Tag
#silicon
Every article tagged “silicon”.
3 articles
Electronics
There is a machine with moving parts inside your phone, and the parts move by about the width of an atom
Your phone knows which way it is held because a block of silicon on silicon springs is being pushed around inside it. It is a mechanical machine, etched rather than assembled, and the hardest part of building one is stopping it sticking to itself.
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Energy
How a solar cell turns light into electricity
A solar panel has no moving parts, yet it converts sunlight straight into current. Here is what actually happens inside the silicon, and why no ordinary cell can beat about a third efficiency.
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Electronics
How a semiconductor actually works
A semiconductor is neither a good conductor nor a good insulator, and that awkward middle position is exactly what makes modern electronics possible. Here is how doping, junctions and transistors turn silicon into a switch.
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