The Russian Academy of Sciences has developed an atom pinhole camera that can manufacture an array of atomic nanostructure copies of micrometer-sized objects down to 30 nm, a size reduction of 10,000 times.

In an atom pinhole camera, atoms act like photons in an optical pinhole camera, producing high-resolution images on a silicon substrate. A camera with up to 10 million pinholes could allow for simultaneous generation of large numbers of identical (or diverse) nanostructures.

The scientists predict that the method could have applications in metamaterials, plasmonics, spintronics, MEMS/NEMS, and more.