A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Strictly speaking, a semiconductor is a material with an electrical conductivity between that of an insulator and that of a conductor. Semiconductors can be single elements such as silicon or germanium or compounds such as gallium arsenide or indium phosphide. In day to day usage, however, the term "semiconductor" more frequently refers to the components manufactured from semiconductor materials.
- Å
Angström.
Unit of length equal to one millionth of a centimeter, used especially to specify radiation wavelengths (10 000 Å equal 1 micron).
- AA
Atomic Absorption
- AAF
Advanced Architecture Flash
- Abatement
Term normally used to indicate treatment systems toreduce the emission into the atmosphere of atmospheric pollutants. Typical abatement systems are: Scrubbers, Cyclones, Bagfilters, Electrofilters, Activated Carbons Beds.
- ABC
Activity Based Costing A method based on activities to allocate overhead costs to products, customers, or orders.
- ABS
1) Antilock Braking System
(sometimes Antiskid Braking System)
Electromechanical system used in vehicles and aircraft to avoid wheel locking during braking.
2) Alkylbenzene sulphonate
- ABU
Automotive Business Unit
Based in Livonia (Detroit) office, ST group responsible for marketing in North America's automotive market.
- A/C
1) Air Conditioning
2) Audio Codec
- AC
Alternating Current
Electrical current that reverses (or alternates) the current flows at regular intervals in magnitude and in direction.
- Acceptor
An impurity that can make a semi-conductor P-type by causing the absence of electrons in the conduction band, called "holes". These "holes" are carriers of positive charge. See donor.
- ACD
Automatic Call Distribution
(Telecom)
- Aceton
An organic compound made of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen (chemical formula CH3COCH3). It is a colorless, very volatile, extremely flammable liquid miscible with water. It is used as a solvent and reagent. It is classified as a volatile organic compound (VOC).
- ACF
Anti-Clone Function
- ACGIH
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists
- ACIA
Asynchronous Communication Interface Adapter
- Acid deposition
Rain, snow, or any other deposition of water with an acidity greater than normal. As water falls through the air it absorbs carbon dioxide and forms carbonic acid, which has a pH of about 5.6. Higher acidity in rain or snow is observed downwind (often at significant distances) from areas with many large sources of the air contaminants sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. These oxides react with water to form sulfuric and nitric acids. Long-term deposition of these acids is linked to adverse effects on aquatic organisms and vegetation in geographical areas with poor buffering capacity within the sediments. Exposure to acid deposition also deteriorates marble and limestone buildings and statuary.
- Acid Rain
see Acid Deposition
- Acidity
The level of hydrogen ion concentration in a solution. Acidity is measured on the pH scale. The pH scale is a logarithmic scale. The majority of readings go from 1 (very high acidity) to 14 (very high alkalinity).
- ACK
Ackowledge
- ACL
Advanced CMOS Logic
- ACM
Asbestos-Containing material
- ACPI
Advanced Configuration Power Interface
Green PC power management.
- Acrobat
Family of computer programs created by Adobe Systems Inc. that allow you to create and view Portable Document Format (PDF) files on any PC, Mac or UNIX computer. Acrobat Distiller is used to create the files from a Postscript original. Acrobat Reader is a free program for viewing and printing PDF files. PDFwriter is a special printer driver that creates a PDF file.
- Acting
A person who holds a position temporarily while a permanent replacement is being sought. Used in ST organizational announcements.
- Activated carbon A
material produced by partially burning a carbon-based material and then increasing its absorptive capacity by steam treatment, which creates a large surface area. The product is used to adsorb organic materials, either as an air or water pollution control technique or as an air sampling device.
- Active Component
A (non-mechanical) circuit component that has gain or switches current flow, such as a diode,transistor, etc.
- A/D
Analog to Digital
- ADC
Analog to Digital Converter
The process of converting a sampled analog signal to a digital code that represents the amplitude of the original signal sample.
- ADCS
Advanced Document Control System
- ADH Program Adherence
Measures conformity of production starts versus production plan.
- ADI
Acceptable Daily Intake
- ADN
Advanced Digital Network
- Adobe
American software company. Created Postscript page description language and Acrobat portable document system.
- ADPC
Adaptive Differential Pulse-Code modulation
(Telecom)
Modulation technique for speech compression
- ADR
Accident Data Recorder
(Automotive).
- ADSI
Analog Display Services Interface
(Telecom)
Standard for (few) data transfer on analog network.
- ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
(Set Top Box)
- AE
Automatic Exposure
- AEC Q100
Latest automotive standard (1994).
