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From Traditional Printing to High Resolution Nano Printing
Date added: 11 Sep 2007
TOP: The traditional printing method known as "gravure printing", where an image is etched on the surface of a metal plate, the etched area is filled with ink, then the plate is rotated on a cylinder that transfers the image to paper or other material. This method allows for features as small as 10,000 nanometers, far too big for use in electronics. BOTTOM: IBM's novel new nano printing method, which uses a self-assembly process to control the arrangement of tiny nanoparticles, in this case 20,000 gold particles, each about 60 nanometers in diameter. The gold nanoparticles are swept across a surface and convective forces in the liquid push the particles into grooves in the surface, forming nanostructures with a well-defined geometry. The IBM scientists believe this method could be used for mass production -- more efficiently and at a lower cost -- to place particles as small as 2 nanometers in diameter to fabricate atomic scale nanowires, ultra tiny lenses for optics and biosensors for healthcare.
