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Tuesday, 11th September 2007 (4675 views)

Scientists at IBM in Zurich have discovered a way to print particles as small as 60 nanometres, it has emerged.

The researchers demonstrated the new method by printing Robert Fludd's 17th century image of the sun - the symbol alchemists use for gold - using 20,000 gold nanoparticles measuring 60 nanometres each.

"This method opens up new ways to precisely and efficiently position various kinds of nanoparticles on different surfaces, a prerequisite for exploiting the unique properties of such nanoparticles and for making their use economically feasible," explains Heiko Wolf, researcher in nanopatterning at IBM's Zurich Research lab.

The method could contribute to the development of devices including nano-scale medical biosensors, tiny lenses for optical chips and nanowires for advanced computer chips.

According to the scientists, the technique could also be utilised to prevent the production of counterfeit money.

The method is to be described in the September issue of Nature Nanotechnology in an article entitled Nanoparticle printing with single-particle resolution.

Headquartered in New York, IBM Research has some eight laboratories worldwide.

 

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