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Plastic in the dark Inorganic semiconductors, such as silicon and gallium arsenide, are brittle materials. This property means that large single crystals are cleaved into thin sheets. Oshima et al. show that zinc sulfide is, in contrast, a plastic material if deformed in total darkness. Plastic deformation is likely inhibited when light is present because photoexcited charge carriers become trapped at these sites and pin them through electrostatic effects. Science , this issue p. 772
Oshima et al. (Thu,) studied this question.