Silicon trough

摘要

Silicon, and more specifically its use in semiconductors, has come a long way since Intel released the 1103 DRAM semiconductor memory chip in 1970. Advances in miniaturisation since then have led to the creation of smaller and more powerful electronic devices that are integral to everyday life. Today's mobile phones, with video and audio capture, have little resemblance to the brick-like models of 20 years ago. Similarly, an EI Systems E101 home PC with 256MB of RAM is as removed from the 32K Acorn Electron PC as possible. And behind all this progress lies silicon, the second most common element on Earth after oxygen.