Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/paper-2/a10/a/i/solution

For an intrinsic, nondegenerate semiconductor, charge neutrality and the Boltzmann approximation to the Fermi-Dirac distribution give . Assume the two polymorphs have equal effective-density-of-states prefactors and retain the quoted band gaps at the temperature being estimated. Their carrier-density ratio is then
with expressed in eV per kelvin. At ,
Both absolute intrinsic densities are extremely small at this temperature; a large ratio does not imply that either material is a good intrinsic conductor. Defects or unintended dopants can dominate real “undoped” specimens.

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