A silicon chip is also known as an integrated circuit. It is a complete circuit, perhaps containing thousands of electronic components, that is printed on a thin wafer of an element called silicon. The chip is protected by a covering called a capsule, which is the part we normally see. Little metal feet allow the chip to be connected to other chips and components.
A Silicon chip is an integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or “chip”) of semiconductor material, normally silicon. The IC’s size, cost, mass production capability, reliability and building-block approach to circuit design ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discrete transistors. ICs are now used in virtually all electronic equipment and have revolutionized the world. IC’s are called “silicon” chips not because they’re silicon but because the semi-conductors (transistors) are planted in silicon (it’s just the way manufacturers fabricates them to make them so small).
Silicon in the pure form is a semiconductor, which means it possess properties of both a metal (which conducts electricity) and an insulator (which blocks electricity), by controlling semiconducting silicon, manipulation of electrical signals can be done at room temperature that ultimately are the building blocks of electronic circuits. Silicon is actually not the most optimal electronic material, has an indirect band gap which is less efficient than materials with direct band gaps. But it dominates other materials with better electronic properties because it is cheap and extremely abundant. One reason for choosing silicon over other material is that it operates better at high temperatures because the bonds with the electrons are stronger. Another reason silicon became dominant because it is very easy to create a high quality thin insulator on the surface of a silicon chip, as silicon can be put in a hot furnace with oxygen and it will form a thin film of silicon dioxide which performs as an excellent insulator which gave it a huge advantage when MOSFETs were first created. This insulator is used to reduce power consumption and increase performance.
Picture Credit : Google