Bloomberg Businessweek USA - 02.09.2019

22

o puter Chip

Silicon Valley gets its name,

of course, from element 14,

the essential stuff of the

computer chip. In the early

days of computing, the three

parts of a chip—the wafer,

or substrate; the transistors

layered on top; and the

wires connecting to a circuit

board—required only a

handful of elements. Today,

chipmakers draw on a large

swath of the periodic table.

A chip just 10millimeters

wide can include billions

of transistors. These

tiny electrical switches,

rapidly signaling 0 or

1, are etched onto the

wafer and made of such

materials as silicon and

gallium arsenide.

May contain

or require

PRODUCT COURTESY ADVANCED SCIENCE RESEARCH CENTER AT THE GRADUATE CENTER, CUNY

To increase

processing speeds,

chipmakers have

expanded their

repertoire of elements

to include hafnium

and zirconium, while

improving circuit

design and trying new

etching methods.

Silicon, cheap and

ubiquitous, is still

the most common

wafer material. But

gallium arsenide,

aluminum oxide, and

indium phosphide are

alsoused.

1

H

Hydrogen

2

He

Helium

6

C

Carbon

7

N

Nitrogen

16

S

Sulfur

17

Cl

Chlorine

15

P

Phosphorus

53

I

Iodine

18

Ar

Argon

8

O

Oxygen

9

F

Fluorine

12

Mg

Magnesium

13

Al

Aluminum

14

Si

Silicon

33

As

Arsenic

31

Ga

Gallium

22

Ti

Titanium

24

Cr

Chromium

27

Co

Cobalt

29

Cu

Copper

74

W

Tungsten

78

Pt

Platinum

79

Au

Gold

54

Xe

Xenon

49

In

Indium

40

Zr

Zirconium

41

Nb

Niobium

42

Mo

Molybdenum

44

Ru

Ruthenium

46

Pd

Palladium

PROP STYLIST: ANNA SURBATOVICH

By E. Tammy Kim

Photograph by Daniel Shea