Scientists produce smallest-ever printing

Scientists produce smallest-ever printing

PALO ALTO, Calif. (UPI) -- California researchers say they have broken a key barrier in the realm of small writing, engraving letters that are sub-atomic in size.

Two Stanford University physicists have succeeded in writing two letters -- an "S" and a "U," in honor of their employer -- small enough that if used to print out the 32-volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica 2,000 times, the contents would fit on the head of a pin, the San Jose Mercury News reported Sunday.

The nanoscribes, Hari Manoharan and Chris Moon, say the accomplishment, in which they used electron beam lithography, has no practical purpose but proves that information can be stored at small sizes below the level of the atom, giving theoretical backing to continued efforts to reduce the amount of time and space necessary for computers to store and retrieve data, the newspaper said.

"Writing really small has a long history," said Manoharan, assistant professor of physics. "We wondered: What are the limits? How far can you go?"

The information can be written on the head of a pin, but the reading device will still run out of battery power in 2 hours...