A Different Drummer


Bring the wonder

In this otherwise interesting article about Intel and IBM moving to a "next generation" of microprocessors, I found this little factoid pretty incredible:
"Today transistors, for example, are made with systems that can create wires and other features that are finer than the resolving power of a single wavelength of light."
Phwoah. Intel's new chips will be built based on 45 Nanometer parts, meaning that typical features of the chip - wires, transistors etc - will be around 45 Nanometers wide. For some comparison, a red blood cell is around 8,000 nanometers wide, and a human hair around 80,000 nanometres. (thanks, Wikipedia...)

Its nice to get little reminders sometimes of the sheer scale of the everyday miracles that surround us....

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