{"id":2527,"date":"2014-04-25T15:03:16","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T15:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/silicon\/"},"modified":"2017-01-18T14:52:30","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T14:52:30","slug":"silicon","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/2375\/silicon","title":{"rendered":"Silicon"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Does Silicon Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Silicon is one of the fundamental chemical elements included in the periodic table of elements. It is designated by the symbol “Si” and has an atomic number of 14. Silicon is used in the manufacture of microprocessors and solid state storage.\n<\/p>\n

Techopedia Explains Silicon<\/span><\/h2>\n

Silicon is used as a semiconductor in solid-state electronics, particularly microprocessors. Innovations in solid-state technology have allowed manufacturers to quickly increase the capacity of microprocessors over the last few decades.\n<\/p>\n

The fundamental operation of silicon in IT devices is related to the development of certain kinds of charges that are moved using reactive chemical processes widely known as doping. Doping silicon with various chemical elements will result in different kinds of digital activity that can help accommodate the work of microprocessors or memory devices.\n<\/p>\n

The wafer used in the fabrication of integrated circuits is made of silicon crystals. Although still in its infancy, development of new chips such as DNA chips made of genetic materials instead of silicon is being actively pursued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Does Silicon Mean? Silicon is one of the fundamental chemical elements included in the periodic table of elements. It is designated by the symbol “Si” and has an atomic number of 14. Silicon is used in the manufacture of microprocessors and solid state storage. 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