The snowman is 10µm across, 1/5th the width of a human hair. The snowman was made from two thin beads used to calibrate electron microscope astigmatism. The eyes and smile were milled using a focused ion beam, and the nose, which is under 1µm wide (or 0.001mm) is ion beam deposited platinum.

An nano-manipulation system was used to assemble the parts 'by hand' and platinum deposition was used to weld all elements together. The snowman is mounted on a silicon cantilever from an atomic force microscope (AFM) whose sharp tip 'feels' surfaces creating topographic surveys at almost atomic scales.

The techniques used to create the nano-scale snowman are employed by CEMMNT partner, NPL:

• To make and fine-tune Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) cantilevers for measuring surface topography.
• To manufacture nano-scale SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) for a wide range of future metrological applications, including spintronics, single particle detection, NEMS and quantum information processing.
• To measure magnetic properties of very small magnetic systems using quantum hall probes.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) generates three dimension images and surface property information by scanning a stylus (typical diameter 5 nanometres) over areas of 100 microns and below with Angstrom precision. This non-destructive technique requires no sample preparation and operates in air, fluid, electrochemical and vacuum environments using laser feedback to minimise forces between the tip and sample. Sample temperature can be varied and experiments performed under humidity control. Advanced imaging modes enable a wide range of materials properties to be characterised with nanometre resolution. The probe can also be precisely positioned for local spectroscopic analysis.

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