Silicon steel is a steel with added silicon, increasing its electrical resistance and magnetic field penetration while reducing hysteresis loss. It’s used in electrical applications and can have up to 6.5% silicon. Heat treatment controls grain size and orientation, and laminations are stacked to create the core of electromagnetic devices. Silicon steel, often called electrical […]
Silicon is a natural element found in sand and used for semiconductors, while silicone is a man-made substance derived from silicon used for industrial applications, cookware, and medical implants. Silicone is non-toxic and flexible, but controversial in breast augmentation surgery. While it may seem that the words silicone and silicone can be used interchangeably, there […]
Silicon diodes are semiconductors that allow electric current to flow in one direction while limiting it in another. They are made by adding small amounts of other elements to pure silicon, creating a pn junction. The diode has a forward bias of 0.7 volts and can protect other devices in a circuit. Zener diodes can […]
Silicon Valley, located south of San Francisco Bay, has been a hub of technology, electronics, and science since the early 1900s. The region includes cities such as San Jose, Cupertino, and Palo Alto, and was home to the first major technology company, Hewlett-Packard. The area’s high concentration of universities and colleges attracted numerous students and […]
There are three categories of thin film silicon deposition: chemical reaction, physical vapor, and hybrid processes. Physical vapor deposition involves evaporating material from a source and transferring it into thin-film silicon layers on a target substrate. Chemical vapor deposition is more accurate but slower and uses toxic gases. Each method has its own benefits, costs, […]
Silicon powder is a non-metallic element used for sintering, alloying, microchips, reagents, and glass plasma deposition. It is made by grinding silicon and can be mixed with other elements. Different purity levels are used for metallurgy, chemistry, and electronics. Silicon dioxide and silicon carbide are popular blends used in glass coating, ceramics, and vehicle parts. […]
Silicon is a nonmetallic element used in various industrial applications, including computer chips. It was first isolated in 1824 and commonly appears in the form of a compound. Silicates are used in many industrial processes, while silicone is a chemical compound used in soaps, medical implants, and synthetic materials. Silicon is commonly harvested and produced […]
Silicon hybrid lasers, developed by Intel and UCSB in 2006, use Group III-V semiconductor materials and silicon, and can be mass-produced using photolithography. They integrate optical systems with computer chips, enabling faster processing speeds and data transfer rates at the terabit level. They are part of the photonic computing research program, which aims to use […]
Amorphous silicon, a disordered form of silicon with dangling bonds, is used to produce thin films for electronic components. It can be applied more evenly and at lower temperatures than crystalline silicon, and absorbs up to 40 times more solar radiation. Hydrogenation is required for stability and durability, and the material may experience a voltage […]
