The word "semiconductor" is correct and usable in written English
You can use it when referring to a kind of material used in the production of certain electronic components. For example, "The circuit board contains multiple semiconductor chips that provide power to the device."
Meanwhile Imagination also announced a new licensing agreement with US semiconductor business MediaTek.
Even so, the world has benefited handsomely from the decline in the cost of computing made possible by constant manufacturing improvements that have shrunk the width of semiconductor circuitry from tens of microns (millionths a metre) in the early 1970s to tens of nanometres (billionths of a metre) today.
The problem is that the material has no "band gap"—the property that makes a solid an insulator (large band gap), a conductor (tiny or no band gap) or something in between ie, a semiconductor (small band gap).
The idea later to become the basis of the Taiwanese semiconductor industry was to encourage independent chip makers to accept circuit designs from outsiders and fabricate the chips as contract manufacturers.
But recently a couple of not entirely unrelated developments have refocused attention on the differing philosophies behind processor design; and why Intel the semiconductor powerhouse that has dominated computing for decades is suddenly having to play catch-up, as mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers start to suck the air out of the chip giant's traditional business.
One possible move would be to swap its plant for another conglomerate's semiconductor operations Samsung's strength.
And to be prepared, he has started developing systems that can be built into an exhaust without affecting the performance of the engine.The system on his test car contains a box where the hot gas is split up and fed through a series of pipes covered on the inside with lead-telluride, a thermoelectric semiconductor.
"You can't get enough additional value by doing it differently to outweigh [the value of] the system that's currently in place".But the usefulness of silicon the basis of the semiconductor industry for the past 40 years is definitely approaching its limit.
Despite the billions poured into finding an alternative, attempts to make graphene work as a semiconductor have been disappointing.
Earlier this month, Intel unveiled a radical three-dimensional chip architecture the first big change in semiconductor layout in 40 years that will be produced using its new 22nm process.
Unfortunately, creating a band gap big enough to turn graphene into a usable semiconductor destroys the very properties especially the high electron mobility that made the material so attractive in the first place.
