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.
- 2,4-D
Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid
- D/A
Digital to Analog
- Do
Defect Density
Characterizes quality in terms of quantities of defects on wafers produced per level and per sq.cm.
- DAB
Digital Audio Broadcasting
High quality digital broadcasting system employing MUSICAM compression coding and OFDM modulation.
- DAC
1) Decoder Audio Clock
2) Design Approved Certificate
ST document used to decide if a new product design is sufficiently mature to invest in the engineering process. Once approved, the product passes from maturity 10 to maturity 20.
¤ Electronic circuit that converts a binary number into a continuously varying value.
- DALC
Diode Array Low Capacitance
- Darlington Amplifier
An amplifier in which the collectors are tied together, and the emitter of the first directs current to the base of the second.
- DARPA
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- DAT
Digital Audio Tape
- DATA on DISK
ST CD-ROM containing product datasheets for almost all Company products.
- Datasheet
Official ST publication containing product specifications and some descriptive material about functions and use. All are more than one sheet.
- DAV
Data Available
- dB(A)
Decibels Adjusted -weighting network
- DBA
1) Doing Business As
2) DataBase Access
- dBK
DeciBels - referred to a 1 Kilowatt
- dBM
DeciBels - above or below 1 milliwatt
- DBS
Direct Broadcast Satellite
Transmission direct from satellite to viewers' homes, as opposed to point-to-point transmission used by network operators for their own uses.
- DBV
DeciBels - Voltage
- DBX
DeciBels - above reference coupling
- DC
1) Direct Current
The flow of electrons only goes in one direction.
2) Disty Cost
- DCA
Direct Chip Attach. Attachment of a chip directly to the PCB without using a package.
- DCC
Digital Compact Cassette
- DCD
Data Carrier Detect
- DCFL
Direct-Coupled Field effect transistor Logic
- DCS
1)Document Control System
2) Digital Cellular SystemTelecom Network Standard.
- DCT
Discrete Cosine Transform.
- DCTL
Direct-coupled Transistor Logic
- DCY
Delivery Conformity
Measures conformity of current output compared to planned output.
- DD
1) Definition Data file
Collection of documents constituting the product designer's response to the customer's technical requirements, and in which he states all the verifiable characteristics of the product and indicates the processes required to produce it.
2) Defect Density- see also D0
- DDC
Data Display Channel
- DDC1
Data Display Channel One way/transmit only
- DDC2
Data Display Channel Two way/bidirectional
- DDD
Dichlodiphenyldichloroethane
- DDE
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethene
- DDP
Delivered Duty Paid
- DDR
Double Data Rate
- DDT
Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane.
One of the best known of the chemical insecticides. First synthesized in 1874, its insecticide properties were discovered by P. Mueller, a Swiss chemist, in 1939. It was used widely during World War II and since to control lice that spread typhus and to reduce other vector-borne diseases, such as mosquito-carried malaria and yellow fever. DDT and its degradation products have been shown to be persistent in the environment and to be bioaccumulated by organisms in the adipose tissue. Wild birds are adversely affected by DDT, producing eggs with very thin shells, thereby resulting in a failure to reproduce. Use of the agent has been severely restricted in most industrialized countries since 1972, but DDT is still applied in many other countries.
- DDTS
Distributed Defect Tracking System
- D/E
Debt to Equity ratio
A key indicator of financial health.
- Decibel (dB)
A logarithmic unit for expressing the pressure levels of sound waves. The decibel scale for sound pressure levels extends from 0 (the hearing threshold) to over 130 (causes pain); normal speech is at about 60 dB. Noise measurements are normally given as the sum of the individual sound pressures measured at the various frequencies composing a sound, weighted to reflect the relative insensitivity of the human ear to lower-frequency sounds. This frequency-weighted measure, expressed as dB(A), best matches the sensitivity to noise of the human ear. Noise meters can be set with these weighting characteristics: the meter adjusts downward the sound measurements at the lower frequencies to compute a total dB(A). Noise standards are almost always in dB(A) units.
- Decomposers
A community of organisms, including bacteria and fungi, that metabolically break down complex organic matter into simpler materials. This process is called decomposition. Decomposition is performed by decomposers but can also be caused by natural phenomena such as exposure to heat, sunlight, water, chemicals.
