yoctoampere

unitStandard termUnits

An SI unit of electrical current equal to one septillionth of an ampere.

One septillionth of an ampere (10^-24 A). This represents a current so small that it equates to a single electron passing a given point every few seconds. It is used in advanced nanoelectronics and theoretical quantum physics to describe ultra-low charge transfers.

Heard on the job

The electrometer requires extreme cooling to detect fluctuations down to a few yoctoamperes.