Silicon is one of man's most useful elements. It makes up 25.7% of the earth's crust, by weight, and is the second most abundant element, being exceeded only by oxygen. The Czochralski process is commonly used to produce single crystals of silicon used for solid-state or semiconductor devices. Silica, as sand, is a principal ingredient of glass, one of the most inexpensive of materials with excellent mechanical, optical, thermal, and electrical properties. Silicon is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.9999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. Ultra high purity silicon can be doped with boron, gallium, phosphorus , or arsenic to produce silicon for use in transistors, solar cells, rectifiers, and other solid-state devices which are used extensively in the electronics and space-age industries. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon has shown promise in producing economical cells for converting solar energy into electricity. Silcones are important products of silicon. They range from liquids to hard, glasslike solids with many useful properties. Thin film deposition of Silicon Nanoparticlequantum dots on the polycrystalline silicon substrate of a photovoltaic (solar) cell increases voltage output as much as 60% by fluorescing the incoming light prior to capture.
(click on an element)
Silicon facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are
available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.
Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Silicon is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.
Silicon is a Block D, Group 14, Period 3 element. The number of electrons in each of Silicon's shells is 2, 8, 4 and its electronic configuration is [Ne] 3s2 3p2. In its elemental form silicon's CAS number is 7440-21-3. The silicon atom has a radius of 117.6.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 210.pm. Silicon is not toxic but can cause chronic respiratory problems if inhaled as a fine silica or silicate dust. Asbestos silicates are carcinogenic.
All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Silicon compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.
Silicon was first discovered by Jons Berzelius in 1823.
The name Silicon originates from the Latin word "silex" which means flint or hard stone.
Silicium
Silicium
Silicio
Silício
Silicio
Kisel
Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of silicon and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
Isotope
Atomic Mass
% Abundance on Earth
Si-28
27.976926533
92.23
Si-29
28.97649472
4.67
Si-30
29.97377022
3.10
The following table shows the abundance of Silicon present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:
Typical Human Body
Universe
by Weight
260000 ppb
700000 ppb
by Atom
58000 ppb
30000 ppb
Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for silicon metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin. Silicon compounds are used by diatoms, and some protoza, sponges and plants as a structural material.
Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for silicon (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:
1st Ionization Energy
786.52 kJ mol-1
2nd Ionization Energy
1577.15 kJ mol-1
3rd Ionization Energy
3231.61 kJ mol-1
Conductivity. As to silicon's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 10 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.9. The thermal conductivity of silicon is 148 W m-1 K-1.
Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for silicon are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.
Heat of Fusion
39.6 kJ mol-1
Heat of Vaporization
383.3 kJ mol-1
Heat of Atomization
451.29 kJ mol-1
Recent Research & Development for Silicon
Selective Growth of a-Sexithiophene by Using Silicon Oxides Patterns.
Albonetti C, Barbalinardo M, Milita S, Cavallini M, Liscio F, Moulin JF, Biscarini F.
Int J Mol Sci. 2011;12(9):5719-35. Epub 2011 Sep 6.
PMID:
22016622
[PubMed - in process]
ToF-SIMS Depth Profiling of Trehalose: The Effect of Analysis Beam Dose on the Quality of Depth Profiles.
Muramoto S, Brison J, Castner D.
Surf Interface Anal. 2011 Jan;43(1-2):58-61.
PMID:
22016576
[PubMed]
Influence of spectral broadening on femtosecond wavelength conversion based on four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides.
Wang Z, Liu H, Huang N, Sun Q, Wen J.
Appl Opt. 2011 Oct 1;50(28):5430-6. doi: 10.1364/AO.50.005430.
PMID:
22016209
[PubMed - in process]
All-optical clock recovery from 40?Gbit/s RZ signal based on microring resonators.
Xiong M, Ding Y, Zhang Q, Zhang X.
Appl Opt. 2011 Oct 1;50(28):5390-6. doi: 10.1364/AO.50.005390.
