New Tools for Nanometrology

Engineers and physicists at Imperial College London and University College London are building a new set of tools to measure objects at the nanoscale—a billionth of a metre—with far greater precision than currently possible. Today’s microscopes and sensors struggle to capture what is happening inside materials at the scale of atoms and molecules. This limits progress in fields from electronics to medicine, where the behaviour of tiny structures determines how a device or drug performs. The researchers aim to develop techniques that can measure specific physical or chemical properties—such as stiffness, electrical charge, or temperature—at exactly the right place and time. If successful, the work could improve the manufacturing of computer chips, batteries, and medical implants, where nanoscale flaws can cause failure. It might also enable new diagnostic tools that detect disease earlier by sensing changes in single cells or proteins. This is fundamental science: there is no immediate product or treatment. The goal is to create a national capability for nanometrology that the UK currently lacks. Past investments in similar measurement science have underpinned entire industries—from semiconductor fabrication to DNA sequencing—by giving researchers the ability to see and measure what was previously invisible.