A conductor is just that - something that conducts electric current. A semiconductor, however, is a material that can be and is used because by doing some things to it, we can cause its resistance to vary dramatically over a fairly wide range of values. We can cause it to conduct with little resistance, and we can cause it to resist current flow completely and prevent current from flowing. The material is a semiconductor, and it "sort of" conducts - either well or poorly or something in between, depending on how the device is made and on what we tell it to do. Conductor will pass electrons by the laws of electrical conductivity. Semiconductor will pass electrons basically only one way.
Conductors, like copper, are materials that simply conduct electricity from point A, such as the negative terminal of a battery, to point B.
Semiconductors are materials that conduct electricity from point A to point B, but have high high resistance. Many conductors can be modified to have unique properties when electricity is applied, such as in transistors. Put simply, semiconductors have an electrical conductivity somewhere between that of conductors (gold, copper) and insulators (wood, rubber).
A conductor allows an electric current to flow through it equally well in either direction. The amount of current which flows depends only on the amount of resistance of the conductor and on the amount of voltage applied across it. The direction of flow can always be considered as being from the positive to the negative pole of the source of the voltage applied, so the direction of flow through a conductor is always determined by which end of the conductor is connected to the positive pole of the source. A semiconductor allows an electric current to flow very strongly in one direction (this is known as the forward current) and very weakly in the opposite direction (which is known as the reverse current). The amounts of current which flow in each direction depend partly on the amount of the voltage applied but mainly on the forward resistance (which is relatively low) and the reverse resistance (which is always very high). So, unlike a conductor, the flow of current through a semiconductor is not the same amount of current whichever way the voltage is applied. The direction in which a semiconductor allows the forward current to flow depends on whether it is a p-type semiconductor or an n-type semiconductor. How are semiconductors made? Certain elements, such as Germanium or Silicon, are not naturally semiconductors but can be made into semiconductors by melting them and adding very small amounts of other chemicals. This process is called doping. Whether a p-type semiconductor or an n-type semiconductor is produced depends on the type of doping chemical used.
here, we know that both semiconductor and conductor used to conduct electricity but ,the difference is in there conductivity.and resistance , in conductor if we increase its temperature its resistance increase but in semiconductor its vice versa.that is if temprature rises its resistance will decreases.....
electrical conductivity of semimetal decreases with increase in temperature where as in semiconductors it increases with increases.
power semiconductorspower semiconductors can drive large currents during forward biassemiconductorsemiconductors drive small currents during forward bias
donor--arsenic, phosphorus, nitrogen acceptor--boron, aluminum, gallium
Germenium and silicon are the examples of Semiconductors.
Organic semiconductors are inexpensive hence easy to fabricate device out of them, they can be modulated in various desirable way like in electronic properties of band gap, can be made transparent which is good for Optical electrodes, flexible. Because of these modulation they are finding their application in wide varieties of area. Of course they are very attractive choice for researchers now a days.
Those semiconductors in which some impurity atoms are embedded are known as extrinsic semiconductors.
semiconductors
power semiconductorspower semiconductors can drive large currents during forward biassemiconductorsemiconductors drive small currents during forward bias
Between the metals and the nonmetals in the Periodic Table lie the semimetals
Between the metals and the nonmetals in the Periodic Table lie the semimetals
The semiconductors are found primarily in the transition metals groups and are referred to as metalloids.
Molecular compounds certainly can be formed from semimetals, but not all the compounds of semimetals are molecular.
donor--arsenic, phosphorus, nitrogen acceptor--boron, aluminum, gallium
semimetals have some characteristics of metals nonmetals and have their own section on the table.
The Seebeck effect is a phenomenon in which a temperature difference between two dissimilar electrical conductors or semiconductors produces a voltage difference between the two substances. When heat is applied to one of the two conductors or semiconductors, heated electrons flow toward the cooler one. If the pair is connected through an electrical circuit, direct current (DC) flows through that circuit.
a pure semiconductors with a valency of three doped with a trivalent element is called p-type and a pure semiconductors with a valency of three doped with a pentavalent element is called n-type
Silicon has a larger bandgap energy than germanium, which contributes to higher junction potentials and ability to operate at higher temperatures.
Metals are hard, shiny, good conductors of heat and electricity and able to be melted and made into wire. Nonmetals have none of these characteristics and semimetals are somewhere in between. For more detail see the wikipedia articles.