NANOTECHNOLOGY
G.N.Bhoopathi B.Anil Swaroop
III B.Tech, EEE
JNTU College of Engineering
Kakinada
Abstract:
The transitory nature of science
always forces it to discover new frontiers
instead of being confined to a particular
range. As a result, many novel branches find
their way into existence. One such field of
science is nanotechnology that helps to know
more and more about less and less.
Natural or man-made particles or
artifacts often have qualities and capabilities
quite different to their macroscopic
counterparts. Gold, for example, which is
chemically inert at normal scales, can serve
as a potent chemical catalyst at nanoscales.
The amount of space available to us for
information storage (or other uses) is
enormous. There is nothing besides our
clumsy size that keeps us from using this
space.
The paper starts with brief
introduction to the theme followed by the
definition of nanotechnology. The history of
the subject is presented in a chronological
order. The concept of atomic scale
fabrication is put forward to discussion and
the different approaches of manufacturing
are dealt with. The objectives of
nanotechnology are listed.
The wide range of applications of
nanotechnology is discussed in detail that
includes Molecular Nanotechnology,
Assemblers, Nanotubes, Nanobots, Molecular
Simulation and also Nanomedicine and other
medical applications. The damages of
Molecular Nanotechnology are elucidated
immediately after their benefits.
The applications of Nanotubes in
fibers and electric circuits are explained. The
challenges that are met and being met by
Nanotechnology are also discussed. The
III B.Tech, EEE
JNTU College of Engineering
Kakinada
paper is concluded finally expecting many
more developments in near future.
PREAMBLE:
Nanosize powder particles (a few
nanometers in diameter, also called
nanoaparticles) are potentially important in
ceramics, powder metallurgy, the achievement
of uniform nanoporosity, and similar
applications. The strong tendency of small
particles to form clumps ("agglomerates") is a
serious technological problem that impedes such
applications.
Nanotechnology as a collective term
refers to technological developments on the
nanometer scale, usually 0.1-100nm. (. A
nanometer is one billionth of a meter and is the
unit of length that is generally most appropriate
for describing the size of single molecules.)
These nanoscale phenomena include quantum
size effects and short-range forces such as
vanderWaals forces. Furthermore the vastly
increased ratio of surface area to volume
promotes surface phenomena. Since the progress
of computers is growing exponentially it is
believed that it will develop into
nanotechnology in the near future.
DEFINITION:
Nanotechnology is defined as
fabrication of devices with atomic or molecular
scale precision. The nanoscale marks the
nebulous boundary between the classical and
quantum mechanical worlds; thus promising to
bring revolutionary capabilities. Fabrication of
nanomachines, Nanoelectronics and other
nanodevices will undoubtedly solve an
enormous amount of the problems faced by the
mankind.
HISTORY:
Famous talk
The first mention of nanotechnology
(not yet using that name) occurred in a talk
given by Richard Feynman in 1959, entitled
There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom. He
suggested a means to develop the ability to
manipulate atoms and molecules "directly", by
developing a set of one-tenth-scale machine
tools analogous to those found in any machine
shop.
Coining the term
Tokyo Science University professor
Norio Taniguchi created the term ‘Nano-
Technology’ in 1974 to describe the precision
manufacture of materials with nanometer
tolerances. . In his time, it was not possible for
us to manipulate single atoms or molecules
because they were far too small for our tools.
Thus, his speech was completely theoretical and
seemingly fantastic. In the 1980s the term was
reinvented and its definition expanded by K Eric
Drexler, particularly in his 1986 book Engines
of Creation: The Coming Era of
Nanotechnology.
Exploration
Nanotechnology was later expanded
into nanosystems to find new frontiers in
Molecular machinery, Manufacturing and
Computation as a result of the exploration of
Eric Dexler in much greater technical depth in
his MIT dictorial dissertion. Computational
methods play a key role in the field today
because nanotechnologists can use them to
design and simulate a wide range of molecular
systems.
Today
Nanotechnology is currently in a very
infantile stage. However, we now have the
ability to organize matter on the atomic scale
and there are already numerous products
available as a direct result of our rapidly
increasing ability to fabricate and characterize
feature sizes less than 100 nm. Mirrors that don't
fog, biomimetic paint with a contact angle near
180°, gene chips and fat-soluble vitamins in
aqueous beverages are some of the first
manifestations of nanotechnology. However,
imminent breakthroughs in computer science
and medicine will be where the real potential of
nanotechnology will first be achieved.
