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Silicon

Silicon is a semiconducting element. It behaves physically and chemically as a non-metal but is able to conduct electricity although not as well as the metals.

Silicon is used to make the "chips" or tiny circuits found in everything from computers to VCRs. Scientists at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) have now developed a way to "wire" the surface of a silicon crystal with a single strand of molecules.

Their goal is to produce nano-structures, molecular electronic devices one thousand times smaller than a single bacterium.