A 20-Micrometer House

With what they claim to be the tiniest house ever built, researchers at the Femto-ST Institute in France have raised the bar for compact construction. The house measures only 20 microns long and has a chimney, a tiled roof, and seven windows. A human hair is typically around 70 microns wide to give you some perspective.

According to Devin Coldewey of Tech Crunch, the house was constructed from a coating of silica that was placed on the end of an optical fiber that is only slightly wider than a human hair. The robotex platform was employed by the researchers. It incorporates a dual scanning electron microscope/focused ion beam, a gas injection system, and a small maneuverable robot.

The tiny house had to be put together by nanorobots inside a vacuum chamber using silica membranes in an origami-like fashion. There isn't necessarily a function for the house. After all, there aren't many items that are small enough to fit within. But it was a convincing illustration of the methods that could be used to construct even the smallest of structures.

• Size:20 microns long
  
  
• Creators: researchers at the Femto-ST Institute in France