#thepew

Jul 2, 2015

Atomic gold-enabled three-dimensional lithography for silicon mesostructures. To the average person, these words probably don't mean much - most people don't know what lithography is, nor could they tell you that a mesostructure is not another term for a structure in Mesopotamia - but pay attention, these words are important; they're the title of a scientific paper, published in the journal Science.

The authors of the paper have experimentally established a method of producing diffused gold covered silicon nanowire, basically a very thin wire made of silicon, coated with an even thinner layer of gold. This coating improves the chemical stability of silicon, helping it resist deformations caused by chemicals (but not by mechanical stress). The paper also found that the diffused gold covered silicon nanowire elicited strong interactions with collagen - a feature which may lead to the development of biocompatible implants, similar to pacemakers, or, farther in the future, perhaps these wires could potentially be used to repair damaged nerves, or connect artificial organs, while nearer to us is the potential to create tissue-interfacing adhesives and bioelectronics. In addition, while the authors of the paper chose not to speculate on the subject, since it was not the subject of their paper, other papers in the past have commented on the potential use of gold in nanoscale circuitry, (despite gold's strange properties at that scale) which would lead to more advanced computer technology. The research by Bozhi Tian, et al. may pave the way for more chemically stable circuits, especially since it would allow the silicon nanowire to resist corrosion.

And hey, if the two angles of research are combined, plus a ton of extra neuroscience, maybe someday, linux users will be able to control USB devices with their minds.