New Scientist
A new way of making silicon explode could mean anyone trying to use a stolen laptop or mobile will be confronted by this message: “This machine is stolen and will self-destruct in ten seconds … “.
Until now scientists have only managed to make silicon go bang by mixing it with either liquid oxygen or nitric acid. But Michael Sailor and his colleagues at the University of California in San Diego have found a way to blow up silicon chips using an electrical signal.