you know, it's really convenient that silicon has the properties it has
elemental silicon is a good semiconductor with a bandgap that's not too low and not too high, while silicon dioxide is very good insulators that also happens to be among the most chemically resistant compounds known, and is easily grown on silicon by heating in air. on top of that, silicon is the second most abundant element (by mass) in the earth's crust, so there's no shortage of the stuff
-F