Tin allowed for the much more complex shapes cast in closed moulds of the Bronze Age. Arsenical bronze objects appear first in the Near East where arsenic is commonly found in association with copper ore, but the health risks were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age. This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures. Cassiterite (SnO), the tin oxide form of tin, was most likely the original source
Silicon-tin Silicon-tin Silicon-tin or SiSn, is in general a term used for an alloy of the form SiSn. The molecular ratio of tin in silicon can vary based on the fabrication methods or doping conditions. In general, SiSn is known to be intrinsically semiconducting, and even small amounts of Sn doping in silicon can also be used to create strain in the silicon lattice and alter the charge transport properties. Several theoretical works have shown SiSn to be semiconducting. These mainly include DFT-based studies. The band structures obtained using these works show a change in band gap of silicon with the