Takayuki Hoshino and Shinji Matsui of the Himeji Institute of Technology (Kobe, Japan) created this unique 1-billionth scale model of the Starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D.
Nano Trek
We don't know why. We don't care why. But it got an award as Best Ion MicroGraph at the 47th International Conference on Electron, Ion and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication.(And you thought Trek conventions were nerdy, holy molasses).
Fabricated by 30 kV Ga+ focused-ion- beam CVD using phenanthrene gas, the model is 8.8 micrometers long, seen here magnified with a Seiko scanning-ion microscope at 5,000X.
You might argue these chaps have too much time on their hands. You'd be wrong.
By the way, Happy Birthday to William Shatner (March 22, 1931) ... and also, Future Happy Birthday to Captain James T. Kirk (March 22, 2228).
Riverside, Iowa. Seriously.
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