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How Microchips Work

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Re: How Microchips Work

#21

Post by layer8 »

stavros wrote: post #9
kken wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silicon oxide grown on Si is actually amorphous, so it is not lattice matched. But you are complety right, the oxidation properties of Si are really fortunate and ICs would have taken decades longer if it were not for that. SiO2 is really the unsung hero of the silicon age. - SiO2 has a high bandgap and a very good insulator. - It is quite inert to many chemical and gasses. (e.g. germanium oxide is soluble in water,…

Huh, it's as if the universe was built to make computers out of.

There is the flaw that they don’t build themselves, though.

Re: How Microchips Work

#22

Post by bee_rider »

ww520 wrote: post #5

Silicon is the perfect material for semiconductor. It has a low band gap energy between the valence band and conduction band. A small amount of energy, electricity applied to it, can knock its outermost valence electrons off and it becomes conductive. Withholding the energy, its valence electrons fall back in place and it becomes non-conductive. As if by luck, silicon is plentiful and cheap.

Clay and glass are also partially made of silicon, right?

I’ve always found of fascinating that silicon was right there at the beginning of material science, and has stuck around since. Same for copper.

I don’t actually think the universe has intentions, but copper, silicon, and dogs do sometimes make me question that belief, it is just a little suspicious that our species would have such loyal friends.

Re: How Microchips Work

#23

Post by imperialdrive »

bee_rider wrote: post #22
ww520 wrote: post #5

Silicon is the perfect material for semiconductor. It has a low band gap energy between the valence band and conduction band. A small amount of energy, electricity applied to it, can knock its outermost valence electrons off and it becomes conductive. Withholding the energy, its valence electrons fall back in place and it becomes non-conductive. As if by luck, silicon is plentiful and cheap.

Clay and glass are also partially made of silicon, right? I’ve always found of fascinating that silicon was right there at the beginning of material science, and has stuck around since. Same for copper. I don’t actually think the universe has intentions, but copper, silicon, and dogs do sometimes make me question that belief, it is just a little suspicious that our species would have such loyal friends.

Watch the movie Alpha some time :)

Re: How Microchips Work

#25

Post by namaria »

stavros wrote: post #20
namaria wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The universe is such that the computers that do exist seem perfectly matched to its properties. How could it not be so? Other possible universes might have completely different computers and the kind we have here would be unimaginable there.

If silicon didn't exist, our computers wouldn't seem perfectly matched. It would be a struggle to make them and keep them working.

For silicon not to exist, the universe would have to be quite different. Maybe making life possible and in some planet a life form might eventually find out how to build computers with whatever chemistry they'd end up with. And the chemistry of such a universe would seem uncannily suited for such computers.

Point being, you can't delete an element from the universe and expect everything else to be the same. Silicon exists because of the physics in this universe. So do silicon based computers.

Re: How Microchips Work

#26

Post by eternauta3k »

kken wrote: post #16
eternauta3k wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took ages from the theoretical invention of the MOS transistor to us being able to grow practically good enough oxides (which aren't riddled with interface traps)...

More like a decade, unless you refer to the Lilienfeld devices.

Yes, I was thinking of Lilienfeld. What starting point are you taking?

Re: How Microchips Work

#27

Post by arcanemachiner »

stavros wrote: post #9
kken wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silicon oxide grown on Si is actually amorphous, so it is not lattice matched. But you are complety right, the oxidation properties of Si are really fortunate and ICs would have taken decades longer if it were not for that. SiO2 is really the unsung hero of the silicon age. - SiO2 has a high bandgap and a very good insulator. - It is quite inert to many chemical and gasses. (e.g. germanium oxide is soluble in water,…

Huh, it's as if the universe was built to make computers out of.

One time I was driving around, and I thought to myself "Boy, it sure is lucky we had all the products for asphalt laying around, or it would have been difficult to build all these roads."

Then I realized that if the products for building roads weren't around, then we wouldn't have had those roads in the first place, and I wouldn't have been reflecting on how lucky we were to have all this stuff.

Re: How Microchips Work

#28

Post by CPLX »

bee_rider wrote: post #22
ww520 wrote: post #5

Silicon is the perfect material for semiconductor. It has a low band gap energy between the valence band and conduction band. A small amount of energy, electricity applied to it, can knock its outermost valence electrons off and it becomes conductive. Withholding the energy, its valence electrons fall back in place and it becomes non-conductive. As if by luck, silicon is plentiful and cheap.

Clay and glass are also partially made of silicon, right? I’ve always found of fascinating that silicon was right there at the beginning of material science, and has stuck around since. Same for copper. I don’t actually think the universe has intentions, but copper, silicon, and dogs do sometimes make me question that belief, it is just a little suspicious that our species would have such loyal friends.

It’s fun to watch the Anthropic principle develop organically in this sub-thread.

Re: How Microchips Work

#29

Post by kken »

eternauta3k wrote: post #26
kken wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like a decade, unless you refer to the Lilienfeld devices.

Yes, I was thinking of Lilienfeld. What starting point are you taking?

Bell labs tried to build a FET before the bipolar transistor. It's not so clear which theory the Lilienfeld devices are based on.

Re: How Microchips Work

#30

Post by dogben »

ww520 wrote: post #5

Silicon is the perfect material for semiconductor. It has a low band gap energy between the valence band and conduction band. A small amount of energy, electricity applied to it, can knock its outermost valence electrons off and it becomes conductive. Withholding the energy, its valence electrons fall back in place and it becomes non-conductive. As if by luck, silicon is plentiful and cheap.

And it's relatively easy to make large pure silicon single crystal.
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