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First Semiconductor Chip was invented in 1959

About Semiconductor Industry

What is a Semiconductor & what is the Semiconductor Industry

Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as integrated circuits (ICs) or microchips, are made from pure elements, typically silicon or germanium, or compounds such as gallium arsenide. In a process called doping, small amounts of impurities are added to these pure elements, causing large changes in the conductivity of the material.

Due to their role in the fabrication of electronic devices, semiconductors are an important part of our lives. Imagine life without electronic devices. There would be no smartphones, radios, TVs, computers, video games, or advanced medical diagnostic equipment.

Developments in semiconductor technology during the past 50 years have made electronic devices smaller, faster, and more reliable. Think for a minute of all the encounters you have with electronic devices. How many have you seen or used in the last 24 hours? Each has important components that have been manufactured with electronic materials.

A single semiconductor chip has as many transistors as all of the stones in the Great Pyramid in Giza, and today there are more than 100 billion integrated circuits in daily use around the world—that’s equal to the number of stars in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy.

It is truly a modern marvel, a feat of human ingenuity and engineering unmatched by any other industry.

Semiconductor firms generally organize their activities around the two main stages of semiconductor production: design and manufacturing. Companies that focus only on design are referred to as “fabless” firms, while companies that focus only on manufacturing are called “foundries.” Semiconductor firms that do both are called Integrated Device Manufacturers, or IDMs. Source

"It's not Rocket Science, it's Harder."

Manufacturing a chip typically takes more than three months and involves giant factories, dust-free rooms, multi-million-dollar machines, molten tin and lasers. The end goal is to transform wafers of silicon—an element extracted from plain sand—into a network of billions of tiny switches called transistors that form the basis of the circuitry that will eventually give a phone, computer, car, washing machine or satellite crucial capabilities. – source

Semiconductor Fun Facts

  • The first ever Manufactured Semiconductor Wafer was manufactured in the United States of America in 1960
  • Semiconductors are also called Silicon Wafers which are both Insulators and Metals that can either be conducted by electricity or not
  • Integrated Circuits with integrated Silicon Wafers must have a purity of ‘higher nines’ (99.999%) 

Where do we fit in?

Where does Retronix Semiconductor fit into the Semiconductor Industry?