Semiconductor Materials

Semiconductor Materials List

A semiconductor material is one that conducts electricity between conductors and insulators at room temperature. Semiconductors are used in integrated circuits, consumer electronics, communication systems, photovoltaic power generation, lighting, high-power power conversion and other fields. Semiconductors are very important from both the technical and economic point of view. The core components of most electronic products, such as computers, mobile phones or digital recorders, are closely related to semiconductors.

Figure 1. Picture of chip material.

Applications:

• Integrated circuit: Integrated circuit is a kind of miniature electronic device or component. It uses a certain process to interconnect the transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors and other elements and wiring required in a circuit, fabricate them on a small or several small semiconductor chips, and then package them in a package to become miniature structure with required circuit functions. All of the components have been structured as a whole, making electronic components a big step towards miniaturization, low power consumption, intelligence and high reliability. Integrated circuits have the advantages of small size, light weight, few lead wires and soldering points, long life, high reliability, and good performance. At the same time, they have low cost and are convenient for mass production.
• Solar cells: The photovoltaic effect of semiconductor materials is the basic principle of solar cell operation. Semiconductor solar cell is the fastest growing and fastest clean energy cell in the world. Photoelectric conversion rate is the main standard to judge the quality of solar cells. The higher the conversion rate, the more efficient the solar cell will be. According to the different semiconductor materials used, solar cells can be divided into crystalline silicon solar cells, thin film cells and III-V composite cells.
• LED application: LED is a semiconductor light-emitting diode built on a semiconductor transistor. Using LED technology, the semiconductor light source is small in size, can realize flat packaging, has low heat generation during operation, energy saving and high efficiency, long product life, fast response speed, environmental protection and pollution-free, and can be developed into light and thin products. Once it came out, it was quickly popularized and became a new generation of high-quality lighting source, which has been widely used in our lives. Such as traffic lights, backlight sources of electronic products, light sources for beautifying city night scenes, indoor lighting and other fields have applications.
• Power conversion devices: The mutual conversion of alternating current and direct current is very important for the use of electrical appliances, and is a necessary protection for electrical appliances. This requires the power conversion device. Silicon carbide has high breakdown voltage strength, wide band gap, and high thermal conductivity. Therefore, SiC semiconductor devices are very suitable for applications where power density and switching frequency are high, and power supply replacement devices are one of them. Another performance of silicon carbide components in high temperature, high pressure and high frequency has made them widely used in deep well drilling, inverters in power generation devices, energy converters for electric hybrid vehicles, and light rail train traction power conversion. Due to the advantages of SiC itself and the industry's demand for lightweight and high conversion efficiency semiconductor materials at this stage, SiC will replace Si and become the most widely used semiconductor material.
• Refrigeration technology: Semiconductor refrigeration technology is widely used in the current refrigeration technology. When crops are grown in greenhouses, semiconductor refrigeration technology can effectively control the environmental temperature, especially for plants with high environmental requirements. Using semiconductor refrigeration technology to shape the growth environment can promote plant growth. Semiconductor refrigeration technology is reversible and can be used for refrigeration or heating, and has a good effect on the adjustment of ambient temperature.
• Microwave devices: Semiconductor microwave devices include receiving, controlling and transmitting devices. Receiving devices below the millimeter wave band have been widely used. In the centimeter wave band, the power of the transmitting device has reached several watts, and people are developing new devices and new technologies to obtain greater output power.

References

1. Yasuo Nakayama, Satoshi Kerabc and Nobuo Ueno. Photoelectron spectroscopy on single crystals of organic semiconductors: experimental electronic band structure for optoelectronic properties [J]. J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020, 8, 9090-9132.
2. Jianyun Zheng, Huaijuan Zhou, Yuqin Zou, Ruilun Wang,Yanhong Lyu, San Ping Jiang and Shuangyin Wang. Efficiency and stability of narrow-gap semiconductor-based photoelectrodes [J]. Energy Environ. Sci., 2019, 12, 2345-2374.