SEMICONDUCTOR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does semiconductor mean? 

• SEMICONDUCTOR (noun)
  The noun SEMICONDUCTOR has 2 senses:

1. a substance as germanium or silicon whose electrical conductivity is intermediate between that of a metal and an insulator; its conductivity increases with temperature and in the presence of impurities

2. a conductor made with semiconducting material

  Familiarity information: SEMICONDUCTOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEMICONDUCTOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A substance as germanium or silicon whose electrical conductivity is intermediate between that of a metal and an insulator; its conductivity increases with temperature and in the presence of impurities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

semiconducting material; semiconductor

Hypernyms ("semiconductor" is a kind of...):

conductor (a substance that readily conducts e.g. electricity and heat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "semiconductor"):

atomic number 32; Ge; germanium (a brittle grey crystalline element that is a semiconducting metalloid (resembling silicon) used in transistors; occurs in germanite and argyrodite)

atomic number 14; Si; silicon (a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors)

Holonyms ("semiconductor" is a substance of...):

semiconductor; semiconductor device; semiconductor unit (a conductor made with semiconducting material)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A conductor made with semiconducting material

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

semiconductor; semiconductor device; semiconductor unit

Hypernyms ("semiconductor" is a kind of...):

conductor (a device designed to transmit electricity, heat, etc.)

Meronyms (substance of "semiconductor"):

semiconducting material; semiconductor (a substance as germanium or silicon whose electrical conductivity is intermediate between that of a metal and an insulator; its conductivity increases with temperature and in the presence of impurities)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "semiconductor"):

chip; micro chip; microchip; microprocessor chip; silicon chip (electronic equipment consisting of a small crystal of a silicon semiconductor fabricated to carry out a number of electronic functions in an integrated circuit)

crystal rectifier; diode; junction rectifier; semiconductor diode (a semiconductor that consists of a p-n junction)

n-type semiconductor (a semiconductor in which electrical conduction is due chiefly to the movement of electrons)

p-type semiconductor (a semiconductor in which electrical conduction is due chiefly to the movement of positive holes)

thermal resistor; thermistor (a semiconductor device made of materials whose resistance varies as a function of temperature; can be used to compensate for temperature variation in other components of a circuit)

electronic transistor; junction transistor; transistor (a semiconductor device capable of amplification)

 Context examples 

The internal structure of organic semiconductors tends to be highly disordered, like a plate of spaghetti.

(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)

One property that distinguishes these materials from traditional semiconductors like silicon is that they are mechanically flexible.

(Materials for the next generation of electronics and photovoltaics, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A nanoparticle composed of a metallic shell surrounding a semiconductor.

(Nanoshell, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

As conventional semiconductor technologies approach their physical limitations, researchers need to explore new technologies to realise the most ambitious visions of a future networked global society.

(Graphene may exceed bandwidth demands of future telecommunications, University of Cambridge)

"However, it's not hard at all to foresee significant advances based on these discoveries emerging in traditional technologies such as semiconductors and sensors."

(Research reveals exotic quantum states in double-layer graphene, National Science Foundation)

Researchers have successfully used sound waves to control quantum information in a single electron, a significant step towards efficient, robust quantum computers made from semiconductors.

(Quantum state of single electrons controlled by ‘surfing’ on sound waves, University of Cambridge)

It is primarily used as an intermediate in the production of dyes, smoke screens, scintillation counter crystals, and in organic semiconductor research.

(Anthracene, NCI Thesaurus)

These excitations typically only travel about 10 nanometres in plastic (or polymeric) semiconductors, so researchers need to build tiny structures patterned at the nanoscale to maximise the harvest.

(Plastic crystals hold key to record-breaking energy transport, Universities of Cambridge)

The solar cells in the study are based on metal halide perovskites – a promising group of ionic semiconductor materials that in just a few short years of development now rival commercial thin film photovoltaic technologies in terms of their efficiency in converting sunlight into electricity.

(Potassium gives perovskite-based solar cells an efficiency boost, University of Cambridge)

As such, packets of charge don’t move nearly as fast as they do in semiconductors like silicon or gallium arsenide, both of which have a highly ordered crystalline structure.

(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)