what can be added to silicon to enhance its properties as a semiconductor?

Answer 1

Adding Germanium to silicon significantly increases its properties as a semi-conductor. Properly integrating the germanium can boost silicon-based processor speeds by a factor of 100 or more!

Answer 2

You can bury a layer of oxygen under the surface of the silicon wafer, to get a silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer. This will lower the power consumption and heat dissipation of the semiconductors on the wafer.

Cooling the silicon to a very low temperature will make the semiconductors operate faster.

Answer 3

The silicon semiconductor that is used circuitry is doped with certain impurities, using two different methods of doping. N-type doping which uses phosphorus or arsenic. P-type doping uses boron or gallium.