Silicon Carbide: A material with a very high hardness, silicon carbide has, in the last few years, been receiving some attention from the Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) community in their quest to develop a miniature engine. However, the same problems that plague silicon nitride would also apply to silicon carbide, and the fracture toughness of silicon carbide is even lower than that of silicon nitride. Silicon carbide still has many other uses that do not require mechanical integrity and strength.