World’s smallest 3D map of the world

The world’s smallest map is composed of 500,000 pixels, each measuring 20 nm2 and was created in only 2.23 minutes.

Zurich scientists have created the world’s smallest 3D map – of the world. IBM’s perfectly formed ‘nano-world’, has now been accepted by the Guinness World Record organization. (Pics)

The map measures a miniscule 22 by 11 micrometers. Or, to put it in perspective, 1,000 maps would fit on just one grain of salt.

The map was ‘written’ on a polymer and is composed of 500,000 pixels, each measuring 20 nm2 and was created in just two minutes and 23 seconds.

A nanoscale tip – 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil – carves out Europe on the 3D map

A map that can only be seen through a microscope may seem as useful as a chocolate teapot, but the new technology behind it is set to open a whole new world in industry.

Existing nano techniques struggle to make structures smaller than 30 nanometers and are expensive to use.

The IBM scientists also created a 25 nanometer-high replica of the Matterhorn peak, a famous Swiss mountain that soars 14,692ft (4,478m) high

But the new technique uses a nanoscale tip – 100,000 times smaller than a sharpened pencil – to cheaply create 2D and 3D patterns and structures as small as 15 nanometers.

The etching technique the machine uses is similar to how Egyptian’s chiseled away at stone to create drawings and hieroglyphics.

The 3D image was etched onto a piece of molecular glass, representing a scale of 1:5billion

The technique opens new prospects for making nanosized electronics and objects in fields ranging from future chip technology to opto-electronics to medicine and life sciences.