Electronics industry

Last updated
Workers in an electronics factory in Shenzhen, China Electronics factory in Shenzhen.jpg
Workers in an electronics factory in Shenzhen, China

The electronics industry is the economic sector that produces electronic devices. It emerged in the 20th century and is today one of the largest global industries. Contemporary society uses a vast array of electronic devices that are built in factories operated by the industry, which are almost always partially automated.

Contents

Electronic products are primarily assembled from metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) transistors and integrated circuits, the latter principally by photolithography and often on printed circuit boards.[ citation needed ]

Circuit boards are assembled largely using surface-mount technology, which typically involves the automated placement of electronic parts on circuit boards using pick-and-place machines. Surface-mount technology and pick-and-place machines make it possible to assemble large numbers of circuit boards at high speed.

The industry's size, the use of toxic materials, and the difficulty of recycling have led to a series of problems with electronic waste. International regulation and environmental legislation have been developed to address the issues.[ citation needed ]

The electronics industry consists of various sectors. The central driving force behind the entire electronics industry is the semiconductor industry sector, [1] which has annual sales of over $481 billion as of 2018. [2]

History

The electric power industry began in the 19th century, which led to the development of inventions such as gramaphones, radio transmitters and receivers, and television. The vacuum tube was used for early electronic devices, before later being largely supplanted by semiconductor components as the fundamental technology of the industry. [3]

The first working transistor, a point-contact transistor, was invented by John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain at Bell Laboratories in 1947, which led to significant research in the field of solid-state semiconductors during the 1950s. [4] This led to the emergence of the home entertainment consumer electronics industry starting in the 1950s, largely due to the efforts of Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (now Sony) in successfully commercializing transistor technology for a mass market, with affordable transistor radios and then transistorized television sets. [5]

The industry employs large numbers of electronics engineers and electronics technicians to design, develop, test, manufacture, install, and repair electrical and electronic equipment such as communication equipment, medical monitoring devices, navigational equipment, and computers. Common parts manufactured are connectors, system components, cell systems, and computer accessories, and these are made of alloy steel, copper, brass, stainless steel, plastic, steel tubing, and other materials. [6] [7]

Consumer electronics

Consumer electronics are products intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver. Later products include personal computers, telephones, MP3 players, cell phones, smart phones, audio equipment, televisions, calculators, GPS automotive electronics, digital cameras and players and recorders using video media such as DVDs, VCRs or camcorders. Increasingly these products have become based on digital technologies, and have largely merged with the computer industry in what is increasingly referred to as the consumerization of information technology.

The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) projected the value of annual consumer electronics sales in the United States to be over $170 billion in 2008. [8] Global annual consumer electronic sales are expected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2020. [9]

Manufacturing

Effects on the environment

Electrical waste contains hazardous, valuable, and scarce materials, and up to 60 elements can be found in complex electronics.

The United States and China are the world leaders in producing electronic waste, each tossing away about 3 million tons each year. [10] China also remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries. [10] The UNEP estimate that the amount of e-waste being produced – including mobile phones and computers – could rise by as much as 500 percent over the next decade in some developing countries, such as India. [11]

Increasing environmental awareness has led to changes in electronics design to reduce or eliminate toxic materials and reduce energy consumption. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) were released by the European Commission in 2002.

Largest electronics industry sectors

Industry sectorAnnual revenueYearRef
Tech industry (high tech)$4,800,000,000,0002018 [12]
Mobile technology $3,900,000,000,0002018 [13]
Consumer electronics $1,712,900,000,0002016 [9]
Semiconductor industry $481,000,000,0002018 [2]
Television broadcasting services$407,700,000,0002017 [14]
Power electronics $216,000,000,0002011 [15]
TFT liquid-crystal displays (TFT LCD)$141,000,000,0002017 [16]
Video games $137,900,000,0002018 [17]
Home video film industry $55,700,000,0002018 [18]

See also

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronics</span> Branch of physics and electrical engineering

    Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other electrically charged particles. Electronics is a subfield of electrical engineering, but it differs from it in that it focuses on using active devices such as transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits to control and amplify the flow of electric current and to convert it from one form to another, such as from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) or from analog signals to digital signals. Electronics also encompasses the fields of microelectronics, nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and quantum electronics, which deal with the fabrication and application of electronic devices at microscopic, nanoscopic, optical, and quantum scales.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Integrated circuit</span> Electronic circuit formed on a small, flat piece of semiconductor material

