Semiconductor

Definitions: Semiconductor

Semiconductor

Noun

1. A substance as germanium or silicon whose electrical conductivity is intermediate between that of a metal and an insulator; it increases with temperature and in the presence of impurities.

2. A conductor made with semiconducting material.

Date "semiconductor" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1985. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Semiconductor

Domain	Definitions
Computing	Semiconductor A material, typically crystaline, which allows current to flow under certain circumstances. Common semiconductors are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide. Semiconductors are used to make diodes, transistors and other basic "solid state" electronic components. As crystals of these materials are grown, they are "doped" with traces of other elements called donors or acceptors to make regions which are n- or p-type respectively for the electron model or p- or n-type under the hole model. Where n and p type regions adjoin, a junction is formed which will pass current in one direction (from p to n) but not the other, giving a diode. One model of semiconductor behaviour describes the doping elements as having either free electrons or holes dangling at the points in the crystal lattice where the doping elements replace one of the atoms of the foundation material. When external electrons are applied to n-type material (which already has free electrons present) the repulsive force of like charges causes the free electrons to migrate toward the junction, where they are attracted to the holes in the p-type material. Thus the junction conducts current. In contrast, when external electrons are applied to p-type material, the attraction of unlike charges causes the holes to migrate away from the junction and toward the source of external electrons. The junction thus becomes "depleted" of its charge carriers and is non-conducting. (1995-10-04). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Aerospace	An electronic conductor, with resistivity in the range between metals and insulators, in which the electrical charge carrier concentration increases with increasing temperature over some temperature range. Certain semiconductors possess two types of carriers, namely, negative electrons and positive holes. (references)
Electrical Engineering	A material whose total conductivity, due to charge carriers of both signs(i. e. electrons and holes)is normally in the range between that of metals and insulators, and in which the charge carrier density can be changed by external means. Source: European Union. (references)
Energy	Any material that has a limited capacity for conducting an electric current. Certain semiconductors, including silicon, gallium arsenide, copper indium diselenide, and cadmium telluride, are uniquely suited to the photovoltaic conversion process. (references)
Solar	A material that has much lower resistance to the flow of electrical current in one direction than in another. Diodes, transistors, and many photovoltaic cells contain semiconductive materials. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Specialty Definition: Semiconductor

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Semiconductors are materials with electrical conductivities that are intermediate between those of conductorss and insulators. Semiconductors are useful for electronic purposes because they can carry an electric current by electron propagation or hole propagation, and because this current is generally uni-directional and the amount of current may be influenced by an external agent (see diode, transistor, amplifier etc.). Electron propagation is the same sort of current flow seen in a standard copper wire - heavily ionized atoms pass excess electrons down the wire from one atom to another in order to move from a more negatively ionized area to a less negatively ionized area. "Hole" propagation is a rather different proposition - in the case of a semiconductor experiencing hole propagation, the charge moves from a more positively ionized area to a less positively ionized area by the movement of the electron hole created by the absence of an electron in a nearly-full electron shell.

While silicon dioxide or sand is an insulator, pure silicon is a semiconductor.

The properties of semiconductors, e.g. the number of carriers (and therefore the prevalence of electron propagation or hole propagation), can be controlled by "doping" the semiconductor blocks with impurities. A semiconductor with more electrons than holes is called an n-type semiconductor, while a semiconductor with more holes than electrons is called a p-type semiconductor.

Semiconductors are the fundamental materials in many modern electronic devices.

