Silicon
material · 1824 · Industrial Revolution
A chemical element, the main material of microelectronics.
Inventor: Jöns Jacob Berzelius.
Principles and materials it uses
- Silica (sand) — is made of. Silicon is obtained by reducing silica.
Where it is used
- Image sensor — is material for. The sensor is a silicon chip with photodiodes.
- Integrated circuit — is material for. The die of a chip is made of silicon.
- MEMS — is material for. MEMS are etched in silicon.
- Solar panel — is material for. Silicon photocells.
- MOSFET — is material for. Silicon with an oxide.
- Silicon wafer — is material for. Single-crystal silicon.
- Accelerometer — is material for. Modern ones are silicon MEMS.
- Computer — is material for. The chips are silicon.
- Bipolar transistor — is material for. Later — silicon.
- Photodiode — is material for. A photodiode is silicon.
- Analog-to-digital converter — is material for. An ADC is a silicon chip.
- Zener diode — is material for. A Zener diode is silicon.
- Thyristor — is material for. A thyristor is silicon.
- ROM — is material for. ROM is a silicon chip.
- Modem — is material for. The chips are silicon.
- Server — is material for. The processors are silicon.
- Lidar — is material for. The receivers are silicon.
- Electronic calculator — is material for. The chip is silicon.
- Mainframe — is material for. The chips are silicon.
- Supercomputer — is material for. The processors are silicon.
- SRAM — is material for. SRAM is silicon.
- Minicomputer — is material for. The transistors are silicon.
- RAM — is material for. RAM is silicon.
- Engine control unit — is material for. The chips are silicon.
- Cache memory — is material for. Cache is silicon.
- Programmable logic controller — is material for. The chips are silicon.
- Router — is material for. The chips are silicon.
- CCD sensor — is material for. A CCD is silicon.
- Fingerprint scanner — is material for. The sensor is silicon.
- Microprocessor — is material for. The die is silicon.
What it is a kind of
- Semiconductor — is a kind of. Silicon is the main semiconductor material.
Things built in a similar way
- Germanium — works like. Two semiconductors: silicon displaced germanium in transistors thanks to its heat resistance.