Semiconductor Basics

Book excerpt: An accessible guide to how semiconductor electronics work and how they are manufactured, for professionals and interested readers with no electronics engineering background Semiconductor Basics is an accessible guide to how semiconductors work. It is written for readers without an electronic engineering background. Semiconductors are the basis for almost all modern electronic devices. The author—an expert on the topic—explores the fundamental concepts of what a semiconductor is, the different types in use, and how they are different from conductors and insulators. The book has a large number of helpful and illustrative drawings, photos, and figures. The author uses only simple arithmetic to help understand the device operation and applications. The book reviews the key devices that can be constructed using semiconductor materials such as diodes and transistors and all the large electronic systems based on these two component such as computers, memories, LCDs and related technology like Lasers LEDs and infrared detectors. The text also explores integrated circuits and explains how they are fabricated. The author concludes with some projections about what can be expected in the future. This important book: Offers an accessible guide to semiconductors using qualitative explanations and analogies, with minimal mathematics and equations Presents the material in a well-structured and logical format Explores topics from device physics fundamentals to transistor formation and fabrication and the operation of the circuits to build electronic devices and systems Includes information on practical applications of p-n junctions, transistors, and integrated circuits to link theory and practice Written for anyone interested in the technology, working in semiconductor labs or in the semiconductor industry, Semiconductor Basics offers clear explanations about how semiconductors work and its manufacturing process.