the.com/nanometer
A billionth of a meter, where the rules of physics start playing dirty.
means A nanometer is a unit of length equal to one billionth of a meter, the scale at which atoms, molecules, and light's wavelengths are measured.
from Built from two parts: the Greek 'nanos,' meaning 'dwarf,' and 'meter,' from Greek 'metron,' 'a measure.' The 'nano-' prefix was officially adopted into the metric system in the mid-20th century, repurposing that ancient word for 'dwarf' to mean a factor of one-billionth — a fitting demotion, turning a small person into the smallest of measures.
- size check
- Your fingernail grows one nanometer per second
- chip wars
- Modern transistors are mere nanometers wide
- light limit
- Smaller than visible light's wavelength can resolve
- DNA scale
- The double helix is two nanometers across
- name origin
- From Greek nanos, meaning dwarf
intel 7 process — intel's 2022 chip manufacturing at 7 nanometers, powering core ultra processors
tsmc n3 process — taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company's 3-nanometer process used by apple's a17 pro chip in 2023
ibm nanosheet transistor — ibm demonstrated working 2-nanometer transistors in 2021, breaking previous size records