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Physicists Extend Moore's Law For Tiny Devices

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the very-small-advances dept.

schliz writes to mention that a team of quantum physicists have demonstrated how to significantly reduce the effects of "stiction," or the tendency for two very small, very close objects to stick together as a result of Casimir force. "'The Casimir force might be one of the many reasons that very small, movable components in micromechanical devices sometimes stick together,' said Ho Bun Chan, a assistant professor of physics at the University of Florida who is researching the Casimir force. 'The Casimir effect increases rapidly as the separation between components decreases. It becomes significant when the separation is reduced to below about 400 nm,' he told iTnews."

4 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Let's here it for Zero Point Energy by clonan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now if only we could use it as a power source....I would LOVE a ZPM ala Stargate!

  2. Re:*reduced* the surface area? by embsysdev · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He's probably referring to the contact surface area. By making the surface corrugated, less of the surface comes in close contact to the other surface.

  3. Re:More Info by Firehed · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There's definitely some irony in how you were modded up for giving us the link to help us do something so esoteric as looking up what Wikipedia is. /obvious

    --
    How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  4. Previous Art by PPH · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The solution to freeing a stuck mechanical device is well known.

    Hit it.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.