Paper4

TECHNICA L PA PER PRESENTA TION

ON

NANO TECHNOLOGY

BY:

J. siva kumar
e-mail id: jajalasivakumar@yahoo.co.in

k.sainath

E.C.E DEPARTMENT.

RAJAMAHENDRA C OLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TEC HNOLOGY

IBRAHIMPATNAM

ABSTRACT

Nanotechnology, the short gun marriage of chemistry and engineering in molecular manufacturing
or more simply, building things one atom or molecule at a time with programmed nanoscopic
robot arms. This technology proposes the construction of novel molecular devices possessing
extraordinary devices by manipulating atoms individually and placing them exactly where needed
to produce the desired result. In this paper the two fundamental different approaches to
nanotechnology are clearly explained including the two main concepts of the technology and
differentiated those two concepts. C arbon tubes, which are the heart for this technology, is
highlighted which possesses extraordinary physical and chemical properties because of which it is
possible to make incredible components. The importance of nanotube transistors in making new
class of smaller, faster and lower power consumed computer chips is illustrated. In this text
proofs for the existence of nanotechnology in the present world are given. It is clearly described
with neat and realistic figures how this technology has been a break through in all fields especially
in computers and electronics. This presentation also emphasized on the prominent role played by
this elegant technology in making several comfortable, tiny and easily operatable components.
Finally, the latest developments taken place in the world are exemplified, ending with an
interesting conclusion about the performance of this technology in the future.

INTRODUCTION:

Imagine a technology so powerful that it will allow such feats as desktop

manufacturing, cellular repair, artificial intelligence, inexpensive space travel, clean and abundant
energy and environmental restoration; a technology so portable that every one can reap its
benefits; a technology so fundamental that it will radically change the economic and political
systems; a technology so imminent that most of people will see its impact within the lifetimes.
Such is the promise of nanotechnology.

Albert Einstein first proved that each molecule measures about a nanometer (a
billionth of a meter) in diameter. In 1959, it was Richard P. Feynman who predicted a
technological world composed of self-replicating molecules whose purpose would be the
production of nano-sized objects. Almost a hundred years after Einstein ? s insight and 40 years
after Feynman ? s initial proposition, the nanometer scale looms large on the research agenda.
The semiconductor industry is edging closer to the world of nanotechnology where components
are miniastured to the point of individual molecules and atoms. A push is well underway to invent
devices that will manufacture anything at almost no cost, by treating atoms discretely, like
computers treat bits of information. This would allow automatic construction of consumer goods
without traditional labour, like a Xerox machine produces unlimited retyping the original
information. Electronics is fuelled by miniasturisation. Working smaller has led to the tools capable
of manipulating individual atoms, just as the proteins in a potato manipulate the atoms of soil,
water and air to make copies of themselves. The shotgun marriage of chemistry and engineering
called nanotechnology is ushering in the era of self replicating machinery and self-assembling
consumer goods made from cheap raw atoms.

WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?

Nanotechnology is molecular manufacturing or, more simply building things one atom or
molecule at a time with programmed nanoscopic robot arms. A nanometer is one billionth of a
meter (3 to 4 atoms wide). Utilizing the well-understood chemical properties of atoms and
molecules (how they stick together) a nanotechnology proposes the construction of novel
molecular devices possessing extraordinary properties. The trick is to manipulate atoms
individually and place them exactly where needed to produce the desired structure .
Nanotechnology broadly refers to the manipulation of matter on the atomic and molecular scales
i.e. where the objects of interest are 0.1-100 nanometer n size. Atomic diameters represent the
lower end of this range at tenths of nanometers. Transistors used in the present generation of
microprocessors, with dimensions of the order of 100 nanometers are at the upper end of the
nanotechnology range. As atoms come together to form molecules and molecules come together
to form clusters or crystals, the inherent macro-scale properties are determined. By controlling
molecular structure in material synthesis, mankind has gained unprecedented control over the
basic material properties such as conductivity, strength, capacity, ductility and reactivity, yielding
innovative applications ranging from batteries to automotive materials. This is a passive nano
technique that primarily focuses on tuning the properties of resulting bulk materials. The active
nano technique facilitates creation of functional electronic and ultimately mechanical devices at
the nano scale.