- Decontamination
The reduction, by physical or chemical means, in a particular medium (soil, waste, water, air) of potentially toxic materials (chemical or radioactive substances) to an acceptable level.
- DECT
Digital European Cordless Telephone
Standard for European cordless telephones.
- Dedicated
Anything which has been created or assigned to a specific purpose. For example, a computer used only for printing color slides is said to be "dedicated" to that purpose.
- Dedicated Integrated Circuit
Major category of integrated circuits which are designed for a specific purpose. For example, while a general purpose product like memory may find uses in many types of end product, a cellular phone voice circuit will only be used in cellular phones.
In theory, dedicated ICs could be either analog or digital. In practice, however, it is simpler to consider them as a separate category in their own right, since the borderlines between one type and another are becoming hazy and mixed ICs are not uncommon. Dedicated ICs are not specific to one application or customer. Instead they are "dedicated" to one specific function in an electronic system or to the reproduction of a specific type of complete electronic system. Examples of dedicated ICs are telephone control chips, hi-fi audio processors and PC disk drive controllers. Dedicated ICs are frequently developed in conjunction with one or more key account customers who are technology leaders in their own sectors. In return for the contribution of technical know-how, the customer obtains the certainty that the end-product will be tailor-made for his requirements. Many application-specific smart power ICs (see below) are designed in this way.
- Deep UV (Deep Ultraviolet)
Refers to the electromagnetic spectrum where the wavelength of light is less than 300 nanometers.
- Defect
An unacceptable variation of a quality characteristic from its intended level. The non fulfillment of intended usage requirements.
- Defect density
The number of defects per unit area of silicon wafer. The number of faulty ICs on a wafer depends both on defect density and die size.
- Defective unit
A unit of product or service containing at least one defect, or having several imperfections which cause the unit non satisfying (intended as normal or reasonably foreseeable) usage requirements.
- Deforestation
The removal of trees and other vegetation on a large scale, usually to expand agricultural or grazing lands. Global deforestation has contributed to the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over the past century.
- Dehydration Bake
A heat cycle wafers receive prior to photolithography processing.
- Deionization
The removal of all charged atoms or molecules from some material such as water. For example, the removal of salt from water involves the removal of sodium ions (Na+) and chloride ions (Cl-). The process commonly employs a resin that attracts all positive ions and another resin to capture all negative ions. Deionization is usually applied to obtain deionized water, water from which the great majority of ions have been removed.
- DEL
Delinquency or delayed delivery
(Versus either confirmed or requested date).
- Delamination
Inside a plastic package, the ungluing of one of its elements: chip, resin, lead frame.
- DELCD
Delinquency on Confirmed Date
- DELFOR
Delivery Forecast 830 in X12 US Standard
Forecast sent electronically by the customer.
- DELQ
Delinquency
- DELRD
Delinquency on Requested Date
- Demand pull
A system of component procurement where the customer gives usage forecasts to the supplier who then inventories product accordingly (demand). When product is needed, the customer will notify the supplier of device/quantity requirements for immediate shipment (pull). There is no traditional "backlog". Bookings only occur simultaneously with billings.
- Deming Application Prize
The best quality award that can be obtained in Japan. The first was assigned in 1951. In the early years the prizes were funded by money earned by Deming from the sales of teaching material that he had prepared for conferences and the translation and sales of his books. The Deming Application Prize is now managed by JUSE (Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers).
There are three categories of prizes. The first is assigned to individuals, the second to industries or factories. The third category prize is called the Japanese Quality Control Prize. It was instituted in 1970, and it is awarded to those companies that have demonstrated extremely high standards in CWQC (Company Wide Quality Control) practices for at least five years. "Super" prize winners must have already received the Deming second category prize.
In 1986 an additional prize was established by the Deming Prize Committee of JUSE: the Overseas Deming Prize. This additional recognition was motivated by the strong interest of non-Japanese companies in the examination process to validate implementation of Total Quality Control (TQC).
The areas that are evaluated with the aim of establishing if recognition is deserved are:
- Company policy and objectives
- Organization and operations
- Education and dissemination
- Assembling and disseminating information and its utilization
- Analysis
- Standardization
- Control
- Quality assurance
- Effects
- Future plans.