- AEIS
Association of Electronic Industries
- AEL
Airbone Exposure Limit
- Aerobic Requiring Oxygen
The usual application is to bacteria that require oxygen for growth ("aerobic bacteria"). Also an aquatic system characterized by the presence of dissolved oxygen.
- AES
Auger Electron Spectrometer
- AF
1) Audio Frequency
2) Auto Focus
- AFC
Automatic Frequency Control
- AFM
Atomic Force Microscope
- AFR
Average Failure Rate
- AGC
Automatic Gain Control
- AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port
Interface
- Agrate
Large ST site beside small town of Agrate Brianza, 20 km north-east of Milan in the north of Italy. Base for management, production, design and research activities. Original plant of Società Generale Semiconduttori, built in 1957.
- AI
Artificial Intelligence
- AIAG
Automotive Industry Action Group
- Ain Sebaâ
Name of the area close to the center of Casablanca, Morocco, where an ST plant is located. This plant was built in 1952 by SFRM (Société Fabrication Radio-Electrique Marocaine) a subcontractor of Thomson CSF. In 1989 SFRM became ST Morocco and since then Ain Sebaâ has been an assembly plant producing mainly discrete transistors.
- AIQ
Average Incoming Quality
Average defect rate found by our quality control checks before rescreening defective lots for shipment. Often expressed in PPM (Parts Per Million).
- Air Pollution
Pollution or contamination of the atmosphere with substances which are not generally found there (or are found in very small amounts). Pollutants can be gaseous, liquid (in the form of droplets), or solid (in the form of dust). The major source of air pollution today is industry, although cars and other forms of transportation using fossil fuels are also very important. Under certain circumstances, agricultural practices can be an important source of pollution by dust. Air pollutants can be toxic or otherwise harmful to humans and other living species. They can also harm buildings and other man-made objects. They can alter air quality, especially they can reduce visibility. Finally, they can modify important environmental cycles - dusts can increase reflection of sunlight, thus tending to cool the atmosphere, other chemicals can increase the thermal opacity of the atmosphere, thus tending to heat up the atmosphere (see greenhouse effect). Air pollution impacts at the local level, but they can also impact at the regional level (e.g., photochemical smog, acid rain) or at the planetary level (e.g., CFCis, CO2).
- AKA
Also Known As
- AL
Action Level
- ALC
Automatic Level Control
- Aligner
Lithography machine which makes it possible to align a mask, or a reticle, according to marking previously engraved on the silicon wafer. There are four types of aligners: contact, proximity projection and stepper.
- Alignment
The arranging of a mask and wafer in correct positions with respect to each other. After alignment, radiation-sensitive photoresist on the wafer is exposed by radiation passing through the non-opaque areas of the mask.
- Alignment mark
A reference mark used in the alignment of the several photomask layers required for a single device or circuit.
- ALMS
Atomic Line Molecular Spectroscopy
- ALR
Assembly Level Reliability
- ALSTTL
Advanced Low-power Schottky Transistor-Transistor Logic
A fast bipolar logic family with power dissipation about half that of LSTTL.
- Alloy
1) In semiconductor processing the alloy process step refers to a heat treatment used to improve the metallurgical interaction between the silicon substrate and the interconnect metals. This improves ohmic contact.
2) Metallurgically is used to mean the blending together of two or more metals to form a particular compound.
- ALU
Arithmetic and Logic Unit
Carries out additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions, as well as logical operations (masking, transfer...).
- Aluminum
The metal often used in semiconductor technology to form the interconnects between devices on a chip. It is usually deposited by evaporation or sputtering.
- AM
1) Amplitude Modulation
2) Above Mentioned
3) AnteMeridian(morning)
- AMG
Alternate Metal Ground
- Amipro
Word processing program. Included in previous Company standard Lotus Smart Suite package. Files use extension ".sam".
- AMK
Ang Mo Kio
Largest ST site in Singapore. Houses local headquarters plus several production facilities.
- Ammonia
A colorless gaseous alkaline compound (chemical formula NH3). It is very soluble in water, has a characteristic pungent odor, is irritant, is lighter than air, and is formed as a result of the decomposition of most nitrogenous organic material. Because of its characteristics, ammonia is normally utilized in solution with water.
- Amorphous
An atomic structure having no definite or recognizable form.
- AMP
Amplifier
A device that uses an active component to increase the voltage or power of a signal without distorting its waveshape.
- AMSC
American Mobile Satellite Corporation
- A/N
Alphanumberic
- AN
Application Note
ST publication describing how a company product may be used.
- ANACA
ANAlog Cell Arrays
Division of the ST's Dedicated Products Group.
- Anaerobic Not Requiring Oxygen
The usual application is to bacteria that do not require oxygen for growth ("anaerobic bacteria").
