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Silicon is at the heart of the microelectronics revolution. Its dominance over other semiconductors is intimately tied to its superior materials and processing properties and to the tremendous base of technology that has developed around it. Another semiconductor is not likely to displace silicon as the material of choice in electronic applications. Silicon, however, is an extremely inefficient light emitter, and for this reason has not enjoyed the same level of dominance in optical applications.
Collins et al. (1997) studied this question.