---
title: "World’s Tiniest “Christmas Tree” Is Barely Thicker Than a DNA Strand"
description: "A physics student used a scanning tunneling microscope to built a \"Christmas tree\" that's barely thicker than a DNA strand."
date: "2020-12-21"
modified: "2020-12-21"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-tiniest-christmas-tree-dna-strand"
categories:
  - "DNA"
  - "Genetics"
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "christmas"
  - "nanotech"
  - "scanning tunneling microscope"
  - "the digest"
---

# World’s Tiniest “Christmas Tree” Is Barely Thicker Than a DNA Strand

![A physics student used a scanning tunneling microscope to built a "Christmas tree" that's barely thicker than a DNA strand.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/worlds-tiniest-christmas-tree-dna-strand.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: TU Delft\</em\>*

## Enhance!

Making use of the sophisticated scientific equipment at her disposal, Delft University of Technology physics Master's student Maura Willems decided to give herself a challenge this holiday season: Building the world's tiniest Christmas tree.

Willems used a scanning tunneling microscope to chip away individual atoms away from a crystal lattice, [according to a Delft press release](<https://phys.org/news/2020-12-physics-student-world-smallest-christmas.html>). The end result is a tree-shaped structure just four nanometers tall — barely thicker than a single strand of DNA.

## Side Hustle

Typically, a scanning tunneling microscope is used for research in which scientists need to find, study, or [manipulate individual atoms](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-smallest-mri-scans-individual-atoms>).

Scanning tunneling microscopes have been used to study [electron activity](<https://futurism.com/for-the-first-time-quantum-physicists-were-able-to-pinpoint-the-location-of-an-atom>) and [superconductivity in graphene](<https://futurism.com/scientists-made-graphene-carry-an-electrical-current-with-zero-resistance>), aside from also giving scientists a better understanding of the universe as it operates on the smallest scales.

## Stocking Stuffer

But set that all aside for now, because it also lets researchers pull off cool scientific stunts for their own sake, like this impossibly-small tree, which is built from just a small handful of atoms holding onto their lattice structure.

The tree, 20,000 times smaller than a human hair, may not reveal new insights into the atomic scale, but it does illustrate the cool stuff scientists can do when they're bored.

**READ MORE:** [Physics student makes world's smallest Christmas tree](<https://phys.org/news/2020-12-physics-student-world-smallest-christmas.html>) \[Delft University of Technology\]

**More on scanning tunneling microscopes:** *[World's Smallest MRI Machine Means We Can Now Scan Individual Atoms](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/worlds-smallest-mri-scans-individual-atoms>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)