Final answer:
Materials with electrical characteristics that fall between insulators and conductors are called semiconductors. They have intermediate resistivity and their conductivity can be controlled by impurities, temperature, and electric field, making them crucial in electronics.
Step-by-step explanation:
The materials with electrical characteristics that fall between those of insulators and conductors are considered semiconductors. Semiconductors possess intermediate resistivity compared to conductors and insulators. While conductors have low resistivity and large free charge densities allowing charges to move freely, insulators have high resistivity with charges bound to atoms, restricting their movement. Semiconductors are unique as they feature fewer free charges than conductors but can increase the number of charge carriers depending on various factors such as impurities (doping), temperature, and applied electric field.
These properties allow semiconductors to be used extensively in modern electronics, as they can be tuned to act both as insulators and as conductors under different conditions, enabling the creation of electronic components like diodes and transistors. Silicon is one of the most commonly used semiconductor materials. The ability to control the electrical properties of semiconductors is fundamental in the manufacturing of computer chips and other electronic devices.