Scientists Create ‘World’s Smallest Violin’

Physicists at Loughborough University have created what they believe is the world’s smallest violin, measuring just 35 microns long and 13 microns wide — smaller than the width of a human hair, which typically ranges from 17 to 180 microns in diameter. The microscopic instrument, created using the university’s new nanolithography system, serves as a demonstration of precision manufacturing capabilities that researchers will apply to studies of computing efficiency and energy harvesting methods.

The team used a NanoFrazor machine employing thermal scanning probe lithography, where a heated needle-like tip etches highly precise patterns at the nanoscale onto a chip coated with gel-like resist material. While the individual violin takes roughly three hours to produce, the research team spent several months refining their techniques to achieve the final result, which exists as a microscopic image rather than a playable instrument.