Chip is the general name of semiconductor component products. In electronics, it is a method to miniaturize circuits (mainly including semiconductor devices and passive components), and is often manufactured on the surface of semiconductor wafers. Also known as integrated circuits, microcircuits and microchips.
Semiconductors are materials whose conductivity is between conductor and insulator at room temperature. Semiconductors have applications in integrated circuits, consumer electronics, communication systems, photovoltaic power generation, lighting, high-power power conversion and other fields. For example, diodes are devices made of semiconductors. Common semiconductor materials are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide and so on. Silicon is one of the most influential semiconductor materials.
Semiconductor application fields:
1, photovoltaic application
Photovoltaic effect of semiconductor materials is the basic principle of solar cells. At present, the photovoltaic application of semiconductor materials has become a hot topic, and it is the fastest-growing and best-developed clean energy market in the world. The main material of solar cell is semiconductor material.
According to the different semiconductor materials used, solar cells can be divided into crystalline silicon solar cells, thin-film batteries and III-V compound batteries.
2. Lighting applications
LED is a semiconductor light emitting diode built on a semiconductor transistor. Using LED technology, the semiconductor light source is small in size, can realize plane packaging, has low calorific value, energy saving and high efficiency, long product life, fast reaction speed, environmental protection and no pollution. It can also be developed into light and short products and become a new generation of high-quality lighting sources.
3, high-power power conversion
The mutual conversion between alternating current and direct current is very important for the use of electrical appliances and is a necessary protection for electrical appliances. This requires a power conversion device. Silicon carbide has high breakdown voltage strength, wide band gap and high thermal conductivity, so SiC semiconductor devices are very suitable for high power density and switching frequency applications, and power conversion devices are one of them.
Due to the advantages of SiC itself and the demand for light and high conversion efficiency semiconductor materials in the industry at this stage, SiC will replace Si and become the most widely used semiconductor material.