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Science Forum Index » Energy - Hydrogen Forum » Atom Needs 2 Billion Times Less Force To Move Than A Penny
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 Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:12 am |
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Atom Needs 2 Billion Times Less Force To Move Than A Penny, IBM Discovers
Understanding the amount of energy required to move an atom is crucial if
scientists are to continue to make advances in atomic scale computing and
other nanotechnology applications.
By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek
Feb. 22, 2008
URL:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206801385
In a scientific first that could pave the way for breakthroughs in nanoscale
computing, researchers at IBM have successfully measured the precise amount
of force needed to move a single atom, the company announced Friday.
Not surprisingly, it isn't much.
Using a device called a sensitive atomic force microscope, scientists at
IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose discovered that moving an atom
across a copper surface requires 17 piconewtons. By contrast, the force
needed to raise a copper penny is, at 30 billion piconewtons, 2 billion
times greater.
IBM said that understanding the amount of energy required to move an atom is
crucial if scientists are to continue to make advances in atomic scale
computing and other nanotechnology applications. The company likens the
knowledge to the force and materials measurements used in the construction
of bridges and high rises -- applied on an infinitesimally smaller scale.
"This provides fundamental information about atomic scale fabrication and
could pave the way for new data storage and memory devices," said Andreas
Heinrich, lead scientist in the scanning tunneling microscopy lab at IBM
Almaden, in a statement.
Almaden is the same lab where IBM researchers in 1989 first developed a
method for precisely positioning individual atoms. They proved their
breakthrough by assembling Xenon atoms into a rendering of the company's
initials.
The latest breakthrough extends that work by measuring the forces involved
in moving atoms.
An atomic force microscope uses a tiny tuning fork to vibrate an atom. The
fork's frequency changes as it gets closer to its subject. The changes are
measured to determine the amount of force being exerted.
In addition to advanced storage devices, the discovery could help chipmakers
use nanoscale materials to manufacture high-speed processors that will keep
Moore's Law -- which holds that the number of transistors that can fit on a
chip doubles every two years -- intact for the foreseeable future.
IBM's findings will be published in the Feb. 22 issue of Science magazine. |
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