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THRESHOLD 2005
BNCOE, PUSAD

PAPER ON

“Nano-Technology”

Brought to you by

Ritesh Bhusari
btritesh@yahoo.com

B.N.CoEngg. Pusad

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Abstract

Technology can be defined as the means whereby a society produces the various 'goods'
it uses. Most of us have some familiarity with micro-technology and its breathtaking changes in
our world. Nano-technology in comparison promises a truly awesome next step for mankind.
This paper attempts to convey some idea of what this new technology might mean. Nano-
technology proposes an engineering based upon molecular machinery capable of self-
replication and controlled by either molecular or electronic information systems. In other
words, a technology of minute, invisible machines programmable by humans and capable of
independant action and reproduction. No one seemed prepared to accept the unbelievable
meteoric storm of the computer-age, but accordingly nano-technology promises to truly come
like "a thief in the night"!

The essence of nanotechnology is the ability to work at the atomic, molecular and
macromolecular levels in order to create materials, devices and systems with fundamentally
new properties and functions. Building blocks are atoms and molecules, or their assemblies
such as nanoparticles, nanolayers, nanowires and nanotubes.

This paper presents several aspects of nanotechnology including its vision, research and
development strategy using several recent scientific discoveries and results from industry.

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Introduction

Nanotechnology is often called the science of the small. It is concerned with

manipulating particles at the atomic level, usually in order to form new compounds or make
changes to existing substances. Nanotechnology is being applied to problems in electronics,
biology, genetics and a wide range of business applications. Matter is composed of small atoms
that are closely bound together, making up the molecular structure, which in turn, determines
the density of the concerned material. Since different factors such as molecular surface tension,
density, malleability, ductility, etc. come into play. Nanosystems are the systems, which are
design on the scale of one-billionth of a meter. The factors mentioned above effect the
nanosystems and so they are to be design in a cost effective manner to overwrite the conditions
mentioned above and helps to create machines that would be capable of withstanding the odds
of environment. The technology that effectively carries out the jobs, which are mentioned
above, is called Nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology works at the molecular level to create structures, machines and

formations that can have helpful functions. Machines that are made using nanotechnology are
mostly modeled after those in nature and can possibly be used for storage or do mechanistic
works.

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1. Why only Nanotechnology ?

The nanoworld is a weird borderland between the realm of individual atoms and
molecules (where quantum mechanics rules) and the macroworld (where the bulk properties of
materials emerge from the collective behavior of trillions of atoms, whether that material is a
steel beam or the cream filling in an Oreo). At the bottom end, in the region of one nanometer,
nanoland bumps up against the basic building blocks of matter. As such, it defines the smallest
natural structures and sets a hard limit to shrinkage: you just can't build things any smaller.

Nanotechnology will change the way we live. Dr. Richard Feynman, one of this
century's leading scientists, delivered a lecture in 1959 entitled “There is Plenty of Room at the
Bottom”. Feynman postulated a vision of what might be achieved if one could create materials
and devices at an atomic or molecular level.

That vision has grown to the point that nanotechnology is of such importance to the
future growth and security of our nation that a federal initiative (National Nanotechnology
Initiative) has been established and is overseen by the National Science and Technology
Council. The Government is providing funding to stimulate the development of the academic
and industrial resources necessary to achieve nanotechnology's potential.

2. The Nanotechnology Approach – “Bottom – Up – Approach”

Nanotechnology promises an inexpensive "bottom up" alternative in which electronic or

other devices will be assembled from simpler components such as molecules and other nano-
structures. This approach is similar to the one nature uses to construct complex biological
architectures. Nano-products will be smarter than the traditional devices as –
· Nano-devices operate at the most fundamental level (here atoms and molecules, instead
of bits and bytes).
· Work very fast, because it works at a very small scale.
· Have plummeting costs, as the technology is applied to itself.

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· And eventually, be ubiquitous. Just as today's computers are showing up in more and
more products, nano-computers and nano-defined materials will be able to improve just
about any object we use, including our own bodies.

