Semiconductor Quiz
February 1967 Popular Electronics

February 1967 Popular Electronics   Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Out of the nearly half a hundred quizzes I have posted from vintage Popular Electronics magazines, this Semiconductor Quiz that appeared in a 1967 issue is the first I can remember that was not created by Robert P. Balin. A fellow named Warren Todd made it. If you are younger than maybe 50 years old, symbols B and I might stump you, but the rest are still pretty common. Some of the labels (names) presented in the quiz are a little outdated so I have identified the abbreviations for you. That will make things much easier. For example, SBS is a silicon bidirectional switch. Bonne chance.

Semiconductor Quiz

By Warren Todd

With newer and more efficient semiconductor devices constantly being developed, electronic technicians and engineers alike are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the symbols representing these devices. If you can correctly identify all of the symbols (A-J) below by name (1-10), you're on top of the situation. Even if you can identify only eight, you deserve an "A" for being up-to-date with solid state.

1 UJT __  (unijunction transistor)

2 SUS __  (silicon unidirectional switch)

3 SBS __  (silicon bidirectional switch)

4 DIAC __  (diode, a.c. semiconductor)

5 TRIAC __  (bidirectional switch for a.c.)

6 SCR __  (silicon controlled rectifier)

7 LASCR __  (light-activated silicon-controlled rectifier)

8 JFET __  (junction field-effect transistor)

9 IGFET __  (insulated-gate field-effect transistor)

10 ZENER __  (voltage regulator diode)

See answers below.

Popular Electronics published many quizzes over the years (as did a few other magazines to a lesser extent) - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created many of the quizzes. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

Quiz Answers

1 )   J - UJT (unijunction transistor)

2 )   B - SUS (silicon unidirectional switch)

3 )   I - SBS (silicon bidirectional switch)

4 )   D - DIAC (diode, a.c. semiconductor)

5 )   H - TRIAC (bidirectional switch for a.c.)

6 )   C - SCR (silicon controlled rectifier)

7 )   A - LASCR (light-activated silicon-controlled rectifier)

8 )   E - JFET (junction field-effect transistor)

9 )   F - IGFET (insulated-gate field-effect transistor)

10)   G - ZENER (voltage regulator diode)

Posted October 12, 2018