By: Viraj Shah
It’s not an overstatement to say that semiconductors lay at the heart of almost all modern electronics. Few people, however, take much time to think about how much of an impact these miniature devices really have on the industry. Anyone who does will notice there are countless places where silicon equipment hides tucked away behind an attractive veneer.
Take a look at these examples for a start, and you’ll probably begin noticing chips and sockets in places you’d never have imagined. Once you know how semiconductors are used, you’ll be able to spot them in your daily activities more easily.
Tucked Into Light-Emitting Diodes
These days, standard LED chips provide illumination for indicator panels as well as entire rooms. Since the introduction of the medium-base LED bulb, they’ve made their way into homes and businesses. Tiny versions were used to show the current state of electronic devices for many years before that. From their initial introduction in 1962, LED lamps quickly replaced so-called grain-of-wheat incandescent modules that would eventually burn out. Diodes, which provide the basic core of LED devices, are made from semiconducting materials. Even engineers often forget that this kind of equipment represents one of the common types of semiconductors.
In The Form of Energy Infrastructure
Our power grid has become increasingly controlled by semiconductors, and the push for greener sources of energy has helped bring them even further to the forefront. Solar electric vehicle charging stations are an excellent example of this. Both the panels themselves and the digital equipment that controls them are made from semiconducting material. Public sector agencies have begun to install electronic automotive solutions designed to work with the next generation of automobiles. These necessarily feature solar cells and computer chips made from the same silicon material that an overwhelming majority of semiconductor-based components feature.
Since they’re packaged away in slick containers, most people wouldn’t think of them as belonging to the same class of devices. Considering the push for environmentally friendly forms of transportation, this represents one of the biggest growth areas for the overall visibility of the semiconductor industry.
Inside Transistorized Gadgets
Try looking around the room and there’s a good chance that there are a number of comparatively low-tech devices that provide a home to semiconductors. Miniature appliances like television remotes and portable radios were among the first consumer uses of discrete transistors. Though the old long-distance telephone network used them first, transistors first found their way into consumer electronics as early as 1954. Portable speakers and amplifiers for use with modern Bluetooth-enabled sound systems use the same kind of parts that these early pieces of equipment did. The same goes for wireless keyboards and almost anything else that uses radio frequency emissions in some form or another.
Garage door openers and even electric fans often contain at least some form of transistor control circuit, which means they too are examples of semiconductors. Anybody who takes some time out to look closer at electronic devices near them is likely to find many other examples as well.
Published by: Khy Talara
