  Semiconductivity and superconductivity are remarkable quantum phenomena that
have immense impact on science and technology, and materials that can be tuned,
usually by pressure or doping, to host both types of quantum states are of
great fundamental and practical significance. Here we show by first-principles
calculations a distinct route for tuning semiconductors into superconductors by
diverse large-range elastic shear strains, as demonstrated in exemplary cases
of silicon and silicon carbide. Analysis of strain driven evolution of bonding
structure, electronic states, lattice vibration, and electron-phonon coupling
unveils robust pervading deformation induced mechanisms auspicious for
modulating semiconducting and superconducting states under versatile material
conditions. This finding opens vast untapped structural configurations for
rational exploration of tunable emergence and transition of these intricate
quantum phenomena in a broad range of materials.
