can you tell me some characteristics of this element?
Its melting and boiling points of 1414 °C and 3265 °C respectively are the second-highest among all the metalloids and nonmetals, being only surpassed by boron.
Silicon
 Its melting and boiling points of 1414 °C and 3265 °C respectively are the second-highest among all the metalloids and nonmetals, being only surpassed by boron. 
where is silicon most commonly found on earth More than 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals when was it discovered? Due to the abundance of silicon in the Earth's crust, natural silicon-based materials had been used for thousands of years who developed the first si semiconductor device? Greenleaf Whittier Pickard when was this device developed? 1906
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Silicon [SEP] Introduction
The relatively small portion of very highly purified elemental silicon used in semiconductor electronics (< 10%) is essential to the metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) transistors and integrated circuit chips used in most modern technology (such as computers and cell phones, for example). The most widely used silicon device is the MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor), which has been manufactured in larger numbers than any other device in history. Free silicon is also used in the steel refining, aluminium-casting, and fine chemical industries (often to make fumed silica).