SILICYNE, A NEW FORM OF SILICON, has been discovered by physicists at Lobachevsky State University in Nizhni Novgorod, Russia. "Silicyne" is named in analogy with "carbyne," a linear polymer consisting only of carbon atoms. (Silicon and carbon, both with four valence electrons, are gregarious cousins in the Periodic Table.) The researchers (Alexander Mashin, mashin@phys.unn.runnet.ru) made thin films (70-500 nm) of the new material by heating or implanting ions in samples of conventional amorphous silicon. The silicon chains, which might contain up to 100 atoms, are believed to be weakly linked (through 4-8-atom bridges) with other chains into a random network of filaments. Carbyne applications might include super-strong threadlike carbon; silicyne is too new for talk yet of applications. (Fhokhlov et al., Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics (JETP) Letters, 10 May 1998.)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]