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Atoms on a Silicon Surface

Scanning tunneling micrograph, about 1,000,000,000X
Russell Becker

Measuring less than 1/100,000,000th of an inch, the hills in this micrograph are individual atoms on a silicon crystal that have been enlarged more than one billion times. A Scanning Tunneling Microscope collects digital information which is plotted by a computer. Colors are false colors assigned by the computer to help researchers see how crystalline structures are formed.