# Nanotechnology/Perspective#A perspective on Nanotechnology

  Navigate
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   \<\< Prev: Introduction
   \>\< Main: Nanotechnology
   \>\> Next: Overviews

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# A perspective on Nanotechnology

**Nanotechnology in the Middle Ages?**

The Duke TIP eStudies Nanotechnology course will be adding more to this
section (this will be completed by 22 Jun 08)

One of the first uses of nanotechnology was in the Middle Ages. It was
done by using gold nanoparticles to make red pigments in stained glass
showing that nanotechnology has been around for centuries. The gold when
clumped together appears gold, but certain sized particles when spread
out appear different colors. Reference: The Nanotech Pioneers Where are
they taking us? By Steven A Edwards

In the year 1974 at the Tokyo Science University, Professor Norio
Taniigrichi came up with the term
nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology was first used to describe the extension of traditional
silicon machining down into regions smaller than one micron (one
millionth of a meter) by Tokyo Science University Professor Norio
Taniguchi in 1974. It is now commonly used to describe the engineering
and fabrication of objects with features smaller than 100 nanometers
(one tenth of a micron). [^1]

Nanotechnology has been used for thousands of years, although people did
not know what they were doing. For example, stained glass was the
product of nanofabrication of gold. Medieval forgers were the first
nanotecnologists in a sense, because they, by accident, found out a way
to make stained glass.

Reference Nanotechnology A GENTLE INTRODUCTION TO THE NEXT BIG IDEA By
Mark Ratner & Daniel Ratner

In 2001, the federal government announced the National Nanotechnology
Intiative to coordinate the work of different U.S. agencies and to
provide funds for research and accelerate development in nanotechnology.
This was spearheaded by Mahail Roco and supported by both president
Clinton and Bush.

References The Nanotech Pioneers Where are they taking us? By Steven A.
Edwards
<http://www.nano.gov/html/about/docs/20070521NNI_Industrial_Nano_Impact_NSTI_Carim.pdf>

**A Vision**

Richard Feynman was a man of great importance to the field of
nanotechnology. He was a man with a vision. He believed that with
research we could change things on a small scale. In his famous speech
There\'s Plenty of Room at the
Bottom in 1959,  Richard
Feynman discussed the possibility of
manipulating and controlling things on a molecular scale in order to
achieve electronic and mechanical systems with atomic sized components.
He concluded that the development of technologies to construct such
small systems would be interdisciplinary, combining fields such as
physics, chemistry and biology, and would offer a new world of
possibilities that could radically change the technology around us.

**Miniaturization**

A few years later, in 1965,  Moore
noted that the number of transistors on a chip had roughly doubled every
other year since 1959, and predicted that the trend was likely to hold
as each new generation of microsystems
would help to develop the next generation at lower prices and with
smaller components. To date, the semiconductor industry has been able to
fulfill Moore\'s Law, in part through the reduction of lateral feature
sizes on silicon chips from around 10 micrometers in 1965 to 45-65 nm in
2007 via changing from the use of optical contact lithography to deep
ultraviolet projection lithography.

In 1974 in Japan, Norio Taniguchi coined the word \"nano-technology\"
[^2] to describe semiconductor processes such as thin film deposition
and ion beam milling exhibiting characteristic control on the order of a
nanometer: \"'Nano-technology' mainly consists of the processing of
separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or
one molecule.\"

Since Feynman\'s 1959 speech the arts of \"seeing\" and \"manipulation\"
at the nanoscale have progressed from transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to various forms of
scanning probe microscopy including scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM) developed by Binnig and Rohrer
at IBM Zurich and atomic force microscopy
(AFM) devloped by (Binnig and Quate?)
The STM, in particular, is capable of single-atom manipulation on
conducting surfaces and has been used to build \"quantum corrals\" of
atoms in which quantum mechanical wave function phenomena can be
discerned. These atomic-scale manipulation capabilities prompt thoughts
of building up complex atomic structures via manipulation rather than
traditional stochastic chemistry. (Note: this pragraph is still rough
and references are needed.)

