Abstract: The disclosure relates to the formation of very thin silicon slices, 1/10 of a mil, and the mechanical strengthening of such thin silicon slices and to the formation of electronic circuitry in such slices and the use thereof. These slices are formed, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, by etching grooves in an n+ wafer using an orientation dependent etch and etching along the {111} plane in {110} n+ wafers. After oxide removal, the surface of the wafer opposite the grooves is epitaxially coated with n-type silicon and the original grooves are then further etched by an electrolytic etch or by a concentration dependent etch which will remove only the n+ material, thereby leaving the thin wafer with a honeycomb-like supporting structure with struts in the shapes of parallelograms, diamonds and the like.