Eli5: Why is silicon such a prevalent element in electronics?

Question

I study engineering and when learning about all types of electronics, I always hear about silicon being used. What’s so special about it?

Additionally, I just read about a new particle accelerator which is the size of a penny, which also uses a silicon channel to accelerate the particle. What’s so special about silicon?

Thanks in advance

In: Physics

Answer 1

Silicon is a semicoductor, that mean it electric conductivity can be change but doping it. Doping is introducing imputires of other element in the crystal structure. By doing that you cam mans electrical components like transistor where one electric signal can control the flow of another.

Silicon is not the only semiconductor, the first transistor was made with germanium and it was for a long time dominant.

Diffrent material have different advtages and disadvantages.

Silicon has the advantage is is very common, the second most common element in earths crust. It do not degrade a lot with high temperature, can handle a larger temperature range and higher voltages the germanium

The disadvantage is the elecon mobility is lower so slower component and smaller frequency range. It alos user more power excecially from the constant current leakage.

The result is Silicon good enough performance, lower cost and better temperature handling make it the most common option. Because it has been used a lager production and technological knowalge is build up around it.

There are other material use to like gallium arsenide use for hight power application. The semiconductor in LEDs determine the color of light it emmit and silicon emmit infrared light. So other semiconductor material are used.

Diamond has been proposed as a very good future semiconductor. It is very good at transporting heat away, a major problem in integrated circuits. It can alos handle a even larger temperature range. The problem is making large waffers to make integrated circuits on is very had.

You can compare it to iron that is not always the best metal from a technical standpoint. But is is common on earth so it is cheap and were have learned to use int in may way. But in some application were need to use something else.