Test Your Knowledge of Semiconductors
August 1972 Popular Electronics

August 1972 Popular Electronics Table of Contents People old and young enjoy waxing nostalgic about and learning some of the history of early electronics. Popular Electronics was published from October 1954 through April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged. See all articles from Popular Electronics.

The August 1972 issue of Popular Electronics included a short quiz by William Shippee titled "Test Your Knowledge of Semiconductors." I guessed wrong on question #2 and guessed right by process of elimination on question #8 (although afterward I discovered that in 2012 I had posted an article about it from Electronics World magazine). Go ahead and try your hand at it. I'll bet Q2 has most people guessing, too.

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Semiconductors

By William R. Shippee

1. Transistor HFE remains steady regardless of temperature.

(a) True (b) False

2.Which of these elements used to dope semiconductor materials is an acceptor or p type?

(a) Phosphorous (b) Arsenic (c) Antimony (d) Indium

3. In a class A output stage, dissipation is always highest when there is no ac power output.

(a) True (b) False

4.Mesa and planar epitaxial transistors give high-speed switching and good saturation characteristics at relatively high voltage ratings.

(a) True (b) False

5.The configuration used most often for a transistor switching circuit is:

(a) Common collector (b) Common base (c) Common emitter

6.Many mesa and planar transistors exhibit negative resistance after breakdown voltage is reached.

(a) True (b) False

7. Voltage feedback from the collector of a transistor stage tends to increase the output impedance of that stage.

(a) True (b) False

8. Drawing (A) is schematic symbol for:

(a) Unijunction

(b) SCR

(c) Tetrode 

(d) Npnp transistor

9. Drawing (B) is schematic symbol for:

(a) FET

(b) SCR

(c) SCS

(d) Npnp transistor

10. Drawing (C) is schematic symbol for:

(a) Symmetrical zener

(b) SCS

(c) Npnp transistor

(d) SCR

(Answers below)

Popular Electronics published many quizzes over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert Balin created many of the quizzes. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

Answers

1. b

2. d

3. a

4. a

5. c

6. a

7. b

8. c

9. a

10. b

Posted July 17, 2017