# semiconductor
## English
### Etymology

From semi- +‎ conductor.

### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA or enPR then please add some!
* This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

### Noun

semiconductor (plural semiconductors)
* (physics) A substance with electrical properties intermediate between a good conductor and a good insulator.
    Holonyms: chip, microchip, integrated circuit
    Integrated circuits are made from semiconductors, especially silicon.
** 1876, Adolphe Ganot, Natural Philosophy for General Readers and Young Persons, page 422:In this sense we are to understand the following table in which bodies are classed as conductors, semiconductors, and nonconductors; those bodies being conveniently designated as conductors which, when applied to an electroscope charged with either kind of electricity discharge it almost instantaneously; semiconductors being those which discharge it in a short but measurable time, a few seconds, for instance; while nonconductors effect no discharge even, in the course of a minute.
** 1901, George W. Jacoby, A System of Physiologic Therapeutics: Electrotherapy:The following table of conductors may therefore be used in inverse order as a table of resistances, the good conductors being bodies of slight resistance, the semiconductors being bodies of great resistance, and the insulators being bodies of so great resistance that they almost effectually oppose the passage of any current.
* (business, metonymically) Ellipsis of semiconductor device.
    Near-synonyms: chip, microchip, integrated circuit
    The company supplies semiconductors to laptop, server, and smartphone manufacturers.
** 2024 April 10, Louis Goss, “Chip maker TSMC posts sharpest increase in sales since 2022 following AI boom”, in MarketWatch‎, retrieved 2024-05-08:Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. on Wednesday said its revenues increased more sharply in the first quarter of 2024 than in any previous quarter since 2022 following a surge in demand for microchips driven by the artificial-intelligence boom. TSMC, which supplies semiconductors to top companies including Apple and Nvidia, posted a 16.5% increase in its first-quarter sales to NT$592.64 billion ($18.54 billion), in a sign the global chip market has now started recovering from the major slump that hit sales in 2023.
** 2024 April 21, Nick Robertson, “Gina Raimondo says ‘we’ve outinnovated China’ amid chips war”, in The Hill‎:Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo proudly held up the progress of American industry on semiconductor manufacturing Sunday, declaring the U.S. has “outinnovated” China as the two nations fight to advance their domestic technology manufacturing.

#### Derived terms

* intrinsic semiconductor
* semiconductor heterostructure
* semiconductor memory

#### Related terms

* semiconductance
* semiconducting
* semiconduction
* semiconductive
* semiconductivity

#### See also

* germanium
* silicium
* silicon

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French semi-conducteur.

### Noun

semiconductor n (plural semiconductoare)
* (physics) semiconductor

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /semikonduɡˈtoɾ/ [se.mi.kõn̪.d̪uɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
* Rhymes: -oɾ
* Syllabification: se‧mi‧con‧duc‧tor

### Adjective

semiconductor (feminine semiconductora, masculine plural semiconductores, feminine plural semiconductoras)
* semiconducting

### Noun

semiconductor m (plural semiconductores)
* (physics) semiconductor

### Further reading

* “semiconductor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10