December 7, 2006
1 min read
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In May researchers debuted a sharp new device--in fact it may be the pointiest object yet fabricated.
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In May researchers debuted a sharp new device--in fact it may be the pointiest object yet fabricated. The group sharpened the end of a tungsten wire by applying a voltage to it in the presence of pure nitrogen. The gas ate away the tungsten atoms except at the wire's tip, where the electric field was strongest. The result was a needle that tapered to the thickness of about a single atom, the group reported in the May 28 Journal of Chemical Physics. Such devices might be useful in recording movies of atomic motion or as high quality electron emitters.
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