ATOMIC SCALE FABRICATION:
Manufactured products are made from
atoms. The properties of those products depend
on how those atoms are arranged. If we
rearrange the atoms in coal we can make
diamond. If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and
add a few other trace elements) we can make
computer chips. If we rearrange the atoms in
dirt, water and air we can make potatoes.
The atomic scale fabrication is a
bottom-up approach, as opposed to the top-
down approach that we are accustomed to. The
current top-down method for manufacturing
involves the construction of parts through
methods such as cutting, carving and molding.
Using these methods, we have been able to
fabricate a remarkable variety of machinery and
electronics devices. However, the sizes at which
we can make these devices are severely limited
by our ability to cut curve and mold.
Bottom-up manufacturing, on the other
hand, would provide components made of single
molecules, which are held together by covalent
forces that are far stronger than the forces that
hold together macro-scale components.
Furthermore, the amount of information that
could be stored in devices build from the
bottom-up would be enormous.
OBJECTIVES:
If the present trends are persistent, a
new manufacturing technology must be
developed which will let us inexpensively build
computer systems with mole quantities of logic
elements that are molecular in both size and
precision and are interconnected in complex and
highly idiosyncratic patterns.
Whatever we call it, the new technology should
let us
Get essentially every atom in the right place.
Make almost any structure consistent with the
laws of physics that we can specify in molecular
detail.
Have manufacturing costs not greatly exceeding
the cost of the required raw materials and
energy.
Nanotechnology will let us do the above.
“Telling researchers not to research
nanotechnology will push scientific
development underground where it can't be
regulated”

APPLICATIONS:
Nanotechnology has brought
revolutionary changes in the field of
manufacturing materials and introduced a wide
variety of an innovative freight. This field has
an avalanche of advantages. Some of the
materials and their benefits are elaborated
below:
BENEFITS OF MOLECULAR
MANUFACTURING:
Molecular nanotechnology (MNT)
manufacturing can solve many of the world's
current problems. For example, Information and
communication are valuable, but lacking in
many places. Computers and display devices
would become stunningly cheap. Electrical
power is still not available in many areas. The
efficient, cheap building of light, strong
structures, electrical equipment, and power
storage devices would allow the use of solar
thermal power as a primary and abundant
energy source. Infectious disease is a continuing
scourge in many parts of the world. Simple
products like pipes, filters, and mosquito nets
can greatly reduce this problem.
Advanced Nanotech Can Solve Many Human
Problems:
Technology is not a panacea. However,
it can be extremely useful in solving many kinds
of problems. Improved housing and plumbing
will increase health. More efficient agriculture
and industry save water, land, materials, and
labor, and reduce pollution. Access to
information, education, and communication
provides many opportunities for self-
improvement, economic efficiency, and
participatory government. Cheap, reliable power
is vital for the use of other technologies and
provides many conveniences.
Computers will be cheap enough for
everyone:
Molecular manufacturing can create
computer logic gates a few nanometers on a
side, and efficient enough to be stacked in 3D.
An entire supercomputer can fit into a cubic
millimeter, and cost a small fraction of a cent.
With actuators smaller than a bacterium, a thin,
high-resolution computer display will be easy
(and cheap) to build. With GHz mechanical
frequencies, a mostly-mechanical device can
sense and produce radio waves. Thus
computation, communication, and display are all
feasible
Removing causes of distress may
reduce social unrest.
Widespread availability of computers
and communication devices can provide
exposure to other cultures and diverse points of
view, and create an understanding of a broader
social context in which to evaluate actions and
beliefs. Molecular manufacturing can eliminate
material poverty. Products of molecular
manufacturing can greatly improve health by
eliminating conditions that cause disease,
including poor sanitation, insects, and
malnutrition.
Cheap greenhouses can save water,
land, and food.
Moving agriculture into greenhouses
can recover most of the water used, by
dehumidifying the exhaust air and treating and
re-using runoff. Additionally, greenhouse
agriculture requires less labor and far less land
area than open-field agriculture, and provides
greater independence from weather conditions
including seasonal variations and droughts.
Dangers Of Mnt:
Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) will
be a significant breakthrough, comparable
perhaps to the Industrial Revolution—but
compressed into a few years. This has the
potential to disrupt many aspects of society and
politics. The power of the technology may cause
two competing nations to enter a disruptive and
unstable arms race. Weapons and surveillance
devices could be made small, cheap, powerful,
and very numerous. Cheap manufacturing and
duplication of designs could lead to economic
upheaval.
Assemblers:
In the futuristic research field of
nanotechnology, an assembler is a construction
machine that manipulates and builds with
individual atoms or molecules. One of the prime
goals of long-term nanotech research is the
production of a programmable self-replicating
assembler. This is a device that can make its
complete copy given raw materials and energy.
