Category: news

Jerry Fass writes "Physicists in Germany make atomic force microscope able to image features under 100 picometres (0.1 nanometer) across. New "higher-harmonic" force microscope uses one carbon atom as a probe, resolution is at least three times more than standard scanning tunnelling microscopes. http://physicsweb.org/article/news/8/6/6/"

brian wang writes "Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Department of Energy are developing 'smart' nanoparticles to clean up environmental toxins that resist conventional remediation methods. Carnegie Mellon University researchers create nanoparticles to clean up contaminated sites"

Roland Piquepaille writes "Increasing storage density by packing more than 0 or 1 in a single memory cell is an appealing idea. Now, "researchers from the University of Southern California and NASA have built a prototype molecular memory device that stores three bits in the same spot." Each memory cell is a field-effect transistor (FET) made from a 10-nanometer-diameter indium oxide wire. By applying current to a gate electrode, the nanowire can have eight discrete levels of electrical conductance, therefore representing the eight combinations of 3 bits. The prototype can retain data for 600 hours and provides a data density of 40 gigabits per square centimeter. The researchers think they can reach a density of 400 gigabits per square centimeter within 5 to 10 years. More details and references are available in this overview. [Note: Nanodot described another approach to molecular memory last March.]"