Self-Assembling, Nanometer-Scale Wires

savi writes: "An experiment that University of Chicago physicists conducted just for fun has unexpectedly led them to a new technique for producing nanoscale structures. "This is perhaps the first time that it has been possible to assemble large numbers of parallel, continuous wires that are truly nanometer scale in cross-section," said Heinrich Jaeger, Professor in Physics at the University of Chicago. Check it out here."

Theoretical limits of electricity

[Descartes]

I wonder how close these wire are to the point where you can't run a current through them.

It seems like this would be a pretty simple process for making transistors, though maybe the current process is cheaper because it's so well developed.

Does anyone know the actual limit for the smallest wire you can pass a current through? I think it's .0somthing mircons...

Re:Theoretical limits of electricity

[caffeinated_bunsen]

The theoretical limit is one atom wide, on the order of ~2-5 angstroms (10^-10 m) for most metals. These wires are quoted as 10nm, or 100 angstroms across. That works out to about 50 atoms across for silver (face-centered cubic cell 4.09 angstroms on a side, 2 layers of atoms per cell), if I looked up the right value in the table.

Now back to studying for that solid state physics final.

Heinrich Jaeger

[Debillitatus]

Ok, maybe this is a bit off-topic, but if anyone reads any Harry Turtledove, the name is somewhat amusing... one of the major characters in the WorldWar series is named Heinrich Jaeger.

WooOOo

Interesting contrast to other research

[HorsePunchKid]

This [slashdot.org] previous article was also about a technique for producing very small wires. These wires were grown in water, though, and the scientists were apparently interested in connections to biology. Their goal was to be able to interface with a cell without killing it. The contrasts are interesting, though. These guys are growing wires on a polymer substrate, and are more interested in microelectronics. They appear to be fabricating long, thin, wires with consisten properties. The guys building wires in water were using what appeared to me to be a kind of diffusion-limited aggregation [slashdot.org] process that produces wispy, highly branching wires with presumably much poorer electrical properties.

more info on it

[CowNutsMack]

more info on article [alexchiu.com]