Micro Angel
This makes these rather large objects smaller than a pinhead and invisible to the naked eye. The team used a combination of chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering techniques to create the tiny structures.
The team believes that the technology used to develop the bridge and the angel could be used to make miniaturised antennae for next-generation mobile phones. These so-called chip antennae will significantly reduce the power consumption and cost of production of mobile communication devices.
The scientists are based at the Innovation in Nanotechnology Exploitation (INEX) engineering and commercialisation arm of the Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The techniques developed in making these demonstration objects are now being used by INEX to develop a number of applications on behalf of industry.
