What Are The Main Uses Of Semiconductors?

A semiconductor is a substance with an electrical conductivity between that of an insulator and that of a conductor. Semiconductors with easily controllable conductivity are used as component materials for information processing. Semiconductors are very important from the point of view of technology and economic development. The core units of many electronic products, such as computers, mobile phones and digital recorders, use changes in the conductivity of semiconductors to process information. Common semiconductor materials include silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide, and silicon is one of the most influential of the various semiconductor materials in commercial applications.

The electrical conductivity of a material is determined by the number of electrons contained in the conduction band. When electrons gain energy from the valence band and jump to the conductive band, they can move freely between the bands and conduct electricity. The energy gap between the conductive band and the valence band of common metallic materials is very small, and at room temperature electrons can easily gain energy and jump to the conductive band and conduct electricity, while insulating materials are unable to conduct electricity because the energy gap is large and it is difficult for electrons to jump to the conductive band.

A macro shot of a circuit board. Shallow DOF

The difference between a semiconductor and an insulator comes mainly from the difference in the width of their energy bands. The energy band of an insulator is wider than that of a semiconductor, meaning that carriers in the valence band of an insulator must acquire a higher energy than in a semiconductor in order to jump across the energy band and enter the conduction band. A semiconductor at room temperature conducts like an insulator, and only a very small number of carriers have sufficient energy to enter the conduction band. Therefore, an intrinsic semiconductor and an insulator under the same electric field will have similar electrical properties, although the fact that the energy band width of a semiconductor is smaller than that of an insulator also means that the conductivity of a semiconductor is more easily controlled and changed.  If you are interested in semiconductor, you could go and check the Frame structure maker for semiconductor industries in Malaysia. 

The semiconductor industry is influenced by the industry’s own supply and demand as well as the new product cycle. Successive financial crises and bubble bursts have caused the semiconductor industry to decline in the short term, but in the long term, it is the introduction of new products that is intrinsic to the continued growth and prosperity of the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry is influenced by the industry’s own supply and demand as well as the new product cycle. Each financial crisis and bubble burst will cause the semiconductor industry to decline in the short term, but in the long term, it is the introduction of new products that will be the intrinsic driver of the industry’s continued growth and prosperity.