Nanotechnology

plan

1-what is Nanotechnology?

2-how it started?

3-fundamental concepts in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology,

2-size of the Nanoscale,

3-working at the Nanoscale,

4-manufacturing at the Nanoscale,

5-whaths so special about the Nanoscale?

what is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technologyconductedat

the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of

extremely small things and can be used across all the other science
fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and
engineering.

2-how it started?

The ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and nanotechnology started

with a talk entitled Theres Plenty of Room at the Bottom by physicist
Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at the
California Institute of Technology (CalTech) on December 29, 1959, long
before the term nanotechnology was used. In his talk, Feynman
described a process in which scientists would be able to manipulate and
control individual atoms and molecules. Over a decade later, in his
explorations of ultraprecision machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi
coined the term nanotechnology. It wasn't until 1981, with the
development of the scanning tunneling microscope that could "see"
individual atoms, that modernnanotechnology began.

Physicist Richard Feynman, the father

of nanotechnology.

3-fundamental concepts in Nanoscience and

Nanotechnology,

Its hard to imaginejust how small nanotechnology is. One nanometer is

a billionth of a meter, or 10-9of a meter. Here are a few illustrative
examples:

There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch

A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick

On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then one meter

would be the size of the Earth

2-size of the Nanoscale,

Just how small is nano? In the International System of Units, the prefix "nano"
means one-billionth, or 10-9; therefore one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.
Its difficult to imagine just how small that is, so here are some examples:

A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick

A strand of human DNA is 2.5 nanometers in diameter

There are 25,400,000 nanometers in one inch

A human hair is approximately 80,000- 100,000 nanometers wide

A single gold atom is about a third of a nanometer in diameter

On a comparative scale, ifthe diameter of amarble was one nanometer, then

diameter of the Earth would be about one meter

One nanometer is about as long as your fingernail grows in one second

The illustration below has three visual examples of the size and the scale of nanotechnology, showing just how small things at the nanoscale actually are.

3-working at the Nanoscale,

Nanotechnology is more thanjust mixingnanoscale materials together; it

requires the ability to understand and to precisely manipulate and control
those materials in a useful way.

Nanotechnologyinvolvesa new and broad sciencewhere diverse fields

such as physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and engineering
converge at the nanoscale.

It is also important to understand that nanoscale materials are found in

nature. For instance, hemoglobin, the oxygen-transporting protein found in
red blood cells, is 5.5 nanometers in diameter. Naturally occurring
nanomaterials exist all around us, such as in smoke from fire, volcanic ash,
and sea spray. Some nanomaterials are a byproduct ofhuman activity,
such as bus and automobile exhaust and welding fumes.

The key is to be able to bothsee and manipulate nanomaterialsin order to

take advantage of their special properties. As mentioned earlier, the
invention of special microscopes gave scientists the ability to work at the
nanoscale. The first of these new discoveries was the scanning tunneling
microscope. While its mainly designed to measure objects, it can also
move tiny objects such as carbon nanotubes.

Computer simulation of
hemoglobin, a naturally
occuring nanoscale protein that
is found in blood.
(Image: Centers for Disease
Control)

4-manufacturing at the Nanoscale,

A product of nanomanufacturing: A 16 gauge wire (above),

approximately 1.3 millimeters in diameter, made from carbon nanotubes that
were spun into thread. And the same wire on a 150 ply spool (below.)
Courtesy of Nanocomp.

there are a growing number of new processes that enable nanomanufacturing. Among these
are:

Chemical vapor depositionis a process in which chemicals react to produce very pure, highperformance films

Molecular beam epitaxyis one method for depositing highly controlled thin films

Atomic layer epitaxyis a process for depositing one-atom-thick layers on a surface

Dip pen lithographyis a process in which the tip of an atomic force microscope is "dipped" into
a chemical fluid and then used to "write" on a surface, like an old fashioned ink pen onto paper

Nanoimprint lithographyis a process for creating nanoscale features by "stamping" or

"printing" them onto a surface

Roll-to-roll processingis a high-volume process to produce nanoscale devices on a roll of

ultrathin plastic or metal

Self-assemblydescribes the process in which a group of components come together to form an

ordered structure without outside direction

5-whaths so special about the Nanoscale?

Computer simulation of electron

motions within a nanowirethat
hasa diameter in the nanoscale
range.