Semiconductor Glossary

High Power Red Laser Diode: DVD writers require a red laser (650 nm) diode with high power output of 100 mW or more. A 100 mW diode supports up to 2X writing speeds, while an output of 250 mW is needed for the 16X writing speed. Writing onto dual layer DVDs requires an output of 300 mW or more.

High-K Material: A material with a high dielectric constant (k). High-k materials are used in dielectric films for logic gates and DRAM capacitors to improve transistor performance and DRAM capacitance.

Hole: When an electron in a semiconductor is excited from the valence band into the conduction band or caught by an acceptor, it leaves in its place a vacancy with a net positive charge. This absence of an electron is called a hole (or an electron hole). A hole acts like a positively charged particle.

Hybrid Integrated Circuit: An electronic circuit consisting of semiconductor devices (such as transistors and diodes) and passive devices (such as capacitors and resistors) embedded on a single ceramic substrate. A hybrid circuit can take advantage of the features of its component devices, while enjoying greater reliability than when the components are discretely mounted on a printed circuit board. Hybrid integrated circuits are often used for high-voltage, high-frequency applications.

I-Line Lithography: Photolithography that uses 365 nm wavelength radiation for exposure. The term “i-line” refers to the high-intensity line at 365 nm in the mercury-arc lamp spectrum. I-line lithography came into full use at around the 0.5 µm design rule node, and was the mainstream up to the 0.35 µm node.

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor: A type of discrete semiconductor that combines a three-terminal bipolar transistor with a MOSFET. With the injection of minority carriers, its dynamic resistance can be made lower than that of a MOSFET. As a highly voltage-resistant yet relatively high-speed power transistor, IGBT is increasingly used in automobiles and air conditioners.

Immersion Lithography: A lithography technique in which the space between the optical imaging system and the wafer is filled with a liquid medium before exposure. Because the refractive index of a liquid medium is higher than that of air, the technique enhances the numerical aperture (NA) of the imaging apparatus and increases the resolution.

Integrated Circuit (IC): A set of electronic circuits densely packed with ultra-small components on a die. There are two types of ICs: monolithic and hybrid. Monolithic ICs are the most common ICs in use today.

Kilby Patent: The most fundamental patent on the structure of integrated circuits. It is commonly known as the Kilby patent, named after its inventor Jack Kilby, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000.

Laser Diode: A diode that emits laser light. When a forward-biased current passes through the diode’s p-n junction, incoming electrons are recombined with holes to induce light emission. Indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)-based diodes emit light with wavelengths between 1.3-1.55 μm, and are used for optical communications. Gallium nitride (GaN)-based diodes with wavelengths of 0.4μm, 0.6μm, 0.68μm, 0.78μm are also commonly used.

Liquid Crystal Display: Liquid crystals refer to materials consisting of specific organic molecules that are fluid yet retain the characteristics of crystals. When a voltage is applied, the orientation of liquid crystal molecules is aligned to polarize the light. An LCD uses this effect to control the pixels on the screen. Although liquid crystals themselves are not light-emitting, the screen image can be illuminated with backlight.

Liquid Crystal On Silicon: A rear-projection display device. An LCOS chip consists of a silicon substrate covered with interconnect, mask, and reflective layers overlaid with a liquid crystal panel.

Low-Energy E-Beam Proximity Lithography: A type of lithography that transfers mask patterns on a target material in close proximity using a low-acceleration electron beam of 2 kV. Because of the low energy level involved, LEEPL can achieve high-resolution exposure with little proximity effect. The simple electron optics of LEEPL also reduces the equipment cost.

Light Emitting Diode (LED): A semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current passes through it. An LED efficiently converts electrical energy into light without heat dissipation, which is a distinct advantage over a conventional light bulb. Also, LEDs are semi-permanently durable and can be made very small.

Linear IC: A type of analog ICs used for amplification, oscillation, frequency modulation, and/or processing of analog signals. Specifically, those analog ICs in which the input and output values are proportional are referred to as linear ICs. Linear ICs are classified into consumer grade and industrial grade devices.

Liquid Crystal Display Driver IC: A type of integrated circuit with transistors that control the pixels of a liquid crystal display (LCD). An LCD driver sends electrical signals to LCD’s electrical connectors to control its behavior, color tones, etc. There are two kinds of LCD drivers: gate drivers and source drivers.

Logic IC: A type of integrated circuit that performs logical operations. Logical ICs take the input signal as a set of logical values, perform logical operations using the digital values represented by 0 and 1, and output the results as another set of logical values. Representative logic ICs include MPUs, MCUs, DSPs, and FPGAs.

Low-K Material: A material with a low dielectric constant (k). Low-k materials are used as insulator films for logic interconnects. They are effective in reducing the interconnect latency because low-k films have lower parasitic capacitance than conventional silicon oxide films.