    An integrated circuit, also known as a microchip or IC, is a small electronic device made up of multiple interconnected electronic components such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. These components are etched onto a small piece of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Integrated circuits are used in a wide range of electronic devices, including computers, smartphones, and televisions, to perform various functions such as processing and storing information. They have greatly impacted the field of electronics by enabling device miniaturization and enhanced functionality.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Microelectronics</span> Subfield of electronics

    Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller. These devices are typically made from semiconductor materials. Many components of a normal electronic design are available in a microelectronic equivalent. These include transistors, capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes and (naturally) insulators and conductors can all be found in microelectronic devices. Unique wiring techniques such as wire bonding are also often used in microelectronics because of the unusually small size of the components, leads and pads. This technique requires specialized equipment and is expensive.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Instruments</span> American semiconductor designer and manufacturer

    Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American information technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog chips and embedded processors, which account for more than 80% of its revenue. TI also produces TI digital light processing technology and education technology products including calculators, microcontrollers, and multi-core processors. The company holds 45,000 patents worldwide as of 2016.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairchild Semiconductor</span> American integrated circuit manufacturer

    Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. was an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1957 as a division of Fairchild Camera and Instrument by the "traitorous eight" who defected from Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. It became a pioneer in the manufacturing of transistors and of integrated circuits. Schlumberger bought the firm in 1979 and sold it to National Semiconductor in 1987; Fairchild was spun off as an independent company again in 1997. In September 2016, Fairchild was acquired by ON Semiconductor.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Consumer electronics</span> Electronic products for everyday use

    Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. These products are usually referred to as black goods due to many products being housed in black or dark casings. This term is used to distinguish them from "white goods" which are meant for housekeeping tasks, such as washing machines and refrigerators, although nowadays, these would be considered black goods, some of these being connected to the Internet. In British English, they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers. In the 2010s, this distinction is absent in large big box consumer electronics stores, which sell entertainment, communication and home office devices, light fixtures and appliances, including the bathroom type.

    The semiconductor industry is the aggregate of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconductor devices became a viable business. The industry's annual semiconductor sales revenue has since grown to over $481 billion, as of 2018.

    Fabless manufacturing is the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing their fabrication to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry. These foundries are typically, but not exclusively, located in the United States, China, and Taiwan. Fabless companies can benefit from lower capital costs while concentrating their research and development resources on the end market. Some fabless companies and pure play foundries may offer integrated-circuit design services to third parties.

    General Instrument (GI) was an American electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, Pennsylvania, specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. They formed in New York City in 1923 as an electronics manufacturer. During the 1950s, the company began a series of acquisitions under the direction of Moses Shapiro. Among the more notable purchases was General Transistor in 1960, which led to GI becoming a major producer of transistors, and later, integrated circuits (ICs). By the late 1960s, the company was mostly depending on sales into the television industry, which was further bolstered by the 1967 purchase of Jerrold Electronics.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Dummer</span> 20th-century English electronics engineer

    Geoffrey William Arnold Dummer, MBE (1945), C. Eng., IEE Premium Award, FIEEE, MIEE, USA Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm was an English electronics engineer and consultant, who is credited as being the first person to popularise the concepts that ultimately led to the development of the integrated circuit, commonly called the microchip, in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Dummer passed the first radar trainers and became a pioneer of reliability engineering at the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Malvern in the 1940s. Dummer studied electrical engineering at Manchester College of Technology starting in the early 1930s. By the early 1940s he was working at the Telecommunications Research Establishment in Malvern.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Image sensor</span> Device that converts images into electronic signals

    An image sensor or imager is a sensor that detects and conveys information used to form an image. It does so by converting the variable attenuation of light waves into signals, small bursts of current that convey the information. The waves can be light or other electromagnetic radiation. Image sensors are used in electronic imaging devices of both analog and digital types, which include digital cameras, camera modules, camera phones, optical mouse devices, medical imaging equipment, night vision equipment such as thermal imaging devices, radar, sonar, and others. As technology changes, electronic and digital imaging tends to replace chemical and analog imaging.

