IBM's nanofrezer has created the world's smallest magazine cover
The cover of the magazine National Geographic Kids has dimensions of only 11x14 micrometers. The record of miniaturization was officially recorded by representatives of the Guinness Book of Records. You can see the cover only in an electron microscope, in the optical one you can see only blurry outlines. The resolution of the milling machine with which the cover was engraved is 8 nanometers. This is several times less than the technical process of the most advanced integrated circuits. It took 10 minutes to create a cover copy.
Nanofrezer developed in the laboratories of IBM Research in Zurich, and its commercial promotion is engaged in the company SwissLitho AG, established in 2012. The cutter of the nanofrezer is a silicon tip with a diameter of 12 nanometers, which heats up to 1000 degrees and evaporates the plastic under it. Further, on materials engraved in plastic, other materials can be deposited, creating microelectronic devices.
')
The list of possible applications of the router on the SwissLitho website includes about 20 examples. Here are just a few of them. Nanofrezer can be used to create optical devices - micro lenses, diffraction gratings, Fresnel lenses at the nanoscale. It can be used as a “plotter” for graphene. With it, it is convenient to create microelectromechanical systems - gyroscopes, accelerometers, etc. The nanostructures created by him can be used as templates for self-assembly of nanostructures or work with living cells in medicine and biology.
The cutter is heated to operating temperature.
Another use option is high reliability backup and archiving systems. A very fine control over the depth of engraving makes it possible to achieve a high recording density — much more than one bit of information can be recorded at one point of a two-dimensional plate or disk. The plastic base created by the engraver can then be covered with silicon - the records will be literally carved in stone and can be stored for centuries.
In general, nanofrezer on the abundance of their applications and flexibility can be compared with a 3D-printer, only working at the microscopic level. It can be used for prototyping and experiments wherever nanometer precision is needed. So far, SwissLitho has been offering the NanoFrazor explore router for this very purpose. For 2016–17, it is planned to create an industrial scale milling cutter — instead of one cutter, a whole array will be involved, and it will be possible to get several hundreds or thousands in one go instead of one product.
Sources: IBM Research blog , SwissLitho.com
Nanofrezer developed in the laboratories of IBM Research in Zurich, and its commercial promotion is engaged in the company SwissLitho AG, established in 2012. The cutter of the nanofrezer is a silicon tip with a diameter of 12 nanometers, which heats up to 1000 degrees and evaporates the plastic under it. Further, on materials engraved in plastic, other materials can be deposited, creating microelectronic devices.
')
The list of possible applications of the router on the SwissLitho website includes about 20 examples. Here are just a few of them. Nanofrezer can be used to create optical devices - micro lenses, diffraction gratings, Fresnel lenses at the nanoscale. It can be used as a “plotter” for graphene. With it, it is convenient to create microelectromechanical systems - gyroscopes, accelerometers, etc. The nanostructures created by him can be used as templates for self-assembly of nanostructures or work with living cells in medicine and biology.
The cutter is heated to operating temperature.
Another use option is high reliability backup and archiving systems. A very fine control over the depth of engraving makes it possible to achieve a high recording density — much more than one bit of information can be recorded at one point of a two-dimensional plate or disk. The plastic base created by the engraver can then be covered with silicon - the records will be literally carved in stone and can be stored for centuries.
In general, nanofrezer on the abundance of their applications and flexibility can be compared with a 3D-printer, only working at the microscopic level. It can be used for prototyping and experiments wherever nanometer precision is needed. So far, SwissLitho has been offering the NanoFrazor explore router for this very purpose. For 2016–17, it is planned to create an industrial scale milling cutter — instead of one cutter, a whole array will be involved, and it will be possible to get several hundreds or thousands in one go instead of one product.
Sources: IBM Research blog , SwissLitho.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/220905/
All Articles