Small Science - Big Dreams

Nano comes from the Greek word for small and is used to indicate one-billionth Often called the science of the small,nanoscience involves manipulating . particles at the atomic level to form new compounds or to make changes to existing substances

Early development
The concept of Nanotechnology had its genesis in a lecture by physicist and former Cornell professor Richard P.Feynman(1918-1988) to the American Physical Society In 1959 titled There is plenty of room at the bottom.Though he never used the term Nanotechnology,Feynman envisioned the direct manipulation of atoms by developing Small-scale machine tools that would evolve into future generations of smaller and smaller Tools for task.

Components
Nanotechnology is knocking at our doors. It is the field of future that will replace microelectronics and many fields with tremendous application potential in the areas of medicine,electronics and material science.

Evolution of Technologies
Nanotechnology Semiconductor Technology Vacuum Tube Technology
Cell Phones Nano-Robots Molecular Electronics Wearable Wireless Internet Appliances The Internet

Performance

Computers Television Transistor Radio Radar Radio

1900

1950

2000

2050

Time

Applications in the field of Electronics

Nanocircuitry Novel Semiconductor Devices Novel Optoelectronic Devices Displays Quantum Computers

What is Nanocircuitry?
It deals with minimization of circuit size to nano scale. It helps the scientists and engineers in reduction of the size of electronic devices. The age of nanocircuitry begins with the invention of nanotransistors and ultracapacitors.

Ultra capacitors
CAPACITORS ARE ENERGY

SAVING DEVICES. THEY CONSIST OF TWO TERMINALS EACH STORE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE CHARGES. THE ULTRA CAPACITORS ARE MADE FROM CARBON NANO TUBES. THEY HAVE HIGH RELIABILITY,COMPACTNES S.

Transisters
Transistors are the devices that forms the integral

parts of the circuit. Transistors converts the weak signals into stronger signals. To convert the transistors to nano scale we are in need of switch on to carbon base instead of silicon.

Fig: TRANSFORMATION OF TRANSISTORS FROM HUGE SIZE TO NANO-CIRCUITS

Novel Semiconductor Devices

An example of such novel devices is based on spintronics.The dependence of the resistance of a material (due to the spin of the electrons) on an external field is called magnetoresistance. This effect can be significantly amplified (GMR - Giant Magneto-Resistance) for nanosized objects, for example when two ferromagnetic layers are separated by a nonmagnetic layer, which is several nanometers thick (e.g. Co-Cu-Co). The GMR effect has led to a strong increase in the data storage density of hard disks and made the gigabyte range possible. The so called tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) is very similar to GMR and based on the spin dependent tunneling of electrons through adjacent ferromagnetic layers. Both GMR and TMR effects can be used to create a non-volatile main memory for computers, such as the so called magnetic random access memory or MRAM.

Novel Optoelectronic Devices

In the modern communication technology traditional analog electrical devices are increasingly replaced by optical or optoelectronic devices due to their enormous bandwidth and capacity, respectively. Two promising examples are photonic crystals and quantum dots. Photonic crystals are materials with a periodic variation in the refractive index with a lattice constant that is half the wavelength of the light used. They offer a selectable band gap for the propagation of a certain wavelength, thus they resemble a semiconductor, but for light or photons instead of electrons. Quantum dots are nanoscaled objects, which can be used, among many other things, for the construction of lasers. The advantage of a quantum dot laser over the traditional semiconductor laser is that their emitted wavelength depends on the diameter of the dot. Quantum dot lasers are cheaper and offer a higher beam quality than conventional laser diodes

Displays
The production of displays with low energy consumption could be accomplished using carbon nanotubes (CNT). Carbon nanotubes are electrically conductive and due to their small diameter of several nanometers, they can be used as field emitters with extremely high efficiency for field emission displays (FED). The principle of operation resembles that of the cathode ray tube, but on a much smaller length scale.

Quantum Computers

Entirely new approaches for computing exploit the laws of quantum mechanics for novel quantum computers, which enable the use of fast quantum algorithms. The Quantum computer has quantum bit memory space termed "Qubit" for several computations at the same time. This facility may improve the performance of the older systems.

Nanotechnology initiatives in India

The Ministry of Defence is developing projects on nanostructured magnetic materials,magnetic sensors,nanomaterials and semiconductor materials. The Council for Science and Industrial Research(CSIR) holds numerous nanotechnology related patents,including novel drug delivery systems,production of nanosized chemicals,and high temperature synthesis of nano sized titanium carbide. Some other institutes pursuing nanotechnology research inIndia are:Indian Institute of Science(IISc),Bangalore;Central Electronic Engineering Research Institute(CEERI),Pilani;Tata Institute of Fundamental Research(TIFR),Munbai.

Risks
The electronics scientists

need to develop new circuits to cope with nano circuits working with carbon nanotubes . The transistors will be 100 times smaller than the thickness of human hair so it is difficult to identify the problems in it. The ultracapacitors produces high heat, till today there is no remedy given to cool it.

Dawn of a New Revolution

Thanks to Nanotechnology, micromachining and nanomachining will result in nano-sized devices for commercial and industrial use. In words of Prof. C.N.R. Rao,Chairman,Science Advisory Council, INDIA CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS THE REVOLUTION IN NANOTECHNOLOGY.WE SHOULD BE AT THE RECEIVING END WHEN THE WORLD IS DRIVEN BY NANOTECHNOLOGY.