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To: Dr. Stoxx who wrote (16306)	2/25/2001 5:45:07 PM
From: David Loomis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39683

Hey, can one of the engineers on this thread explain to me the difference between a semiconductor and a superconductor (in lay terms, please)? And what is it, exactly, that these things "conduct"? A semiconductor and a superconductor both conduct electricity, a superconductor does it at 300 below zero with out any electrical loss - you put in one piece of electicity and it just stays there. And while you are at it, I assume that "chip" is simply another name for a semiconductor, correct? Or is it a special kind of semicon.? Are there non-chip semicon.'s? If so, what do they do? Chips are itty bitty pices of silicon with lotsa minute areas of electical conducting materials - called semiconductors. All semiconductors are chips, not all chips are semiconductors - they throw the latter away. And when companies like Intel, or Nat. Semi., or Appl. Mat. diversify, what is it that they diversify into? Do semicon.'s have a variety of applications (like chips do)? INTC NSM are chip producing companies, AMAT makess the expensive equipment and developes the process for INTC and NSM to buy to help them create semiconductor chips. When INTC diversifies they might start making network chips instead of PC cpu's, when AMAT diversifies they might get into Gallium Arsenide chips.

To: Dr. Stoxx who wrote (16306)	2/25/2001 6:02:35 PM
From: dougbishop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39683

Conductors allow electrons to flow through them. Wood is a poor conductor, copper is a good conductor. Semiconductors are in-between. This gives them unusual and useful properties. They make good transistors which in turn make good binary on-off switches. Superconductors make really really good conductors. They allow electricity to flow with hardly any loss from beginning to end. These also have great properties such as creating powerful magnetic fields. The problem with superconductors is that they need to be cooled to about -300 C to be effective. If anyone ever develops a room-temperature superconductor, the resulting technological revolution will make the internet revolution seem small in comparison. D.

To: Dr. Stoxx who wrote (16306)	2/25/2001 9:48:41 PM
From: TradinSOB	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 39683

I see that at Chemical Engineer has answered; I'll speak from the Electrical Engineer's perspective. Hey, can one of the engineers on this thread explain to me the difference between a semiconductor and a superconductor (in lay terms, please)? And what is it, exactly, that these things "conduct"? They conduct electricity. You're familiar with the difference between common conductors like copper and non-conductors like air. Semiconductors are materials which conduct electricity, but not as easily as metal. More importantly, their conductivity can be controlled so they make good, electrically controlled switches (like relays only faster). Switches (transistors) can be combined to form logic devices, memories, microprocessors, etc, which are commonly called Integrated Circuits (ICs). These days, ICs contain from dozens up to millions of switches. In IC manufacture, glass-like semiconductor material is sliced into wafers which are then subjected to various photographic, chemical, and radiological exposures (basically fancy photolithography) which imprints many IC's on each wafer. Some testing is done, and the bad IC's are marked for later disposal. The wafer is scored and then broken into it's individual ICs, literally "chips" of the wafer. The good ones are packaged and tested again. And when companies like Intel, or Nat. Semi., or Appl. Mat. diversify, what is it that they diversify into? Do semicon.'s have a variety of applications (like chips do)? Companies like the first two generally specialize in particular applications of ICs. Diversification to these companies usually means starting a new manufacturing technology or going into a new area of specialty. AMAT makes equipment that handles the raw materials, and companies like Intel, NSM, ADI, MOT, etc. would be their customers. There are other applications of semiconductors. Photovoltaics (i.e. solar energy) is one, also some less well-known like stress detection (say, in aircraft wings). LEDs exploit a special property of some semiconductors. Superconductors conduct electricity with zero resistance, or nearly zero, which is infinitely more efficient than conduction even than through copper! Most materials that superconduct do so at very low temperatures (like liquid nitrogen) and that problem drives the search for higher-temperature superconductors. Potential applications include cheaper transmission of power, tremendously powerful and efficient electric motors that don't get hot, frictionless magnetic bearings and levitation, etc.