After sufficient quantities of assemblers are
available, they are then re-programmed to
produce something else useful. In science fiction
literature, such assemblers have been called
matter compilers.
Nature abounds with nanotechnological
self-replicating assemblers called bacteria,
which can be reprogrammed to perform some
types of tasks by genetic engineering. Some
progress has been made in this area, where
researchers have inserted genes for a particular
protein into a bacterium. One of the first
examples of this is the immune-system hormone
interferon.
Carbon Nanotubes:
Carbon nanotubes are tubular carbon
molecules with properties that make them
potentially useful in extremely small scale
electronic and mechanical applications. They
exhibit unusual strength and unique electrical
properties, and are extremely efficient
conductors of heat. They can be used to
dissipate heat from tiny computer chips. The
strength and flexibility of carbon nanotubes
makes them of potential use in controlling other
nanoscale structures, which suggests they will
have an important role in nanotechnology
engineering.
Carbon nanotubes additionally can also
be used to produce nanowires of other
chemicals, such as gold or zinc oxide. These
nanowires in turn can be used to cast nanotubes
of other chemicals, such as gallium nitride. One
use for nanotubes that has already been
developed is as extremely fine electron guns,
which could be used as miniature cathode ray
tubes in thin high-brightness low-energy low-
weight displays.
A nanotube formed by joining
nanotubes of two different diameters end to end
can act as a diode, suggesting the possibility of
constructing electronic computer circuits
entirely out of nanotubes. Nanotubes have been
shown to be superconducting at low
temperatures.
Structure:
A nanotube has a structure similar to a
fullerene, but where a fullerene's carbon atoms
form a sphere, a nanotube is cylindrical and
each end is typically capped with half a
fullerene molecule. Their name derives from
their size; nanotubes are on the order of only a
few nanometres wide (on the order of one ten-
thousandth the width of a human hair), and their
length can be millions of times greater than their
width.
Nanotubes are composed entirely of sp²
bonds, similar to graphite. Stronger than the sp3
bonds found in diamond, this bonding structure
provides them with their unique strength.
Nanotubes naturally align themselves into
"ropes" held together by Van der Waals force.
Under high pressure, nanotubes can merge
together, trading some sp2 bonds for sp3 bonds,
giving great possibility for producing strong,
unlimited-length wires through high-pressure
nanotube linking.
Fiber Applications Of Nanotube:
One application for nanotubes that is
currently being researched is high tensile
strength fibers. Two methods are currently being
tested for the manufacture of such fibers. A
French team has developed a liquid spun system
that involves pulling a fiber of nanotubes from a
bath that yields a product that is approximately
60% nanotubes. The other method, which is
simpler but produces weaker fibers, uses
traditional melt-drawn polymer fiber techniques
with nanotubes mixed in the polymer. After
drawing, the fibers can have the polymer burned
out of them to make them purely nanotube or
they can be left as they are.
Nanotubes In Electric Circuits:
Carbon nanotubes have many
properties--from their unique dimensions to an
unusual current conduction mechanism--that
make them ideal components of electrical
circuits, and it is exciting to envision, or even to
implement, novel transistors, MEMS devices,
interconnects, and other circuit elements.
The major hurdles that must be jumped
for carbon nanotubes to find prominent places in
circuits relate to fabrication difficulties. The
carbon nanotube production processes are very
different from the traditional IC fabrication
process. The IC fabrication process is somewhat
like sculpture--films are deposited onto a wafer
and pattern-etched away. Carbon nanotubes are
fundamentally different from films; they are like
atomic-level spaghetti (and every bit as sticky).

Nanobot:
A Nanobots is a nanotechnological
robot, that is, a robot whose operating
components are molecular and whose size is
comparable to biological cells. As no Nanobots
have so far been created, they remain a
hypothetical concept at this time. Development
of such machines is characterized under the field
of Nanorobotics Since Nanobots are
microscopic in size, it would be necessary for
very large numbers of them to work together to
perform macroscopic tasks. These Nanobots
swarms, also sometimes called utility fog or
"goo" (as in grey goo and its less common
variants) are found in many science fiction
stories.
More modern scenarios for productive
nanotechnologies dispense with swarms of
nanobots, in favor of nanofactories in which
nanoscale machines are solidly integrated into a
desktop-scale machine that builds macroscopic
products. Medical nanotechnology is often
expected to utilize nanobots injected into the
patient to perform their treatment on a cellular
level.
