Silicon

Silicon is the primary substrate material for integrated circuits and microchips due to its tunable electrical properties and abundance.

High-purity silicon targets are used in magnetron sputtering to deposit thin films for microelectronics and protective coatings.

Silicon is used as a high-refractive index material in multilayer optical coatings for infrared applications.

Silicon is evaporated via electron beam or thermal methods to create dielectric layers or barrier films in vacuum deposition processes.

Silicon is utilized as a high-capacity anode material to increase the energy density of lithium-ion batteries compared to traditional graphite.

Silicon is added to aluminum and steel to improve fluidity, castability, and hardness of the resulting alloys.

Silicon nanoparticles and nanowires are researched for advanced photonics, drug delivery, and high-performance battery electrodes.