    A transistor is a semiconductor device with at least three terminals for connection to an electric circuit. In the common case, the third terminal controls the flow of current between the other two terminals. This can be used for amplification, as in the case of a radio receiver, or for rapid switching, as in the case of digital circuits. The transistor replaced the vacuum-tube triode, also called a (thermionic) valve, which was much larger in size and used significantly more power to operate. The first transistor was successfully demonstrated on December 23, 1947, at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Bell Labs was the research arm of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). The three individuals credited with the invention of the transistor were William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain. The introduction of the transistor is often considered one of the most important inventions in history.

    Orbotech Ltd. a subsidiary of KLA Corporation and a technology company used in the manufacturing of consumer and industrial products throughout the electronics and adjacent industries. The company providing electronics reading, writing, and connecting solutions used by manufacturers of printed circuit boards, flat panel displays, advanced packaging, micro-electro-mechanical systems and other electronic components. The company is headquartered in Yavne, Israel and operates in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific.

    Monocrystalline silicon, more often called single-crystal silicon, in short mono c-Si or mono-Si, is the base material for silicon-based discrete components and integrated circuits used in virtually all modern electronic equipment. Mono-Si also serves as a photovoltaic, light-absorbing material in the manufacture of solar cells.

    Household goods are goods and products used within households. They are the tangible and movable personal property placed in the rooms of a house, such as a bed or refrigerator.

    Chenming Calvin Hu is a Taiwanese-American electronic engineer who specializes in microelectronics. He is TSMC Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the electronic engineering and computer science department of the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. In 2009, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers described him as a “microelectronics visionary … whose seminal work on metal-oxide semiconductor MOS reliability and device modeling has had enormous impact on the continued scaling of electronic devices”.

    This article details the history of electronics engineering. Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (1972) defines electronics as "The science and technology of the conduction of electricity in a vacuum, a gas, or a semiconductor, and devices based thereon".

    The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to electronics:

    The Chinese semiconductor industry, including integrated circuit design and manufacturing, forms a major part of mainland China's information technology industry.

    References

    1. "Annual Semiconductor Sales Increase 21.6 Percent, Top $400 Billion for First Time". Semiconductor Industry Association . 5 February 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
    2. 1 2 "Semiconductors – the Next Wave" (PDF). Deloitte. April 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
    3. International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 14. St. James Press. 1996 via FundingUniverse.
    4. Manuel, Castells (1996). The information age : economy, society and culture. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN   978-0631215943. OCLC   43092627.
    5. Hagiwara, Yoshiaki (2001). "Microelectronics for Home Entertainment". In Oklobdzija, Vojin G. (ed.). The Computer Engineering Handbook. CRC Press. p. 41-1. ISBN   978-0-8493-0885-7.
    6. "Industries and Markets Archived 2020-04-12 at the Wayback Machine ", Bracalente Manufacturing Group, Retrieved April 26, 2016.
    7. "5g mifi supplier", Kingtop mobile hotspots, Retrieved April 26, 2016.
    8. CEA: Industry Statistics, archived from the original on 2009-04-21
    9. 1 2 "Global Consumer Electronics Market to Reach US$ 2.9 Trillion by 2020 - Persistence Market Research". PR Newswire . Persistence Market Research. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
    10. 1 2 "Urgent need to prepare developing countries for surges in E-Waste". Archived from the original on 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
    11. Section, United Nations News Service (2010-02-22). "As e-waste mountains soar, UN urges smart technologies to protect health". United Nations-DPI/NMD - UN News Service Section. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
    12. "IT Industry Outlook 2019". CompTIA. January 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
    13. "The Mobile Economy". GSMA Intelligence. 2019. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
    14. "Global Television Broadcasting Services Market Worth US$ 753.1 Billion With Key Industry Players A&E Television, BBC, CBS Interactive, CANAL+, AT&T, Channel 4, RTL Group, CenturyLink, 21st Century Fox". MarketWatch . February 14, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-10-14. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
    15. "Power Electronics: A Strategy for Success" (PDF). Government of the United Kingdom . Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. October 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2019. Power Electronics is a £135 billion direct global market
    16. "TFT-LCD Market Size, Share, Growth and Global Forecast to 2023". Research Cosmos. BIS Report Consulting. December 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
    17. "Global Games Market Revenues 2018". Newzoo. 30 April 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
    18. America, Motion Picture Association of (March 21, 2019). "New Report: Global Theatrical and Home Entertainment Market Reached $96.8 Billion in 2018". PR Newswire . Retrieved 14 October 2019.