Nanoscale is fun. A measly voltage of 1 Volt across a gap of 100 nm means there's an electric field of 10 MV/m. It's kind of hard to keep electrically charged p

Nanoscale is fun. A measly voltage of 1 Volt across a gap of 100 nm means there's an electric field of 10 MV/m. It's kind of hard to keep electrically charged particles, such as electrons, from moving under that kind of stimulus. If memory serves, in air the disruptive voltage is 30kV/cm (or 3 MV/m) - above that one gets those sparkly electric arcs that melt metal, intentionally or not. (Other than that, air is an insulator.)