107 cm/second and the effective length is 20 microns, then the intrinsic frequency is:
a) 5 GHz
b) 6 GHz
c) 4 GHz
d) 2 GHz
View Answer

Answer: a
Explanation: The intrinsic frequency for a Gunn oscillator is given by Vd/L. Here VD is the drift velocity and L is the effective length. Substituting the given values in the above equation, intrinsic frequency is 5 GHz.

Sanfoundry Global Education & Learning Series – Microwave Engineering.
To practice all areas of Microwave Engineering, here is complete set of 1000+ Multiple Choice Questions and Answers.

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Manish Bhojasia, a technology veteran with 20+ years @ Cisco & Wipro, is Founder and CTO at Sanfoundry. He lives in Bangalore, and focuses on development of Linux Kernel, SAN Technologies, Advanced C, Data Structures & Alogrithms. Stay connected with him at LinkedIn.

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