At nano-scale, different laws come into play. Properties of traditional materials change
and the behaviour of surfaces starts to dominate the behaviour of bulk materials, opening up new
realms. In the electronic domain, the benefit of working on nano-scale is production of smaller
things. Using nanotubes or other molecular configurations enables engineers to break through this
barrier in the semiconductor industry, which is expected to provide even smaller circuits and even
more powerful computers, by working below the wavelength of light, X-ray; etc. The ultimate
result is circuit elements consisting of single molecules.

By treating atoms as discrete, bit-like objects, molecular manufacturing will bring a

digital revolution to the production of material objects. Working at the resolution limit of matter, it
will enable the ultimate in miniaturization and performance. By starting with cheap, abundant
components---molecules and processing them with small, high frequency, high productivity
machines, it will make products inexpensive. Design computers will each execute more
instructions per second than the entire semiconductor C PU ? s in the world.

APPROACHES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY:

The two fundamentally different approaches to nanotechnology are graphically termed ? top-
down ? and ? bottom-up ? . Top down refers to making nanoscale structures by machining and
etching techniques, whereas bottom-up, or molecular nanotechnology, applies to building organic
and inorganic structures atom-by-atom, or molecule-by-molecule. Top ? bottom or bottom-up is a
measure of the level of advancement of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, as applied today, is
still mainly at what may be considered the more primitive bottom-top stage, building upward in
the Molecular scale as shown in the below figure.

CONCEPTS OF NANOTECHNOLGY:

There are two concepts commonly associated with nanotechnology:

? Positional Assembly

? Self-Replication

C learly, we would be happy with any method that simultaneously achieved the following
three objectives. However, this seems difficult without using some form of positional assembly (to
get the right molecular parts in the right places) and some form of self-replication (to keep the
costs down).

1. Get essentially every atom in the right place.

2. Make almost any structure consistent with the laws of physics and chemistry that we can
specify in atomic detail.

3. Have manufacturing costs not greatly exceeding the cost of the required raw materials and
energy.

TOOLS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY:

The icons of this revolution are scanning probe microscopes ? the scanning tunneling
microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM). Both these machines have the ability
to interact with materials at the molecular level, although this is limited. They are capable of
creating pictures of individual atoms or moving them from place to place.

Researches at Cornell University created the world ? s smallest guitar carved out of crystalline
silicon and world ? s smallest car using an atomic force microscope (AFM).

Drexler has proposed the Assembler, a nanosize mechanical machine, which could
manipulate atoms precisely. These machines could be told to build anything. To control these
miniature run-abouts, Drexler has designed the nanocomputer. This is not an electronic device
but one that would work on ? rod-logic ? ; a system of criss-crossing mechanically-operated rods
interacting with each other. These computers would be small, typically fitting inside a 400-
nanometer cube, which is approximately 1000 times smaller in volume than one human cell.
However, these would be as powerful as some of today ? s desktop computers.

CARBON NANOTUBES ( Key role in Nano Technology ):

In 1991, carbon nanotube was discovered from the cathode product in carbon-arc discharge
method similar to that used for fullerenes preparation. This discovery opened a new chapter both
in nanotechnology and in carbon chemistry.

Because of their nano scale size and particular structure, carbon nanotubes exhibit following novel
electronic, mechanical and chemical properties.

The average E value from the experiments of tubes was around 1.28 TPa with no dependence on
tube diameter, which is similar to the in-plane modulus of graphite, 1.06 TPa; the largest of any
known bulk material. (for steel, the E value is around 200 GPa).

Based on their unique properties, carbon nanotubes are expected to have variety of
applications. A lot of research has been carried out on synthesis, characterization, property
measurement and applications of carbon nanotubes and will be continued. The structure of nano
tubes can be seen as shown.

The high stiffness, coupled with the low density for nanotubes, implies that nanotubes might be
useful as nanoscale fibres in strong, lightweight composite materials.

The researchers have built the world ? s first array of transistors out of carbon
nanotubes ? tiny cylinders of carbon atoms that measure as small as 10 atoms across and are
500 times smaller than today ? s silicon-based transistors. The breakthrough is a new batch
process for forming large numbers of nanotube transistors, which is essential for future mass
production. Some types of those transistors can be seen in below figure.

These are pentacene thin film transistors which are photo lithographically fabricated on flexible
polymide film.

