Researchers Discover Explosive Silicon

Feb. 4 -- With the rise of computer processing power, there's no doubt to the might of silicon. But researchers recently discovered a potential new use for the material — a discovery that literally popped up in their faces.

In an attempt to develop highly sensitive magnetic sensors, scientists at the University of California: San Diego, coated silicon wafers with gadolinium nitrate.

But when Frederic Mikulec, one of the researchers at UCSD, went to cut the chip with a diamond-tipped cutter, an unexpected event occurred.

The chip blew up in his face.

Michael Sailor, a chemistry professor and head of the research project, says the violent reaction — equal to the bang from a toy cap pistol — was quite the accidental discovery.

Watch: Chip Made with Silicon 'Gunpowder' Blasts Off

Although chemists have long known that using potassium nitrate could create explosive silicon, this was the first time another common salt compound produced the same results.

"It was really surprising to us," says Sailor. "It's as if you were used to handling an ordinary, safe floppy disk and then someone comes along and says if you do this to it, it will blow up."

The Creation of Silicon ‘Gunpowder’

While the results were unintentional, Sailor says in hindsight, it shouldn't have been unexpected. "We took a look at [gadolinium nitrate] and it's a close relative to potassium nitrate — the saltpeter used to make gunpowder," he says.

Combine that with the super-fine crystals of silicon instead of the carbon in ordinary gunpowder and Sailor says you have the team's explosive material.

Further tests need to be conducted on just how big a bang can be created from the new silicon gunpowder, but Sailor says initial research seems promising. "It's got as much energy as [ordinary] gunpowder on a pound-for-pound basis," says Sailor.

What's more, Sailor says that the process of adding gadolinium nitrate to silicon isn't hard to do and could easily be incorporated into current computer chip fabrication techniques. And that could lead to a whole slew of new possibilities and applications.