What Is a Semiconductor?
Semiconductors are commonly known as devices used in electrical and electronics engineering to act as either a conductor or an insulator. One example of these devices are diodes. A diode is a two-terminal device that lets current pass in one direction and blocks it from the other direction. To better understand it, think of resistors. A resistor resists the flow of current to a certain level depending on the value of its "resistance", and it works the same way no matter the polarity of the applied voltage. In the above example, the resistor's value is 100Ω. The voltage applied to it is 100VAC peak-to-peak. I used alternating current (AC) to show the waveform of the current passing through the resistor when applied with positive and negative voltage. As we can see from the waveform, the current passes through the resistor regardless of the polarity of the applied voltage. When the applied voltage is positive*, the current passes through the resistor from its right termina...