The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule CMS-1629-F to update the Medicare hospice payment rates and wage index (Final FY 2016 Hospice Wage Index [ZIP, 269KB]) for fiscal year (FY) 2016. The final rule reflects the ongoing efforts of CMS to support beneficiary access to hospice care.
Silicon is a chemical element with symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a tetravalent metalloid, more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table.Controversy about silicon's character dates to its discovery; it was first prepared and characterized in pure form in 1823.easured by mass, silicon makes up 27.7% of the Earth's crust and is the second most abundant element in the crust, with only oxygen having a greater abundance. Silicon is usually found in the form of complex silicate minerals, and less often as silicon dioxide (silica, a major component of common sand).
By far, silicon (Si) is the most widely used material in semiconductor devices. Its combination of low raw material cost, relatively simple processing, and a useful temperature range makes it currently the best compromise among the various competing materials.ermanium (Ge) was a widely used early semiconductor material but its thermal sensitivity makes it less useful than silicon. Today, germanium is often alloyed with silicon for use in very-high-speed SiGe devices; IBM is a major producer of such devices.