A doctorate student has figured out a way to construct the world's thinnest nanowire by using a finely focused beam of electrons.
The nanowire is just three atoms wide, according to a Vanderbilt University press release.
Junhao Lin, who has been busy conducting research as a visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), created wiring out of atomic monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenides, which is a family of semiconducting materials.
A monolayer, like a single sheet of interconnected atoms, is the thinnest form for solid objects. They are of great value to researchers, like electronic engineers, since they offer flexibility properties, transparency, high electron mobility, and incredible strength, according to the press release.
"This will likely stimulate a huge research interest in monolayer circuit design," Lin said. "Because this technique uses electron irradiation, it can in principle be applicable to any kind of electron-based instrument, such as electron-beam lithography.
The miniscule wires used in current integrated circuits are a "thousand times" larger than the nanowires Lin produced, according to the press release.
Lin was able to achieve his goal by using tiny beams of electrons. He received some assistance from his ORNL mentor Wu Zhou.
"Junhao used a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), that is capable of focusing a beam of electrons down to a width of half an angstrom (about half the size of an atom) and aims this beam with exquisite precision," said Zhou.
More durable transistors and flash memory drives could be created thanks to Lin. The overall potential for his nanowires and monolayer technology isn't currently clear, but possibilities are endless right now.
"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," said Sokrates Pantelides, Lin's adviser at Vanderbilt, in a statement.
Research was published in this week's journal Nature Nanotechnology.
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