- Denitrification
The removal of nitrate ions (NO3-) from soil or water. The nitrate is reduced to nitrogen gas (N2), which is lost to the atmosphere during the process. Since nitrates are an important plant nutrient, the process can be negative in the case of soil where it reduces desirable fertility of an agricultural field, but it can be positive in the case of water where it reduces the extent of undesirable aquatic weed production and eutrophication in aquatic environments. Denitrification is made possible by the presence in soil or water of denitrifying bacteria, bacteria that are capable of anaerobic respiration, using the nitrate ion as a substitute for molecular oxygen during their metabolism.
- Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
The macromolecule containing the genetic information governing the properties of individual cells and organisms; the genes of a cell. Exact copies of the genes of each cell are transferred to each daughter cell during cell division. Changes in the structure of DNA (mutations) can occur naturally or as a result of exposure to certain chemicals or radiation. Some changes result in the death of the cell, and others are passed on to future generations as an altered gene. Protection provided to individuals undergoing medical x-rays is designed to prevent alteration in the DNA structure of gametes.
- Depletion device
A type of MOSFET which is "on" when no input signal is present.
- Depletion region
That area at a P-N junction which, when reverse biased, is swept clear of free charges.
- Deposition
A process used to deposit a thin layer of insulating or conductive materials onto the wafer.
- DES
Data Encription Standard
- Desalination
The removal of salts from water to allow it to be used for drinking, irrigation, or industrial processing. The two main desalination techniques are distillation and reverse osmosis.
- DESC
Defense Electronic Supply Center
- Desertification
A process whereby land that is covered with vegetation is converted to desert. The term is generally applied to the production of artificial deserts where people have intensified the problems caused by droughts through overgrazing of marginal land, repeated burning of natural vegetation, intensive farming of arid land, aggressive removal of trees, and prolonged irrigation of arid land for agricultural use.
- Design of Experiment
The definition of an experiment in the lab or in the field aims at establishing whether a theory is correct or not. In quality improvement activities, the design of experiment is often used for quantifying the impact that certain variables have on a product or process.
- Design for Manufacturability
To develop a design in consideration of the manufacturing process.
- Design to Cost
To develop a design based on the allowed price of the future product.
- Desulfurization
A metabolic oxidation of a sulfur-containing organic compound within a biological system, resulting the incorporation of molecular oxygen into the molecule and the concurrent elimination of sulfur. Desulfurization techniques are widely applied in air emission pollution control.
- Development
A chemical process that removes the photoresist from areas not defined by the mask in a lithographic procedure.
- Develop Inspect or A.D.I.
The inspection a wafer receives after the develop process.
- Developer
The liquid solution used to resolve an image after exposure.
- DFE
Decision Feedback Equalization
Disk Drive Technology for read channel, alternative to PRML.
- DFM
Design For Manufacturability
- DFT
Design For Testability
- DGPS
Differential GPS
A technique used to improve GPS accuracy by incorporating a corrective factor (by real-time transmission of corrections or by postprocessing) into position calculations.
- DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
An industry-standard protocol that assigns Internet Protocol (IP) configurations to computers.
- DI
Deionized water
Ultra pure water that has been treated to remove possible contaminants such as ions, bacteria, silica, etc.
- Dial-up
A connection to a computer by telephone, through a modem.
- Diborane
A gaseous compound of boron and hydrogen used as P-type dopant.
- Die (singular)
Dice (plural)
The electrical portion of the wafer that contains the electronic functions.
- Die bonding
A bonding process in which connections are made to surface contacts of an integrated circuit by thermocompression bonding with a gold wire.
(See also Bonding, Die)
- Dielectric
A non-conductor of current, an insulator.
- Die Sort
See Wafer Sort
- DIFF
DIFFusion
- Differential amplifier
An amplifier that amplifies the voltage difference between two input signals and has two inputs, and two outputs.
- Differentiated IC
Category that includes dedicated integrated circuits, semicustom ICs and microcontrollers - everything except the "commodity" type circuits where there is direct competition for each order. Differentiated circuits are characterized by stable demand and pricing.
- Diffusion
A process used in the production of semiconductors which introduces minute amounts of impurities into a substrate material such as silicon or germanium. The process, which is very dependent on time and temperature, permits the impurity to spread into the substrate.
