Gear system on a micrometric scale
This gear system measures just a few micrometres (1 micrometre = a thousandth of a millimetre). Nanomachines still lie in the future, but micromachines have already been perfected and are used in areas as varied as motor vehicles, aeronautics, biology and telecommunications.
Credit: Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories, SUMMiTTM Technologies,
www.mems.sandia.gov
An improbable encounter between a micromachine and a mite.
Here, we are on the micrometric scale.
Credit: Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories, SUMMiTTM Technologies,
www.mems.sandia.gov
IBM logo made up of 35 atoms of xenon on nickel.
This logo is 17 nanometres long and was made with a scanning tunnelling microscope. The technique used here was developed in IBM’s laboratories in Zurich by Gerd Binning and Heinrich Rohrer - 1986 Nobel Prize for Physics.
© IBM, Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
Japanese ideogram (kanji) meaning "atome".
This kanji was made by IBM researchers from iron atoms on copper. The image was produced using a scanning tunnelling microscope.
© IBM, Lutz & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
"CO man" or the carbon monoxide figure.
Molecules of carbon monoxide on platinum. Produced in IBM’s Almaden research laboratory, California.
© IBM, Zeppenfeld & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
An atom of xenon (in blue) on a nickel surface.
The top of the nickel atoms is shown in magenta. This image was acquired using a scanning tunnelling microscope.
© IBM, Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
Representation of a copper surface on the nanometric scale.
The distance from the bottom of the hollow to the highest ridge is about 0.04 angströms (1 angström = 0.1 nanometre).
© IBM, Crommie, Lutz & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
"Quantum Stadium".
Figure produced by arranging 48 iron atoms on a copper surface. Its width is about 5 nanometres. This image was produced using a scanning tunnelling microscope: it shows that electrons behave like waves.
© IBM, Crommie, Lutz & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
Close-up of the “Quantum Stadium”.
Electrons behave like waves: they form a concentric cloud that ripples like the surface of water when a pebble is dropped into it. One of the most remarkable direct visualisations of the laws of quantum mechanics.
© IBM, Crommie, Lutz & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
This crystal is made up of 12 sodium atoms and 16 iodine atoms.
The aim was to create a 2D structure, but the atoms spontaneously twisted into a 3D crystal.
© IBM, Hopkinson, Lutz & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
Molecule on copper made up of 8 caesium atoms and 8 iodine atoms.
First colour mapping image (computer texture application technique).
© IBM, Hopkinson, Lutz & Eigler (IBM Almaden Visualization Lab)
Alignment of carbon nanotubes.
This battery of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes - which grow under the influence of a plasma enhanced by chemical condensation - is interspersed with copper in order to produce a composite displaying optimal thermal properties for cooling computer chips.
© Nanotechnology gallery, NASA & Ames Research Center
Fullerene crystal.
A fullerene or footballene (C60) is a molecule made up of 60 or 70 atoms of carbon located at the vertices of hexagons and pentagons to form a closed cage that looks similar to a football. Source: URA1104 - Chimie Physique Des Matériaux Amorphes (Physical Chemistry of Raw Materials), ORSAY – (Ref. CNRS-INFO N°233 December 1991). © René Ceolin – CNRS Photo library
