[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.
PLENTY OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES A slew of applications awaits nanotechnology, including nonlithographically produced nanowires, electrical vias, CNT-based field-emission cathode materials, nano-based displays, nano-based biomedical systems, memories, logic elements, transistors, and quantum-dot computers.
Nano-scale, very high-density memory is one of the most exciting areas of investigation. Memories with densities well over 1 Tbit/in.2 have been demonstrated (Fig. 2, Fig. 3). So have organic transistors an order of magnitude smaller than those produced to date.
Very powerful yet tiny molecular and quantum-dot computers will also usher in unprecedented levels of computational power. Right now, special nano-scale materials and dyes are under investigation for high-performance outdoor displays.
Last month, NASA's Ames Research Center announced a new chemical process for the creation of thin CNTs—about 100 nm in diameter and 3 µm high. It involves growing microscopic whisker-like CNTs on the surface of a silicon wafer. The CNTs can replace copper for on-chip interconnections. "We think this process will help sustain the Moore's Law growth curve," says NASA's Meyyappan.
All nanotechnology researchers are very excited about biomedicine and eagerly await more powerful and effective nano-based drugs, surgical and analytical tools, healthcare systems, human genomics, and so forth. CNTs are being used here on silicon bio chips to identify DNA and protein molecules. Combining new hybrid nano-scale materials, both biological like DNA proteins and nonbiological like polymer plastics, provides the biomedical world with instruments and drug-delivery systems.
Zyvex's Von Ehr points to some exciting strides being made in the biomedical field, where researchers have taken Carbon 60 Buckeyballs and functionalized them with a little molecule on the side to block a person's susceptibility to the HIV disease. According to Von Ehr, field trials are presently being conducted on this development.
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