Sand and silicon : science that changed the world / Denis McWhan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McWhan, Denis, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Silicon--Industrial applications--History.

Silicon.

Sand.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (296 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This is a story about sand and how science and silicon changed our lives. Over the last century, science taught us how to take this most common material and create the products on which we depend. It allows us to determine the atomic structure of materials and to grow novel, new materials atomic layer by atomic layer. The principles of thermodynamics are used to transform sand into ultra pure silicon. Quantum mechanics gave birth to the electronic age and the computer chip inwhich dopants are precisely placed in ultra pure silicon. The absorption and emission and reflection of quanta of light,

Contents:

Cover Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Preface; Contents; List of Figures; 1 Submarines, Clocks, and Sensors; 2 The Architecture of Sand; 3 How Pure is Pure?; 4 Impurities are Key; 5 The Sun Shines Bright; 6 How Small is Small?; 7 Through the Looking Glass; 8 Sand is Everywhere; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-280-59526-4

9786613625090

0-19-162747-X

0-19-162697-X

OCLC:

784886694