Silicon and 
Silicon Compound are the crafting materials behind Tiny Redstone's components. You will need a steady supply of them before you can build anything substantial.
Getting started with silicon
Silicon Compound is an intermediate material, and Silicon is the refined material used in most recipes. Check the recipe viewer built into your modpack (such as JEI or REI) for the exact ingredients and steps, since these are the recipes most likely to change between versions. The general flow is: gather the raw inputs, craft them into Silicon Compound, then process that into Silicon.
Crafting components
Once you have Silicon, you can craft the tiny components: dust, torches, repeaters, comparators, pistons, lamps, and the rest. Many recipes also use the 
Tiny Redstone Blueprint, which is the item that defines the shape of a component before it is assembled. Keep a stack of Silicon and a few Blueprints on hand so you can craft components on demand instead of running back to a crafting table.
Scaling up
Because a single circuit can consume a lot of dust and torches, set up a small automated or semi-automated production line for Silicon early. Store Silicon separately from Silicon Compound so you always know how much finished material you have left before starting a big build.