"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" fired this volley in
m:

Did they ever state how long they remained where you put them? That
would be a way to put permanent serial numbers on expensive
components..

Well... xenon might not be the best candidate there, as it's a gas at
STP, but I'm sure other atoms - like precious metals - might be
manipulated the same way.

The problems are mass and reactivity. Higher electron beam energies to
move more massive atoms. Xenon was probably chosen because it is inert
and light. No real dangers of its entering into chemical reactions with
the substrate, which might move the dots.

Helium might have worked, too, but the atoms are so small that maybe even
scanning-tunneling might not have shown them up very well -- if at all.


I felt it was a Gee-Wiz, PR type of thing when they first announced
it. The magazine I saw it in proclaimed it as the perfect computer
memory. Useless trade journals strike again!


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.