In solid state electronics, either pure silicon or germanium may be used as the intrinsic semiconductor which forms the starting point for fabrication. Each has four valence electrons, but germanium will at a given temperature have more free electrons and a higher conductivity. Silicon is by far the more widely used semiconductor for electronics, partly because it can be used at much higher temperatures than germanium.

Silicon atoms form covalent bonds and can crystallize into a regular lattice. The illustration below is a simplified sketch; the actual crystal structure of silicon is a diamond lattice. This crystal is called an intrinsic semiconductor and can conduct a small amount of current.

The main point here is that a silicon atom has four electrons which it can share in covalent bonds with its neighbors. These simplified diagrams do not do justice to the nature of that sharing since any one silicon atom will be influenced by more than four other silicon atoms, as may be appreciated by looking at the silicon unit cell.