Section
 

Glossary: T

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.

  • 2,4,5-T
    Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid
  • T
    Ton
  • T84
    A test carried out on silicon wafers after processing. The characteristics of standard test structures on the wafer are measured to determine if the wafer has been processed correctly. This provides immediate feedback about possible problems before the dice on the wafer are tested.
  • T&F
    Test(ing) and Finish(ing)
    The final stages of semiconductor manufacture where parts are tested, plated, symbolized and so on. Also known as "back-end" in the industry slang.
  • TA
    1) Technical Application
    2) Traffic Announcement Feature of the Radio Data System (RDS). Radio stations providing traffic information transmit a Traffic Program (TP) identification code all the time. When traffic announcements are broadcast the TA code is sent too. When this is received a car radio normally selects the tuner and raises the volume to a present level.
    3) Travel Authorization
  • TAB
    Tape Automated Bonding
    A process utilizing metal conductors on beam tape, which are mass bonded to the IC die in a single operation.
  • TAFE
    1) Tape Analog Front-End
    2) Telephone Analog Front End
  • TAM
    1) Total Available Market
    The entire accessible market for a given product (see also SAM: Served Available Market).
    2) Tool Available Market
  • TAP
    Technical Assistance Program
  • TAR
    Travel Authorization Request
    Standard ST form that must be completed and approved before an employee can travel on company business.
  • Target
    The source material for a sputtering process.
  • TAS
    Thermal Analysis System
  • TBA
    To Be Advised
  • TBM
    Time Based Management
    A comprehensive management strategy focusing on improvements through reduction of cycle-time.
  • TBT
    Tributyltin
  • TC
    1) Total Carbon
    2) Temperature Coefficient
  • TCA
    1,1,1-trichioroethane
  • TCAD
    Technology Computer-Aided Design
    Computer simulation of process and device.
  • TCB
    Tetrachlorobenzene
  • TCDBF (or TCDF)
    Tetrachlorodibenzofuran
  • TCDD
    Tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin
    An aromatic halogenated hydrocarbon that is one of the most toxic compounds known to man. It is produced during the synthesis of the precursor chemical used in the manufacture of trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T), a herbicide. The compound is toxic to liver and kidney functions and has been shown to induce a variety of tumors in animals. Adverse effects on the immune system of mammals have also been noted. Chloracne (a specific type of acne) is the most common symptom resulting from human exposure. TCDD has been involved in a number of well-publicized environmental cases, the most famous of which is contamination of the herbicide mixture known as agent orange used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. Also referred to dibenzo-para-dioxin. Although it is but one of a large family of dioxins, it is often simply referred to as "dioxin".
  • TCDF (or TCDBF)
    Tetrachlorodibenzofuran
    A polyhalogenated hydrocarbon found as a contaminant in commercial preparations of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). This contaminant may be responsible for some of the adverse effects of PCBs. The molecule is very similar in chemical structure to tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) and is frequently referred to as dibenzodioxin. The toxicity, potency, and biological effects are very similar to those of TCDD.
  • TCE
    1) Thomson Consumer Electronics
    Old name for THOMSON Multimedia.
    2) Trichloroethylene
    A solvent used for cleaning parts.
  • TCLP
    Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure
  • TCM
    Total Chemical Management
  • TCO
    Traceability COde
    Code marked on each piece produced by ST to identify the production sites, the production period and the production lot.
  • TCOB
    Taking Care Of Business
  • TCP
    Trichloropropane
  • TCP/IP
    Transmission Control Protocol/Internet (Interface) Protocol
    This is the standards for communications between computers adopted for the Internet.
  • TCP/IP
    Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol UA User Agent
  • TCRI
    Toxic Chemical Release Inventory
  • TD
    1) Toxic Dose
    2) Tunnel Diode
  • TDD
    Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf
  • TDS
    Total Dissolved Solids
  • Te
    Metric Tons
  • Technology
    In ST this work is also used to mean
    manufacturing process.
  • TEG
    Tetraethylene Glycol
  • TEI
    Test Equipment Inventory and Investment
  • Telepass
    Pioneering toll collection system developed by Italy's Autostrade SpA. Cars pass through tollgates without stopping. A microwave radio installation on the gate communicates with a small electronic device in each vehicle, identifying the user and determining the amount to be billed. ST contributed to the development of the first system and supplied most of the components.