- Digital
1) Related to data in the form of numerical digits.
2) Related to an audio recording method in which sound waves are represented digitally (as on magnetic tape) so that, in the recording, wow and flutter are eliminated and background noise is reduced.
3) Digital computer refers to a computer that operates with numbers expressed directly in digit - as opposed to analog computer, hybrid computer-
- Digital Circuit
A circuit that operates like a switch and can perform logical functions. Used in computers or similar logic-based equipment.
- Digitize
To represent data in digital, or discrete form, or to convert an analog, or continuous signal to such a form.
- DIL
Dual in line
- DIMM
Dual In-line Memory Module
- Diode
A two-terminal device that allows current to flow in one direction but not the other. A diode is present at the intersection (junction) of a P-type and an N-type semiconductor.ST produces high speed power diodes for use with power transistors in industrial power control.
- DIP
Dual In-line Package
The most common type of IC package; circuit leads or pins extend symmetrically outward and downward from the long sides of the rectangular package body.
- DIP switch
A series of toggle switches built into a dual-inline package (DIP) and used to encode various kinds of information, such as the amount of memory or the type of monitor in a computer system
- DirecTV
World's first direct broadcast digital TV service, provided by DirecTV Inc, a Hughes Communications company. Digital Satellite System (DSS) set top boxes are made by Thomson Multimedia using the RCA brand. The crucial MPEG decoder IC in this box was designed and is produced by ST.
- Discrete Device
A semiconductor containing only one active element, such as a transistor or a diode. In ST, Discretes are manufactured in the Tours (France) Front-End site.
- Disposal
Final placement or destruction of toxic, radioactive, or other wastes. The collection, storage, treatment, utilization, processing, or final disposal of solid waste.
- Distribution
In statistics, the way in which large numbers of observations are gathered around some central value with a certain amount of variation on either side of the central value. Many distributions are named to some mathematical relationship.
- DLCI
Data Link Connection Identifiers.
- DLC
Dual-Layer Capacitor
- DLM
Double Metal Layer
- DLN
Delivery Linearity
The linearity of transfers to the store or to the warehouse.
- DLNQT
DeLiNQuenT
- DM
1)Debit Memo
2)Demand Management
Tool or set of tools to manage the customers actual and future supply requests.
- DMA
Direct Memory Access
- DME
Dimethyl ether
- DMM
Digital Multimeter
- DMOS
1) Double Diffused MOS
2) Diffused Metal Oxide Silicon
- DMR
Defective Material Report
- DMTS
Discrete Multi-Tone
- DMV
Damper Modulation diodes/rectifiers
- DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid
- DNS
Domain Name Server
- DO
Dissolved Oxygen
- DOD
Depart Of Defense
- DOE
1) Design Of Experiments
A method to find the optimum conditions for a process or a product, with a sharply reduced number of trials, when there are many factors and many variables involved. This technique combines economy of resources, effectiveness and the possibility to study the role of large numbers of factors.
2) Department of Energy
- DOM
Dissolved Organic Matter
- Domain
For Windows NT Server, a collection of computers that share a common domain database and security policy. Each domain has a unique name.
- Donor
A dopant that can make a semiconductor N-type by donating extra "free" electrons to the conduction band. The free electrons are carriers of negative charge. See acceptor.
- DOP
Dilution of Precision
A description of the purely geometrical contribution to the uncertainty of a GPS fix.
- Dopant (also Diffusant)
Dopants are the materials used to change the electrical characteristics of a semiconductor crystal, making it N- or P-type.
- Doping
The introduction of an dopant into a semiconductor to modify its electrical properties by creating a concentration of N or P carriers. Doping is normally accomplished through diffusion or ion implantation processes.
- DOS
Disk Operating System
- DOT
Depart of Transportation
- DP
Data Processing
- DPA
Differential Power Analysis
- DPD
Method of measuring Chlorine Residual in Water
- DPDT
Dual Pole Dual Throw
- DPG
Dedicated Products Group
One of ST's six product groups.
- DPI
1) Distributed Protocol Interface
2) Dots Per Inch
- DPL
Descriptor Privilege Level
- DPM
Digital Panel Meter
- DPSK
Differential Phase Shift Keying
- DPST
Dual Pole Single Throw
- Drain
The working current terminal (at one end of the channel in a MOSFET) that is the drain for holes or free electrons exiting from the channel. Corresponds to collector of a bipolar transistor.
