Chemically, quartz is nearly pure silicon dioxide (SiO 2). When there are no impurities, pure quartz is water-clear and often referred to as “rock crystal”. Impurities can give transparent ...

it's made out of a semiconductor crystal. The chip starts out as a thin wafer of P-type silicon. This is then coated with a layer of silicon dioxide -- kind of a silicon rust, which doesn't ...

As great as silicon is for semiconductor applications, it has one weakness in that using it for lasers isn’t very practical. Never say never though, as it turns out that you can now grow ...