Grad student creates world's thinnest wires – just three atoms wide

A Vanderbilt University graduate student has created the world's thinnest wires using a beam of electrons, a technique that could usher in new ultra-slim form factors for electronics and possibly help the chip industry build smaller, faster processors. Ph.D candidate Junhao Lin used a scanning transmission electron …

[Don Jefe]

- 'Cut the red wire'

: 'What red wire'?

[kain preacher]

it's the one in the nano tube.

[Anonymous Coward]

Quick, get out the tape measure... what length is a red photon/wave of light?

[Anonymous Coward]

@TechnicalBen

Huge, actually, around 650nm. A silicon atom is about a quarter of a nm across, so it works out that a wavelength of red light is about 2800 silicon atoms wide.

That's why this guy is using electron beams.

[JustWondering]

Gosh!

I'll bet he won the Science Fair with that one.

[John Brown (no body)]

I can't wait...

...for an even thinner iPhone.</sarc>

Thumbs up for the science guy through.

[DropBear]

Re: I can't wait...

Well, the next phone they'll call RAZR - you better hold it with chainmail gloves... ;)

[Tromos]

Not easy

I'll bet soldering these into a circuit is a bugger!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not easy

Soldering? That's welding for girls.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not easy

Do you mean Sodering? Boody americans and their sient L's... Why?

There are no silent L's in the English language that do not modify the pronunciation/sound in any way.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not easy

Now now, you shouldn't use such absolutes.

[scrubber]

Re: Not easy

"There are no silent L's in the English language that do not modify the pronunciation/sound in any way."

Calm down, you're half way to a heart attack. Take some soothing balm and maybe eat a bit of salmon.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not easy

Do you understand what "modify the sound" means?

Stick your caming bam on your own samon

bam ≠ balm

cam != calm

same-on, say-mon or sah-mon the l is key to pronunciation.

[scrubber]

Re: Not easy

You're right, would that I could do that comment over again.

Would. Found one.

Wood = Would (wʊd)

[scrubber]

Re: Not easy

It was in a scouse accent in my head.

Scouse calm == regular folks' cam

[Piro]

Re: Not easy

There are silent Ls, but ultimately, "sodering" sounds absolutely horrific, and I see no reason why anyone would say it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Boring

jake was making wires two atoms wide back in 1983.

[qwertyuiop]

Re: Boring

...two atoms wide...

I think it's his brain that's two atoms wide.

[Snapper]

Kinda sexy

....wiggle there innit?

Or is it just me?

[Faye B]

Currently challenged

At three atoms thick, just how much current could it pass before destroying itself. Doesn't sound practical to me.

[Sir Runcible Spoon]

Re: Currently challenged

I think it's a fair bet that this technology won't be used in step-down mains transformers.

Smaller gates = smaller current required to overcome depletion zone

[Anonymous Coward]

But being a bloke....

...he's bound to claim it was actually 7 atoms thick...

[Arachnoid]

Re: But being a bloke....

Well thats a tom and a Dick all we need now is Harry

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: But being a bloke....

I look forward to buying more Chinese automotive accessories now with even thinner wires

[Version 1.0]

Moore's law

Interesting how Moore's law stays alive every time we think it's reached its sell by date.

[Arachnoid]

Re: Moore's law

Typical Scientist its not so much his work that hes remembered for but an off the cuff remark

[Valeyard]

yay!

"If you let your imagination go, you can envision tablets and television displays that are as thin as a sheet of paper that you can roll up and stuff in your pocket or purse."

just like my earphones! :D

*keeps the left earpiece in anyway to not look odd even though it hasn't made a sound in a week*

[illiad]

and here is a reference!!

http://scaleofuniverse.com/

move slider to left, see the *smallest* thing in the universe :E