  • TEM
    1) Transverse ElectroMagnetic (wave)
    2) Transmission electron microscopy
  • TEP
    Tons Equivalent Petroleum
  • Teradyne
    US manufacturer of automatic test equipment widely used in ST.
  • TES
    Travel Expense Statement
  • Test jig
    The special hardware used to interface an automatic test machine to the product being tested. For each product type the engineering department creates a test jig and writes specific test software.
  • TF
    Transfer Function
  • TFBGA
    Thin Ffine pitch Ball Grid Array
    Height 1.2 max, pitch less than 1.0 mm.
  • TFD
    Thin Film Detector
  • TFEL
    Thin Film Electro Luminescent
  • TFT
    Thin Film Transistor
  • Tg
    Glass Transition Temperature
    Temperature where the expansion rate of a material increases.
  • TGAI
    Technical Grade of the Active Ingredient
  • TGO
    Total Gross Output
  • TGP
    Technical Grade Product
  • TGM
    Total Gas Management
  • T/H
    Track and Hold
  • THB
    Temperature Humidity Bias
    A reliability test for semiconductor devices. Parts to be tested are operated in a high temperature, high humidity environment, simulating years of normal use in a few hundreds of hours.
  • THC
    Total Hydrocarbons
  • THD
    Total Harmonic Distortion
  • Thermal Compression Bonding
    A method of wire bonding that does not use an intermediary metal or melting, but rather the plastic flow of materials resulting from the combination of heat and pressure. Also called
    thermocompression bonding.
  • Thermal Diffusion
    See Diffusion
  • Thick-Film Process
    A hybrid microelectronic process where conductors, insulators and passive components are screened from special pastes onto a substrate. This process is less expensive than the thin-film process, which uses depositions and photolithography techniques to define conductors, etc.
  • Thin-Film Process
    The use of deposited films of conductive or insulating material, which may be patterned to form electronic components and conductors on a substrate, or used as insulation material between successive layers of components.
  • THMs
    Trihalomethanes
  • Threshold
    The input voltage at which the output logic level changes state.
  • THz
    TetraHertz
  • TIC
    Total Inorganic Carbon
  • TIG
    Tungsten Inert Gas
  • Timekeeper
    ST Trademark for NVRAM with battery and RTC.
  • TIN
    Temporary INstruction
  • TINA
    Telecommunication Integrated Network Architecture
  • TIS
    Traceability Information System
  • TISE
    Take It Somewhere Else
  • TJ
    Terajoule
  • TLV
    Threshold Limit Value
    Airborne concentration of a gas or particle to which most workers can be exposed on a daily basis for a working lifetime without suffering adverse effects.
  • TLV-CTLV
    Ceiling
  • TLV-STEL
    TLV-Short Term Exposure Limit
  • TLV-TWA
    TLV-Time Weighted Average
  • TM
    Transverse Magnetic (wave)
  • TM
    Technology Modeling
    ST team working in TCAD.
  • TMDL
    Total Maximum Daily Load
  • TMM
    Short for THOMSON Multimedia
  • TMP
    Total Productivity Maintenance
  • TMS
    Test Monitoring System
  • TNT
    Trinitrotoluene
  • TO
    Transistor Outline
  • TOC Total Organic Carbon
  • TOD
    Theoretical Oxygen Demand
  • TO Package
    Transistor Outline
    Standard mechanical packages used primarily for discrete transistors and low pin-count ICs.
  • TOAD
    Turn On A Dime
  • Toa Payoh
    One ST's plants in Singapore, which houses assembly and testing departments.
  • TOC
    Table Of Contents
  • Torr
    The pressure exerted by 1 mm of mercury. Atmospheric pressure is equal to 760mm of mercury.
  • TOPS
    Team Oriented Problem Solving
    A specific methodology developed by Ford, following the Ford defined 8D (8 disciplines), to resolve problems permanently by efficiently identifying the root cause(s) and implementing preventive changes.
  • TouchChip(R)
    ST's silicon fingerprint sensor.
  • Total cycle time
    The total time from customer need identification to delivery; new product concept and design to cost effective production; new business identification to routine operations.
  • TOX
    Tetradichloroxylene
  • TOXLINE
    Toxicology Information on Line
  • TP
    1) Toa Payoh
    2) Test Point
    3) Transport Packet
    4) Traffic Program
    In Radio Data System terminology, a radio program where traffic information is available.
