Semi-conductors: A Daily Essential

If you have no interest in how the electrical devices which aid and govern every area of modern life actually work, you won’t know a thing about semi-conductors. Their name is apt, for they are a vital but silent partner in the business of living. Without them, many of our biggest industries simply couldn’t survive. We wouldn’t have cheap, readily available electronic goods. Even life-saving diagnostic tools would be lost to modern medicine without the semi-conductor.

If you’re still on board, let’s get the science bit done. To understand semi conductors – visit RS Components to survey all manner them - you have to understand conductors. Even the technophobes among us can grasp the concept of materials which conduct electricity. In most of our computers and gadgets, conductors are made of metal, while non-conductors are usually made of ceramics. A semi-conductor is a material which conducts energy between conductors and non-conductors. They are either made of elemental materials such as germanium and silicon, or compounds like cadmium selenide. Compounds are made using a process known as doping, in which small impurities are added to silicon, enabling it to properly channel the electrical flow.

A semi-conductor crystal can be seen in this close up of a diode

Compound semi-conductors are more effective than elemental ones, and it is the silicon compound that is most widely used. It is found in almost every electronic device on the market, and has lent its name to the high-tech industry based in California’s Bay Area. ‘Silicon Valley’, though once a more literal reference to chip innovation in the region, has now become a metonym for America’s wider technology sector. At the heart of this global industry is the semi-conductor, without which none of the technological strides of the past 80 years or so would have been possible.

Even as people look towards new types of energy, silicon semi-conductors will have a role to play in what just might be a new techno-revolution. As we burn through the reserves of ancient sunlight stored in fossil fuels, we have turned directly towards the sun to find our energy. Solar cells are likely to be a significant part of our future – but they can’t be made without silicon.

So next time you use your mobile phone, get an X-Ray, or install a solar panel, spare a thought for the humble semi-conductor, without which none of these – or a million other things – would be possible. Semi-conductors bridge the gap between the functionality of man-made components and naturally occurring energy, allowing us to harness electricity for more applications than you can think of.