Abstract:
For the first time, carbon nanotubes have been picked up and moved with a laser beam. The trick may finally offer engineers who want to build microchips based on nanotube components a way to move the diminutive devices into place. The semiconducting properties of nanotubes - which are just a few nanometres wide and around 100 nanometres long - mean they might one day be used as the basis for low-power, ultra-fast chips.