Nanotech Circuits Shrink Even More
Assistant Prof. Robert McLeod and 4 other team members from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-B) have just discovered a method for shrinking nanotech circuits even further. The CU-Boulder scientists’ nanocircuit production method involves the use of two differently colored lights: an intense, highly focused beam of blue light and a slightly less-focused ultraviolet light that encompasses the blue light in a halo effect. McLeod and company’s use of a secondary, encompassing light is what makes this nanocircuit inscription method revolutionary.
The blue light and the UV light react differently with the special substrate. As the blue light “cuts through” the substrate, the surrounding UV light inhibits the same reaction on the area immediately around the blue light. Thus, the UV light “halo” prevents the propagation of the edges beyond the line produced by the blue light, resulting in much thinner nanocircuit inscriptions. This can only mean two things, of course: consumers can look forward to much smaller nanocircuits and, ultimately, much slimmer electronic devices.