silicon meaning

• Noun: silicon  silukun
  1. A tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors
     - Si, atomic number 14

  Derived forms: silicons

  Type of: chemical element, element, semiconducting material, semiconductor

  Part of: clay, feldspar, felspar, granite, quartz, sand, silicone, silicone polymer

  Encyclopedia: Silicon

• 
  [Architecture]
  

  A metallic element, used in pure form in rectifier units; combined with oxygen, it forms silicon dioxide.

• 
  [Business]
  noun [U]

  a chemical element that is used in making transistors and glass

• 
  [Electronics]
  Symbol, Si. A metalloidal element. Atomic number, 14. Atomic weight, 28.086. Silicon is abundant in the earth’s crust. It is used in many semiconductor devices, including integrated circuits, diodes, photocells, rectifiers, and transistors.
  

[Medicine]
Silicon. A trace element that constitutes about 27.6% of the earth's crust in the form of SILICON DIOXIDE. It does not occur free in nature. Silicon has the atomic symbol Si,atomic number 14,and atomic weight 28.09. n : a tetravalent nonmetallic element that occurs combined as the most abundant element next to oxygen in the earth's crust and is used esp. in alloys —symbol Si see ELEMENT table

• 
  [Computer]
  1. <electronics> The material used as the base (or "substrate") for most integrated circuits.
  
  2. <jargon> Hardware, especially integrated circuits or microprocessor-based computer systems (compare iron).
  
  Contrast: software. See also sandbender.

• eka-silicon:    [Electronics]See G ...
• silicon alley:    [Business]noun [U] ...
• silicon bronze:    Noun: silicon bron ...

Examples

1. now people can produce a wafer silicon.
2. silicon is usually added by co-evaporation.
3. total silicon loss can equal 50% at this step.
4. what uses will they find for a silicon chip?
5. silicon is one of the most studied elements in the periodic table.