Atomic Hopper Shows Promise for Nano Switching

A single cobalt atom has been made to hop back and forth between two positions in response to an electric current by US researchers. The technique could some day lead to the development of atomic switches for nanoscale devices.

Reseachers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland, US, used a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to both build the nanostructure and manoeuvre one of the atoms.

They first used the tip of the microscope to push between three and five copper atoms and a single cobalt atom into a row, fixed to a solid copper substrate.