Silicon
hideSilicon (pronounced /ˈsɪlɨkən/ or /ˈsɪlɨkɒn/, Latin: silicium) is the most common metalloid. It is a chemical element, which has the symbol Si and atomic number 14. The atomic mass is 28.0855. A tetravalent metalloid, silicon is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon. As the eighth most common element in the universe by mass, silicon very rarely occurs as the pure free element in nature, but is more widely distributed in dusts, planetoids and planets as various forms of silicon dioxide (silica) or silicates. On Earth, silicon is the second most abundant element (after oxygen) in the crust, making up 25.7% of the crust by mass.
Silicon has many industrial uses. It is the principal component of most semiconductor devices, most importantly integrated circuits or microchips. Silicon is widely used in semiconductors because it remains a semiconductor at higher temperatures than the semiconductor germanium and because its native oxide is easily grown in a furnace and forms a better semiconductor/dielectric interface than any other material.
In the form of silica and silicates, silicon forms useful glasses, cements, and ceramics. It is also a constituent of silicones, a class-name for various synthetic plastic substances made of silicon, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, often confused with silicon itself.
Silicon is an essential element in biology, although only tiny traces of it appear to be required by animals. It is much more important to the metabolism of plants, particularly many grasses, and silicic acid (a type of silica) forms the basis of the striking array of protective shells of the microscopic diatoms.
For more information about Silicon, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with silicon
Windows 7 debut a hit: NPD
Nov 06, 2009 |
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Microsoft's new-generation Windows 7 operating system hit the ground running, with US sales in its opening days blasting past those of its Vista predecessor, according to NPD Group.
Materials scientists find better model for glass creation
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Harvard materials scientists have come up with what they believe is a new way to model the formation of glasses, a type of amorphous solid that includes common window glass.
Compressing photonic signals for greater bandwidth
Nov 03, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (5) |
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Cornell researchers have developed an ingenious method to time-compress optical signals. The process could enable optical communication systems to carry many more bits per second or could also be used to generate ...
Yeast in a shell: Coating individual living yeast cells with silicon dioxide
Nov 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Our breakfast egg is a peculiarity of nature: a single cell protected by a thin mineral layer. Apart from a number of tiny radiolaria and diatoms, individual cells normally do not have a hard shell. Korean ...
575-million-dollar fund targets technology startups
Nov 02, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock Partners said Monday it has 575 million dollars in a new fund to back promising technology startups.
Digital 'plaster' for monitoring vital signs undergoes first clinical trials
Medicine & Health / Medications
Nov 02, 2009 |
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A wireless digital 'plaster' that can monitor vital signs continuously and remotely is being tried out with patients and healthy volunteers at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, in a new clinical trial ...
Porphyrin Dimers Increase Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
Oct 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Porphyrins are most commonly thought of as the pigment in red blood cells, but now scientists have found that porphyrins can also be used to increase the efficiency of an inexpensive type ...
At Google, Chu announces grants for 'out-of-the-box' global warming projects
Oct 27, 2009 |
3 / 5 (2) |
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Fulfilling a campaign pledge to tap Silicon Valley innovation to combat global warming, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Monday at Google's headquarters the first federal grants for high-risk, high-reward clean-tech ...
Yahoo! shuts down GeoCities
Oct 26, 2009 |
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Yahoo! on Monday closed GeoCities, a free Web hosting service that it purchased for over three billion dollars at the height of the dot-com boom.
Young entrepreneurs get tips from Facebook-Twitter
Oct 25, 2009 |
3 / 5 (2) |
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Facebook and Twitter stars shared lessons learned with young entrepreneurs aspiring to be the next hot technology firm.
Researchers create molecular diode
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Recently, at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, N.J. Tao and collaborators have found a way to make a key electrical component on a phenomenally tiny scale. Their single-molecule diode is described ...
Rare economic espionage case going to trial
Oct 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Two men accused of stealing computer chip blueprints - and trying to tap the Chinese government to help launch a startup built on the contraband - are becoming the first defendants charged with economic espionage ...
Caltech scientists create robot surrogate for blind persons in testing visual prostheses
Technology / Computer Sciences
Oct 19, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
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Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a remote-controlled robot that is able to simulate the "visual" experience of a blind person who has been implanted with a visual ...
Carbon nanotubes may cheaply harvest sunlight
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Oct 19, 2009 |
3.4 / 5 (9) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new alternative energy technology relies on the element most associated with climate change: carbon.
Windows 7 to salvage Vista 'train wreck'
Oct 18, 2009 |
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Microsoft releases Windows 7 to the world on Thursday as the US software giant tries to regain its stride after an embarrassing stumble with the previous generation operating system Vista.
