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- How small is...
- a centimeter?
- Definition: Centi means 1 part in 100. Therefore, there are 100 centimeters in a meter.
- Notation: cm
- Comparison: A centimeter of hair similar to this one, laid out side by side, could contain more than 116 strands.
- a millimeter?
- Definition: A millimeter is 1/1,000 of a meter.
- Notation: mm
- Comparison: If you laid out 1,000 strands of hair similar to the one shown on the right, side to side, the width would be 86 millimeters.
- micro?
- Definition: Micro is a prefix meaning one-millionth or 10-6 units.
- There are 1,000,000 micrometers (or microns) in a meter.
- Notation: µm
- Comparison:A strand of hair can be anywhere from 20 µm (microns) to200 µm in diameter.
- nano?
- Definition: Nano is a prefix meaning one-billionth, or 10-9,or 1/1,000,000,000!
- Notation: nm
- Comparison: This strand of hair is approximately 150,000 nm (nanometers) wide.
- If you were a three nanometers tall, a cross section of this strandcould look like the Grand Canyon.
- an Angstrom?
- Definition: An Angstrom is 1x10-10meters, and can be used to measure atomic sizes.
- Notation: Å
- Comparison: This strand of hair is about 1,500,000 Å in diameter.
- When is...
- a centimeter used?
- The common use of the centimeter is to refer to a wafer size.
- Our most commonly used wafer is 10.16 cm in diameter
- a millimeter used?
- The wrenches used in the cleanroom to maintain the equipment are in the millimeter range.
- a micron used?
- Our "large" measurements are usually in microns.
- Typical hair diameter: 86 microns
- Common oxide thickness: 1.5 microns
- a nanometer used?
- More refined measurements in the cleanroom are on the nano scale.
- an Angstrom used?
- This measurement is not commonly used in the cleanroom.
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A strand of student hair magnified 10 times. *Width is approximately 86 µm |
