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| Makes up 28% of the earth's crust and is used extensively in the glass and semiconductor industries. A dark, shiny, hard crystalline semi-metal.
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Boule top.
Contrary to appearances, this object has nothing to do with silicone breast implants. It is the top of a large crystal of silicon that has been drawn slowly out of a melt in the first stage of producing silicon chips. The result is a long cylinder of ultra-pure silicon called a boule that is then cut into the thin wafers you can also see in this cube. The piece here here is the very top of the boule which cannot be cut up into wafers as it narrows to a point. Normally it would be put back into the melt and recycled but we managed to rescue this one for the display.
Source: Mineral dealer
Size: 4.25"
Purity: 99.99999%
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Wafers.
These are beautifully polished wafers of pure silicon cut from a boule (see the other silicon exhibits for an explanation of what a boule is). One has been photolithographically engraved with the microscopic circuit patterns that turns it into integrated circuits (ICs). This is a complex process that involves building up and then etching away layers of substrate , conductors and semi-conductors to create the transistors and the pathways that form the IC. These are quite small: Modern plants handle 12" diameter wafers and 15" ones are in the works.
Source: eBay
Size: 4"
Purity: 99.9999%
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Diced chips.
A wafer like those in this display gets cut up into individual chips like these, which then get mounted in plastic or ceramic cases and wired up to rows of pins, forming a complete integrated circuit ready to be mounted on a circuit board. These had something wrong with them so they ended up on the floor of an element display cube instead.
Source: Mineral dealer
Size: 1/4"
Purity: 99.9999%
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