- Analog
1) Analog ICs are circuits which can handle input and output signals that can take any value between appropriate upper and lower limits. A typical application would be in the reception of a signal from a microphone and its amplification and output to a loudspeaker. The real world functions on an analog basis and for this reason, even though digital electronics is becoming increasingly widespread, many systems still have to be analog to interface with the human end-user. Analog ICs are mainly bipolar, though MOS, CMOS and mixed types are becoming more common.
2) A signal that varies in amplitude continuously and without interruption. Also called linear. Contrast with digital.
3) The simulation of a physical quantity with an electrical quantity.
- Analysis of Variance
A statistical method for evaluating the difference among means.
- ANC
Active Noise Cancellation
(Automotive).
- AND Gate
A gate whose output is ON only if all input signals are ON.
- Anisotropic
In a subtractive process, the material is removed only in the vertical direction in such a way that the side of the cut is perpendicular to the bottom of the cut.
- Anneal
To heat a material to some elevated temperature to reorder the crystal structure and remove stresses. The subsequent cooling schedule affects the final level of stresses.
- Anonymous logons
This feature allows remote access only by the IUSR_ computername account. Remote users can connect to that computer only without a user name and password, and they have only the permissions assigned to that account.
- ANRO
Anaerobic Not Requiring Oxygen
- ANS
American National reliability Standard
- ANSI
American National Standards Institute
- Antimony
An N-type dopant often used to form the buried layer in a bipolar structure.
- AOI
Automated Optical Inspection
- AOQ
Average Outgoing Quality
The average outgoing quality after rescreening defective lots caught by quality control checks. Measure the quality shipped to our customers. AOQ is expressed in PPM (Parts Per Million).
- A/P
or AP
1) Asia-Pacific
2) Accounts Payable
- APDO
Axial Plastic Diode
Plastic packaged diode with the leads sticking out of the ends.
- API
Application Program Interface
- APICS
American Production and Inventory Control Society
- APS
Advanced Photo System
- AQL
Acceptable Quality Level
The level of quality which in a sampling plan corresponds to a relatively strong acceptance probability, generally predetermined by the plan. This indicator is expressed as a percentage, giving the maximum number of defects tolerated. The AQL notion is now somewhat outdated, being replaced by concepts such as "Total Quality" and "Zero Defect".
- AQS
Air Quality Standard
- Aquifer
A geological formation capable of storing and yielding significant quantities of water. It is usually composed of sand, gravel, or permeable rock which lies upon a layer of clay or other impermeable material. This impermeable layer does not allow the water to penetrate to lower depths. Thus, various aquifers can be present at various depths. The low permeability formation located above and/or below an aquifer is called an aquiclude. The water in aquifers is abstracted using wells. The shallowest aquifer is the most exposed to contaminants filtering down from the surface. The shallow aquifer can be protected from contamination by the presence of an impermeable layer above it. This layer can be natural or artificial - paving, etc.
- A/R
Accounts Receivable
- AR
Auto-Reload
- ARCTI
Anti Reflective Coating Titanium Layer
- Argon
An inert gas frequently used as the ambient gas during the silicon crystal growing process.
- ARO
Aerobic Requiring Oxygen
The usual application is to bacteria that require oxygen for growth ("aerobic bacteria"). Also an aquatic system characterized by the presence of dissolved oxygen.
- ARPANet
Advanced Research Projects Agency Networks
- Array
A group of items (elements, leads, bonding pads, circuits, etc.) arranged in rows and columns.
- ARRL
American Radio Relay League
- Arsenic (As)
An N-type dopant often used to form the buried layer in a bipolar structure. Also used as an implant source in both bipolar and MOS processing.
This element has both metallic and non-metallic properties and hence is frequently referred to as a metalloid. Because of its metalloid properties arsenic can be in compounds both in the anionic and the cationic form. Arsenic is extremely poisonous to human beings and to other living beings.
- AR Timer
Auto Ring Timer
- As
Arsenic
- AS
Advanced Schottky
- ASAP
As Soon As Possible
- Asbestos
A family of heterogeneous silicate minerals which include chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyfillite and actinolite. The asbestos is fibrous, chemically inert, does not conduct heat and electricity, insoluble, and without odor. These properties made asbestos the perfect material for many applications such as insulating materials (panels, roofing, coating), sealing materials (as additive to rubber, and other sealing material), and friction materials (such as clutches and brakes). If broken, asbestos releases long and narrow fibers which, if inhaled, may cause lung cancer (asbestosis and mesothelioma). Ingestion of asbestos (primarily through drinking water transported in pipes made of asbestos) is also of concern. New uses of asbestos are currently banned by law in most industrialized countries, and existing uses are often being phased out.
- ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Standard code used in most computers to represent letters, numbers and other characters.
- ASCII text
A text file containing only ASCII characters. Most word processors store text in files containing special codes for formatting. When these are e-mailed to users who do not have the same program the text may be garbled. The safest way to e-mail text is to send an ASCII text.
- ASD
Application Specific Discrete
A trade mark which describes new structures developed mainly on the Tours site, and which integrates several discrete semiconductors on a single chip.
- ASEC
Application Specific Embedded Computer
- Ashing
A method of stripping photoresist by a plasma (an electromagnetically-excited reactant gas).
- ASHRAE
American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers Inc.
- ASI
Asynchronous Serial Interface
- ASIC
Application Specific Integrated Circuit
A semicustom design technique that is less expensive than full custom design and allows a very quick design cycle time.
- ASK
Amplitude Shift Keying
- ASM
Application Specific Memory
- ASP
1) Average Selling Price
Semiconductors are not normally sold at fixed prices to OEMs. The price is negotiated depending on the volume of sales, security of the business, exchange rate risk and other factors. A sales manager, however, must balance low and high price orders to maintain the average selling price above a defined level.
2) Adaptive Shift Pattern
(Automotive)
Type of transmission control (ex: Tiptronic).
- ASR
Automated Send/Receive
- Assago
Small town southwest of Milan where Italian sales region are located.
- Assembly
The final stage of semiconductor manufacturing, where the active device is encased in a plastic, ceramic or metal package. Also referred to as "back-end" processing.
- Assessment
A broad review of the different aspects of a company or function which includes elements not covered by a structured audit. It might include opportunities for reducing the costs of poor quality, employee perceptions on quality aspects, proposals to senior management on policy, goals etc. This review is also often called a "quality survey", or "Company wide audit".
- ASSM
Area Supplier Sales Manager
- ASSP
Application Specific Standard Product
- ASSY
ASSemblY
- AST
1) Advanced Systems Technology
Latest group created in ST (end 1998) to specifically focus on the development of system applications so that ST can build the know-how not only from the hardware, but also from the software point of view.
2) Advanced Secondary (Wastewater) Treatment
3) Above-ground Storage Tank
- ATA
AT Attachment. A disk drive implementation that integrates the controller on the disk drive itself.
- ATAPI
ATA Packet Interface (see ATA).
- ATC
Air Traffic Control
- ATE
Automatic Test Equipment
Any machine which performs tests automatically.
- ATM
1) Asynchronous Transfer Mode
2) Automated Teller Machine
3) Adobe Typeface Manager
- Atmosphere
The gaseous layer covering the Earth's surface. It is constituted mainly of nitrogen (78.1%) and oxygen (20.9%). The remaining 1% is made of various gases - the major one is argon (0.9%), others are ozone, carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, water vapor. The regions of the atmosphere are: Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Chemosphere, Thermosphere, Ionosphere, and Exosphere.
The atmosphere is one of the four components, together with the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere and Biosphere, that constitute the Earth's ecosystem.
- Atmospheric Oxidation
The process of oxidizing silicon with some species oxygen in a process tube at atmospheric pressure.
- Atomic Number
A number assigned to each element that identifies the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
- ATP
1) Adenosine TriPhosphate
2) Available to promise
- ATPG
Automatic Test Program Generation
Computing operation in which a test description is translated into a language that can be interpreted by a test machine.
- ATR
Answer To Reset
- ATSC
Advanced Television Systems Committee
- ATTN
Attention
- Authentification
Determining if a user has permission to access a resource or perform an operation.
- Autodoping
Atoms that outgas from a material and then are reabsorbed into the process ambient and materials.
- Automation
The art of making processes or machines self-acting or self-moving.
Also pertains to the technique of making a device, machine, process or procedure more fully automatic.
- Autotrophic
An organism that has the capacity to satisfy its requirements for carbon-containing nutrients by the fixation, reduction and incorporation of carbon dioxide from the environment. Green plants, which derive their energy from sunlight through the process of photosynthesis, represent a major group of autotrophic organisms. The terms means "self feeding" in Greek.
- AV
Audio/Visual
- AVC
Automatic Volume Control
- AVG
Average
A value that summarizes or represents the general significance of a set of unequal values. There are several types of average. However, the most common one is arithmetic. In fact when we speak of the average we refer to the arithmetic mean, or simply "mean".
- AVO
Audio Video Objects
- AWB
AirWay Bill
- AWS
American Quality Standard
- AWT
Advanced Wastewater Treatment
- AWWA
American Water Works Association
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