Semiconductors - juxtapix/IMA_E4I GitHub Wiki

Materials used in electronics are categorized by their ability to conduct electricity. Conductors are materials such as silver and copper that are good at passing electric current. Insulators are materials such as plastics or glass that are not effective at passing electric current.

The third category is a semiconductor, materials that can act as a conductor or an insulator based on certain conditions. Many components in use today are made from semiconductive materials: diodes, transistors, thyristors, thermistors, photovoltaic cells, phototransistors, photoresistors, lasers, and integrated circuits.

---

The Silicon in "Silicon Valley"

Silicon (Si atomic number 14) is the most common material used to make semiconductors. It is the main ingredient of sand and a very abundant element on earth, making up 27% of the earth's crust.

Silicon in its purest form is not very useful for building electronic devices since it swings more towards an insulator. But when silicon is doped with other ingredients and grown into crystals, it will pick up the very useful ability to change conductive states when an external charge is applied.

2 Types of Semiconductors

P-Type Silicon
P-type stands for positive silicon. When silicon is doped with boron, it has an electron deficit, giving it an overall positive charge.

N-Type Silicon
N-type stands for negative silicon. When silicon is doped with phosphorous, it has an extra electron, giving it an overall negative charge.

Usually, semiconductor components are made from a combination of both P-Type and N-Type semiconductor materials. Semiconductor designers will implement different parts of P-type and N-type materials to steer the flow of electrons when a voltage or current is applied to them.