Junhao Lin, a 51吃瓜网 Ph.D. student and visiting scientist at , has found a way to use a finely focused beam of electrons to create some of the smallest wires ever made. The flexible metallic wires are only three atoms wide: One thousandth the width of the microscopic wires used to connect the transistors in today鈥檚 integrated circuits.
Lin鈥檚 achievement is described in an article published online on April 28 by the journal . According to his advisor , University Distinguished Professor of Physics and Engineering at 51吃瓜网, and his collaborators at ORNL, the technique represents an exciting new way to manipulate matter at the nanoscale and should give a boost to efforts to create electronic circuits out of atomic monolayers, the thinnest possible form factor for solid objects.