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A semiconductor is a material whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and an insulator at room temperature.
Semiconductors are widely used in integrated circuits, consumer electronics, communication systems, photovoltaic power generation, lighting and high-power power conversion and other fields, such as diodes are devices made of semiconductor materials.
Semiconductors play a vital role in both technological progress and economic development. Most of the core components of electronic products, including computers, mobile phones and digital recorders, etc., have a very close relationship with the semiconductor.
In semiconductor materials, silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, etc. are common types, of which silicon has the most significant influence, dominating the application of various semiconductor materials.
According to the international standard semiconductor product classification method,semiconductor products can be classified into four categories: integrated circuits, discrete devices, sensors, and optoelectronic devices.
If the classification is based on signal processing, chips that process analogue signals are called analogue chips, while those that process digital signals are called digital chips. There are many types of analogue chips, including integrated operational amplifiers, digital-to-analogue converters, multipliers, integrated voltage regulators, timers, signal generators, comparators, etc., and each type of product is divided into a number of series according to the different needs of customers. A single product can often be applied to different customers and fields, analogue chips have a long life cycle, end customer demand is stable, and the cycle is weak.
Digital chips are the most widely used and rapidly developing IC category in recent years, which can be further divided into general-purpose digital ICs and special-purpose digital ICs (ASICs). General-purpose ICs are circuits with many users, wide application areas, and standardised circuits,such as memories (DRAM, FLASH, etc.), micro-components (microprocessor MPUs, microcontrollers MCUs, digital processors DSPs, etc.), and logic circuits (gate arrays, display drivers, etc.), which reflect the current status and level of digital ICs.ASICs,on the other hand,are circuits designed for a specific user or a specific purpose.
Classification according to manufacturing process is also one of the common ways of classification, such as the often heard 14nm chips, 7nm chips, etc. Here 7nm and 14nm refer to the minimum line width of the transistor gate inside the chip. In general, the more advanced the process, the higher the chip performance,but the higher the manufacturing cost. Market research organisations have pointed out that the R&D investment in 28nm chips is about $100-200 million, while 14nm chips are about $200-300 million, with a R&D cycle of about 1-2 years.Nowadays,the development of process is close to the limit, from the balance of cost and performance considerations, not the more advanced process is better, but should choose the right technology. The choice of process will be different for different types of chips, e.g. digital chips require more advanced processes, while analogue chips do not necessarily.
Classification according to the function of use is the most complex but also the most commonly used way of classifying semiconductor components. Specifically, they can be divided into the following categories:
Computing function class chips,mainly used for calculation and analysis,similar to the human brain,including the main control chip (e.g.,CPU/SOC/FPGA/MCU) and auxiliary chips (e.g.,GPU and AI chips).
Data storage function chips,such as DRAM, SDRAM, ROM, NAND, etc.,mainly used for data storage.
Sensing function chips,mainly for sensors,such as MEMS,fingerprint chips,CIS,etc.,to obtain information by sensing the external world.
Transmission function chips,such as Bluetooth,WIFI,NB-IOT,broadband,USB interface,Ethernet interface, HDMI interface, driver control, etc., are used for data transmission.
Energy supply function class chips,such as DC-AC, LDO and other power supply chips, are used to provide energy.
Categorised by design method,current semiconductordesign is mainly divided into two camps: FPGA and ASIC. FPGA, as a general-purpose programmable logic chip developed first, still occupies a mainstream position,and can be DIY programmed to achieve a variety of digital circuits; whereas ASIC is a special-purpose digital chip as mentioned above, and once a good digital circuit has been designed,the chip generated by the chip can not be changed. The advantage of FPGAs is that they can be reconfigured to define chip functions and are highly flexible, while ASICs are highly specialised and are usually customised for specific applications.
Both have evolved with the development of semiconductor processes and IoT application requirements, from tens of nanometres to today's 7nm process,with performance continuously improving.In terms of application orientation,FPGAs excel in speed-to-market,one-time test cost,and configurability;while ASICs far outperform FPGAs in terms of computing performance and cost of mass production;however,since ASICs are fixed circuits,they require redesign, moulding and processing if the design is updated.Therefore,both have their own advantages.