Nanometre


The nanometre or nanometer is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one billionth of a metre. One nanometre can be expressed in scientific notation as, in engineering notation as, and as simply metres.

History

The nanometre was formerly known as the millimicrometre – or, more commonly, the millimicron for short – since it is of a micron, and was often denoted by the symbol mµ or as µµ.

Etymology

The name combines the SI prefix nano- with the parent unit name metre.
When used as a prefix for something other than a unit of measure , nano refers to nanotechnology, or phenomena typically occurring on a scale of nanometres.

Usage

The nanometre is often used to express dimensions on an atomic scale: the diameter of a helium atom, for example, is about 0.06 nm, and that of a ribosome is about 20 nm. The nanometre is also commonly used to specify the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation near the visible part of the spectrum: visible light ranges from around 400 to 700 nm. The ångström, which is equal to 0.1 nm, was formerly used for these purposes, but is still used in other fields.
Since the late 1980s, in usages such as the 32 nm and the 22 nm semiconductor node, it has also been used to describe typical feature sizes in successive generations of the ITRS Roadmap for miniaturization in the semiconductor industry.