3. Utilities of Nanotechnology

3.1 Nano-Machines:

Nanomechanisms do have obvious similarities to conventional mechanisms. Unlike

software, they will be made of parts having size, shape, mass, strength, stiffness, and so forth.
They will often include gears, bearings, shafts, casings, motors, and other familiar sorts of
devices designed in accord with familiar principles of mechanical engineering. In most
respects, nano-mechanical parts will resemble conventional parts, but made with far, far fewer
atoms. Some of the interesting properties of Nano-Machines are as given –

1. In their shapes and functions, nanomechanisms will be much like ordinary machines.
But in their discreteness of structure and associated perfection-to say nothing of their
speed, accuracy, and replication ability.

2. And yet their similarity to software and digital mechanisms will be profound. As
software consists of discrete patterns of bits, so nanomechanisms will consist of discrete
patterns of atoms.

3. Atoms, like bits, need not be made; they are both flawless and available without need
for manufacture. The parts of nanomechanisms will not form a continuum of shapes,
built by inaccurate analog processes; they will instead be chosen from a discrete set of
atom-patterns, and (like bit patterns) these patterns will be either entirely correct or
clearly wrong.

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4. In stacking part on part there will be no buildup of small errors, as there is in

conventional systems.
5. They will little resemble the algorithms and data structures of software.

“If an atom in a Nano-machine is missing or displaced the mechanism isn't worn--it is

broken.”

A fine-motion controller is one of the example of nano machine which is explained in

detailed as follows,

A Fine-Motion Controller for Molecular Assembly:

A general-purpose molecular assembler arm must be able to move its "hand" by many
atomic diameters, position it with fractional-atomic-diameter accuracy, and then execute finely
controlled motions to transfer one or a few atoms in a guided chemical reaction. Our arms use
large muscles and joints for large motions, but more finely controlled finger motions for
precision. Assembler mechanisms will likely be designed along similar lines.

Figure of “A Fine-Motion Controller for Molecular Assembly”

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This illustration shows a structure resembling a Stewart platform that results from a
long sequence of designs and redesigns aimed at specifying the atomic structure of a molecular-
scale fine-motion controller. Its core consists of a shaft linking two hexagonal endplates,
sandwiching a stack of eight rings. In a complete system, each ring would be rotated by a lever,
which is driven by a cam mechanism. Each ring supports a strut linked to a central platform
(here shown raised, displaced, and twisted). Rotating a ring moves a strut; moving a strut
moves the platform; positioning all eight rings (over-) determines a platform position in x, y, z,
roll, pitch, and yaw. (If the struts were rigid, six would do the job; here, two struts have been
added to increase stiffness and decrease elegance.) The chief design problem is to enable an
adequate range of motion without mechanical interference or unacceptable bond strains, and
within the size constraints set by available modeling tools and patience. The illustrated
structure can execute precise motions over several atomic diameters with associated 90-degree
rotations, and contains fewer than 3,000 atoms.

3.2 Nanotechnology Tool -

1. Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) -

The STM is a device that can position a tip to atomic precision near a surface and can
move it around. The scanning tunneling microscope is conceptually quite simple. It uses a
sharp, electrically conductive needle to scan a surface. The position of the tip of the needle is
controlled to within 0.1 angstrom (less than the radius of a hydrogen atom) using a voltage-
controlled piezoelectric drive. When the tip is within a few angstroms of the surface and a
small voltage is applied to the needle, a tunneling current flows from the tip to the surface. This
tunneling current is then detected and amplified, and can be used to map the shape of the
surface, much as a blind man's stick can reveal the shape of an object.

2. Recent Developments in Nanotechnology using STM –

a. In the new work, the surface is atomically smooth graphite with a drop of dimethyl-
phthalate (a liquid) on its surface. (The type of organic liquid does not seem critical; many
other compounds have been used.) The needle is electrochemically-etched tungsten, and is

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immersed in the liquid. Not only can the graphite surface be imaged in the normal way, but also
a voltage pulse applied to the needle (3.7 volts for 100 nanoseconds) can 'pin' one of the
organic molecules to the surface, where it can be viewed in the normal fashion. A second
voltage pulse applied at the same location can remove the pinned molecule (though it often
randomly pins other molecules in an as-yet uncontrollable way). In some cases, the voltage
pulse will remove only part of the pinned molecule, leaving behind a molecularly altered
fragment.

b. The larger implication of this work, however, is that it may put us on the threshold of
controlled molecular manipulation. The great virtue of this technique is that we need not
imagine it at all-it is real and is being pursued in Bell Laboratory and at IBM Almaden.

