What types of charges do semiconductors carry?

Semiconductors carry both negative charge carriers, known as electrons, and positive charge carriers, referred to as holes. In the context of semiconductor physics, electrons are the actual negatively charged particles that are involved in conduction when they gain enough energy to move through the material. Holes, on the other hand, are not physical particles but rather represent the absence of an electron in the semiconductor's atomic structure. When an electron moves to a higher energy state, it leaves behind a hole, which can also move as other nearby electrons fill it. This duality of charge carriers is critical to the behavior of semiconductors, allowing them to conduct electricity under certain conditions and making them essential in electronics, such as transistors and diodes.

The other options either restrict the types of charge carriers to one kind, which is not reflective of how semiconductors function, or refer to ionic charges, which are not relevant in the context of the charge carriers in typical semiconductor materials. Thus, the presence of both electrons and holes uniquely characterizes the conductive properties of semiconductors.