History Of Semiconductors
In simple words semiconductors are substances or devices which can take the form of silicon or germanium and with the toting up of electronic circuit system, it can be extensively used in communications, technology detection and computers. Semiconductor devices’ first introduction took place in 1833. |
The first silicon transistor was invented in the year 1954 by Michael Faraday. This introduction replaced the old vacuum tubes, previously used in computers. Microprocessor is a kind of semiconductor and is widely used to perform several functions.
Semiconductors commonly available are zinc, germanium, and silicon. But, silicon is till date the most extensively implemented semiconductor owing to its easy availability. The use of silicon can be seen in computers, cars and networks. It provides a combination of less investment followed by the necessary temperature thereby providing the best solution compared to other materials. Silicon is also used in producing boules. Germanium is also a kind of semiconductor but due to low thermal intensity it has turned out to be less useful. It is also utilized in devices that require high speed. The devices out of germanium are majorly produced by IBM. Gallium arsenide as a semiconductor is used massively in producing devices which have greater speed than germanium.
It is definitely more costly than silicon. Semiconductors devices can be classified into two terminal, three terminal, four terminal and multi terminals. Examples of two terminal devices are Gunn diode, Laser diode, Light-emitting diode, photocell, solar cell and tunnel diode. Examples of three terminal devices are Bi-polar transistor, Darlington transistor, Field-effect transistor, Thristor and Uni-junction transistor. Multi- terminal devices are commonly known. They include RAM, ROM, microprocessor and Integrated Circuits. The latest is the power semiconductor device, which can be particularly used for some greater applications wherein speed and voltage requirements would be high.
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