[Engineering Feature]
Nanotechnology: The Next Revolution To Redefine Electronics
Working with atoms, molecules, and quantum effects from the bottom up, researchers are hot on the trail of self-assembling, precise, adaptable, and affordable nanosystems.
As a good example, Meyyappan cites the bottom-up approach that Hewlett-Packard Labs is taking under the direction of scientist Stan Williams. Meyyappan is committed to addressing this bottom-up issue with electronics designers at every conceivable meeting he will speak at.
"Most nanotechnology researchers come from the chemical field and view things with a chemically oriented mindset," says James Von Ehr II, founder, chairman, and CEO of Zyvex Inc. "They say self-assembly is the only way to work in the nano field, and that's how they've learned it from chemistry. We're approaching it from the standpoint of engineers and software specialists as well as chemical and biological knowledge. We're looking to engineer improved subsystems, independently of one another, then tie them all together for a more useful solution."
Zyvex is one of the few companies, if not the only one, that employs both the bottom-up and top-down approaches. "Nanotechnology will make possible self-assembling systems using parallel nano-assemblers and hundreds of manipulators to handle nanocomponents," says Von Ehr. "Adaptable, affordable, and molecularly precise self-assembling manufacturing, the Holy Grail of nanotechnology, would become a reality."
Zyvex's present plan is to produce a family of nanomanipulation systems that can be used as flexible, cost-effective modular R&D tools that are compatible with scanning-electron microscopes (SEMs), transmission-electron microscopes (TEMs), optical microscopes, and probe stations. In fact, it has just introduced such a system, the S100, that will allow researchers to assemble, characterize and test nano structures and materials.
Philip Wong, senior manager of nano-scale materials, processes, and nano-scale devices at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, sees a natural ongoing evolution from the semiconductor age to the atomic and molecular realm. "By and large, nano-electronics is a continuation of the semiconductor revolution we've seen over the last 30 years. I see a gradual migration to atomic- and molecular-scale devices over the next couple of decades that will provide us with unique components for more versatile and precise self-assembly and improved materials," he says.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PRECISE "Precision" is a word often heard from many chemistry-oriented and physics-oriented scientists working the nanotechnology field. "The ultimate goal is to be able to accurately arrange atoms and molecules in most of the ways permitted by physical law, and to do so inexpensively," says Ralph Merkle, vice president for technology assessment at the Foresight Institute and winner of the 1998 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for Theory. "The trend toward greater precision will eventually take us to the point where we'll deal with the highest levels of precision. The trend to flexibility will give us the most flexible manufacturing systems. And the trend toward lower cost will lead us to a point where the manufacturing costs are not that much greater than the costs of the raw materials and energy used in the manufacturing process."
However, Merkle cautions that a more focused effort in atomic and molecular nanotechnology is needed before many rosy predictions are realized. By way of analogy, he points to Charles Babbage's development of the stored-program computer, which sat on the shelf for a very long time due to a lack of a focused effort.
"In the 1830s, Babbage developed what he called the analytical engine but what we'd call a stored-program computer," says Merkle. "He even described how it worked, giving it his equivalent terms to our present terms of op codes, operations, memory, and CPU. Unfortunately, it wasn't until more than a century later that work resumed on a stored-program computer."
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