semiconductors

     

A semiconuctor is a solid material that has electrical conductivity in between that of a conductor and that of an insulator; it can vary over that wide range either permanently or dynamically. Semiconductors are tremendously important in technology. Semiconductor devices, electronic components made of semiconductor materials, are essential in modern electrical devices. Examples range from computers to cellular phones to digital audio players. Silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially, but dozens of other materials are used as well.

Trivia about semiconductors

  • "Doping" is manipulation of the crystals of these, a class of solids found in transistors
  • (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from the Argonne National Lab in Chicago.) The hard X-ray nanoprobe helps in the design of solar cells by allowing subatomic examination of these materials, such as silicon, which act sometimes like metal & sometimes like insulators

Found pages about semiconductors