Semiconductor Functions and Costs

Semiconductors, which are also known as computer microchips or integrated circuits, contain numerous electrical pathways that connect transistors with other electronic components. Transistors act to store information on the semiconductor, by holding an electrical charge or by holding little or no charge.

Today's computer chips are almost entirely built on silicon wafers because silicon has the chemical properties that allow it to either conduct electricity or be converted to a conduction insulator. Silicon itself remains inexpensive and abundant as the fabrication wafers used are made of highly purified, refined sand. It is the precision required in the manufacturing process and not the raw material that contains all but a fraction of the cost and the added value.

The cost of the semiconductor itself is measured in two dimensions: complexity and size. Historically, as the size of the circuit decreases, so has the cost. This declining cost curve of the semiconductor has made the mass production and sale of computing devices.