Motivated by Feynman's beliefs building things nanoscale top-down, Eric
Drexler devoted much of his research to making a universal assembler.
The American engineer  Eric Drexler has
speculated extensively about the laboratory synthesis of machines at the
molecular level via manipulation techniques, emulating biochemistry and
producing components much smaller than any microprocessor via techniques
which have been called molecular
nanotechnology or MNT. [^3] [^4]
[^5]

Successful realization of the
MNT dream would comprise a
collection of technologies which are not currently practical, and the
dream has resulted in considerable hyperbolic description of the
resulting capabilities. While realization of these capabilities would be
a vindication of the hype associated with MNT, concrete plans for
anything other than computer modeling of finished structures are scant.
Somehow, a means has to be found for MNT design evolution at the
nanoscale which mimics the process of biological evolution at the
molecular scale. Biological evolution proceeds by random variation in
ensemble averages of organisms combined with culling of the
less-successful variants and reproduction of the more-successful
variants, and macroscale engineering design also proceeds by a process
of design evolution from simplicity to complexity as set forth somewhat
satirically by John Gall: \"A
complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that worked. . . . A complex system designed from scratch
never works and can not be patched up to make it work. You have to start
over, beginning with a system that works.\" \<ref name=\"JohnGall\>
Gall, John, (1986) Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How They
Fail, 2nd ed. Ann Arbor, MI : The General Systemantics Press.

```{=html}
</ref>
```
A breakthrough in MNT is needed
which proceeds from the simple atomic ensembles which can be built with,
e.g., an STM to complex
MNT systems via a process of
design evolution. A handicap in this process is the difficulty of seeing
and manipulation at the nanoscale compared to the macroscale which makes
deterministic selection of successful trials difficult; in contrast
biological evolution proceeds via action of what Richard Dawkins has
called the \"blind watchmaker\" [^6] comprising random molecular
variation and deterministic survival/death.

**Technological development and limits**

The impact on society and our lives of the continuous downscaling of
systems is profound, and continues to open up new frontiers and
possibilities. However, no exponential growth can continue forever, and
the semiconductor industry will eventually reach the atomic limit for
downsizing the transistor. Atoms in solid matter are typically one or
two hundred picometers apart so nanotechnology involves manipulating
individual structures which are between ten and ten thousand atoms
across; for example, the gate length of a 45 nm transistor is about 180
silicon atoms long. Such very small structures are vulnerable to
molecular level damage by cosmic rays, thermal activity, and so forth.
The way in which they are assembled, designed and used is different from
prior microelectronics.

**New ways**

Today, as that limit still seems to be some 20 years in the future, the
growth is beginning to take new directions, indicating that the atomic
limit might not be the limiting factor for technological development in
the future, because systems are becoming more diverse and because new
effects appear when the systems become so small that quantum effects
dominate. The semiconductor devices show an increased diversification,
dividing for instance processors into very different systems such as
those for cheap disposable chips, low power consumption portable
devices, or high processing power devices. Microfabrication is also
merging with other branches of science to include for instance chemical
and optical micro systems. In addition, microbiology and biochemistry
are becoming important for applications of all the developing methods.
This diversity seems to be increasing on all levels in technology and
many of these cross-disciplinary developments are linked to
nanotechnology.

**Diversification**

As the components become so small that quantum effects become important,
the diversity will probably further increase as completely new devices
and possibilities begin to open up that are not possible with the bulk
materials of today\'s technology.

**The nanorevolution?**

The visions of Feynman are today shared by many others: when
nanotechnology is seen as a general cross disciplinary technology, it
has the potential to create a coming \"industrial\" revolution that will
have a major impact on society and everyday life, comparable to or
exceeding the impact of electricity and information technology.

# Nanocomponents, Tools, and Methods

**A positive spiral**

As an emerging technology, the methods and components of nanotechnology
are under continuous development and each generation is providing a
better foundation for the following generation.

**Seeing \'nano\'**

With regards to the methods, the  Scanning tunneling microscope
(STM) and  Atomic Force
Microscope (AFM) were developed
in the 1980s and opened up completely new ways to investigate nanoscale
materials. An important aspect was the novel possibility to directly
manipulate nanoscale objects. Transmission and scanning electron
microscopes (TEM and
SEM) had been available
since the 30s, and offered the possibility to image as well as create
nanodevices by electron beam
lithography.

**New nanomaterials**

Several unique nanoscale structures were also discovered around 1990:
the  Carbon-60 molecule and later the  carbon
nanotubes. In recent years, more complex
nanostructures such as  semiconductor nanowire
heterostructures have also proven to be useful building blocks or
components in nanodevices.

