In LCDs silane gas breaks down into a film of silicon that forms the transistors that stimulate the pixels in the screen. (Flat-panel screens are essentially large semiconductor devices that sit on pieces of glass rather than on silicon wafers.) Another gas, nitrogen trifluoride, cleans the chambers in which both chips and LCDs are made.

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But Dr Bruel found that if a hydrogen-treated wafer is first fused to another wafer that has been given a glass coating, the force of the gas bubbles will instead cause a thin silicon film to peel off the one and on to the other.

ECONOMIST: Chip technology

It has set up a rapid response team to counter publicity for the film by using two Washington-based groups that lobby for gas and oil companies: the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Energy in Depth.

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And the film claims the military operation in Afghanistan was carried out purely so a natural gas pipeline could be built through the country.

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In the 1963 film, filled with comedy all-stars, Winters stood out as a truck driver who destroys a gas station.

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