By Stephen Ornes

As microchips get progressively smaller and denser, each decrease in size brings its own set of problems. Currently, the fine metallic lines can be as narrow as a few dozen nanometers, so edgewise irregularities or edge roughness of just a few nanometers can cause major problems, such as current leakage or voltage fluctuation in a microprocessor. These tiny blemishes on the nano lines arise from the random fluctuation of electrons or photons during the process of nanofabrication.