semiconductor

Examples of semiconductor in the following topics:

• Semiconductors

  • Semiconductors fall into two broad categories:
  • These are also called "undoped semiconductors" or "i-type semiconductors. "
  • While insulating materials may be doped to become semiconductors, intrinsic semiconductors can also be doped, resulting in an extrinsic semiconductor.
  • The impurities depend on the type of semiconductor.
  • When a semiconductor is doped to such a high level that it acts more like a conductor than a semiconductor, it is referred to as degenerate.

• Doping: Connectivity of Semiconductors

  • There are two general categories of semiconductors: intrinsic semiconductors, which are composed of only one material, and extrinsic semiconductors, which have had other substances added to them to alter their properties.
  • In semiconductor production, the process of creating extrinsic semiconductors by adding substances to a pure semiconductor for the purposes of modulating its electrical properties is known as doping.
  • The newly created semiconductor is better able to conduct current than the pure semiconductor.
  • While semiconductors doped with either n-type dopants or p-type dopants are better conductors than intrinsic semiconductors, interesting properties emerge when p- and n-type semiconductors are combined to form a p-n junction.
  • The free electrons from the n-type semiconductor combine with the holes in the p-type semiconductor near the junction.

• Radiation Detection

  • Different types of radiation detectors exist ; gaseous ionization detectors, semiconductor detectors, and scintillation detectors are the most common.
  • A semiconductor detector uses a semiconductor (usually silicon or germanium) to detect traversing charged particles or the absorption of photons.
  • When these detectors' sensitive structures are based on single diodes, they are called semiconductor diode detectors.
  • When they contain many diodes with different functions, the more general term "semiconductor detector" is used.
  • Semiconductor detectors have had various applications in recent decades, in particular in gamma and x-ray spectrometry and as particle detectors.

• Dependence of Resistance on Temperature

  • Note also that α is negative for semiconductors, meaning that their resistivity decreases with increasing temperature.
  • This property of decreasing ρ with temperature is also related to the type and amount of impurities present in the semiconductors.
  • One of the most common is the thermistor, a semiconductor crystal with a strong temperature dependence, the resistance of which is measured to obtain its temperature.

• Lasers

  • Gas and semiconductors are commonly used gain media.

• Implications of Quantum Mechanics

  • The study of semiconductors led to the invention of the diode and the transistor, which are indispensable parts of modern electronic systems and devices.

• Electrolytic Cells

  • Electrodes of metal, graphite, and semiconductor material are widely used.

• The Hall Effect

  • The Hall effect is a rather ubiquitous phenomenon in physics, and appears not only in conductors, but semiconductors, ionized gases, and in quantum spin among other applications.

• Ecological rucksack

  • Of course, the waste estimation of a product is dependent upon how far back its materials can be traced, which makes any waste study highly subjective; however, reasonable estimates claim that a semiconductor chip can leave behind 100,000 times its weight in waste during the manufacturing process and the making of a laptop computer produces 4,000 times its weight in waste.

• Sulfur Compounds

  • These materials tend to be dark-colored semiconductors that are not readily attacked by water or even many acids.
  • The mineral galena (PbS) was the first demonstrated semiconductor.