General Science • PhysicsMedium
Which of the following statements regarding the behavior of semiconductors at absolute zero temperature is completely accurate?
A. They act as perfect conductors with zero electrical resistance due to thermal agitation.
B. They act as perfect insulators because all valence electrons are tightly bound and conduction bands are completely empty.✓ Correct Answer
C. They exhibit superconductivity with infinite current capacity without any energy dissipation.
D. They behave as metallic conductors with negative temperature coefficient of resistance.
💡 Solution & Explanation
At absolute zero temperature, thermal energy is insufficient to promote electrons across the forbidden energy band gap from the valence band to the conduction band in pure intrinsic semiconductors, rendering them perfect insulators. As temperature increases, thermal excitation generates electron-hole pairs, increasing conductivity. Silicon and germanium are classic semiconductor materials used extensively in electronic device fabrication.
More General Science Physics questions
- Which physical quantity is measured in hertz?
- How does the binding energy per nucleon behave for atomic nuclei with mass numbers in the intermediate range…
- Which thermodynamic process occurs at a constant volume, meaning no work is done by or on the system?
- Which conservation law is considered the fundamental principle underlying Kirchhoff's current law in…
- What type of energy conversion takes place inside a working electric generator?