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Junhao Lin from Vanderbilt University et al. have created three atom wide nanowires and published his results as a letter in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. Full text is behind a paywall but an Article Preview is available.
He created these nanowires using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). The wires were made from transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDC), chosen because they form monolayers (much like graphene). Neither the article nor the Nature Article Preview specify precisely which TMDCs were constructed, but mentions molybdenum, tungsten, sulfur, and selenium as example constituents of chemicals in this group with the appropriate electrical properties. Some amazing images in the linked Article Preview suggest these wires are on the order of 0.6nm in width.
Transistors and flash memory have already been created using this class of material so it looks like complete integrated circuits using this material are a possibility. The article suggests that this technique may be adapted to construction using electron beam lithography, increasing its potential for future commercial feasibility.
(Score: 1) by broken on Tuesday April 29 2014, @06:36PM
It's three-atom wide.
Ah, the ambiguity of multiple modifiers for a noun is an endless source of confusion and often hilarity. Putting the hyphen in the right place would have certainly made it clearer and avoided misinterpretations of the intended meaning [xkcd.com].