Essential Guide to Semiconductors, The

by Jim Turley

Semiconductors are the building blocks of computing. They are the electronic chips that are in every computer and device on the market. Cellphones, cars, computers (of all kinds), gaming systems, machines - anything with hardware has an electronic (or semiconductor) component. This is the professional's guide to the business and technology of semiconductor design and manufacturing. The semiconductor industry lends itself very well to a book of this kind. Just as the telecommunications area, the semiconductor industry is broad and complicated. There's a definite need for a book that explains the in's and out's of the technology and how it works - without bogging down readers with too much technical content.

Genres: Technology, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2002

Reviews

[minhhai]

Good introduction to semiconductor industry for lay readers. Very easy to read with few jargons, complex concepts are explained in non-technical terms, and many helpful insights into semiconductor business.

We all use semiconductor products: computers, cell phones, TVs, fridges, etc, but very few of us know their manufacturing process. This book is a quick overview of the semiconductor technology. Readers are not required any technical knowledge. Of course from time to time the author had to oversimplified a few concepts to make them readily understood.

More than one half of the book as dedicated to semiconductor market and business, which I found very instructive. Even I've been in semiconductor technology for a few years, I found many useful insights in the book on the market segments, key players and decisive factors.

Although some comments on the pros and cons of different types of chips are quite confusing, this is a good introductory book to semiconductor manufacture and business for non-technical and even technical readers.