    5) Technical Product
  • TPA
    Telecommunication and Peripherals/Automotive Groups
    New name for ST's Dedicated Product Group since December 1998.
  • TPH
    Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon
  • TPI
    Tracks Per Inch
  • TPM
    Total Productive Maintenance
    Total productive maintenance aims at maximizing equipment effectiveness. The objective of TPM is to maximize MTBA (mean time between assists) and achieve zero unscheduled down time.
  • TPQFP
    Thin Plastic Quad Flat Package
  • TPY
    Tons Per Year
  • TQC
    Total Quality Control
    Set of methods and tools organized as an overall strategy designed to mobilize the entire manufacturing organization in order to satisfy the customer's implicit or explicit needs at the lowest cost.
  • TQE
    Total Quality Excellence
    Ford supplier qualification audit.
  • TQFP
    Thin Quad Flat Pack
  • TQI
    Tools for Quality Improvement
  • TQL
    Tolerated Quality Level
    In a sampling plan, the level of quality that corresponds to a fairly poor acceptance probability.
  • TQM
    Total Quality Management
    TQM is a style of business management which integrates quality assurance in its core. It fosters Quality-development, Quality-maintenance and Quality-improvement efforts of all groups in an organization.
  • TR
    1) Tape & Reel
    Technique for distribution of semiconductor devices that is particularly suitable for automatic placing machines.
    2) Transient Response
  • Transistor
    An active semiconductor device with three electrodes that may be either an amplifier or a switch.
  • Transputer
    Highly original reduced instruction set microprocessor designed by Inmos.
  • TRI
    Toxic Release Inventory
  • TRIS
    Toxic Chemical Release Inventory System
  • Troposphere
    The first layer of the atmosphere, that closest to the surface of the Earth. The air surrounding the Earth consists of distinct zones, distinguished by the temperature gradient within each layer. The troposphere extends up about 16 to 18 km. in tropical regions and about 8 to 10 km in high latitudes. The air temperature in this layer decreases more or less continuously with increasing altitude. The troposphere contains about four-fifths of the mass of the atmosphere. Most of the air pollutants which get emitted at the Earth's surface are chemically broken down and/or deposited out in the troposphere.
    Only few chemicals (notably the chlorofluorocarbons) are chemically stable enough to resist breakdown in the troposphere and eventually enter the layer above it, the stratosphere.
  • TRS
    Total Reduced Sulphur
  • TRU waste
    Transuranic waste
  • Truth Table
    All the combinations of possible states of the inputs and outputs of a circuit. It tabulates what will happen at the output for a given input combination.
  • TS
    1) Time Sharing
    2) Total Solids
  • TSCA
    Toxic Substances Control Act
  • TSD
    Treatment, Storage, or Disposal
  • TSDB
    Technical Support Data Base
  • TSDF
    Treatment, Storage, or Disposal Facility
  • TSG
    TQM Support Group
  • TSOP
    Thin Small Outline Package
    A thin SOIC or SOJ package.
  • TSP
    Total Suspended Particulate
  • TSS
    Total Suspended Solids
  • TSSOP
    Thin Small Shrink Outline Package
  • TTHMs
    Total trihalomethanes
  • TTFN
    Ta Ta For Now
  • TTL
    1) Transistor to Transitor Logic A bipolar technology where a transistor output is connected directly (rather than through a resistor or diode) to a transistor input of the next stage.
    2) total
  • TTM
    Time to Market
    The instant on which a product should be ready to be sampled to a customer.
  • TTO
    Total Toxic Organics
  • TTV
    Time to Volume
    The time between the first working silicon and volume.
  • Tube
    The quartz tube inserted into the furnace that becomes the process chamber for diffusion and oxidation.
  • Turn-On Time
    The time required for an output to turn on (sink current, to ground output, to go to 0 volt). It is the propagation time of an appropriate input signal to cause the output to go to 0 volt.
  • Turn-Off Time
    Same as Turn-On Time except the output stops sinking, current goes off, and/or goes to a high voltage level (logic "1").
  • TV
    TeleVision
  • TVS
    Thermal Video System
  • TW
    Terawatts
  • TWA
    Time-Weighted Average
  • TWY
    Traveling Ware Tube
  • TX
    Transmit