With the help of a device capable of depositing metals an atom at a time in the materials used in computer chips, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers has successfully blended modern semiconductor technology and nanomachines. The work marks the advent of a new class of nanomechanical devices with implications ranging from improved solar energy cells and light-emitting diodes to highly sensitive probes capable of measuring single biological molecules. The new work was conducted using a unique device known as a focused ion beam writer, an instrument that operates like a sandblaster and can shower a sample of silicon with atoms to impregnate the material with metal in precise patterns at the nanoscale. In the new study, the team was able to dep! osit a small plume of gallium atoms into a silicon nanomachine and confer electromechanical properties. At present, nanomechanical devices are sculpted from sandwiches of silicon and metal. The new technique means the metal layer can be removed completely, making the nano devices lighter, more sensitive and easier to manipulate. Potential applications include new battery technology, mechanically tunable transistors, improved solar cells and highly sensitive light-emitting diodes that can serve as readouts for microscopic sensor.