Term: intrinsic semiconductor
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08833

Definition:
Semiconductor in which mobile charge carriers are generated solely by thermal excitation of electrons.

Notes:
1) Intrinsic semiconductor is free of dopants, so that it has no energy states in the bandgap.
2) Pure conjugated polymers such as poly(ethene-1,2-diyl) or poly(pyrrole-2,5-diyl) and other polymers with delocalized valence electrons such as polysilanes are examples of intrinsic semiconductors.

Related Term: poly(ethene-1,2-diyl) (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08890).
Related Term: conjugated polymers (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08785).
Related Term: polysilanes (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08899).
Related Term: charge carriers (http://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08775).

Source: PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 36 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Citation: 'intrinsic semiconductor' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.08833

License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms.

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