Semiconductor Glossary
F to G
FED
- Field Emission Display
- A type of next-generation flat panel display that uses an array of submicron electron emitters to display an image on the screen. The operating principle is the same as that of a cathode ray tube. FEDs can be made flat and large-sized, and are self-light-emitting.
FET
- Field Effect Transistor
- A transistor that uses an electric field created by the gate terminal voltage to check the flow of electrons or holes, thereby controlling the current between the source and drain terminals.
Field Effect Transistor
- Field Effect Transistor
- (See FET)
Flash Memory
- Flash Memory
- An advanced form of electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). Flash memory is non-volatile and the data on the device can be freely rewritten. Flash memory devices are more convenient to use than UVEPROMs that require ultraviolet light to erase data.
FPGA
- Field Programmable Gate Array
- A type of semi-customized IC that is highly integrated, has excellent functionality and numerous I/Os, and can be easily configured by customers. Because FPGA's programmability feature significantly shortened the customers' product development cycle, FPGAs soon captured a large share of the gate array market.
Fullerene
- Fullerene
- A term referring to a cluster of uniquely structured carbon atoms. The first fullerene molecule discovered in 1985 consisted of 60 carbon atoms in a shape of a soccer ball. Among those who discovered fullerene, Harold Kroto, Richard Smalley, and Robert Curl received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996.
Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)
- Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)
- A representative III-V semiconductor compound. Electrons move within GaAs crystals 5-6 times faster than in silicon, which makes the compound a suitable material for high-frequency, high-speed analog devices. Representative GaAs applications include GaAs FETs, infrared LEDs, and laser diodes.
Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC)
- Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC)
- A type of IC that uses GaAs as a substrate. When it was introduced, GaAs IC was considered to be potentially faster than silicon ICs, although the latter turned out to be the mainstream today. GaAs ICs are often used in mobile phones and high-frequency communication devices.
GaN LED
- Gallium Nitride-Based Light Emitting Diode
- An LED that uses semiconductor materials containing gallium nitride (GaN) (such as InGaN) for an epitaxial layer. It uses a sapphire substrate and emits blue and ultraviolet light at the wavelength of around 450 nm. A GaN LED can produce white light when overlaid with a fluorescent material or used with green and red LEDs.
Gate
- Gate
- A transistor component that turns the electric current flowing through the semiconductor channel on and off. Generally speaking, the performance of a transistor improves as the gate length becomes shorter. It was for this reason that the gate length used to be used as a label of semiconductor technology node.
Gate Array
- Gate Array
- The earliest type of semi-custom IC. It uses a master wafer on which basic cells are prefabricated but not interconnected. Once the logic circuit specifications and the timing chart are received from the customer, the chip supplier uses CAD to quickly implement the design.
Giant Magnetoresistive Effect
- Giant Magnetoresistive Effect
- An exceptional magnetoresistive effect discovered in 1988. While the magnetoresistance of common metals is in the range of several percent, that of multi-layered conductors consisting of about 1 nm-thick ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic layers can be as high as several tens of percent. The giant magnetoresistive effect is most notably applied to magnetic heads of hard disk drives.
Graphene
- Graphene
- A sheet of carbon consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. Graphene is the basic structural element of carbon allotropes including carbon nanotubes and fullerenes.