Just as it's starting to seem like MEMS
motion sensor technology is gaining more
widespread use, we're now hearing rumblings of activity from the developers of its eventual successor: NEMS (Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems). To contextualize this discussion (and to give laypeople a shot at understanding), MEMS sensors are the magic behind the
Wii MotionPlus as well as a stunning
tech demo recently conducted on a Toshiba
TG01. The nascent nano version promises
even greater sensitivity, and now scientists from TU Delft in the Netherlands claim they have successfully measured the influence of a single electron on an 800nm-long carbon nanowire. Just detecting such an event is a feat in itself, while the ability to measure its effects can be used in a huge range of ways: from transportation and medicine to ultra-sensitive gaming controllers. While accurate comparisons between the Dutch breakthrough and current generation sensors cannot yet be drawn, we can confidently say that this marks an important step toward making our dreams of playing a nanoscale piano a gargantuan reality.
posted Jul 27th 2009 8:42AM
This isn't big news.
It's nano-news.
This is M&S news.
This is CNN.
THIS-IS-JEOPARDY!
It is Sparta
It's Gossip Girl
xoxo
this is caketown
This is pure XTC.
This is nano-ness.
This is AOL news.
This is Dutch
I took a MEMS class in grad school... Absolutely ridiculous on the difficulty scale. You have to know mechanical, electrical, and thermal engineering along with being a physics genius.
Durex is fine, but maybe ultra-sensitive Lifestyles will be around the corner
What happens if the electron falls off the wire?
Didn't realise at first that the thin white line in the picture is the actual string
"Suspended nanotubes vibrate at an extremely high frequency and thus exhibit new quantum effects. These suspended nanotubes thus form an interesting field of research; moreover, it has recently become possible to manufacture these items to a high quality"
Interesting, maybe they can make artificial ears with them.
"headed by Prof. Leo Kouwenhoven and Prof. Herre van der Zant. The primary author of the article in Science is Dr Gary Steele."
Gary Steele, sounds so fake.
So does this mean that Wii games won't suck anymore?
When they go on the pico-metre scale, will PEMS stop working once a month?
I thought you'd start to run into problems with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, but so far they're just measuring the presence of the electron anywhere along the length of the wire. Though measuring the frequency of the vibration might narrow down the momentum of the electron too....
NEMS > MEMS
or is it NEMS < MEMS?
@Engadget
I understand this is not a technical blog, but you make it appear as if MEMS is solely useful for a game controller. MEMS and now NEMS have diverse applications in electrical, mechanical, and electronics engineering. Their use is really almost unlimited in scope.