Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology!

What is Nanotechnology?

A branch of science and engineering devoted to the design and production of extremely small electronic devices and circuits built from individual atoms and molecules.

Nanotechnology is the creation of materials, devices, and systems through the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. Technology development at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular range of approximately 1-100 nanometers to create and use structures, devices, and systems that have novel properties (is Nanotechnology).

A technology that creates small materials at the scale of molecules by manipulating single atoms. The name nano comes from the size of molecules which is measured in nanometers - or one billionth of a meter (0.000000001 meter). The dimension of single atoms is ten fold smaller. The molecular processes of life, particularly the activity of proteins (enzymes) and the self-organizing behavior of many biological molecules has greatly inspired nanotechnology and molecular motors (ie protein complexes) could be considered the result of natures nanotechnology.

History:

RICHARD FEYNMAN :
Tiny Machines - The Feynman Lecture on Nanotechnology.
Richard Feynman originated the idea of nanotechnology, or molecular manufacturing, in the early 1960s. The talk is the last recording ever made of Richard Feynman delivering his now-famous talk, "Tiny Machines," where he introduced the world to the subject of nanotechnology, and the only one delivered to a non-specialist audience. It took place in 1984 at the "Idiosyncratic Thinking Workshop" at Esalen Intitute, Big Sur, California. Here he explains his ideas to a general audience, and illustrates them using slides and diagrams. It is amusing, entertaining, informative, and a classic in the history of nanotechnology.

Source :- http://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/Feynman.html

Source: - nanoink.net

BEGINNINGS

In 1960, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman predicted that, by the year 2000, products would be built one molecule (atom) at a time. This was a truly bold vision, because it represents a new paradigm for manufacturing and constitutes a fundamental economic shift that is analogous to a second industrial revolution. This shift is referred today as the "nanotechnology revolution," and many people consider Dr. Feynman�s quote the birth of nanotechnology.

Between 1960 and 1995, many technological advances were made by which materials are engineered at the atomic and molecular scale. Examples are zeolite synthesis, used for petroleum cracking, or in the making of ultrathin, ultra hard DLC films for hard disk drive technology; however, these advances were not considered as nanotechnology at the time of their development. The National Science Foundation predicts that by 2010, nanotechnology will pervade virtually every corner of the economy and represent $1 trillion in goods and services.

NANOTECHNOLOGY DEFINED

The term "nanotechnology" is based on the root nanos, meaning one billionth. It refers to technology that involves components on a length-scale of 100 nanometers or less. A more rigorous definition of nanotechnology is the design and engineering of components or structures that have at least one physical dimension the size of 100 nanometers or less. For perspective, a human hair is gigantic to nanotechnologists, being roughly 150,000 nm across. A single-walled carbon nanotube is about one nanometer in diameter. Cutting edge microelectronics device structures are now moving into the nanotechnology zone (line widths < 100 nm across). However, nanotechnology purists would argue that current efforts in the microelectronics industry don�t qualify as true nanotechnology, because they are only shrinking devices structures from �the top down,� whereas, true nanotechnology occurs when devices or structures are crafted by using �bottom-up� methods (i.e., by building structures molecule by molecule). This definition eliminates the grinding of larger particles into nanoscale particles as nanotechnology. It also excludes the basic characterization of materials at the nanometer scale, since nothing is actually being made (i.e., looking at the atomic structure of a silicon wafer with a TEM or UHV-STM).

We at NanoInk refer to building and manipulating structures at this scale, true bottom-up technology, as "getting small." Our goal is to enable companies and researchers to get small.

Dr. Feynman was correct in his prediction of building devices from the ground up � atom by atom or molecule by molecule. He was incorrect, however, in his prediction that technology would routinely get small by the year 2000. The question has been, how do you build nanoscale structures and manipulate quickly and cheaply? NanoInk enables companies to work at the nanoscale with DPN methods, a process that will revolutionize current products and lead to new discoveries in virtually every industry

MOTIVATION TO GET SMALL

Why do companies need to get small? Because getting small not only means getting smarter, more powerful and more economical, it also means being able to make novel devices that leverage the special properties of nanoscale building blocks. These building blocks consist of a small collection of atoms, such as carbon nanotubes, which then exhibit properties that are dominated by novel quantum phenomena and/or the effects of surface energy, in contrast to bulk materials. Consider the first computers developed in the 1940s, which were the size of a large room, and were very expensive to build. Compare that to today�s common laptop computers. What we gained in the last fifty years with device shrinkage will even still be surpassed by the benefits of nanomaterials and their arrangement into devices. These novel entities will provide superior selectivity for interaction, enhanced sensitivity to detection and novel programmability for added structural and functional control. Biosensors are an example of technology that will see strong advances due to nanotechnology efforts.

LIFE SCIENCE PAYOFF

To get small also means seeing the benefit of increasing the power and value of diverse products and services in life science industries. For instance, many advances in biotechnology and the development of new drugs are the direct result of miniaturization and utilization of novel materials. As with computing power, diagnostic and research power increases as probes decrease in size. To get small will allow researchers in biotechnology companies to do more complex experiments in shorter periods of time, for less money, using less material. This greatly accelerates the discovery cycle and ultimately shortens the time from concept to market for new advanced drugs and other products. Further, nanotechnology enables companies and researchers to design revolutionary new products using new materials and substances not accessible with other technologies.

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More on nanotechnology:

Links:

http://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/Feynman.html

http://www.nanoink.net (For Nano Products.)

http://www.sciencemag.org (For science lovers)

Documents and technical paper published (Must read):

Issues in nanotechnology Review by H.G.cairghead. (Download .pdf format).

Issues in nanotechnology Review by Stephen R Quake and Axel Scherer (Download .pdf format )

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