What Are Computer Chips Made Out Of?

Computer chips are made out of numerous different components called transistors and a semiconductor such as Silicon. All of these transistors and semiconductors are squeezed onto the computer chip to maximize performance. As computer chips get smaller, engineering brings about new methods in which they can force these components onto a computer chip.

What are Transistors?

A transistor is the electrical component of an integrated circuit (IC) that is responsible for its computing. The transistor can be compared to an "on and off" switch. When conditions are right, the transistor is on. When they are not right, the transistor is off. The transistor has these two abilities that can be used for most things. For example, in binary, the on feature of a transistor might be 1 and the off feature of a transistor might be 0.

Transistors become important because programs require decisions to be made. When a transistor turns on or off, that is known as a decision. Modern day programs might need hundreds of millions or billions of decisions to be made consistently for the program to run effectively. In the past, transistors were made out of copper and solder. The issue with this was that the transistor was very large and bulky.

Therefore, modern engineering has made it possible to shrink transistors down. By using something known as a semiconductor, engineers have been able to squeeze the number of transistors that fit on a computer chip down immensely. On Intel's i7 Processor Extreme Edition, they have fit 731 million transistors. These transistors are then bunched together to form the 1,366 pins on the bottom of the CPU. Compare it to the the waterways of the world: tiny creeks form into larger creeks form into even larger creeks which finally form into rivers. But, this leaves one ultimate question.

What are Semiconductors?

Semiconductors are materials that have conductive traits as well as non-conductive traits. A conductor (metals) are materials that pass electricity through them. That is why they use copper in wires. On the other side, an insulator (rubber, glasses, etc) are materials that hold electricity and don't allow it to flow. The issue with a conductor is that it is larger and bulky. The issue with an insulator is that it doesn't do anything for electricity.

Therefore, a semiconductor is the middle ground. Silicon, for example, is a semiconductor that is in abundance on Earth. It can be used to fit into much tighter areas and therefore, less can be used while getting more accomplished. When conditions are right, such as an increased amount of electromotive force, the semiconductor conducts electricity.

A semiconductor makes it possible for a piece of hardware to be smaller, faster and more reliable which is why laptop computers, for example, have continued to become more efficient. The chip inside it gets smaller, but it gets stronger as well.