The greatest promises of nanotechnology

November 25th, 2008

The term was first proposed by quantum physicist Richard Feynman at CalTech in in nowfamous lecture titled There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom. Feynmans proposal remained subject of speculation until recently, as scientists began to manipulate individual atoms with atomic probe microscopes and the fine detail of VLSI chips continues to shrink at geometric rates. An array of cantilevers is treated with different strands of DNA. Regardless of the exact path to the same goal, range of products will likely astound the unsuspecting with specs like supercomputer that fits on the head of pin.

scientists have just been slow to wake up to the fact. EE Times INDIA In the device, tiny micromachined cantilevers were selectively deflected by DNA fragments. EE Times CHINA and Texas startup suggest. Founder Jim Von Ehr said that real applications are at least years away. An array of cantilevers is treated with different strands of DNA. One recent result in this direction was hybrid micromachineDNA system, announced by IBM researchers at the companys Zurich research center.

In defense of the concept however, Drexler points out that lot of infrastructure still needs to be invented before even nanotechnology foundry can benefit working engineers. Conventional chemistry relies on the diffusion of molecules through the reaction, as the principal mechanical component that drives chemical synthesis. This would be new variant of chemical manufacturing in which specifically tailored molecules are positioned within reaction and mechanical or electrical force applied to overcome the reactions quantum energy barriers.

EE Times KOREA City Recent Articles From TechCareers industry trends, advice, and other career related content. Career Profiles Advice from tech pros whove made it.Hiring Reports Company hiring and recruiting strategies. Job Search Tips Experts share their secrets on job hunting. Another possibility would be mechanical computer using 1nanometerdiameter diamond rods that execute billion instructionssecond in less space than cubic micron while consuming only nanowatts. Increasingly, researchers are looking at hybrid that could deliver the parallel processing and smallscale advantages of chemical reactions while being precisely guided by miniature MEMSbased machines. U. S.

Sponsor Products .Subscribe to Print In the device, tiny micromachined cantilevers were selectively deflected by DNA fragments. The work, done in tandem with group at the University of Basil, was reported in recent issue of the journal Science. Every cell in every plant and animal is nanomachine. For example, at Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, N. M. research has evolved fivelayer process that the lab expects to license to foundry this year. This first prototype will not be able to build arbitrary materials.