Abstract : (Seminar) Manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in combust we crapper attain diamond. If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a some other trace elements) we crapper attain machine chips. If we rearrange the atoms in dirt, water and air we crapper attain potatoes.
Todays manufacturing methods are rattling crude at the molecular level. Casting, grinding, milling and modify lithography move atoms in great thundering statistical herds. It's like disagreeable to attain things out of LEGO blocks with boxing gloves on your hands. Yes, you crapper push the LEGO blocks into great heaps and pile them up, but you can't really behave them unitedly the artefact you'd like.In the future, nanotechnology module permit us verify off the boxing gloves. We'll be healthy to behave unitedly the fundamental building blocks of nature easily, inexpensively and in most of the ways permitted by the laws of physics. This module be essential if we are to continue the revolution in machine element beyond about the next decade, and module also permit us fabricate an entire newborn generation of products that are cleaner, stronger, lighter, and more precise.It's worth pointing out that the word "nanotechnology" has become rattling popular and is utilised to exposit many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are less than about 1,000 nanometers. For example, continuing improvements in lithography have resulted in distinction widths that are less than digit micron: this impact is ofttimes called "nanotechnology." Sub-micron lithography is clearly rattling priceless (ask anyone who uses a computer!) but it is equally clear that customary lithography module not permit us physique semiconductor devices in which individual dopant atoms are located at limited lattice sites. Many of the exponentially improving trends in machine element capability have remained steady for the last 50 years. There is fairly widespread belief that these trends are likely to continue for at least another several years, but then customary lithography starts to reach its limits.If we are to continue these trends we module have to develop a newborn manufacturing technology which module permit us inexpensively physique machine systems with mole quantities of system elements that are molecular in both size and exactitude and are interconnected in complex and highly idiosyncratic patterns. Nanotechnology module permit us do this.When it's unclear from the context whether we're using the limited definition of "nanotechnology" (given here) or the broader and more inclusive definition (often utilised in the literature), we'll ingest the terms "molecular nanotechnology" or "molecular manufacturing."Whatever we call it, it should permit us Get essentially every corpuscle in the correct place.Make nearly whatever structure consistent with the laws of physics that we crapper specify in molecular detail.Have manufacturing costs not greatly prodigious the outlay of the required raw materials and energy.There are digit more concepts commonly associated with nanotechnology:Positional assembly.Massive parallelism.
Clearly, we would be bright with whatever method that simultaneously achieved the first threesome objectives. However, this seems difficult without using whatever modify of positional gathering (to intend the correct molecular parts in the correct places) and whatever modify of massive similarity (to keep the costs down).The requirement for positional gathering implies an interest in molecular robotics, e.g., robotic devices that are molecular both in their size and precision. These molecular bit positional devices are likely to resemble rattling diminutive versions of their everyday gross counterparts. Positional gathering is ofttimes utilised in normal gross manufacturing today, and provides tremendous advantages. Imagine disagreeable to physique a cycle with both safekeeping tied behind your back! The intent of manipulating and orientating individual atoms and molecules is ease newborn and takes whatever getting utilised to. However, as Feynman said in a artist talk in 1959: "The principles of physics, as farther as I crapper see, do not intercommunicate against the possibility of maneuvering things corpuscle by atom." We requirement to apply at the molecular bit the concept that has demonstrated its power at the gross scale: making parts go where we want by putting them where we want!One robotic arm assembling molecular parts is going to verify a long time to join anything large — so we requirement lots of robotic arms: this is what we mean by massive parallelism. While earlier proposals achieved massive similarity through self replication, today's "best guess" is that forthcoming molecular manufacturing systems module ingest whatever modify of focused assembly. In this process vast drawing of diminutive parts are collective by vast drawing of diminutive robotic arms into large parts, those large parts are collective by large robotic arms into ease large parts, and so forth. If the size of the parts doubles at each iteration, we crapper go from digit micromillimetre parts (a some atoms in size) to digit meter parts (almost as big as a person) in only 30 steps.