Can silicon conduct electricity?

Silicon is typically a very poor conductor of electricity and often considered an insulator. However, a process called doping introduces a small amount of other material into the crystal structure to convert silicon from an insulator to a semiconductor. read more

Pure silicon is a semiconductor. Semiconductors can conduct electricity, although they do so poorly compared to metals unless doped. In semiconductors, there is a band gap separating the valence band (electron states that are more strongly bound and localized to atoms and less able to conduct electricity) and the conduction band (electron states that are less bound and less localized to individual atoms). read more

Silicon is somewhat conductive, hence the name semi-conductor. Also, it looks like a metal but can act like a non-metal in some chemical reactions. It is not very conductive in the pure state. By doping the element with other elements, it is possible to change the electrical characteristics of a “chip’ of silicon. read more