From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsiliconsil‧i‧con /ˈsɪlɪkən/ noun [uncountable] HCEa chemical substance that exists as a solid or as a powder and is used to make glass, bricks, and parts for computers. It is a chemical element: symbol Si
Examples from the Corpus
silicon• The density of optical interconnections can be much greater than even the most advanced silicon and gallium arsenide processes.• Loyal, bonded silicon brains, hired for cheap and at your command, even if you were only 13.• The success of diamond in cutting silicon is a measure of diamond's extreme resistance to abrasion.• Mead attempts to achieve the same kind of representation in silicon as he sees in the biological.• Second-pass silicon will sample in the third quarter, with mass production coming by the end of the year.• The silicon ingots are highly perfect single crystals and on the atomic scale the cutting has to proceed through breaking bonds.• And the danger is not confined to silicon valleys.From Longman Business Dictionarysiliconsil‧i‧con /ˈsɪlɪkən/ noun [uncountable] an ELEMENT (=simple chemical substance) that is often used for making parts for computers and other things such as glassOrigin silicon (1800-1900) silica 