It acts both as a conductor and as an insulator; they have the ability to work "part-time"
It's versatility lies on the fact that the conductivity can be controlled to produce effects such as:
AMPLIFICATION
RECTIFICATION
OSCILLATION
SIGNAL-MIXING
SWITCHING
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SEMICONDUCTIORS?
SILICON
cheap and factory-made
widely used in:
diodes
transistors
integrated circuits
GERMANIUM
pure form is a poor conductor in electricity
doped
low voltage
low resistance to heat; easily destroyed by it
SELENIUM
has a resistance that is dependent upon light
photoconductivity
photocells
used in certain types of rectifiers
can withstand brief transients and abnormally high surges of voltage
GALLIUM ARSENIDE
very expensive
functions at high frequencies
immune to ionizing radiation
used in integrated circuits
METAL OXIDES
MOS
CMOS
draw so little current a battery lasts as long as its shelf life
easily damaged by static electricity
TRANSISTORS AND VACUUM TUBES AND INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
VACUUM TUBES- used to be the backbone of electronic equipment; size ranges from the size of the thumb to that of the fist; sometimes it works better than transistors
TRANSISTORS- smaller, easier to use; technology became smaller
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS- came after transistors; can do the work of hundreds of vacuum tubes
DOPING- the adding of impurities to alter the conductivity of the material
acceptor impurities
conducts by means of hole flow
deficiency of electrons
materials such as:
indium
aluminium
boron
gallium
donor impurities
conducts mainly by means of electron flow
include:
antimony
arsenic
bismuth
phosphorus
flow domination
for donor impurities: electron flow dominates the current