The transistor is a type of device known as a
nanoelectromechanical system, or NEM. Unlike conventional
electronic devices, NEMs can be potentially routinely
manufactured to high tolerances on the scale of nanometres
(10-9m), an important attribute in the quest to build ever
smaller logic devices. Moreover, NEM devices can operate at and
beyond radio frequencies making them ideal for applications in
information technology.  The transistor, built by Dominik
Scheible at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich and
Robert Blick at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, features a
silicon arm about 200 nanometres long and only tens of
nanometres across. The researchers covered the tip of the device
with a gold “island” and then placed the tip between two
electrodes, known as the source and drain. By applying an ac
voltage to one of the electrodes with a frequency that matched
the resonant frequency of the arm -- in this case between 350
and 400 megahertz -- they were able to make the arm vibrate
between the elec