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A researcher contacted UniversityWafer, Inc. asking for help understanding the difference between silicon and silicone and which one is used for semiconductor fabrication. We explained that electronics, chips, and photonics devices are built on silicon wafers — not silicone — and helped match the correct wafer specifications to their project.
If you are working on semiconductors, solar cells, MEMS, sensors, photonics, or material science research, you will need silicon wafers. We supply all major diameters, orientations, dopings, and surface finishes, including thermal oxide, SOI, DSP, and ultra-high-resistivity substrates.
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Silicon vs. Silicone: Why People Get Them Confused
Although the names look similar, silicon and silicone are completely different materials with different structures, properties, and uses. The confusion appears everywhere—from school science projects to online shopping— so it is important to understand the difference, especially in semiconductor and engineering applications.
What Is Silicon?
Silicon (Si) is a chemical element and a crystalline semiconductor. In its pure form, it is a hard, brittle, gray-black solid. Process engineers grow single-crystal silicon using the Czochralski (CZ) or Float Zone (FZ) method and slice it into wafers for electronics manufacturing.
Silicon is used to produce integrated circuits, power devices, MEMS, photonics, solar cells, sensors, and many other technologies. It conducts electricity in a controlled way when doped with elements such as boron, phosphorus, arsenic, or antimony.
What Is Silicone?
Silicone is a synthetic polymer made from silicon, oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. Unlike elemental silicon, silicone is soft, rubber-like, flexible, and chemically stable. It comes in many forms—oils, greases, sealants, gels, and elastomers—and is widely used outside the semiconductor industry.
Common applications include medical implants, tubing, gaskets, adhesives, cookware, kitchen tools, waterproof coatings, and consumer products that require flexibility, high-temperature resistance, and durability.
Key Differences Between Silicon and Silicone
1. Chemical Structure
- Silicon: A single chemical element (atomic number 14).
- Silicone: A polymer made of repeating Si–O chains with organic side groups.
2. Physical Properties
- Silicon: Rigid, brittle, and crystalline.
- Silicone: Soft, rubber-like, flexible, and elastic.
3. Thermal & Electrical Behavior
- Silicon: A semiconductor with tunable electrical conductivity.
- Silicone: An electrical insulator with excellent thermal stability.
4. Typical Uses
- Silicon: Electronics, chips, solar cells, photonics, MEMS, sensors.
- Silicone: Sealants, oils, medical devices, kitchenware, gaskets.
Which One Do You Need?
If you are working on electronics, photonics, solar cells, MEMS, or semiconductor processing, you are almost certainly looking for silicon wafers, not silicone. Researchers and engineers use silicon substrates because they provide the crystal structure and electrical properties required for device fabrication.
Silicone, on the other hand, is used as a protective material—such as encapsulation gel, sealant, or gasket—but not as a semiconductor substrate.
Need Silicon Wafers?
UniversityWafer, Inc. supplies silicon wafers in many diameters, orientations, dopings, and surface finishes for research, prototyping, and production. If you need help selecting the correct wafer for your application, please contact us with your specifications.