Chapter 2. Semiconductor Family Tree

In this chapter...

• Semiconductor Family Tree

• Simple Analog Components

• Advanced Analog Components

• A/D and D/A Converters

• MEMS

• Medium-Scale Digital Chips

• Highly Integrated Digital Chips

The term semiconductor covers a lot of territory, from big famous chips like Pentium microprocessors down to little tiny components that are almost too small to see. No single company makes or sells all these different kinds of semiconductors, and no engineer, programmer, or purchasing manager can keep them all straight. Everyone specializes in just one small aspect of semiconductors.

Just as with the medical profession, no one in the semiconductor industry can stay current with—or even fully understand—the whole industry at once. Doctors might specialize in podiatry, surgery, oncology, or pediatrics. Likewise, business managers and engineers might specialize in memory chips, semiconductors for radio and television broadcasting, or high-voltage components. There are entire trade groups and professional conferences devoted solely to tiny and arcane niches within the larger semiconductor industry. Market research firms sift and sort revenue and shipment data by categories that might make little sense to outsiders.

For our purposes, we'll divide semiconductors into a few big categories in this chapter, and then delve into some of the more interesting ones in more detail, both here and in later chapters. These divisions are well accepted in the industry; we're not being arbitrary. You'll find that professionals working in one major division generally don't understand (or care) very much about how semiconductors in the other divisions work, how they're sold, or who uses them. Like doctors at a large medical convention, they might be able to discuss some basic ideas, but the detailed conversations are intelligible only to others in the same specialized field.