by 
Anonymous
ANSWERS: 1
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For one thing, silicon is incredibly cheap and abundant compared to rare earth elements like germanium. I recall from decades ago that germanium diodes (now obsolete) have a higher forward-voltage drop at the PN junction -- for silicon it's only about 0.7 volts. I'd guess that silicon is also easier to form into single-crystal wafers, and easier to micro-machine.
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