1.5 nanometers: that’s how small these letters are — half a nanometer shorter than those inscribed by inferior brains back in October. Physicists at Stanford achieved the record (which ties Hitachi’s work from 1991) by manipulating individual carbon monoxide molecules on a copper surface and then exciting the copper to bounce a holographic pattern off the CO. Software ensures that the molecules are positioned correctly to scatter electron waves into particular shapes, in this case an “S” and “U,” before finishing with a “CK IT CAL,” presumably. The work could ultimately lead to densely packed storage devices… or not. Just saying.
Filed under: Storage
Molecular projector scatters the world’s smallest letters originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Post a Comment