pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott) (04/08/90)
In article <Apr.6.01.58.32.1990.12593@athos.rutgers.edu>, 76276.27@compuserve.com (Dan Spitzer) writes: > CNN and NBC news service tonight both ran short stories on a breakthrough > at the IBM Almaden Research Center. The story said that they had > successfully moved two individual Xenon atoms, one at a time. ... > If anyone hears anymore about this I'd sure like some details! The news story I saw showed them moving atoms into the shape of the IBM logo, over a period of several hours. This is news. This is your | Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech brain on news. Any questions? | (pjs@aristotle.jpl.nasa.gov)
alan@oz.nm.paradyne.com (Alan Lovejoy) (04/08/90)
In article <Apr.6.01.58.32.1990.12593@athos.rutgers.edu> 76276.27@compuserve.com (Dan Spitzer) writes: >CNN and NBC news service tonight both ran short stories on a breakthrough >at the IBM Almaden Research Center. The story said that they had >successfully moved two individual Xenon atoms, one at a time. They >briefly interviewed one Don Eigler of Almaden and panned by some >flashy equipment. Unfortunately, they did not give any more details. >CNN did say that this could be a major breakthrough in data storage and >microelectronics. Such vision. >If anyone hears anymore about this I'd sure like some details! Technical illiteracy may kill billions of people. Good Morning America had a segment on this thursday moring (5 Apr 90), and the Associated Press covered the story. The Tampa Tribune had the following, based on the AP wire: NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists report they have moved atoms one at a time to make patterns with great precision, an "absolutely fascinating" step that could lead to creating new materials and making computers work even faster. In a process like dragging ping pong balls across the bumpy bottom of an egg carton, atoms were arranged in one experiment to form the letters "IBM," with the design stretching only 660 billions of an inch long [17 nanometers]. [A photograph of the atoms, presumably imaged using an STM, accompanies the story. The "IBM" is very clearly discernible. It looks like low-resolution dot-matrix printer output. The arrangement is very precise.] Donald Eigler and Ehhard Schweizer, who did the work at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., describe the results in today's issue of the British journal Nature. The precision was such that scientists could choose an individual atom on a surface as the point to place a second atom to build up the design, Eigler said in a telephone interview. Physicists familiar with the work called it a significant demonstration that individual atoms can be placed with high precision to form patterns. [I guess ribosomes don't count for some reason? Perhaps they're dismissed as mere biology by physicists?] That ability may someday let researchers build tiny electronic components, to make computers far faster than today's super-computers, scientists said. Atoms, they added, also may one day be assembled [interesting choice of terms here] into molecules to create new substances and materials. [The author could give a course on how to turn an exciting story into dull ho-hum irrelevancy...!!! Note that the common archetype of the "the future" is like today, only with bigger/smaller and/or faster/slower variations on mundane themes. The truly new or different doesn't fit into the picture.] "The implications are really remarkable," commented Stuart Lindsay of Arizona State University. He called the work "absolutely fascinating." The IBM scientists arranged atoms of a heavy gas called xenon on a surface made of nickel. They used a device called a scanning tunneling microscope, which produces extremely detailed images of surfaces. It can sense atoms on a surface by passing the tip of a needle over it. The new work took advantage of the fact that the tip holds a magnet-like attraction for atoms. When the tip was brought close enough to a xenon atom, it could pull the atom across the surface. The needle had to tug hard enough to haul a xenon atom over bumpy rows of nickel atoms on the surface, but gently enough not to lift it off the surface, Eigler said. The amount of pull was adjusted by changing the needle tip's height. Typically, the tip hovered about 10 billionths of an inch [0.25 nanometers; atoms measure 0.2..0.3 nanometers] above a xenon atom. Atoms could be moved about 16 billions of an inch [0.4 nanometers] per second. Once they were positioned, the tip was withdrawn. It took 22 hours to arrange 35 atoms into the "IBM" design, Eigler said. In another experiment, seven xenon atoms were arranged into a chain. The work was done at about minus 452 degrees Fahrenheight [3 kelvins], almost as cold as anything can get. That kept the xenon atoms from wandering around, Eigler said. In addition, it was done in an extremely high vacuum to keep unwanted molecules from contaminating the surface, Eigler said. Eigler said he did not know of any commercial use for placing xenon atoms on nickel. But perhaps some more useful kinds of atoms will lend themselves to the technique, he said. [Can't you see the reporter thinking, "Well, if this is such a big deal, what immediate impact will it have on everyday life?"] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The important thing about this event is that it may serve to focus attention on molecular manipulation technology. And it may prove to be useful in building the first crude assembler (which could be warmed after construction, if need be). And "Big Blue" is now also "Little Blue." Perhaps they will try cobalt atoms which spell "IBM;" that would be "cobalt blue!" :-) The number of new uses for, and variations of, the STM seem to be growing exponentially. The even have one with a microspectroscope which can identify atoms via their absorption spectra when laser light of a known frequency is shown on the atoms. Now, how long did they say it would take to sequence the human genome? ____"Congress shall have the power to prohibit speech offensive to Congress"____ Alan Lovejoy; alan@pdn; 813-530-2211; AT&T Paradyne: 8550 Ulmerton, Largo, FL. Disclaimer: I do not speak for AT&T Paradyne. They do not speak for me. Mottos: << Many are cold, but few are frozen. >> << Frigido, ergo sum. >>
dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) (04/10/90)
In article <Apr.7.22.25.26.1990.15813@athos.rutgers.edu> alan@oz.nm.paradyne.com (Alan Lovejoy) writes: >[ Moderator's comments: >Note that the common archetype of the "the future" is >like today, only with bigger/smaller and/or faster/slower variations on >mundane themes. The truly new or different doesn't fit into the picture.] Oh yes. People always think "linearly," i.e., in terms of how new technologies will fit into the "same old same old." Never mind the fact that new technologies fundamentally change the relationship between inputs and outputs, which has a way of pulling the rug out from under all the things people do. When fundamentally new capabilities appear, we must always rethink everything, rather than expect that we can get away with something like strapping a jet engine to a horse. -- Dan Mocsny Snail: Internet: dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu Dept. of Chemical Engng. M.L. 171 dmocsny@uceng.uc.edu University of Cincinnati 513/751-6824 (home) 513/556-2007 (lab) Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0171 [We must at least expect that things will change. Generally the actual changes wrought by new technology are not clear even when they're happening, and argued over long afterward. We are probably not capable of "planning" for radical change in any meaningful sense at all. --JoSH]