4. A role for Engineering:

Physical, chemical, biological, materials and engineering sciences have arrived to

nanoscale about the same time. Engineering plays an important role because when we refer to
nanotechnology we speak about ‘systems’ at nanoscale, where the treatment of simultaneous
phenomena in multibody assemblies would require integration of disciplinary methods of
investigation and an engineering system approach. The manipulation of a large system of
molecules is equally challenging to a thermodynamics engineer researcher as it is to a single-
electron physics researcher. They need to work together. Engineering needs to redefine its
domain of relevance to effectively take this role in conjunction with other disciplines. Several
reasons for an increased role of engineering are:

· Nanotechnology deals with systems at nanoscale, which are hierarchically integrated in

architectures at larger scales.

· Multiple phenomena act simultaneous. Nanotechnology requires the integration of the

methods of investigation from various disciplines in order to understand macroscopic
phenomena, define transport coefficients, optimize processes and design products.

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· Nanotechnology implies the ability to manipulate the matter under control at the
nanoscale and integrate manufacturing along scales. Main challenges are creation of
tailored structures at the nanoscale, and combination of the bottom-up and top-down
approaches to generate nanostructured devices and systems.

· Development of tools and processes to measure, calibrate and manufacture.

The engineering community needs to redefine the role of engineering from analysis,
design and manufacturing mainly at the macro- and micro- scales towards the ‘nanoscale
engineering’; improve education and training of engineers to better understand phenomena and
processes from the atomic, molecular and macromolecular levels; and address problem-driven
and interdisciplinary nanotechnology R&D where engineering plays an important role.

5. Coherence with other science and Engineering mega trends

Six increasingly interconnected mega trends in science and engineering are perceived as
dominating the scene for the next decades:

· Information and computing

· Nanoscale science and engineering

· Biology and bio-environmental approaches

· Medical sciences and eventually enhancing human physical capabilities

· Cognitive sciences concerned with exploring and enhancing intellectual abilities

· Collective behavior and system approach to study nature, technology and society.

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6. Applications:

Nanotechnology should let us make almost every manufactured product faster, lighter,
stronger, smarter, safer and cleaner. We can already see many of the possibilities as these few
examples illustrate. New products that solve new problems in new ways are more difficult to
foresee, yet their impact is likely to be even greater.

6.1. Improved transportation

· Today, most airplanes are made from metal despite the fact that diamond has a strength-
to-weight ratio over 50 times that of aerospace aluminum. Diamond is expensive, we
can't make it in the shapes we want, and it shatters. Nanotechnology will let us
inexpensively make shatterproof diamond (with a structure that might resemble
diamond fibers) in exactly the shapes we want. This would let us make a Boeing 747
whose unloaded weight was 50 times lighter but just as strong.

· Today, travel in space is very expensive and reserved for an elite few. Nanotechnology
will dramatically reduce the costs and increase the capabilities of space ships and space
flight. The strength-to-weight ratio and the cost of components are absolutely critical to
the performance and economy of space ships: with nanotechnology, both of these
parameters will be improved. Beyond inexpensively providing remarkably light and
strong materials for space ships, nanotechnology will also provide extremely powerful
computers with which to guide both those ships and a wide range of other activities in
space.

6.2. Atom computers

· Today, computer chips are made using lithography - literally, "stone writing." If the
computer hardware revolution is to continue at its current pace, in a decade or so we'll
have to move beyond lithography to some new post lithographic manufacturing
technology. Ultimately, each logic element will be made from just a few atoms.

· Designs for computer gates with less than 1,000 atoms have already been proposed-but
each atom in such a small device has to be in exactly the right place. To economically

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build and interconnect trillions upon trillions of such small and precise devices in a
complex three-dimensional pattern we'll need a manufacturing technology well beyond
today's lithography: we'll need nanotechnology.

· With it, we should be able to build mass storage devices that can store more than a
hundred billion bytes in a volume the size of a sugar cube; RAM that can store a mere
billion bytes in such a volume; and massively parallel computers of the same size that
can deliver a billion instructions per second.

6.3. Military applications

· Today, "smart" weapons are fairly big -we have the "smart bomb" but not the "smart
bullet." In the future, even weapons as small as a single bullet could pack more
computer power than the largest supercomputer in existence today, allowing them to
perform real time image analysis of their surroundings and communicate with weapons
tracking systems to acquire and navigate to targets with greater precision and control.

