Recently, someone left a message asking what semiconductors are and what is their relationship with conductor insulators? Then Uncle Luo made a survey and found that when most people heard the name of semiconductor, they first thought of the Semiconductor industry, but they could not explain why semiconductor is. Therefore, this video will introduce the "past and present" of semiconductors.
What is a semiconductor? Why are chips and semiconductors inseparable? Why is Stepper so important
Friends who have studied physics should all know that a conductor refers to a substance that is very easily conductive. Metals such as copper, aluminum, and iron are conductors, while water and damp land are also conductors. Insulators are substances that cannot conduct electricity, such as glass and rubber. And semiconductor, as the name suggests, is a substance between a conductor and an insulator, and its conductivity is in a state that humans can control.
Why is Stepper so important? For a long time, people thought that the materials in the world could or could not conduct electricity. It was not until 1833 that Faraday first found that the resistance of Silver sulfide was different from that of other metals. Generally, the resistance of metal increased with temperature, but the resistance of Silver sulfide decreased with temperature.
Why is Stepper so important? Six years later, Becquerel of France found that the junction formed by the contact of semiconductor and electrolyte will produce a voltage under the light, which is the photovoltaic effect. Then more than 30 years later, scientists found that changes in light will cause changes in semiconductor materials and conductance, that is, the Photoconductivity, and the conductivity of semiconductor materials has directionality, that is, the rectification effect. So far, four main characteristics of semiconductors have been discovered one after another.
However, at that time, people did not know that these materials were semiconductors, and there was no summary of the characteristics of semiconductors. The term semiconductor was first used by Koeniberg and Weiss in 1911, and the four characteristics were not summarized by Bell Labs until 1947. However, do not underestimate these four characteristics of semiconductors. It is precisely because of their existence that the information society created by the Semiconductor industry will emerge.
