Nitrogen as a semiconductor material

What do you get when you subject Nitrogen to pressures 2.4 million times the atmospheric pressure at sea level? The answer is a new form of Nitrogen that is a semiconducting solid. For the first time, scientists at Carnegie Institute at Washington made electric measurements on the condensed gas. This new dense form of Nitrogen stores energy, which they say makes it viable for semiconducting material. The material remains stable after the pressure is removed. The institute's work is partially funded by the National Science Foundation's Division of Materials Research. The findings also confirm theories about superconductivity properties in other elements, such as Hydrogen. For more information, contact the institute's team leader Russell Hemley at (202) 478-8951.