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What is a Semiconductor Fuse?

By Christy Bieber
Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 16,795
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A semiconductor fuse is an element of any circuit located within a semiconductor device that protects the semiconductor’s circuitry from either short circuiting or overloading. The semiconductor fuse is employed as a means of creating a barrier to either of these counterproductive energies. The fuse is important because overloading or short circuits can damage a semiconductor device’s circuitry beyond repair.

A short circuit can cause the electrical components in a semiconductor circuit to overwork themselves in an attempt to correctly power the device. An overload, on the other hand, can damage the circuit by making the components overheat upon being supplied too much power for their tolerance. Either of these conditions is not only harmful to the device, but can also be dangerous in that it may start fires.

A semiconductor fuse works by allowing the flow of energy provided to the circuit through the power source to complete the run of the circuit and properly power the device. If either a short circuit or a power signal overload should occur, the semiconductor fuse would give out to the energy transfer. This would crack the filament inside the fuse and sever the connection of the power source through the circuit.

With the power signal not being permitted to pass the broken or “blown” fuse, the circuit remains protected from the harmful condition. When this occurs, rather than having to replace an entire device, the user is able to change the blown semiconductor fuse for one that works. The new fuse will once again allow a stable power signal to be delivered to the circuit.

Almost any device that is considered a semiconductor, whether it’s a crystalline semiconductor or an organic semiconductor, must contain the right fusing to properly engage the energy source. A semiconductor is a unit of circuitry that stabilizes and maintains a broad range of electrical signals. For example, it allows the use of silicon microchips in electronic devices that require fast, accurate delivery of different electrical signals.

The integration of semiconductor fuses within semiconductor circuits requires an exacting process. Installation is usually performed in clean rooms that prevent any form of static electricity from impacting the fuse. The environment also prevents the silicon chip from receiving any type of charge during the manufacturing process, since such a charge could prematurely blow or short circuit the chip and the fuse before the chip can even be utilized in its intended manner.

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Discussion Comments
By anon327587 — On Mar 29, 2013

Is the semiconductor fuse polarity sensitive?

By allenJo — On Dec 06, 2011

@miriam98 - I believe that you can replace the fuse. The fuse itself contains both the casing and the shell that we normally call a fuse. I think the casing is secured and cannot be replaced (and you shouldn’t need to).

The real fuse is the thing inside of it that contains the wiring or whatever that gets blown out. You should be able to remove this and replace it with no problem.

I’ve never had to do it, but it would make sense; otherwise you would have to replace the whole circuit (buy a new device) and there’s no point in that in my opinion.

By miriam98 — On Dec 05, 2011

@Charred - That’s okay for fuses around the house; but I am not clear what you do with semiconductor fuses if they went out.

From the article it appears that they are tightly integrated with the circuit using a precise manufacturing process in a laboratory environment. If these fuses go out, can you simply pull them out and replace them with another fuse?

Are these fuse types plug and play devices or things that are part of the circuit design?

By Charred — On Dec 04, 2011

I am very grateful for electrical fuses in our house. On a couple of occasions we had an electrical spike that ended up shutting down the power. All we had to do was replace a couple of fuses to get everything working again.

When I think about all the appliances that I had connected at the time, including things like televisions and computers, and how much it would have cost to replace them without a fuse, the fuse box is life saver indeed.

It’s kind of like a surge protector for your computer, except the fuse provides an outlet to a fuse box to cut off the electrical current.

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