- DRAM
Dynamic Random Access Memory
Type of semiconductor memory (volatile memory) in which the presence or absence of a capacitive charge represents the state (O or 1) of a binary storage element. The charge must be periodically refreshed.
- DRC
Design Rule Check
Software for checking the conformity of circuit pattern dimensions with respect to the Design Rules.
- DRE
Destruction and Removal Efficiency
- Driver
An element that is coupled to the output stage of a circuit in order to increase its power, current handling capability, or fan-out; for example, a clock driver is used to supply the current necessary for a clock line.
- Drive-In
The second part of a two-part diffusion. It is the part of the operation in which the diffusant deposited during predeposition is diffused further into the wafer to achieve the desired impurity profile.
- Drive-In
The second part of a two-part diffusion. It is the part of the operation in which the diffusant deposited during predeposition is diffused further into the wafer to achieve the desired impurity profile.
- DRM
Design Rules Manual
- Dry-Etch
The process that uses RF energy and gas phase chemicals to remove a specific layer during semiconductor processing.
- DS
Data Strobe
- DSA
Dual Stage Actuator
- DSC
1) Digital Still Camera
2) Disk Storage Controller
- DSCF
Dry Standard Cubic Feet
- DSCM
Dry Standard Cubic Meter
- DSG
Discrete and Standard Products Group
1) Product Group based in Catania, Grenoble and Tours who are responsible for discrete transistors and standard integrated circuits.
2) Dual-bit Split Gate
Type of EEPROM memory cell.
- DSN
Data Source Name
The name that allows a connection to an ODBC data source, such as a SQL Server database. You set this name by using the ODBC application in the Control Panel.
- DSO
Digital Storage Oscilloscope
- DSP
Digital Signal Processor
Special purpose microprocessor designed for high-speed real-time execution of digital signal processing algorithms.
- DSS
1) Decision Support System
2) Digital Satellite System
Digital satellite TV receiver system based on MPEG compression technology, developed and produced by Thomson Multimedia and marketed in the USA with RCA brand. DSS receivers are used for the Hughes DirecTV service.
- DSVD
Digital Signal Voice and Data
- DSW
Direct Step on Wafer
See Stepping Aligner
- DT
1) Down Time
The time during which an equipment is not available (prevention, failure...).
- DTAM
Distribution Total Available Market
- DTD
Document Type Description
- DTH
Direct To Home
Satellite broadcasting directly to the home, rather than to an intermediate cable TV operator.
- DTLH
Diode Transistor Logic
- DTMF
Dial Tone Multi Frequency
- DTP
Desk Top Publishing
Use of a desktop computer to typeset and layout documents. ST standard desktop publishing program is Corel Ventura.
- DTR
Data Terminal Ready
- DTS
Dock To Stock
- DTTB
Digital Terrestrial TV Broadcasting.
- DTV
1) Digital TeleVision
2) Damper TV diodes/rectifiers
- DUF
Diffusion Under epitaxial Film
- DUT
Device Under Test
In semiconductor testing the DUT is the part being tested.
- DUV
Data Under Voice
- DVB
Digital Video Broadcasting
European Standard
-
- DVB-C
Digital Video Broadcasting - Cable
- DVBIRD
Digital Video Broadcasting Integrated Receiver Decoder
- DVB-MHP
Digital Video Broadcasting - Multimedia Home Platform
Standardized platform for the European standard DVB on which software and content can be developed.
- DVB-S
Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite
- DVB-T
Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial
- DVC
Digital Video Camera - Terrestrial
- DVD
1) Digital Video Disk
2) Digital Video Decoder
3) Digital Video Destination
- DVD
Digital Versatile Disc. A new type of CD-ROM that holds a minimum of 4.7 GB (gigabytes), enough for a full-length movie.
- DVI
Digital Video Interactive
- DVM
Digital Volt-Meter
- DVTR
Digital Video Tape Recorder
- DWD
Digital WatchDog
- DTV
Digital TeleVision
- DWS
1) Drinking Water Standard
2) Direct Wafer Stepping
- DZ
Dozen
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