REAL-WORLD NANO EXISTS:

Given Imaging, an Israel company, has developed a pill-size video camera that can
travel through the digestive track and transmit pictures along the way, providing a less invasive
technique to examine the small intestines. This video camera uses a miniature C MOS video
imaging chip and white LED as a light source.

In 1998, Israeli scientists demonstrated that DNA could be coated with silver and made
to conduct electricity. They predicted that the ability of DNA to organize itself into complex
patterns and copy these patterns precisely over again and again would render such life molecules
to develop into electronic molecules.

NANOMECHANICAL COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS:

The positioning systems in molecular assemblers need devices to direct their programmed
movements and ways to store these programs. C omputers and control systems similar to those
already devised for macroscale robotic arms can be implemented at the molecular level. At the
current rate of development, molecular electronic computers that would be used for this purpose
will likely be commercialized well before the robot arms.

The following Drexler ? s analysis of a molecular mechanical computer provides what is

essentially a lower bound to the performance of a computer that could be built, given replicating
assembler systems:

? Switching times are on the order of 0.1ns;

? C ombinational logic systems can achieve for register to register transfers in

1.2ns;

? Nanomechanical reduced instruction set computer(RISC ) machines can achieve

clock speeds of 1GHz, executing instructions at 1000MIPS(million of instructions per second);

? A forced convection system with fractal plumbing could effectively remove about
100KW from a 1cm cube at 273K. This would allow 10 12 C PU scale systems with
million transistors each to operate with in that volume.

This 10 12 C PU system would run at about 10 15 MIPS. By comparison, personal

computers run at about 5-20MIPS, engineering workstations run at about 200plus MIPS,
supercomputers run at about 1lakh MIPS and the human brain runs at 1crore MIPS. So one of
these machines would have the computational equivalent of a million human brains in the volume
of a cubic centimeter (in terms of logic operations per second; programming is another matter).
Fast molecular tape memory similar to RNA is also possible. It would have a storage density on
the order of 5*10 21 bits per cubic centimeter. That density is sufficient enough to store the
information content of the library of congress within the dimensions of a office sheet paper.

SUPER-FAST CHIPS:

Harvard university engineers have developed faster and smaller chips using tiny crystal
rods of silicon and other semiconductors. The semiconductor rods were sliced onto chips to form
rudimentary circuits that perform logic operations. These rods, or nanowires, are easier to be
manipulated into miniature sizes for producing super fast chips. These chips were built from
individual atoms. Out of a droplet of solvent saturated with silicon or gallium nitride the
researchers were able to grow perfect rod shaped sub-miniature crystals.

A solution containing nanowires is squirted onto a silicon-oxide wafer. A chemical on

the wafer guides the wires to the right place. Each intersection where one nanowire crosses
another acts like a transistor, which is much smaller than the tens of millions of transistors in
current computer chips. These transistors are essentially voltage-controlled switches. The
nanowires can be wired together to perform basic logic operations needed for computations. To
build a dense circuitry, the nanowires need to be moved closer.

Practical computer chips using nanowires are likely to be developed in the near
future. Dr Lieber reveals that in a year or two, such nanowire transistors could be used as
biological sensors by attaching them to specific molecules. A piece of anthrax can be bound to the
nanowires. Since DNA and proteins carry electrical charges, these could switch the transistors on,
setting off an alert .

NANOTECHNOLOGY, A BREAK THROUGH IN ALL FIELDS:

Nanotechnology has been successful in almost all the fields irrespective of its kind and
with the help of this technology it is possible to perform any type of operations starting from
manipulating the molecules for separating impurities to the stage where it is the easy method for
the production of power.

In molecular manufacturing systems, using nanotechnology it is possible transform raw

materials, in molecular form, into finished products. Impurities could be separated from feedstock
molecules using a sorting rotor which can be seen as in the figure.

The purified molecules can be transported away from the sorter system using the
molecular equivalent of a conveyor belt. Once a conveyor belt, the molecules can be transported
to other belts, changing speed or frequency if necessary. The estimated belt speed is 0.5cm/s and
the transition time form belt to belt is less than 0.2 ? s. a system for transforming a stream of
small feedstock molecules into a stream of reagent moieties would be between one million and
three million atoms in size. It could deliver the equivalent of its own mass is about 3 sec. The
error is rated to be less than 1in 10 15 operations at 10 6 operations per second. This gives a
mean time to failure of about 3000 years. Other possible scheme has reagent moieties
transported up through the centre of a hollow manipulator arm to a working tip for positional
synthesis. Drexler has analyzed one such device as shown.

