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2devices, and systems that have novelproperties and functions due to theirnanoscale dimensions or components”
A joint report by the British Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering similarly defined nanotechnology as “the design, characterization,production, and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape andsize at nanometer scale.”
The application of nanotechnology can occur in one, two or three dimensions.Thus it includes the use of an oxygen plasma 25 atoms thick to bind a layer of indiumphosphide to silicon in order to make a computer chip that useslasers to transmit data at100 times the speed of current communications equipment.
In two dimensions itincludes the manufacture of carbon nanotubes only one nanometer in diameter that maybe eventually reach several centimeters in length. In three dimensions it encompasses themanufacture of small particles no more than a few nanometers in any dimension thatmight be used as an ingredient in sunscreens or to deliver medicine to a specific type of cell in the body.In a more general context nanotechnology can be seen as just the current stage of a long-term ability to understand and manipulate matter at ever smaller scales as timegoes by. Over the last century, physicists and biologists have developed a much moredetailed understanding of matter at finer and finer levels. At the same time, engineershave gradually acquired the ability to reliably manipulate material to increasingly finerdegrees of precision. Although we have long known much of what happens at thenanolevel, the levels of knowledge implied by; 1) knowing about the existence of atoms,2) actually seeing them, 3) manipulating them, and 4) truly understanding how they work,are dramatically different. The last two stages especially open up significant newtechnological abilities. At the nanolevel technology has just recently reached thesestages.Two examples indicate the significance of current research. Biologists haveknown about the basic building blocks of DNA since 1953, but until recently did notknow the exact DNA sequence of a human being. This occurred in the last decade.Viruses were another mystery, but now scientists not only know the DNAsequence, theyhave used this knowledge to build a virus that assembles a battery.
As a secondexample, rather than just being able to see individual atoms with an electron microscope,scientists can now place a 20-nm indentation on a piece of material, creating a data
3
The National Nanotechnology Initiative at Five Years: Assessment and Recommendations of the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel
, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, WashingtonD.C., May 2005, p. 7.
4
Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Uncertainties
, Royal Society and The RoyalAcademy of Engineering, UK, July 2004, p. 5.
5
Markoff, John, “A Chip That Can Move Data at the Speed of Laser Light,”
New York Times
, September,18, 2006, p. C1.
6
“Powerful Batteries That Assemble Themselves.”
Technology Review
, available athttp//:www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=17553.
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