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Basic knowledge of the Semiconductor
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What is semiconductor?
There are various materials on the earth, as well as methods for classifying materials. One of the methods is classification by conduction of electricity.
Materials can be classified as follows by this method.
- 1. Insulator: the materials which does not conduct electricity.
(e.g.: rubber, ceramic (pottery), polyethylene, glass) - 2. Conductor: the materials which conduct electricity.
(e.g.: iron, copper, gold, aluminum, silver) - 3. Semiconductor: the materials which are less conductible or become easy to conduct electricity under certain conditions.
(e.g.: silicon, carbon, germanium)
Semiconductors are used in circuits to realize complicated functions in electronic equipments because they are able to have various functions by using them as compounds which are combinations of materials and elements.
There are many combinations used as semiconductors such as silicon and germanium as elementary semiconductor using a single element, or gallium arsenide (GaAs), silicon carbide (SiC) and the zinc oxide (ZnO) as compound semiconductor combined more than one element.
In addition, semiconductor which is added impurities to give specific electrical characteristics is called impurity semiconductor. The typical impurity semiconductor are n-type semiconductor and p-type semiconductor.