· We'll also be able to build weapons both inexpensively and much more rapidly, at the
same time taking full advantage of the remarkable materials properties of diamond.
Rapid and inexpensive manufacture of great quantities of stronger more precise
weapons guided by massively increased computational power will alter the way we
fight wars. Changes of this magnitude could destabilize existing power structures in
unpredictable ways. Military applications of nanotechnology raise a number of concerns
that prudence suggests we begin to investigate before, rather than after, we develop this
new technology.

6.4. Solar energy

Nanotechnology will cut costs both of the solar cells and the equipment needed to
deploy them, making solar power economical. In this application we need not make new or
technically superior solar cells: making inexpensively what we already know how to make
expensively would move solar power into the mainstream.

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6.5. Medical uses

It is not modern medicine that does the healing, but the cells themselves: we are but
onlookers. If we had surgical tools that were molecular both in their size and precision, we
could develop a medical technology that for the first time would let us directly heal the injuries
at the molecular and cellular level that are the root causes of disease and ill health. With the
precision of drugs combined with the intelligent guidance of the surgeon's scalpel, we can
expect a quantum leap in our medical capabilities.

6.6. Use of Natural Resources

Rather than clear-cutting forests to make paper, we'd have assemblers synthesizing
paper. Rather than using oil for energy, we'd have molecule-sized solar cells mixed into road
pavement. With such solar nanocells, a sunny patch of pavement a few hundred square miles
could generate enough energy for the entire United States.

Famine would be obliterated, as food could be synthesized easily and cheaply with a
microwave-sized nanobox that pulls the raw materials (mostly carbon) from the air or the soil.
And by using nanobots as cleaning machines that break down pollutants, we would be able to
counteract the damage we've done to the earth since the industrial revolution.

7. Current and future challenges with Nanotechnology:

The current challenges for the micro-optical device analysis tool market primarily
involve moving towards integration of existing physics with optical frequency simulation
technology. i.e. Optical simulation technology based on one or more of the following
modeling techniques; ray tracing, geometric reflective and diffractive optics. The future
challenge will be to extend the optical simulation capability to quantum optics where the
wave/particle duality of photons is incorporated into the simulation.

Several of these optical simulation technologies exist today as well established stand
alone tools, and some include optical-thermal-structural effects, that allow engineers to
understand energy absorption/dispersion effects from relatively high intensity light sources at
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the macroscopic scale, such as automotive headlamps and display projectors. These tools
allow engineers to address the need for more energy efficient light sources and optical systems.
· Energy efficiency results in significant device / system performance gains.
· Most obviously…brighter lights!
· Reduced failure rate from thermal fatigue.
· Improved battery life on portable units.
· Compliance with general environment energy conservation concerns.

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Conclusion:

The work in nanotechnology is being carried out not just on the materials of the future,
but also the tools that will allow us to use these ingredients to create products. Theoretical work
in the construction of nano-computers is progressing as well. Taking all of this into account, it
is clear that the technology is feasible.

Nanotechnology is expected to have a profound impact on our economy and society in

the 21st century, from the development of better, faster, stronger, smaller, and cheaper systems.
Nanotechnology provides a far more powerful capability. Powerful not only in computers,
defense, environment and medicine, but also in a higher standard of living for everyone on the
planet.

Nanotechnology- the science is good, the engineering is feasible, the paths of approach
are many, the consequences are revolutionary-times-revolutionary, and the schedule is: in our
lifetimes. Nanotechnology could bring us utopia, a veritable Garden of Eden. It must not be
ignored, dismissed, or abandoned because of the downsides. Everything has disadvantages, but
usually, as with nanotechnology, the good outweighs the bad. Nanotechnology is relatively new
field of research and most of the developments in this are being worked upon in laboratories.
As Nanotechnology involves manufacturing at molecular level, it was considered as a field too
ambitious to be taken up. We must all strive for the health and progress of nanotechnology, it
could be the saviour of us all.

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References:

1. NSTC, "National Nanotechnology Initiative: The Initiative and Its Implementation

Plan", Washington, D.C., July 2000.

2. Thomas Lawrence McKendree, "Implications of molecular nanotechnology technical

performance parameters on previously defined space system architectures."

3. M.C. Roco, R.S. Williams: Sociteal implication of Nano science & Nanotechnology.

4. www.nano.gov

5. www.imm.org

6. www.google.com

7. www.altavista.com

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