Types of Semiconductor Devices is the artlcle explaining Semiconductor Devices: Semiconductors became a crucial element in the manufacturing of electronics industries. Since the invention of th...
Semiconductor Devices:
Semiconductors became a crucial element in the manufacturing of electronics industries. Since the invention of the Transistor, the world of electronics has always been on an exponential curve in terms of research, development, manufacturing, bringing up new devices and technologies.
1. Semiconductors are the high-speed transmission, acquisition and processing in fields of industries and manufacturing, communications, arts, medicine and even in warfare.
2. Even though an electronic system is manufactured with the help of metals, insulators and semiconductors, the semiconductors are considered the backbone of electronics.
3. All these can be dialled back to the heart of modern electronics and its manufacturing: Semiconductor Devices.
4. Semiconductors are materials that are neither conductors nor insulators. Expanding a little bit more on this, materials are classified into Conductors.
5. Both Insulators and Semiconductors based on their ability to conduct electricity.
6. Usually, metals have good electrical conductivity and you can find Copper or Aluminium in your home’s electrical wiring.
7. Conductors are materials with very good current carrying capacity.
8. Insulators are materials with very bad electrical conductivity. Glass, wood and paper are good examples of Insulators.
9. At room temperature, Semiconductors are materials with lower electrical conductivity than Conductors but with higher electrical conductivity than Insulators.
10. Semiconductor devices are a type of electronic components that designed, developed and manufactured based on the Semiconductor materials like Silicon (Si), Germanium (Ge) and Gallium Arsenide (GaAs).
Different Types of Semiconductor Devices
Based on the physical structure of the device, the following list is categorized into Two-terminal Devices and Three-terminal Devices. The following is a small list of some of the commonly used semiconductor devices are
Two-terminal Semiconductor Devices:
- Diode
- Schottky Diode
- Light Emitting Diode (LED)
- DIAC
- Zener Diode
- Photo Diode (Photo Transistor)
- PIN Diode
- Laser Diode
- Tunnel Diode
- Photo Cell
- Solar Cell
- Gunn Diode
- IMPATT Diode
- TVS Diode (Transient Voltage Suppression Diode)
- VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser)
Three-terminal Semiconductor Devices:
- Bipolar Transistor
- Field Effect Transistor
- Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
- Darlington Transistor
- Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
- TRIAC
- Thyristor
- Unijunction Transistor
Uses of Semiconductor Devices
As mentioned earlier, semiconductor devices are the basis of almost all electronic devices. Some of the applications of semiconductor devices are:
- Transistors are the main components in various integrated circuits like Microprocessors.
- In fact, they are the main components in the construction of logic gates and other digital circuits.
- Transistors are also used in analogue circuits like amplifiers and oscillators.