Electronic Structure of Semiconductors

Semiconductors exhibit a number of useful and unique properties related to their electronic structure. In solids the electrons tend to occupy various energy bands. The energy band associated with electrons in their ground state is called the valence band. These electrons are static. The energy band of excited electrons is called the conduction band. These electrons move freely and are usually higher energy. As the name implies, electrons in the conduction band are able to conduct electricity. The energy spacing between the valence band and the conduction band is called the band gap and corresponds to the energy necessary to excite an electron from the valence band into the conduction band. For some metals, such as magnesium, the valence and conduction bands overlap, corresponding to a negative band gap. In this situation, there are always some electrons in the conduction band and the material is highly conductive. Other metals, such as copper, have empty states in the valence band. In this case electrons in the valence band can conduct electricity by moving between the various states and again the material is highly conductive. For insulators the valence band is completely filled and the band gap is relatively large, preventing conduction. Semiconductors have an electronic structure similar to that of insulators, but with a relatively small band gap, generally less than 2 eV. Because the band gap is relatively small, electrons can be thermally excited into the conduction band, making semiconductors somewhat conductive at room temperature.

Electrons in the conduction band are free to move through the material conducting electricity. In addition, when an electron is excited into the conduction band it leaves behind an empty state in the valence band, corresponding to a missing electron in one of the covalent bonds. Under the influence of an electric field,an adjacent valence electron may move into the missing electron position, effectively moving the location of the missing electron. Thus, like the electron, this missing electron or hole is also able to move through the material, conducting electricity. Holes are considered to have a charge of the same magnitude as an electron (1.6×10⁻¹⁹ C), but of opposite charge. Thus, in the presence of an electric field excited electrons and holes move in opposite directions. Electrons are somewhat more mobile than holes and are thus more efficient at conducting electricity. Because both electrons and holes are capable of carrying electricity, they are collectively called carriers.

The concentration of carriers is strongly dependent on the temperature. Increasing the temperature leads to an increase in the number of carriers and a corresponding increase in conductivity. This contrasts sharply with most conductors, which tend to become less conductive at higher temperatures. This principle is used in thermistors.

See electrical conduction for more information about conduction in materials.

Doping and Extrinsic semiconduction

Intrinsic semiconductors are those in which the electrical behavior depends on the electronic structure of the pure material. For the case of intrinsic semiconductors, all carriers are created by exciting electrons into the conduction band. Thus equal numbers of electrons and holes are created. An extrinsic semiconductor is a semiconductor that has been doped with various impurities to modify the number of holes and excited electrons. Natural blue diamonds (Type IIb) which contain boron which has a valency of 3 thus replacing carbon atoms which have a valency of 4 have extra holes and thus are naturally occurring p-type semiconductors.

External Links

Semiconductor Technology Information on the Semiconductor Industry.
NSM-Archive Physical Properties of Semiconductors (such as Si, GaAs and others), including band structure, mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properies
Principles of Semiconductor Devices
Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Semiconductor."

Top

Synonyms: Semiconductor

Synonyms: semiconductor device (n), semiconductor unit (n). (additional references)

Top

Crosswords: Semiconductor

English words defined with "semiconductor": atomic number 14, atomic number 52 ♦ chip, crystal rectifier ♦ diode, dope ♦ electronic equipment, electronic transistor ♦ integrated circuit ♦ junction rectifier, junction transistor ♦ micro chip, microchip, microcircuit, microprocessor ♦ n-th, n-type semiconductor ♦ p-n junction, p-n-p transistor, p-type semiconductor ♦ semiconducting, semiconductive, semiconductor device, semiconductor diode, semiconductor unit, SI, silicon, silicon chip, solid-state ♦ Te, tellurium, thermal resistor, thermistor, transistor. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Semiconductor" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Romanian (semi-conductor), Spanish (semiconductor).