Molecular Simulation:
A branch of computer science that is
allowing rapid progress to be made in
nanotechnology is the computer simulation of
molecular scale events. Molecular simulation is
able to provide and predict data about molecular
systems that would normally require enormous
effort to obtain physically. By organizing virtual
atoms in a molecular simulation environment,
one can effectively model nanoscale systems.
Theory, modeling and simulations have
provided and will continue to provide insights
into what to expect next and
verification/explanation of what has been done
or observed experimentally. For nanoscale
systems, simulations and theory infact have
provided novel properties that have led to new
designs, materials and systems for
nanotechnology applications. For example
carbon nanotubes applications in molecular
electronics or computers were predicted first by
theory and simulations, the experiments are now
following up to fabricate and conceptualize new
devices based on those simulations.
Current limitations of molecular
simulation techniques are the molecular
simulation algorithm and computation time for
complex systems. Force field algorithms are
currently quite efficient and are often used
today. However, such models neglect electronic
properties of the system. In order to calculate
electron density, quantum mechanical models
are required. However, as the number of atoms
and electrons is increased, the computational
complexity of the model quickly reaches the
limits of our most modern supercomputers.
Thus, as the computational abilities of our
computers are improved (often with help from
nanoscience), increasingly complex systems will
be within the reach of molecular simulation.
“ Computer models of atoms, molecules and
nanostructures provide the theory behind
nanoscience.”
Medical Applications:
The other field in which molecular
scale manipulation of matter is receiving
abundant attention is medicine. Since all living
organisms are composed of molecules,
molecular biology has become the primary focus
of biotechnology. Countless diseases have been
cured by our ability to synthesize small
molecules commonly know as 'drugs' that
interact with the protein molecules that make up
the molecular machinery that keeps us alive.
Our understanding of how proteins interact with
DNA, phospholipids and other biological
molecules is what allows such progress.
Living systems are able to live because
of the vast amount of highly ordered molecular
machinery from which they are built. The
central dogma of molecular biology states that
the information required building a living cell or
organism is stored in the DNA. This information
is transferred from the DNA to the proteins by
the processes called transcription and
translation. These processes are all executed by
various biomolecular components, mostly
protein and nucleic acids.
Molecular biology is a field in which
the study of these interactions has led to the
discovery of numerous pharmaceuticals that
have been enormously effective in curing
disease. Understandings of molecular
mechanisms including substrate recognition,
energy expenditure, electron transport,
membrane activity and much more have greatly
improved our technology.
Since the goal of nanotechnology is
molecular and atomic precision, nanotechnology
has much (if not everything) to learn from
nature. Copying, borrowing and learning tricks
from nature is one of the primary techniques
used by nanotechnology and has been termed
biomimetics. Secondly, our ability to design
synthetic, semi-synthetic and natural molecular
machinery gives us an enormous potential for
curing disease and preserving life. An extensive
textbook titled Nanomedicine has been written
and does an excellent job of summarizing how
nanotechnology is changing medicine.
Nanomedicine:
Nanomedicine is the medical
application of nanotechnology and related
research. It covers areas such as nanoparticle
drug delivery and possible future applications of
molecular nanotechnology (MNT). The first
thorough analysis of possible applications of
MNT to medicine can be read in Nanomedicine,
a book series by Robert Freitas; it analyzes a
wide range of possible nanotechnology-based
medical devices, and explains the relevant
science behind their design.
The somewhat speculative claims about
the possibility of using nanobots in medicine,
promoters say, would totally change the world
of medicine once it is realized. Nanomedicine
would make use of these nanobots, introduced
into the body, to repair or detect damages and
infections. A typical blood borne medical
nanobot would be around three micrometers in
size, because that is the maximum size possible
due to capillary passage requirement. Carbon
would be the element used to build these
nanobots due to the inherent strength and other
characteristics of some forms of carbon
(diamond/fullerene composites).
Cancer can be treated very effectively,
according to nanomed advocates. Nanobots
could counter the problem of identifying and
isolating cancer cells as they could be
introduced into the blood stream. These bots
would search out cancer-affected cells using
certain molecular markers. Medical bots would
then destroy these cells, and only these cells.
This could be very helpful, since current
treatments like radiation therapy and
chemotherapy often end up destroying more
healthy cells than cancerous ones.
“Molecular medicine, bioinformatics
and biomolecular nanotechnology are rapidly
increasing our ability to heal and stay healthy.”
In a few decades, this emerging
manufacturing technology will let us
inexpensively arrange atoms and molecules in
most of the ways permitted by physical law. It
will let us make supercomputers that fit on the
head of a pin and fleets of medical nanorobots
smaller than a human cell able to eliminate
cancer, infections, clogged arteries, and even old
age. People will look back on this era with the
same feelings we have toward medieval times
when technology was primitive and almost
everyone lived in poverty and died young.
