n.
Class of crystalline solids with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator .
Such materials can be treated chemically to allow transmission and control of an electric current . Semiconductors are used in the manufacture of electronic devices such as diodes , transistors , and integrated circuits . Intrinsic semiconductors have a high degree of chemical purity, but their conductivity is poor. Extrinsic semiconductors contain impurities that produce much greater conductivity. Some common intrinsic semiconductors are single crystals of silicon , germanium , and gallium arsenide; such materials can be converted into the technologically more important extrinsic semiconductors by addition of small amounts of impurities, a process called doping (see dopant ). Advances in semiconductor technology in recent years have gone hand in hand with increased operational speed in computers .