Nano technology
(SFX: guitar music)

THE WORLD'S SMALLEST GUITAR HAS BEEN MADE.  IT'S ABOUT THE SIZE OF A RED BLOOD
CELL WITH STRINGS THAT ARE APPROXIMATELY 100 ATOMS WIDE.  AND IT WAS MADE BY
DUSTIN CARR WHO'S AN ENGINEER AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY.   

Carr: "It was just a natural fit for me because I am a fan of the guitar."

THE NANOGUITAR HAS STRINGS THAT CAN VIBRATE LIKE A STANDARD ONE, BUT IT'S NOT
REALLY MEANT TO BE PLAYED--IT WAS ALL AN EXERCISE TO SHOW THE TECHNIQUES CARR
USES TO CREATE TEENSY TINY MACHINES.

Carr: "There are many different reasons that we want to make very small mechanial
structures, mainly as you make things smaller you can generally make them go faster."

THE LITTLE SWITCHES THAT INSTANTLY INFLATE AN AIRBAG ARE A GOOD EXAMPLES OF
USEFUL MICROMACHINES.  THESE AREN'T JUST COMPUTER CHIPS WITH MINIATURE
CIRCUITS--THESE ARE FULLY MOVABLE TINY MACHINES.  TO BUILD THEM, CARR DRAWS A
PATTERN WITH A COMPUTER AND THEN CARVES THE PATTERN ONTO A SILICON CRYSTAL. 

Carr:"We have a very advanced state of the art piece of equipment. . . that allows us to
guide a very small beam of electrons. . .and write a pattern into the surface. . .and then
we are able to go through various chemical etching steps where we remove the
material."

IT'S A LOT LIKE CARVING A SCULPTURE OUT OF A BIG BLOCK OF MARBLE, JUST INSTEAD OF
CHIPPING AWAY WITH A CHISEL THEY USE CHEMICALS TO EAT AWAY THE EXTRA MATERIAL. 
OF COURSE, CARR ISN'T TRYING TO CREATE GORGEOUS ART--OR EVEN A
REVOLUTIONARY SOUNDING ELECTRIC GUITAR--BUT HIS TINY MACHINES COULD STILL BE
THE BASIS FOR BEAUTIFUL NEW TECHNOLOGIES.