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.
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