Researchers have used a unique tool inserted into an electron microscope to create a transistor that’s 25,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The research, published in the journal Science, involves researchers from Japan, China, Russia and Australia who have worked on the project that began five years ago.

QUT Centre for Materials Science co-director Professor Dmitri Golberg, who led the research project, said the result was a «very interesting fundamental discovery» which could lead a way for the future development of tiny transistors for future generations of advanced computing devices.

«In this work, we have shown it is possible to control the electronic properties of an individual carbon nanotube,» Professor Golberg said.

The researchers created the tiny transistor by simultaneously applying a force and low voltage which heated a carbon nanotube made up of few layers until outer tube shells separate, leaving just a single-layer nanotube.

The heat and strain then changed the «chilarity» of the nanotube, meaning the pattern in which the carbon atoms joined together to form the single-atomic layer of the nanotube wall was rearranged.

Story Source: Materials provided by Queensland University of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.