News tagged with semiconductors
Scientists design solar cells that exceed the conventional light-trapping limit
(PhysOrg.com) -- The best performing solar cells are those that are thick enough to absorb light from the entire solar spectrum, while the cheapest solar cells are thin ones, since they require less, and potentially ...
Jan 20, 2012 |
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Light-controlling artificial diamond structures could lead to optical computers
(PhysOrg.com) -- In an effort to make computer chips even faster than those of today, many researchers have recently been investigating the possibility of optical computing. In an optical computer, information ...
Nov 17, 2011 |
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Stretchable graphene transistors overcome limitations of other materials
(PhysOrg.com) -- When it comes to fabricating stretchable, transparent electronics, finding a material to make transistors from has been a significant challenge for researchers. They've explored a variety ...
Oct 26, 2011 |
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Lasers could produce much sought-after band gaps in graphene
(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the most often-cited features of graphene – the two-dimensional crystal lattice made of carbon – is its unique electronic properties. Many of these electronic properties make ...
Jun 20, 2011 |
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Lighten up: Polaritons with tunable photon-exciton coherence
(PhysOrg.com) -- Of the many exotic and counterintuitive aspects of particle and quantum physics, exciton and polariton quasiparticles are among the most interesting. An exciton forms when a photon is absorbed ...
Jun 14, 2011 |
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Tiny heat engine may be world's smallest
(PhysOrg.com) -- Steam engines, combustion engines, and diesel engines are all different types of heat engines, which operate by converting heat energy into mechanical work. Although heat engines have existed ...
Feb 02, 2011 |
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Solving the solar cell power conversion dilemma
(PhysOrg.com) -- "There is a lot of interest in creating more efficient solar cells that are also simpler than many of the designs common now," Wladek Walukiewicz tells PhysOrg.com. "We think that, throug ...
Jan 24, 2011 |
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Electron hopping in graphene oxide leads to highly sensitive sensing
(Phys.org) -- Graphene has many promising applications on its own, but pairing the two-dimensional material with the semiconductor titanium dioxide (TiO2) extends its capabilities even further. A team of ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 17, 2012 |
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Researchers develop technique to keep cool high-power semiconductor devices used in wireless applications, electric cars
A group of researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have developed a technique to keep cool a semiconductor material used in everything from traffic lights to electric cars.
May 08, 2012 |
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3-D, after-the-fact focus image sensors invented
(PhysOrg.com) -- At the heart of digital photography is a chip called an image sensor that captures a map of the intensity of the light as it comes through the lens and converts it to an electronic signal.
Apr 03, 2012 |
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Physicists mix two lasers to create light at many frequencies
A team of physicists at UC Santa Barbara has seen the light, and it comes in many different colors. By aiming high- and low-frequency laser beams at a semiconductor, the researchers caused electrons to be ...
Mar 28, 2012 |
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An optical diode made with silicon technology can be used for quantum information
(PhysOrg.com) -- Transistors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes. All of these are examples of common electrical circuit elements that can be found on a computer motherboard, for instance. Billions of transistors ...
Mar 23, 2012 |
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Researchers develop new way to oxidize graphene: A step toward better electronics
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new method for chemically altering graphene, a development that could be a step toward the creation of faster, thinner, flexible electronics.
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Feb 19, 2012 |
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Physicists build highly efficient 'no-waste' laser
A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that ...
Feb 08, 2012 |
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Self-assembling nanorods: Researchers obtain 1-, 2- and 3-D nanorod arrays and networks
(PhysOrg.com) -- A relatively fast, easy and inexpensive technique for inducing nanorods - rod-shaped semiconductor nanocrystals - to self-assemble into one-, two- and even three-dimensional macroscopic structures ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Feb 01, 2012 |
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Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material that has a resistivity value between that of a conductor and an insulator. The conductivity of a semiconductor material can be varied under an external electrical field. Devices made from semiconductor materials are the foundation of modern electronics, including radio, computers, telephones, and many other devices. Semiconductor devices include the transistor, solar cells, many kinds of diodes including the light-emitting diode, the silicon controlled rectifier, and digital and analog integrated circuits. Solar photovoltaic panels are large semiconductor devices that directly convert light energy into electrical energy. In a metallic conductor, current is carried by the flow of electrons. In semiconductors, current can be carried either by the flow of electrons or by the flow of positively-charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material.
Silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially. Dozens of other materials are used, including germanium, gallium arsenide, and silicon carbide. A pure semiconductor is often called an “intrinsic” semiconductor. The conductivity, or ability to conduct, of semiconductor material can be drastically changed by adding other elements, called “impurities” to the melted intrinsic material and then allowing the melt to solidify into a new and different crystal. This process is called "doping".
For more information about Semiconductor, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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