Semiconductor

Description

A crystalline material such as silicon or germanium which falls between good electrical conductors (i.e. copper) and nonconductors (i.e. glass). Semiconductors usually contain silicon along with germanium, selenium, gallium arsenide, zinc selenide and/or lead telluride. The term semiconductor is used generically to refer to integrated circuits and other solid state devices formed from semiconducting materials.

Synonyms and Related Terms

semi-conductor (Br.); Halbleiter (Deut.); semiconducteur (Fr.); semi-condutor (Port.);

Sources Checked for Data in Record

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000