PMID:
22016205
[PubMed - in process]
Basic Principles for Rational Design of High-Performance Nanostructured Silicon-Based Thermoelectric Materials.
Yang CC, Li S.
Chemphyschem. 2011 Oct 20. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201100514. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22015704
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Sensitivity-Enhanced Natural-Abundance Silicon-29 Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Wong A, Sakellariou D.
Chemphyschem. 2011 Oct 20. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201100432. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
PMID:
22015668
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Diffractive light trapping in crystal-silicon films: experiment and electromagnetic modeling.
Weiss DN, Lee BG, Richmond DA, Nemeth W, Wang Q, Keszler DA, Branz HM.
Appl Opt. 2011 Oct 10;50(29):5728-34. doi: 10.1364/AO.50.005728.
PMID:
22015368
[PubMed - in process]
Supported Lipid Bilayers on Biocompatible Polysaccharide Multilayers.
Mulligan K, Jakubek ZJ, Johnston L.
Langmuir. 2011 Oct 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22013993
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
A novel 2,6-dicarbonylpyridine-based fluorescent chemosensor for Co(2+) with high selectivity and sensitivity.
Tan Y, Yu J, Cui Y, Yang Y, Wang Z, Hao X, Qian G.
Analyst. 2011 Oct 19. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22013587
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Microspot-based ELISA in microfluidics: chemiluminescence and colorimetry detection using integrated thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon photodiodes.
Novo P, França Prazeres DM, Chu V, Conde JP.
Lab Chip. 2011 Oct 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22012414
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Fabrication of gold dot, ring, and corpuscle arrays from block copolymer templates via a simple modification of surface energy.
Cho H, Choi S, Kim JY, Park S.
Nanoscale. 2011 Oct 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22012324
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Release of Metal Ions from Orthodontic Appliances: An In Vitro Study.
Mikulewicz M, Chojnacka K, Wozniak B, Downarowicz P.
Biol Trace Elem Res. 2011 Oct 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22011837
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Planar silicon microrings as wavelength-multiplexed optical traps for storing and sensing particles.
Lin S, Crozier KB.
Lab Chip. 2011 Oct 19. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22011760
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Reservoir-on-a-Chip (ROC): A new paradigm in reservoir engineering.
Kumar Gunda NS, Bera B, Karadimitriou NK, Mitra SK, Hassanizadeh SM.
Lab Chip. 2011 Oct 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22011687
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Computer-simulated X-ray three-beam pinhole topographs for spherical silicon crystals.
Okitsu K.
Acta Crystallogr A. 2011 Nov;67(Pt 6):559-60. Epub 2011 Oct 18.
PMID:
22011473
[PubMed - in process]
On the polarization state of X-rays generated using a rotating four-quadrant X-ray phase retarder system.
Okitsu K.
Acta Crystallogr A. 2011 Nov;67(Pt 6):557-8. Epub 2011 Oct 18.
PMID:
22011472
[PubMed - in process]
Polarization-dependent X-ray six-beam pinhole topographs for a channel-cut silicon crystal.
Okitsu K, Yoda Y, Imai Y, Ueji Y.
Acta Crystallogr A. 2011 Nov;67(Pt 6):550-6. Epub 2011 Oct 18.
PMID:
22011471
[PubMed - in process]
Characterization upon electrical hysteresis and thermal diffusion of TiAl3Ox dielectric film.
Shi L, Liu Z.
Nanoscale Res Lett. 2011 Oct 19;6(1):557. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22011364
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
The Burning Rate of Energetic Films of Nanostructured Porous Silicon.
Plummer A, Kuznetsov V, Joyner T, Shapter J, Voelcker NH.
Small. 2011 Oct 19. doi: 10.1002/smll.201101087. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22009919
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Freshwater diatoms as a source of lipids for biofuels.
Graham JM, Graham LE, Zulkifly SB, Pfleger BF, Hoover SW, Yoshitani J.
J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 2011 Oct 19. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID:
22009056
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Silicium 
Silicium
Silicio
Silício 
Silicio 
Kisel
