Why is Silicon Used for Computer Chips?

What are the properties of silicon that have made it widely used in computer chips, and could it possibly be on its way out?

[marcowong]

2020, intel, 7nm... pick two out of three

[NicuMihai]

where's my 7nm processor, intel?

[johnwick]

3:45 "Intel 7nm chips that released around 2020 won't use Silicon" well they aren't wrong.

[GamingTurkey]

We don't need 7nm they eye can only see 700nm

[Mockedarchie]

here it is 2019 and intel isn't even at 10nm lol

[theq]

"Intels 7nm CPUs in 2020"
Boy that'll be the day!
*Dances in AMD*

[mooseu]

That moment when Linus teaches you more about science than your Chem teacher...

[battryacd]

I think potato is pretty commonly used among console manufacturers.

[unlazinessboyo]

U don't insult my potato pc Linus

[Geddiz]

Germanium did in fact see a lot of use in the very early days of solid-state semiconductors. Many of the first transistors used germanium instead of silicone, though the applications of this material are fairly niche these days.

[treelonmusk]

linus's hair is like "i just woke up" xD

[neoxp]

0:20
Umm, excuse me? My PC is 80% potato!

[-SirChop]

You explained elements better than my science teacher ever could have.

[zac_s]

Linus: "Intel has announced that for its 7nm chips that could be released around 2020 it'll be using something other than silicon"

2021 - Intel just starts releasing 10nm chips

[SSS-mpth]

Two questions, 1) if we can't make transistors smaller using silicon is there any benefit to just making CPU's larger so that they can hold more transistors?

2) Does anyone else find the snap pointing a tad annoying?

Otherwise great job Linus.

[NJBoden]

Last time I was this early they announced Skylake

[Fausto_moh]

35 atoms wide? When did we get this amazing at building computers, they didn't even exist 100 years ago

[Valhalla_Awaits]

Meh, i'll upgrade my cpu when transistors will be half an atom big

[Name-yfxp]

7nm are 35 Atoms? MAKE IT SMALLER thats very big..

[Jader]

Can you do an episode on programming languages? Unless you've already done one that is.