The scientists at the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, used a tunnel-effect microscope to capture the images and, with a copper needle, manipulated carbon monoxide molecules on a copper substrate at a distance of 1 nanometer, unit of a measure equivalent to one millionth of a millimeter (Scientists filmed the film frame by frame, a technique known as "stop motion", using the tip of the aforementioned tunnel effect microscope (STM), which won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1986). The molecules remain in place and form a bond with the substrate, due to the very low temperature (-268.15 °C or -450.67 °F) at which the device operates. The oxygen component of each molecule is shown as a point when photographed by the microscope, which allows composite images of many of these points to be created.
The IBM team created 242 frames with 65 carbon monoxide molecules, each frame measured 45 by 25 nanometers and the total film making took two weeks of 18 hours of work a day, made by four researchers.
0 Comments