Research of Silicon and Zinc Oxide

Abstract

As electronics develops, zinc becomes more and more useful and electronics producers consume more and more silicon because of it is abundant, it has a mature processing technology and it has a high carrier mobility. Those advantages made silicon perfect for integrated circuits. However, in some cases, silicon is no longer the best choice. Despite silicon’s advantages, there are problems for silicon. For example low breakdown voltage, low thermal conductivity and indirect band gap. Although silicon is still the most commonly used semiconductor, another type of semiconductor, zinc oxide starts to become more and more important in electronics. However, the two materials are used differently. This paper aims to provide the various properties of silicon and zinc oxide, and explain the reasons for their applications in electronics. The two materials are indispensable although they have a lot of disadvantages. Engineers must carefully consider the advantages and limitations of each material for specific applications to make optimal material selections.