What is semiconductor

Semiconductors can be pure elements, such as silicon or germanium, or compounds such as gallium arsenide or cadmium selenide. In a process called doping, small amounts of impurities are added to pure semiconductors causing large changes in the conductivity of the material.

Simply put, semiconductors strengthen our country. Toggle navigation. What is a Semiconductor? Semiconductors are the Brains of Modern Electronics. Stages of Semiconductor Production. Step 1: Research Pre-competitive basic research is essential to the semiconductor industry and the first step in the semiconductor production process. Step 2: Design Engineers use highly sophisticated equipment to design semiconductors, similar to how architects design buildings.

Step 3: Raw Materials Many semiconductors start out as sand, which contains a large amount of silicon, but other pure materials can also be used. Step 5: Blank Wafer The ingot is then sliced into very thin 1 mm silicon discs and polished to a flawless finish. Step 6: Finished Wafer Next, wafers are printed with highly intricate circuit designs that will later become individual chips.

Step 7: Cut Wafer The silicon wafer containing finished semiconductors, sometimes as many as 70, per wafer, is then cut up into tiny individual semiconductors called dies. Step 8: Packaged Chip These dies are then packaged into finished semiconductors, which can be placed into devices.

Step 9: Chip on Circuit Board Finished semiconductors are embedded in countless electronics devices, from computers and smartphones to highly advanced medical equipment and supercomputers.

Semiconductors Improve Our Lives. Semiconductors Build Our Future. The semiconductor industry is leading the greatest period of progress in history. Known as fabless chip makers, these companies have high growth potential because they are not burdened by the overhead associated with manufacturing, or "fabrication. Aside from investing in individual companies , there are several ways to monitor the investment performance of the overall sector.

There are also indices that break the sector down to chip makers and chip equipment makers. The latter develops and sells machinery and other products used to design and test semiconductors. In addition, certain markets overseas, such as Taiwan, South Korea, and to a lesser extent Japan, are highly dependent on semiconductors and therefore their indices also provide clues on the health of the global industry.

If semiconductor investors can remember one thing, it should be that the semiconductor industry is highly cyclical. Semiconductor makers often see "boom and bust" cycles based on the underlying demand for chip-based products. When times are good, profit margins can run very high for chipmakers; when demand falls through, however, chip prices can fall dramatically and have a major effect on many industries' supply chains.

Demand typically tracks end-market demand for personal computers, cell phones, and other electronic equipment. When times are good, companies like Intel and Toshiba can't produce microchips quickly enough to meet demand. When times are tough, they can be downright brutal. Slow PC sales, for instance, can send the industry—and its share prices—into a tailspin. At the same time, it doesn't make sense to speak of the "chip cycle" as if it were an event of singular nature.

While semiconductors is still a commodity business at heart, its end markets are so numerous—PCs, communications infrastructure, automotive, consumer products, etc. Surprisingly, the cyclicality of the industry can provide a degree of comfort for investors.

In some other technology sectors, like telecom equipment, one can never be entirely sure whether fortunes are cyclical or secular. By contrast, investors can be almost certain that the market will turn at some point in the not-so-distant future.

While cyclicality offers some comfort, it also creates a risk for investors. Chipmakers must routinely take part in high-stakes gambling. The big risk comes from the fact that it can take many months, or even years, after a major development project for companies to find out whether they've hit the jackpot, or blown it all. One cause of the delay is the intertwined but fragmented structure of the industry: Different sectors peak and bottom out at different times.

For instance, the low point for foundries frequently arrives much sooner than it does for chip designers. Another reason is the industry's long lead time : It takes years to develop a chip or build a foundry, and even longer before the products make money. Semiconductor companies are faced with the classic conundrum of whether it's the technology that drives the market or the market that drives the technology. Investors should recognize that both have validity for the semiconductor industry.

Because companies spend a large amount of revenue on research and development that can take several months or even years to pay off—and sometimes not even then if the technology is faulty—investors should be wary of statements made by companies who claim to have the latest and greatest technology in the semiconductor industry. A semiconductor essentially functions as a hybrid of a conductor and an insulator.

Whereas conductors are materials with high conductivity that allow the flow of charge when applied with a voltage, and insulators do not allow current flow, semiconductors alternately act as an insulator and conductor where necessary. An n-type semiconductor is an impurity mixed semiconductor that uses pentavalent impure atoms like phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth. Semiconductors were discovered all the way back in 19th century.

In the s, transistors were invented. Radios, which used vacuum tubes until then, were significantly downsized and became portable. A widely known semiconductor is silicon. Electronic components using semiconductors are called semiconductor devices, including the IC, which is an integrated circuit of transistors.

Semiconductor devices mounted inside many electronics appliances are important electronic components that support our everyday live. Properties of semiconductors Introduces the properties of semiconductors , which possess some specific electrical properties.