Top

Commercial Usage: Semiconductor

Domain	Title
References	Anam Semiconductor Incorporated: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) BE Semiconductor Industries N.V.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) All American Semiconductor, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) Alliance Semiconductor Corporation: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Semiconductor Interfaces at the Sub-Nanometer Scale (NATO Asi Series E: Applied Sciences, Vol 243) (reference) Semiconductor Devices Bjts, Jfets, Mosfet and Integrated Circuits (reference) Survey of Semiconductor Physics: Barriers, Junctions, Surfaces, and Devices (reference) Nonvolatile Semiconductor Memories: Technologies, Design, and Applications (IEEE Press Selected Reprint Series) (reference) Advanced Iii-V Compound Semiconductor Growth, Processing and Devices (Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, Vol 240) (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	European Semiconductor (reference) Key Abstracts - Semiconductor Devices (reference) Materials Science In Semiconductor Processing (reference) Profile Of The Worldwide Semiconductor Industry (reference) Semiconductor Business Information Service (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Non-Fiction Usage: Semiconductor

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		These producers consume about 15-20 percent of total semiconductor supplies locally. (references)
		The U.S. is the island's second largest foreign supplier in the semiconductor market. (references)
		Taiwan ranked as the third largest semiconductor market in the world, after the United States and Japan. (references)
Economic History	Taiwan	Taiwan is the world's largest semiconductor OEM supplier. (references)
	Saudi Arabia	There is no specific protection for semiconductor chip layout design. (references)
	Japan	Market access for foreign and U.S. semiconductor products remains good. (references)
Political Economy	GREECE	Violations of trade secrets and semiconductor chip layout design are not problems in Greece. (references)
	CZECH REPUBLIC	Existing legislation guarantees protection of all forms of property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and semiconductor chip layout design. (references)
	RUSSIA	The September 1992 Law on Topography of Integrated Microcircuits, which also protects computer programs, protects semiconductor topographies for 10 years from the date of registration. (references)
Trade	Malaysia	This provision, for example, applies to Malaysian imports of semiconductor components used in the fabrication of completed semiconductors for export. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Top

Usage Frequency: Semiconductor

"Semiconductor" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 93.81% of the time. "Semiconductor" is used about 323 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	93.81%	303	16,643
Noun (proper)	3.1%	10	111,207
Noun (common)	3.1%	10	111,207
Total	100.00%	323	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top

Usage in Company Names: Semiconductor

Country	Name	Country	Name
Canada	Tundra Semiconductor Corporation	Denmark	Topsil Semiconductor Materials A/S
Germany	Elmos Semiconductor AG	Japan	Mimasu Semiconductor Industry Co., Ltd.
Netherlands	BE Semiconductor Industries N.V.	Singapore	Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Limited
South Korea	Anam Semiconductor Incorporated	Switzerland	European Semiconductor Equipment Center Holdings A.G.
Taiwan	Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.	USA	Alliance Semiconductor Corporation
	(more examples...)

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

Top

Expressions: Semiconductor

Expressions using "semiconductor": amplifying semiconductor detector ♦ binary compound semiconductor ♦ bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor ♦ compensated semiconductor ♦ complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor ♦ elemental semiconductor ♦ elementary semiconductor ♦ Harris Semiconductor Ltd. ♦ intrinsic semiconductor ♦ lithium drifted semiconductor detector ♦ metal insulator semiconductor capacitor ♦ metal oxide semiconductor ♦ metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor ♦ metal oxide semiconductor technology ♦ Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ♦ semiconductor device ♦ semiconductor diode ♦ semiconductor laser ♦ semiconductor unit ♦ single element semiconductor ♦ totally depleted semiconductor detector. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "semiconductor": semiconductor-based, semiconductor-trade.
	Ending with "semiconductor": metal-insulator-semiconductor, metal-oxide-semiconductor, metal-oxide-semiconductor, metal-semiconductor, vertical-metal-oxide-semiconductor.
	Containing "semiconductor": photo-semiconductor-controlled.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Semiconductor

