Geeks Show Nanopatriotism

While students of history lamented the sorry state of our Republic this Fourth of July, students of nanotechnology celebrated all things tiny and patriotic by making an American flag so small, it would take ten of them to equal the width of one human hair.The image of the flag -- complete with all 50 stars and 13 stripes -- is 7 microns tall, compared to the 100-micron width of a human hair. It was transferred onto a silicon wafer using a machine that follows the shape of any bitmap image file. The flag and its pole were cut using an ion beam -- a microscopic version of a laser -- and lifted to a standing position by a nano manipulator.

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Jeon and Foresca spent months working on the U.S. flag and a Texas flag even smaller -- 4 microns.The nanopatrionerds' achievement was rejected by the Guinness Book of World Records, apparently because the Guinness people couldn't see the world's smallest flag. The students plan to resubmit, in the category Most Ironically Denied Submission.

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