Note(s) [2010.01]

This subclass covers :
- electric solid state devices which are not covered by any other subclass and details thereof, and includes: semiconductor devices adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching; semiconductor devices sensitive to radiation; electric solid state devices using thermoelectric, superconductive, piezo-electric, electrostrictive, magnetostrictive, galvano-magnetic or bulk negative resistance effects and integrated circuit devices;
- photoresistors, magnetic field dependent resistors, field effect resistors, capacitors with potential-jump barrier, resistors with potential-jump barrier or surface barrier, incoherent light emitting diodes and thin-film or thick-film circuits;
- processes and apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of such devices, except where such processes relate to single-step processes for which provision exists elsewhere.
In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
- "wafer" means a slice of semiconductor or crystalline substrate material, which can be modified by impurity diffusion (doping), ion implantation or epitaxy, and whose active surface can be processed into arrays of discrete components or integrated circuits;
- "solid state body" means the body of material within which, or at the surface of which, the physical effects characteristic of the device occur. In thermoelectric devices, it includes all materials in the current path.
Regions in or on the body of the device (other than the solid state body itself), which exert an influence on the solid state body electrically, are considered to be "electrodes" whether or not an external electrical connection is made thereto. An electrode may include several portions and the term includes metallic regions which exert influence on the solid state body through an insulating region (e.g. capacitive coupling) and inductive coupling arrangements to the body. The dielectric region in a capacitive arrangement is regarded as part of the electrode. In arrangements including several portions, only those portions which exert an influence on the solid state body by virtue of their shape, size, or disposition or the material of which they are formed are considered to be part of the electrode. The other portions are considered to be "arrangements for conducting electric current to or from the solid state body" or "interconnections between solid state components formed in or on a common substrate", i.e. leads;
- "device" means an electric circuit element; where an electric circuit element is one of a plurality of elements formed in or on a common substrate it is referred to as a "component";
- "complete device" is a device in its fully assembled state which may or may not require further treatment, e.g. electroforming, before it is ready for use but which does not require the addition of further structural units;
- "parts" includes all structural units which are included in a complete device;
- "container" is an enclosure forming part of the complete device and is essentially a solid construction in which the body of the device is placed, or which is formed around the body without forming an intimate layer thereon. An enclosure which consists of one or more layers formed on the body and in intimate contact therewith is referred to as an "encapsulation";
- "integrated circuit" is a device where all components, e.g. diodes, resistors, are built up on a common substrate and form the device including interconnections between the components;
- "assembly" of a device is the building up of the device from its component constructional units and includes the provision of fillings in containers.
In this subclass, both the process or apparatus for the manufacture or treatment of a device and the device itself are classified, whenever both of these are described sufficiently to be of interest.
Attention is drawn to Note (3) after the title of section C, which Note indicates to which version of the periodic table of chemical elements the IPC refers. In this subclass, the Periodic System used is the 8 group system indicated by Roman numerals in the Periodic Table thereunder.