The device shown in the above figure has arms design stiffness of 25N/m helps to hold
positional errors to below one in 10 15 . Applying 1nN of force at the tip would deflect the arm
only 0.04nm. The net result of this device is that it uses a cheap fuel such as acetone, weighs one
KG, can produce high purity products at a rate of 1Kg/Hr, has a waste product of high purity
water and generates excess power along with waste heat from release of energy from feedstock
molecules.

Below figures shows the possibility for the production of compact power generation using
nanotubes which are very productive even from the commercial side.

Nano technology is also playing an important role for electronic displays so as replace
existing C RO and C RT ? s and it is even competing with LC D (Liquid C rystal Display) which is the
advanced trend in electronic displays.

The process involved for electronic display using nanotubes is as follows:

? Firstly, Mixture of C 60 and nickel is ? steered ? to specific surface sites by evaporating through
a mask. The mask has an array of holes of 300 nm and can be moved with a precision of 1 nm.

? The C 60 /nickel mixture is evaporated sequentially in ultra high vacuum so as to form

alternating layers of C 60 and nickel with no impurities

? Then heat it up in the presence of a magnetic field. In this step, the C 60 molecules are
transformed into bundles of perfectly aligned nanotubes.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

At this year ? s International Electron Devices meeting, there will be presentations from
Japan ? s NTT DoC oMo engineers that will describe transistors that can be used switched on and
off based on the movement of a single electron. Lucent Technologies researchers will present a
data storage technology concept in which information is stored in an aerosol of floating crystals as
small as three nanometers, or three-billionths of a metre, in diameter. Quantum Logic devices is
developing sensors to detect substances at levels too low to be found by existing methods. Such
sensors could be used, for example, to diagnose diseases sooner than is now possible.

WHEN WILL NANOTECHNOLOGY ARRIVE?

? Arrive ? is broadly defined as the arrival of the first ? universal assembler ? that has
the ability to build with single atoms anything one ? s software defines. A universal assembler
may look like a microwave oven, connected to raw atomic feed stock, like carbon black, oxygen,
sulphur powder etc. Other portable assemblers would extract atomic feed stock out of the air and
soil. The assembler would make Dock Martins as easily as it would make a supercomputer or a
pizza.

With the researches which are going on in the labs as shown a period of 8 to 15
years seems to be the best guess estimate. As more people from all walks of life learn of the
nanotechnology concept and add their talents to the quest, you can be sure that research will
accelerate and the time frame will shorten. How long will it take for paradise to arrive on earth
and in space after the universal assembler is invented? Not too long, we hope.

TO HIT THE ROAD AHEAD:

Progress in the 21 st century will be 1000 times greater than in the 20 th century in
terms of technical change. Around 2030, we should be able to flood our brains with

? Nanobots that can be turned off and on, and which would function as ? experience beamers ?
that allow us to experience the full range of other people ? s sensory experiences too boring, we
will have access to archives where more interesting experiences are stored. By 2030, non-
biological thinking will be trillion of times more powerful than biological thinking.

? Desktop molecular computers could have the computational power of a million human brains
in terms of switching operations per second.

Humanity will be faced with a powerful, accelerated social revolution as a result of

nanotechnology. In the near future a team of scientists will succeed in constructing the first nano-
siezed robot capable of self replication. Within a few short years and five billion trillion nano-
robots later, virtually all the present industrial processes will be obsolete, along with our
contemporary concept of labour. C onsumer goods will become plentiful, inexpensive, smart and
durable. Medicine will take a quantum leap forward. Space travel and colonization will become
safe and affordable. For these and other reasons, global lifestyles will change radically and human
behaviour will be drastically impacted. The world is on the brink of a new technological revolution
beyond any human experience. A new, more powerful industrial revolution capable of bringing
wealth, health and education, without pollution, to every person on the planet is just around the
corner. No longer need will forest to be cut or smoke spewed into the air. This is the promise of
Nanotechnology.

REFERENCES:

o J.BR.Interplanet , Nanotechnology: Evolution of the concept

o The Future Impact Of Nanotechnology on textile technology and on textile industry

o IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine

o Electronics For You Magazine ? June, 2002.

C ollected and C reated by youtrick.com .....