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SEMICONDUCTOR
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A conductor made with semiconducting material
Synonyms:
semiconductor; semiconductor device; semiconductor unit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
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)
Sense 2
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
Synonyms:
semiconducting material; semiconductor
Classified under:
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)
Context examples:
The researchers laid metallic gates over a semiconductor and applied a voltage, which generated a complex electric field.
(Quantum state of single electrons controlled by ‘surfing’ on sound waves, University of Cambridge)
Scientists from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol have found a way to create plastic semiconductor nanostructures that absorb light and transport its energy 20 times further than has been previously observed, paving the way for more flexible and more efficient solar cells and photodetectors.
(Plastic crystals hold key to record-breaking energy transport, Universities of Cambridge)
These materials could be used for ‘spintronic’ applications, which could make cheap organic semiconductors competitive with silicon for future computing applications.
(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)
The international team, including researchers from the University of Cambridge, sent high-frequency sound waves across a modified semiconductor device to direct the behaviour of a single electron, with efficiencies in excess of 99%.
(Quantum state of single electrons controlled by ‘surfing’ on sound waves, University of Cambridge)
Highly conductive organic semiconductors, the researchers found, are governed by a new mechanism for spin transport that transforms them into excellent conductors of spin.
(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)
The device developed in the current work is based on widely-used semiconductors with some minor modifications.
(Quantum state of single electrons controlled by ‘surfing’ on sound waves, University of Cambridge)
Organic semiconductors have not been realistic candidates for spintronics so far because it was impossible to move spins around a polymer circuit far enough without losing the original information.
(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)
Organic semiconductors that have both long spin transport lengths and long spin lifetimes are promising candidates for applications in future spin-based, low energy computing, control and communications devices, a field that has been largely dominated by inorganic semiconductors to date.
(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)
Since organic semiconductors, widely used in applications such as OLEDs, are cheaper and easier to produce than silicon, it had been thought that spintronic devices based on organic semiconductors could power a future computer revolution.
(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)
Most experiments on studying spin in organic semiconductors have found that electron spins and their charges move together, and since the charges move more slowly, the spin information doesn’t go far: typically only a few tens of nanometres.
(Certain organic semiconducting materials can transport spin faster than they conduct charge, University of Cambridge)