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
semiconductor	1,771	hitachi semiconductor	49
national semiconductor	658	semiconductor manufacturing	49
semiconductor equipment	543	semiconductor news	43
fairchild semiconductor	253	used semiconductor equipment	38
philips semiconductor	173	alliance semiconductor	37
dallas semiconductor	140	samsung semiconductor	37
cypress semiconductor	138	semiconductor international	36
motorola semiconductor	134	nec semiconductor	34
crystal semiconductor	115	semiconductor wafer	33
harris semiconductor	100	obsolete semiconductor	32
maxim semiconductor	92	semiconductor industry association	31
semiconductor cross reference	81	jazz semiconductor	29
general semiconductor	73	mitsubishi semiconductor	29
phillips semiconductor	65	semiconductor distributor	29
lattice semiconductor	57	semiconductor industry	28
semiconductor company	56	semiconductor laser	27
toshiba semiconductor	52	central semiconductor	26
manufacturer semiconductor	51	ami semiconductor	24
ecg semiconductor	51	marvell semiconductor	24
semiconductor job	50	sanyo semiconductor	24
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Modern Translations: Semiconductor

Language		Translations for "semiconductor"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		gjysmëpërçues. (various references)

Bulgarian		полупроводник. (various references)

Chinese		半導�" , 半导�". (various references)

Czech		polovodiè. (various references)

Danish		halvleder (solid state, transistorised, transistorized). (various references)

Dutch		halfgeleider (solid state, transistorised, transistorized). (various references)

Finnish		puolijohde. (various references)

French		semiconducteur. (various references)

German		Halbleiter (electronic semiconductor). (various references)

Greek		ημιαγωγός. (various references)

Hebrew		מוליך למחצ�". (various references)

Hungarian		félvezető (semi-conducting, semi-conductor). (various references)

Italian		semiconduttore. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		半導�" , セックス�"�業 (cement, manufacturer of assembled products, savory, semantic, semantics, semaphore, semicolon, semi-double bed, seminar, semiprofessional, semi-tight skirt, sepia, session, set, set position, setting, setting lotion, setup, seven, Seven-Eleven, sex industry, shoulder length hair, three-quarter bed). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		セミコンダクタ , は�"どうたい. (various references)

Korean		반도체. (various references)

Pig Latin		emiconductorsay

Portuguese		semicondutor. (various references)

Russian		полупроводник (quasi-conductor). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		poluprovodnik. (various references)

Spanish		semiconductor. (various references)

Swedish		halvledare (quasi-conductor). (various references)

Ukranian		напіпровідник. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Top

Derivations & Misspellings: Semiconductor

Derivations
	Words beginning with "semiconductor": semiconductors. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Semiconductor" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: semiconducter. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top

Rhyming with "Semiconductor"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "semiconductor" (pronounced se'mēkundu"kter)
8	-k u n d u" k t er	conductor.
6	-n d u" k t er	inductor.
5	-d u" k t er	abductor.
4	-u" k t er	constructor, instructor.
3	-k t er	actor, benefactor, character, chiropractor, collector, compactor, connecter, connector, constrictor, contractor, defector, detector, detractor, director, doctor, erector, factor, Hector, injector, inspector, lector, malefactor, nectar, objector, predictor, Proctor, projector, prospector, protector, reactor, rector, refractor, sector, Specter, spectre, stricter, subcontractor, superconductor, tractor, vector, Victor.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Top

Anagrams: Semiconductor

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-c-d-e-i-m-n-o-o-r-s-t-u"
	-2 letters: coterminous, microsecond.
	-3 letters: concretism, conductors, consortium, decoctions, disconcert, discounter, doronicums, ecotourism, indecorous, indecorums, introduces, microcodes, microtones, misconduct, miscounted, outscorned, rediscount, reductions, undomestic.
	-4 letters: centroids, cinctured, cinctures, codirects, coeditors, coercions, coinsured, concertos, concourse, conducers, conductor, consorted, construed, contoured, cortisone, costumier, countries, courtside, creodonts, cretinous, crimsoned, crocoites, decoction, decurions, demotions, doctrines, documents, doronicum, economics, economist.
	Words containing the letters "c-c-d-e-i-m-n-o-o-r-s-t-u"
	+1 letter: semiconductors.
	+5 letters: adenocarcinomatous, microreproductions.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.