The world's smallest House

It was built in France to demonstrate the potential of a new technology. Let's find out how the ... building site was set up and what the future developments are.

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A team of French researchers has created a robotic system able to assemble a house so small that it would not be able to accommodate even a mite.

The nano construction occupies an area of ​​300x300 micrometers, ie 0.3x0.3 mm and has been fixed on an optical fiber inside a vacuum chamber.

The work was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology .

But what do you need a house so small for? Obviously it has no practical function, but demonstrates the level of precision up to which the most modern nanotechnologies can be pushed .

Credits

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NANO CANTIERE

To make the nano-case, the French engineers used a combination of different instruments, all on a micro scale: a small ion beam, a gas injection system and a tiny maneuverable robot .

A powerful microscope installed in the vacuum chamber allowed the scientists to follow, step by step, the realization of the work.

The house was built using silicon, which was cut into nano falls and suitably shaped by the ion beam . The gas injection system welded the material on one end of the fiber, and then it was used to make the two decorations that embellish the roof pitches.

All the instruments were brought into position and maneuvered by two microrobots controlled through a computer by human operators. The idea of ​​the researchers, however, is to automate the whole process.

FOR MEDICINE AND MORE

Thanks to this technology engineers will be able to construct nanostructures able to intercept specific molecules to insert them in normally inaccessible areas, such as blood vessels: once positioned, they could be used to carry drugs, to capture viruses or to measure levels of radioactivity .

Next goal of the scientists is to create an even more precise system, able to realize structures of 20 x 100 nanometers (0.00002 x 0.0001 mm).

References for further Reading

Dezeen

Phys

Science Daily