IBM exposes sub atomic transistors (Worlds highest resolution electron microscope)

The Inquirer ^ | 8-8-2002 | Inquirer Staff

[JameRetief]

IBM exposes sub atomic transistors

Microscope delivers future vision

By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 08 August 2002, 13:51

IN ITS ENDEAVOURS to create ever smaller chips IBM, together with advanced electron optics Nion, has developed what it says is the world's highest-resolution electron microscope.

The microscope allows observers to see individual atoms, measuring four-billionths of an inch wide. It was developed to check on the tiddly transistors used in advanced semiconductors.

The science journal Nature, says today, "The ability to use electron microscopy to identify and locate individual atoms will have a wide impact on materials, physics and biological sciences".

IBM and Nion, have been working on the microscope design since 1997. They say the device is smaller and cheaper the other lower-rsolution microscopes, weighing at a mere million dollars a pop. µ

Links

Nature
Nion

[LibWhacker]

Okay, tiddly is a word you don't see very often. Problem is, dictionary.com says it means drunk.

[JameRetief]

Tiddly actually has two different meanings, both are british. "drunk" tiddly is a colloquialism in Britain, while "tiny" tiddly is an informal alteration of little.

[cpdiii]

The Brits use where a Southern boy would say "itty bitty".

[azhenfud]

"...weighing at a mere million dollars a pop."

What does a million dollars weigh? Is that in small bills or larger denominations?

[Paradox]

What does a million dollars weigh? Is that in small bills or larger denominations?

What weighs more, a pound of dollar bills, or a pound of dollar coins?

[Post Toasties]

The author's drunk, the transistors he refers to are small, but hardly subatomic, which term presumedly is meant to refer to the resolution of the electron microscope in question.

[krb]

The author's drunk, the transistors he refers to are small, but hardly subatomic...

Maybe so, but perhaps they are talking about being able to inspect things inside of a transistor like the oxide (which can be only a few atoms thick), the channel, depletion region and all that stuff that makes up the device.

[FormerLurker]

A TJ Watson bump.

[FormerLurker]

The author's drunk, the transistors he refers to are small, but hardly subatomic, which term presumedly is meant to refer to the resolution of the electron microscope in question.

Although the article claims that the resolution is at 1 angstrom (3.937 x 10^-9 inches), I doubt that the microscope can see inside of the atom due to either the wave nature of matter or to the electron cloud, whichever theory you prefer.

[aimhigh]

Now, with this microscope, they might be able to find Clinton's conscience.