MANY SOLUTIONS THROUGH
NANOTECHNOLOGY:
Meeting Global Energy Needs:
Balancing humanity’s energy demands
while protecting the environment is a major
challenge. Nanotechnology will help to solve
the dilemma of energy needs and limited
planetary resources through more efficient
generation, storage and distribution.
Providing Abundant Clean Water:
The demand for fresh water is
increasing. Considering the current rate of
consumption and projected population growth,
some two-thirds of the world will be affected by
drought by the year 2050. Nanotechnology can
help solve this problem through improved water
purification and filtration.
Increasing Health and Longevity:
Humans are living longer lives, yet
infectious diseases and cancer continue to kill
millions annually. Because of an aging
population there could be a 50% increase of new
cancer cases by the year 2020. Nanotechnology
will enhance the quality of life for human beings
through medical diagnostics, drug delivery and
customized therapy.
"Nanotechnology's potential to improve
the human condition is staggering: we would be
shirking our duty to future generations if we did
not responsibly develop it"
Maximizing Productivity of Agriculture:
Pressure on the world's food sources is
ever increasing while harvests have fallen short
in recent years. It is anticipated that our world
population will swell to 8.9 billion by the year
2050 putting even greater demands on
agriculture. Precision farming, targeted pest
management and the creation of high yield crops
are a few nanotech solutions.
Making Powerful Information Technology
Available Everywhere:
Humanity will need to cooperate as we
respond to disasters and critical threats to our
survival. A "planetary nervous system" fostering
rapid communication and cross-cultural
relationships is needed. Nanotechnology
applications in electronics will increase access
through reduced cost and higher performance of
memory, networks, processors and components.
Enabling the Development of Space:
Heavy demands on resources and raw
materials are creating challenges on earth,
whereas these items are plentiful in space.
Current obstacles to developing space are cost,
reliability, safety, and performance.
Nanotechnology will solve these through
improved fuels, smart materials, uniforms and
environments.
Potential Risks:
The advent of Nanotechnology
heralded the idea of understanding a material in
its atomic level at the time of manufacturing
materials. At the sametime this raised questions
about the reliability of such materials. Defenders
point out that smaller objects are more
susceptible to damage from radiation and heat
due to greater surface area-to-volume ratios.
Nanomachines would quickly fail when exposed
to harsh climates. More realistic are criticisms
that point to the potential toxicity of new classes
of nanosubstances that could adversely affect
the stability of cell walls or disturb the immune
system when inhaled or digested. Objective risk
assessment can profit from the bulk of
experience with long-known microscopic
materials like carbon soot or asbestos fibers.
FINALE:
The Future of Nanotechnology
Deliberate abuse, the misuse of a
technology by some small group or nation to
cause great harm, is best prevented by measures
based on a clear understanding of that
technology. Nanotechnology could, in the
future, be used to rapidly identify and block
attacks. Distributed surveillance systems could
quickly identify arms buildups and offensive
weapons deployments, while lighter, stronger,
and smarter materials controlled by powerful
molecular computers would let us make
radically improved versions of existing weapons
able to respond to such threats.
Replicating manufacturing systems
could rapidly churn out the needed defenses in
huge quantities. Continuing a vigorous R&D
program, which provides a clear understanding
of the potential threats and countermeasures
available, best develops such systems.
“NANOTECHNOLOGY HAS
ARRIVED, BUT IT HAS YET TO REALIZE
ITS FULL POTENTIAL.”
Our computers are quite fast and small,
but no revolutionary breakthrough in computing
has happened since the transistor was invented.
The human genome project has reached
completion, yet limits in our ability to cure
disease on a molecular basis remain. While it is
often difficult to predict the future, some things
seem inevitable. Just as a ball thrown into the air
can be expected to fall to the ground, so can we
expect our technology to reach the molecular
scale?
Nanoscience is an interdisciplinary
field that seeks to bring about mature
nanotechnology. Focusing on the nanoscale
intersection of fields such as physics, biology,
engineering, chemistry, computer science and
more, Nanoscience is rapidly expanding.
Nanotechnology centers are popping up around
the world as more funding is provided and
nanotechnology market share increases. The
rapid progress is apparent by the increasing
appearance of the prefix "nano" in scientific
journals and the news. Thus, as we increase our
ability to fabricate computer chips with smaller
features and improve our ability to cure disease
at the molecular level, nanotechnology exists.