Wow
The wire's so tiny, I can't even see the animation!
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have created what the uni thinks is the narrowest-ever silicon conducting wire. At just four atoms wide and one atom tall, the wire has demonstrated a surprising property: Ohm’s law (current equals voltage divided by resistance) holds true even at such a tiny scale, the …
"It is extraordinary to show that such a basic law still holds even when constructing a wire from the fundamental building blocks of nature – atoms..............."
I look forward to the team demonstrating how one constructs a wire, of any type on any scale from any material you care to name, *without* using atoms. "Atomless" materials - the wave of the future.
Rather than "...the resistivity of the wire *unaffected* by its width..." surely you meant to write that the resistivity *formula* remains unaffected by its width, as the resistivity itself should vary in an inverse linear fashion with the wire's width. The neat finding here is that the resistivity formula still holds for such narrow widths.
"She notes that the technique Weber’s research used would not be suitable for mass-produced chips. However, by demonstrating that quantum-scale wires can be made to demonstrate classical behaviours, the research holds out the prospect Moore’s Law can be kept intact for many years to come."
So, what's the use of this to continue to develop electronics in accordance with Moore's Law when the method can't be used for mass production? Is it an unstated hope that a different method will achieve the same but *is* suitable for mass production?
Any "boffins" (to use El Reg's favourite moniker) around to explain that to someone who isn't quite a quantum physicist? Thanks!
Maybe I'm overinterpreting in reading a message of "we have a boutique method and can maintain Ohm's (and by extension Moore's) Law or we have mass production methods but run into a quantum-mechanical wall".
but as I understand there was wide assumption that, at this scale, quantum effects take over classical ones and thus it would not be possible to build working electronic structure this small, ever. This research proved such assumptions to be incorrect and thus opens the way for more research into making electronic structures at this scale not only working, but also practicable.
Mine is the smallest coat, the one you can't even see.
I'd hazard a guess that it comes down to the fact that previously every one thought it wasnt possible for Ohm's law to hold sway beyond 10nm. Now that its been shown that it is possible, the engineers can go away and work out how to make it work in the real world.
Thats how Science and Engineering always work - Science shows us that something works (in a normally not-useful-in-the-real-world sort of way) and Engineering goes and turns it into useful products! (Disclaimer: Yes im an engineer, couldnt you tell? ;) )