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Yes, some very high speed computer chips have been made using gallium arsenide instead of silicon. There are other binary semiconductors that could also be used also instead of silicon. One example is boron nitride, which should be able to make chips that could operate at temperatures up to 600C instead of the 150C limit of silicon, but the research on this material is still preliminary.
Another possibility being researched are chips made from carbon nanotubes. While current experimental chips place the nanotubes over a silicon substrate, potentially other substrate materials might be used in such devices (e.g. plastic films allowing large flexible integrated circuits instead of tiny fragile chips).
The main reasons that silicon is used today is its ease of processing, both its oxides and nitrides are insulators and not water soluble, and it is not toxic.
Germanium cannot be used in chips because its oxides are crumbly and very water soluble.
What else can I help you with?
What allowed computer technology to develop?
THE SILICON CHIP -The term silicon is important in the computer industry. Microchips that let computers work are made from silicon. Scientists developed the first trial silicon chip in 1958. Before that time computers were made of transistors. In 1958 scientists thought that silicon microchips were impressive because each chip could hold more than 30 transistors. Today's silicon chips often have more than a million transistors. Silicon microchips have helped make modern computer technology possible.
How did silicon chips change the way you compute?
Not at all, except for the first few computers I used (which were built with discrete germanium transistors) every machine I used was built using silicon chips. If the first computer you used was in the 1980s or later, you probably never saw a machine that wasn't entirely silicon chips. Even the germanium transistor machines ran about the same as modern computers, except the I/O which was usually very mechanical.
What do today's computers use for vacuum tubes?
Billions of microscopic transistors integrated onto individual chips of Silicon. And one computer may have a few hundred of these chips doing different things. Vacuum tube computers, even the largest, rarely had more than 10,000 tubes.
How is germanium used inside computer chips?
It is not, silicon is. It is not possible to make ICs commercially using germanium (mostly because its oxide is crumbly and water soluble unlike silicon's oxide which is a stable and insoluble insulator, which means germanium ICs must be wired by hand under a microscope which is too costly for production). This means that germanium is limited to usage in discrete components (transistors & diodes) only. Some work is being done using silicon-germanium alloy for ICs, but it is not in the market yet.
What is integrators in oops?
Intigrators is the highest/laatest chips processor in the last generation of computer that make the computer to speed.
The element used to make semi-comductors computer chips?
Silicon is used in the manufacture of computer chips.
What is made with silicon?
computer's chips and contact are made with silicon.
What element is computer chips?
silicon
Out of what material are computer chips made?
Silicon
What are chips made from?
Computer chips are made from silicon and sand that has a high quartz content. Computer chips help to store computer memory.
Which element is used for manufacture of computer memory chips?
Silicon is the primary element used for the manufacture of computer memory chips. Silicon is a semiconductor material that can be easily manipulated to create integrated circuits and memory storage components like transistors and capacitors.
How is silicon usefull to us?
Made into computer chips.
What is used to manufacturing for chips?
Computer-silicon
Where is germanium and silicon located in computer chips?
Germanium is not used in integrated circuits. Silicon is.
What important element that is non metal is used to make computer chips?
Silicon is used to make computer chips.
What is the chip on a computer made from?
Computer chips are made out of lots of tiny transistors, a little bit of superconductive silicon and a huge amount of engineering.
What kind of wafers are used in Intel to make computer chips?
Silicon Ingot:A large, cylindrical, single crystal made from purified silicon. The cylinder is sliced into thin wafers which are used for making computer chips. Silicon Wafer:Intel uses wafers of pure silicon cut from a silicon ingot to make microprocessors. Silicon, the primary ingredient of beach sand, is a semiconductor of electricity. Semiconductors are materials that can be altered to be either a conductor or an insulator.
