Smallest replica painting

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, have painted the smallest-ever painting replica. A version of the Mona Lisa nicknamed "Mini Lisa" was created using an atomic force microscope and a process called Thermochemical Nanolithography (TCNL) and is painted on a canvas that is only 30 microns (0.0012 in) wide; about one third the width of a human hair. The technique involved controlling minute chemical reactions using a heated cantilever arm as a brush. This controlled the "colour" of groups of molecules at specified locations on the substrate with higher heat giving lighter shades of grey to the painting and lower heat giving darker shades. The distance between each "pixel" of the painting is about 125 nanometres, making it a 1/25,000th scale painting compared to the real Mona Lisa, and the smallest true painting ever created.