Nanometer (nm)

Metric (SI)Current unit

One billionth of a meter. Used for the wavelength of light (visible light is about 400–700 nm) and for chip feature sizes.

1 nanometer = 1×10⁻⁹ meters (exactly).

1 nanometer = 1×10⁻⁹ meters

About the nanometer

Greek for dwarf gave nano- its name, and the nanometer was once called something clumsier: the millimicrometre, or more often the millimicron, written mμ, since it is a thousandth of a micrometer. The prefix nano- was among those officially adopted when SI prefixes were first introduced in 1960, and the nanometer grew into the standard unit for optics and microelectronics. It sits a factor of ten above the older ångström, which is 0.1 nm and is still used for atomic distances.

Visible light spans roughly 400 to 700 nm, which is why color and spectroscopy are quoted this way. A helium atom is about 0.06 nm across and a ribosome about 20 nm. Chip makers have used nanometers since the late 1980s in names for manufacturing generations such as 32 nm and 22 nm. Those are labels for successive generations in the industry roadmap, and they describe typical feature sizes rather than one exact measurement. Readers should also beware that nm is sometimes written informally for the nautical mile.

Sources: Wikipedia: Nanometre; Wikipedia: Metric prefix; Wikipedia: Nautical mile

Nanometer conversion chart

1 nanometer expressed in every other length unit:

Unit1 nanometer
Meters1×10⁻⁹
Kilometers1×10⁻¹²
Centimeters1×10⁻⁷
Millimeters0.000001
Inches3.937007874×10⁻⁸
Feet3.280839895×10⁻⁹
Yards1.093613298×10⁻⁹
Miles6.213711922×10⁻¹³
Micrometers0.001
Nautical Miles5.399568035×10⁻¹³
Pixels (CSS)0.000003779527559
Light-years1.057000834×10⁻²⁵
Picometers1,000
Femtometers1,000,000
Decimeters1×10⁻⁸
Hectometers1×10⁻¹¹
Decameters1×10⁻¹⁰
Thou0.00003937007874
Points0.000002834645669
Picas2.362204724×10⁻⁷
Twips0.00005669291339
Astronomical Units6.684587122×10⁻²¹
Light-seconds3.335640952×10⁻¹⁸
Light-minutes5.559401587×10⁻²⁰
Light-hours9.265669311×10⁻²²
Parsecs3.240779289×10⁻²⁶
Megaparsecs3.240779289×10⁻³²
Angstroms10
Fathoms5.468066492×10⁻¹⁰
Cable Lengths5.399568035×10⁻¹²
Leagues2.071237307×10⁻¹³
Nautical Leagues1.799856012×10⁻¹³
Furlongs4.970969538×10⁻¹²
Chains4.970969538×10⁻¹¹
Rods1.988387815×10⁻¹⁰
Links4.970969538×10⁻⁹
Hands9.842519685×10⁻⁹
Barleycorns1.181102362×10⁻⁷
Palms1.312335958×10⁻⁸
Spans4.374453193×10⁻⁹
Cubits2.187226597×10⁻⁹
Ells8.748906387×10⁻¹⁰
US Survey Feet3.280833333×10⁻⁹
US Survey Miles6.213699495×10⁻¹³
Stadia5.208333333×10⁻¹²
Roman Inches4.06504065×10⁻⁸
Roman Feet3.378378378×10⁻⁹
Roman Cubits2.252252252×10⁻⁹
Roman Paces6.756756757×10⁻¹⁰
Roman Stadia5.405405405×10⁻¹²
Roman Miles6.756756757×10⁻¹³
Roman Leagues4.504504505×10⁻¹³
Greek Feet3.125×10⁻⁹
Royal Cubits1.904761905×10⁻⁹
Egyptian Palms1.333333333×10⁻⁸
Egyptian Fingers5.333333333×10⁻⁸
Khet1.904761905×10⁻¹¹
Biblical Cubits1.851851852×10⁻⁹
Sabbath Days' Journeys9.259259259×10⁻¹³
Sun3.3×10⁻⁸
Shaku3.3×10⁻⁹
Ken5.5×10⁻¹⁰
Jō3.3×10⁻¹⁰
Chō9.166666667×10⁻¹²
Ri (Japanese)2.546296296×10⁻¹³
Fen (Chinese)3×10⁻⁷
Cun (Chinese)3×10⁻⁸
Chi (Chinese)3×10⁻⁹
Zhang (Chinese)3×10⁻¹⁰
Li (Chinese)2×10⁻¹²
Vershoks2.249718785×10⁻⁸
Arshins1.406074241×10⁻⁹
Sazhens4.686914136×10⁻¹⁰
Versts9.373828271×10⁻¹³
Lignes4.43296×10⁻⁷
Pouces3.694133333×10⁻⁸
Pieds Du Roi3.078444444×10⁻⁹
Toises5.130740741×10⁻¹⁰
Lieues2.56537037×10⁻¹³
Varas1.196315349×10⁻⁹
Leguas1.794473023×10⁻¹³
Wa (Thai)5×10⁻¹⁰
Sen (Thai)2.5×10⁻¹¹
Scandinavian Mil1×10⁻¹³

More Metric (SI) units

All Metric (SI) units

Browse all length units.