Boron was a substance found within the soil of the planet Lah'mu, which was located in the Raioballo sector of the Outer Rim Territories. It was also present in the atmosphere of Toshaal, another planet in the Outer Rim. The presence of boron in the soil on Lahmu gave the groundwater an unpleasant taste, which led the Erso family, who had settled there, to use GX-8 water vaporators to extract water vapor from the atmosphere instead.
Diamond-Boron Missiles could be created using boron. In 3 ABY, Thorden, the governor of the Galactic Empire on Toshaal's moon Toshara, announced plans to renovate the Toshaal Atmospheric Mining Station, which was old and located in the orbit of Toshaal. Kotera Braal, a reporter, mentioned in a Holonet News Toshara report that the renovated station would allow for a four-fold increase in the amount of boron extracted from Toshaal's atmosphere.
The first mention of boron in current Star Wars canon occurred in Pablo Hidalgo's reference book from 2016, Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide. The name "boron" initially appeared in the Star Wars franchise within the Star Wars Legends continuity, specifically in Strike Force: Shantipole, a 1988 roleplaying adventure written by Ken Rolston and Steve Gilbert and published by West End Games for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game; it referred to a boron power generator. Later, in 1996, Steve Perry's novel Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire was the first to identify boron as a specific material.
In reality, boron is a chemical element that is also a metalloid. When in a pure crystalline form, it is a hard, brittle substance with a black luster. Boron is not very abundant in nature, and it is primarily found in the form of chemical compounds. It is a vital element for plant growth and has many industrial applications. Boron is utilized to enhance the hardness of steel, and it can combine with different metals to create compounds known as borides, some of which are among the most heat-resistant and hardest substances known. Boron carbide and boron nitride are the hardest materials known to exist besides diamond, with boron carbide being used in the production of military-grade armor.