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A semiconductor is a material that is between the conductor and insulator in ability to conduct electrical current. [1] In many cases their conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by introducing impurities (" doping ") into the crystal structure .
Electronic band structure of a semiconductor material. Like other solids, semiconductor materials have an electronic band structure determined by the crystal properties of the material. Energy distribution among electrons is described by the Fermi level and the temperature of the electrons.
A semiconductor device is an electronic component that relies on the electronic properties of a semiconductor material (primarily silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide, as well as organic semiconductors) for its function. Its conductivity lies between conductors and insulators. Semiconductor devices have replaced vacuum tubes in
A compound semiconductor is a semiconductor compound composed of chemical elements of at least two different species. These semiconductors form for example in periodic table groups 13–15 (old groups III–V), for example of elements from the Boron group (old group III, boron, aluminium, gallium, indium) and from group 15 (old group V, nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth).
Avalanche breakdown (or the avalanche effect) is a phenomenon that can occur in both insulating and semiconducting materials. It is a form of electric current multiplication that can allow very large currents within materials which are otherwise good insulators.
To obtain better performance and lower costs, semiconductor manufacturers reduce the device geometries of integrated circuits. With each reduction the associated operating voltage must also be reduced in order to maintain the same basic operational characteristics of the transistors.
In electronics and semiconductor physics, the law of mass action relates the concentrations of free electrons and electron holes under thermal equilibrium. It states that, under thermal equilibrium , the product of the free electron concentration n {\displaystyle n} and the free hole concentration p {\displaystyle p} is equal to a constant ...
A semiconductor diode, the most commonly used type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material with a p–n junction connected to two electrical terminals. [5] It has an exponential current–voltage characteristic. Semiconductor diodes were the first semiconductor electronic devices.