1 The first technology

February 20th, 2009

While carbon black is not controlled with the precision of the type typically described in nanotechnology, it does make your tires perform better. Nanotechnology can also play significant role in the near future in the areas of medicine and environmental sensing. As mentioned earlier, the molecular scale processes that lead to normal metabolic functions, and to various medical conditions, are known. Nanostructured elements allow us to selectively find and destroy cancer cells, toxins, etc. Since molecules interact very specifically with other molecules, it should be possible to develop novel gas sensors by connecting molecularlevel event to an external circuit.

Click on Image to Enlarge What is it good for? Some of you recall President Clintons last State of the Union address, where he announced the National Nanotechnology Initiative. His speech talked of nanorobots that could run through your blood stream and monitorfix medical conditions. This eventually happen, but is probably long way off. In the short term, think that nanotechnology will be incorporated into existing products in relatively transparent way. One early application will be in new materials.

Janes, last updated 2002. have borrowed liberally from ideas gathered from discussions with collaborators, as well as presentations on the National Nanotechnology Initiative. His speech talked of nanorobots that could run through your blood stream and monitorfix medical conditions. This eventually happen, but is probably long way off. In the short term, think that nanotechnology will be incorporated into existing products in relatively transparent way. One early application will be in new materials. Think of what happened when the materials used for tennis rackets and golf clubs changed from wood to steel, then to carbon composite.

Biologists and medical researchers understand molecularlevel events that are responsible for many biological processes. It is possible to selfassemble structures of reasonable complexity using chemical affinities or selective DNA recognition. 3 The third technology is the micronano fabrication processing used by the semiconductor industry to create integrated circuits for computers, cell phones, memory, etc. The primary factor that allows continuous improvements in speed, and size is the relentless downscaling of the minimum feature size of MOSFET transistor is below nanometers, and the gate oxide thickness in these devices is below nanometers.