What is the major difference between silicon and germanium diodes?
The primary difference between silicon and germanium diodes is the voltage needed for the diode to turn on (or become “forward-biased”). Silicon diodes require 0.7 volts to become forward-biased, whereas germanium diodes require only 0.3 volts to become forward-biased.
Which diode is better silicon or germanium?
In present, Silicon is preferred over Germanium for semiconductor. Why is Silicon preferred over Germanium for semiconductor? The reason is, Silicon can be worked at a higher temperature as compared to germanium. The structure of Germanium crystals will be destroyed at higher temperature.
What is the difference between germanium and silicon?
Silicon and germanium have four valence electrons but at the given temperature germanium will have more free electrons and higher conductivity than silicon. Silicon is more widely used in the electronic device than germanium since it can be used at a higher temperature.
Why is silicon mostly chosen when compared to germanium?
Summary: At room temperature, Silicon crystal has fewer free electrons than Germanium crystal. This implies that silicon will have much smaller Collector cut off current than Germanium. The variation of Collector cut off current with temperature is less in Silicon compared to Germanium.
Why Si and Ge are not used in LED?
Light Emitting Diode Structure Silicon and germanium are not suitable because those junctions produce heat and no appreciable IR or visible light.
Which is more stable germanium or silicon?
germanium has high thermal stability than silicon in the construction of Zener diode.
Which has more conductivity silicon or germanium?
Each has four valence electrons, but germanium will at a given temperature have more free electrons and a higher conductivity. Silicon is by far the more widely used semiconductor for electronics, partly because it can be used at much higher temperatures than germanium.
Which is more stable silicon or germanium?
Temperature stability is defined as the performance of semiconductor devices with a change in the operating temperature. Therefore, a device that has good temperature stability gives a more reliable operation. The temperature stability of silicon is better than germanium.
Why only Si and Ge are used as semiconductors?
Silicon and germanium are used here effectively because they have 4 valence electrons in their outermost shell, which gives them the ability to gain or lose electrons equally at the same time.
Why do silicon and germanium diodes not emit light?
Standard diodes are made of silicon, an indirect band gap material, thus no photon emission is possible.
Why is Silicon not suitable for LED?
Since Silicon is an Indirect Band Gap semiconductor so electron cannot fall directly to the valence band but must undergo a momentum change as well as a change in energy. So, energy is released as heat along with the light. Hence, silicon is not suitable for the fabrication of LEDs.
Why is germanium more conductive than silicon?
Ge has energy band gap of 0.72ev and Si has energy band gap of 1.12ev. So Ge has higher conductivity. Answer: Germanium has lower energy band gap than that of the silicon.
Why is silicon more stable than germanium?
Silicon is abundant on the earth’s surface and therefore cheaper than germanium. The PIV (Peak Inverse Voltage) rating of silicon is much higher than germanium and therefore can withstand much higher temperatures than germanium.
Why conductivity of germanium is more than silicon?
Why are germanium and silicon not efficient conductors?
Pure silicon and germanium are poor conductors of electricity because their outer electrons are tied up in the covalent bonds of the diamondlike framework.
How can you tell if a germanium diode is silicon?
You can easily distinguish Silicon and Germanium Diodes. Silicon diodes should read approx 0.7V and Germanium diodes should read 0.3V. A little difficult to distinguish Schottky diodes though. They should show approx 0.2V which is close to 0.3V.
Why silicon and germanium are most used as semiconductors?
What is the difference between silicon and germanium diode?
Si crystals are having capacity to withstand at higher temperature as compared to germanium crystals. 11. Silicon is cheaper than Germanium. Therefore, it’s preferred over Ge diode. 12. The forward voltage drop for Germanium junction is less, whereas for Silicon diode the forward voltage drop is low.
What is the leakage current of Sili_Con and germanium diode?
Leakage current of Sili_con diode is in nA, whereas the leakage current for germanium is in mA. 04. PIV is more for Si diode, whereas the PIV is less for germanium diode.
What is the difference between Si diode and GE diode?
It means, Once the applied forward voltage reaches 0.7Volt, the Si diode will start to conduct. It has lower Threshold Voltage (VT) or firing potential. It means, Once the applied forward voltage reaches 0.3Volt, the Ge based diode will start to conduct.
What is a silicon diode?
What is Silicon diode? Si diode is a semiconductor diode which is having positive and negative charge polarity and allows the current to flow in only one direction. What is a Germanium diode?