The golden sun is made of chip manufacturing technology

The smallest piece of art in the world is less than a tenth of a needle tip, consisting of 20,000 gold particles combined by new-generation nano-printing.

The method is implemented by IBM and the ETH Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, which promises to become a low-cost microprocessor technology. "It opens up new directions for placing different types of nanoparticles on different surface types ," said Heiko Wolf, IBM's senior vice president.

IBM engineers have long been inspired to create works of art with seemingly dry technologies. In 1990, they used a microscope and demonstrated how to move each nucleus to specific points to form a picture. However, this type of way proved too expensive, time consuming so it can not perform mass.

With the new technique, to print an image, " ink droplets " made from nanoparticles hang in liquid solution that is " applied " over the surface of soft silicon pads. The substrate is another layer of glass or silicon that is then coated on top. The image is clearly visible due to the ink's very good adhesion to the substrate. According to experts, this new process is more efficient because it combines many different materials such as metal, polymer, semiconductor, oxide.

The sun is 80 microns wide, formed from 20,000 gold particles.
(Photo: BBC)

IBM's Molecular Artwork in 1990.
(Photo: BBC)

th