Semiconductors 101: Chips, wafers and how they are made

CHIPS, wafers and semiconductors – these terms are often used interchangeably, but they do not technically refer to the same thing.

Semiconductor: A material that is able to act as both a conductor and an insulator of electricity. Examples include silicon, germanium and sapphire. Silicon is particularly popular for use in manufacturing, partly due to its abundance; it is the second-most abundant element on Earth, after oxygen.

Wafer: A thin circular slice of semiconductor material that forms the base of a chip. The silicon used to make wafers needs to be 99.9999 per cent pure, a level known as “six nines”. Standard wafers are 300 millimetres in diameter. Wafers with a larger diameter are considered more cost-effective, as more chips can be cut per unit of area, due to how they fit within a circle.