> Silicon nanowires are ... so thin they are essentially one-dimensional.
Interesting wording.
Interesting wording.
Or was that the point of your comment?
I think the use of the word 'essentially' signifies that the definition of thickness depends on the domain you're examining. In this case, I'd expect we're talking about the connectedness of chemical bonds. No thickness should mean it's a chain of atoms each with only 2 bonds, to the atoms before and after it in the chain.