Semicondutors
By: Ellie Allen
What are semiconductors?
Semiconductors are substances that can conduct electricity under some conditions but not others, making it easier to control electrical current.
Uses For Semiconductors and Where They Are Found
Antimony
Nicholas Lemery was the first to discover antimony in 1707. It can be obtained by stibnite and valentinite ores. It can also be found in Earth's crust. Antimony is used in the electronic industry to make things like infrared detectors and diodes. It can be used in alloys in lead and other metals. Lead-antimony alloy can be used in batteries. It can be used in printing presses, bullets, and cable sheathing. Antimony compounds can be used to make flame retardant material, paints, enamels, glass, and pottery.
Arsenic
Arsenic was believed to be found by Albertus Magnus in 1250. It occurs freely in nature and can be found in the minerals arsenophyrite, realgar, and orpiment. Arsenic can be used in rat poison and insecticides. Arsenic can be used in medicines. Its compounds are added to poultry feed. It is used in bronzing, pyrotechnics, and hardening shot. It can also be used in special glass and to preserve wood.
Boron
Boron was found by Joseph- Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jaques- Thenard in 1808. Boron can be used in rocket fuel igniters and pyrotechtonic flares. Its compounds can be used in eye drops, mild antiseptics, washing powders and tile glazes. It also can be used in bleach and food preservative. Boric oxide is used to make tough glass that is also heat resistant. Sodium octaborate is a flame retardant. It can also be used in nuclear reactors. Boron occurs in orthoboric acid in some volcano spring water. It also can be found in the minerals borax, rasorite and colemanite.
Germanium
Germanium was first discovered by Clemens Winkler in 1886. It can be found in argyrodite It can be obtained by smelting zinc ores and the byproducts of certain types of ores. It is used in wide-angle camera lenses and objective lenses for microscopes. It is also used in alloys, in fluorescent lamps and as a catalyst.
Selenium
Selenium was discovered by Jons Jacob Berzelius in 1817. Selenium can be found in minerals such as eucairite, crooksites, and clausthalite. It can also be obtained by a byproduct of refining copper. Selenium is used as an additive to glass. It is used in photocells, solar cells, and photocopiers. It is used to convert AC electricity to DC electricity. It can be used in anti-dandruff shampoo and in an additive to make stainless steel.
Carbon
Carbon is the sixth most abundant element. Smithsonian Tennant discovered that diamonds were just a form of carbon in 1796. Carbon controls naturally in coal, graphite, and diamonds. Carbon can be used by in fuels. Some is used in feedstock, fibers, paints, solvents, and plastics. Impure carbon is charcoal it is used for smelting in iron and steel industries. Graphite is used in pencils, brushes in electric motors, and furnace linings. Charcoal is used for filtration, purification, respirators, and kitchen extraction hoods. Carbon fiber is used in tennis rackets, skis, fishing rods, rocks, and airplanes.
Silicon
Silicon was discovered by Jons Jacob Berzelius in 1824. Silicon is the seventh most abundant element in the universe and the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Silicon is used to make alloys, dynamo, transformer plates, engine blocks, cylinder heads, machine tools, and steel. It's compounds can be used in a lubricant, cosmetics, hair conditioners, waterproof sealant in windows, pipes, and roofs.
Sulfur
SUlfur is the tenth most abundant element in the universe. It was discovered by Antoine Lavoisier by 1777. Sulfur is a component in many minerals such as galena, gypsum, pyrite, sphalerite, cinnabar, stibnite, epsomite, celestite, and barite. Sulfur is used in black rubber, fungicide, black gunpowder, and fertilizers. Sulfur compounds are used in natural gases, silver polish, pesticides, and herbicides. Sulfites are used in bleach paper, preservatives, surfactants, detergents, cement, and plaster.
Tellurium
Tellurium was discovered by Franz Joseph Muller von Reichenstein in 1782. Tellurium can be found in the ores sylvanite, calaverite, and krennerite. It can be used in alloys in copper and stainless steels as well as lead. Tellurium is used in vulcanise rubber, to tint glass and ceramics, in solar cells, in rewrite CDs and DVDs, and as a catalyst in oil refining. It can be doped with silver, gold, copper, or tin in semiconductor applications.