The world's smallest ruler' measures down to a mere 0.1 nm -- the width of a single atom, or as small as TSMC or Intel would like their transistors.

Scientists and engineers can measure the smallest details of our world using a variety of tools, including scanning tunnelling and atomic force microscopies. A team of German researchers has developed a new method to measure the distances between molecules with a potential accuracy as low as 0.1 nm. This is about the size of one atom, and the work should allow scientists to better understand the behaviours of protein molecules.

New Scientist reported the amazing achievement, but if you're looking for a more detailed (read: mind-bogglingly complicated) explanation, you can check out the research from the Max Plank Institute. Traditional sub-molecular microscopy relies on electrons to magnify the subject.

Scientists have struggled for decades to measure the size and separation of protein molecules.

Fluorescence microscopy has always been the tool of choice for such cases. It is when a substance emits a light after absorbing electromagnetic waves of a differing wavelength. You can measure the distance between two fluorescing materials by measuring the difference between their spectra.

In their new approach, Dr Steffen Sahl has improved on that. Even as a child I was always interested in science. But I chose physics over biology and chemistry because I didn't like the mess involved.

I admit that I don't know how it works, but this statement from the research paper piqued my interest. "MINFLUX's fluorophore location down to 0.1 nm accuracy enables accurate distance measurement down to the 1 nm of the physical extent of the fluorescent molecules."

Ignore all the big words, and look at the precision scale: 0.1 nm. This is the size of a regular atom. This is incredibly precise.

While silicon does fluoresce I'm pretty certain the above technique can't be used to measure the size of transistors or other components in chips. This is because silicon emits infrared light, which has a long wavelength and is less accurate as a measuring tool than light.

If you're curious about what the inside of a CPU looks like on a nanometer scale, check out this video from renowned overclocker Der8auer. He uses a scanning electronic microscope to examine the Intel Core i7-8700K. The images are stunning, but the resolution accuracy falls well short of 0.1nm.

If a group of researchers can come up with a way to reach that level in microprocessors, then it would be a great way to test the claims of TSMC, Samsung and Intel when it comes to process nodes.

Science is amazing, isn't?