BharatNotes Semiconductor
noun (countable); also attributive adjective: 'semiconductor industry'Usage in a UPSC answer
India's inability to manufacture semiconductors domestically — a vulnerability exposed by the 2020–21 global chip shortage that idled automobile and electronics assembly lines — prompted the government to announce the India Semiconductor Mission in 2021 with an unprecedented ₹76,000-crore incentive package to attract foundry and packaging investments.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
semiconductor (n), semiconducting (adj), conductor (n), insulator (n), transistor (n, device), integrated circuit (n), chip (n, informal), doping (n, process)
Root
Latin semi- = half, partly; Latin conducere = to lead together, to conduct (con- = together + ducere = to lead)
Etymology
Formed from semi- (Latin, 'half') + conductor (from Latin conducere, 'to lead together'). The physical property was identified in the early 19th century; the word semiconductor entered scientific literature in the 1830s. The transistor — the elemental semiconductor device — was invented at Bell Labs in 1947 by Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley, winning the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Memory Hook
SEMI (half) + CONDUCTOR (leads electricity): a semiconductor is 'half-a-conductor' — not a full metal wire, not a rubber insulator, but controllably in between. That in-between is what makes transistors (and thus computers) possible. Bell Labs 1947 (transistor) → India ISM 2021 (₹76,000 crore) — the gap is the story.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Prelims 2011 — Information Technology
Real UPSC previous-year questions whose text uses “Semiconductor” — proof this word earns its place on your list.
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