Modern wireless technology couldn’t exist if it weren’t for semiconductors. Using mobile phones and Internet of Things sensors that were based on vacuum tube-laden circuits wouldn’t be much fun. Here are five big uses of semiconductors that have changed the wireless market as we know it.
1. To Encrypt Sensitive Data
Running an encryption algorithm takes a lot of processor power, so it’s not reasonable to expect that the small microprocessors installed in mobile handsets can do it alone. Dedicated co-processor units are often installed to work with a specific hashing algorithm. These have proven so effective in recent years that they’ve actually been the subject of governmental export bans in order to prevent them from falling into hostile hands. That’s quite possibly the strongest endorsement anyone could have made of a particular technology.
2. Inside of Industrial Sensors
Embedded systems that contain dedicated industrial semiconducotrs are able to connect to wireless data networks as a result of their creative application of this technology. One single integrated circuit can act as an antenna matcher, a radio tune, and even a digital processing system. Having all of these features built into a single package helps to make small devices even lighter, which means technicians can feasibly install them in almost any location.
3. Regulating Chargers
Consumer-grade wireless devices have to use rechargeable batteries in most cases. While unregulated chargers would certainly fill these batteries up to their brim very quickly, they’d also contribute to a much shorter lifespan if they were to do that. As a result, most battery chargers incorporate semiconductor chips that measure how much current is flowing in and out of a circuit at any given time. If it’s moving too quickly, then the charger can reduce the flow and prevent the battery from overheating.
4. Run Code Meant for Virtual Machines
Some languages like Kotlin and Java are actually written for virtual machines that don’t exist in the real world. The instruction set that these machines run can’t exist on real hardware, so some mobile devices come with specialized co-processor modules that are designed to act as emulators for them. Much like a graphics processor unit, this helps to take some of the edge off of the main central chip and therefore make the device run much more smoothly.
5. As Part of Optical Packages
Fiber optic cables feed remote transmitters, which gives wireless 5G handsets the ability to connect with the Internet at large. Various types of laser beams are used to keep devices connected and send pulses down these lines. To some extent, they’re even used to read optical media that stores connection information at data centers. Some of the biggest wireless carriers and social networks actually use mechanically aligned optical discs as a way to avoid backing up their materials on tape.
While these are major applications of semiconductor technology, it’s important to keep in mind that almost every wireless technology relies on it. Current generation cellular and computer devices would simply vanish if the semiconductor industry dried up.