**So what can I use this \'nano\' for?**

The applications of such nanocomponents span all aspects of technology:
Electronics, optics/photonics, medical, and
biochemical, as well as better and smarter materials. But to date few
real products are available with nanoscale components, apart from
traditional nanoscale products, such as paint with nanoparticles or
catalytic particles for chemical reactors.

Prototype devices have been created from individual nanocomponents, but
actual production is still on the verge. As when integrated electronics
were developed, nanotechnology is currently in the phase where component
production methods, characterization methods, tools for manipulation and
integration are evolving by mutual support and convergence.

**Difficult nanointegration**

A main problem is reliable integration of the nanoscale components into
microsystems, since the production methods
are often not compatible. For fabrication of devices with integrated
nanocomponents, the optimal manipulation technique is of course to have
the individual components self-assembling or growing into the required
complex systems. Self assembly of devices in liquids is an expanding
field within nanotechnology but usually requires the components to be
covered in various surfactants, which usually also influence the
component properties. To avoid surface treatments, nanotubes and
whiskers/wires can be grown on chips and
microsystems directly from pre-patterned
catalytic particles. Although promising for future large scale
production of devices, few working devices have been made by the method
to date.

The prevailing integration technique for nanowire/tube systems seems to
be  electron beam lithography
(EBL) of metal structures onto
substrates with randomly positioned nanowires deposited from liquid
dispersions. By using flow alignment or electrical fields, the wire
deposition from liquids can be controlled to some extent. The EBL method
has allowed for systematic investigations of nanowires\' and tubes\'
electrical properties, and creation of high performance electronic
components such as field-effect transistors and chemical sensors. These
proof-of-principle devices are some of the few but important
demonstrations of devices nanotechnology might offer. In addition,
nanomechanical structures have also recently been demonstrated, such as
a rotational actuator with a carbon nanotube axis built by Fennimore et
al.

A more active approach to creating nanowire structures is to use
Scanning probe microscopy(SPM)
to push, slide and roll the nanostructures across surfaces. SPM
manipulation has been used to create and study nanotube junctions and
properties. The ability to manipulate individual nanoscale objects has
hence proven very useful for building proof-of-principle devices and
prototypes, as well as for characterizing and testing components.

**Top-down manufacturing** takes bulky products and shrinks them to the
nano scale, vs. bottom-up manufacturing is when individual molecules are
placed in a specific order to make a product.[^7] The **bottom-up
self-assembly** method may be important for future large scale
production as well as many of the different approaches to improve the
top-down lithographic processes. Such techniques could hence become
important factors in the self-sustaining development of nanotechnology.

# Hot and hyped

**Suddenly everything is \'nano\'**

There\'s no question that the field of nanotechnology has quite a sense
of hype to it - many universities have created new nanotech departments
and courses. But there is also a vision behind the hype and emerging
results - which are truly very few in industrial production, but
nevertheless hold promise for a bright future. In the hype, many things
that were once chemistry, microtechnology,
optics, mesoscopic or cluster physics, have been
reborn as nanotechnology.

**Nanotech is old**

You can find nanotechnology in the sunscreen you use in the summer, and
some paints and coatings can also be called nanotech since they all
contain nanoparticles with unique optical properties. In a way,
nanoparticles have been known in optics for
hundreds of years if you like to take a broad perspective on things,
since they have been used to stain and color
glasses, etc. since the middle ages.
Nano-size particles of gold were used to create red pigments.[^8]

Catalysis is a major industrial process,
without which not many of the materials we have around us today would be
possible to make, and catalysis is often highly dependent on nanoscale
catalytic particles. In this way thousands of tons of nanotechnology
have been used with great benefit for years.

Nanoscale wires and tubes have only recently really been given attention
with the advent of carbon nanotubes and
semiconductor nanowires, while nanoscale films are ever present in
antireflection coatings on your glasses and binoculars, and thin metal
films have been used for sensitive detection with surface
plasmons for decades. Surface
plasmons are excitations of the charges at a surface. Nanowires actually
were observed in the middle ages - well, they did not have the means to
observe them, but saw whiskers grow from melted metals.

The better control over the nanostructure of materials has led to
optimization of all these phenomena - and the emergence of many new
methods and possibilities.

**An example**

Take for instance nano-optics: The surface plasmons turn out to be very
efficient at enhancing local electrical fields and work as a local
amplifier for optical fields, making a laser seem much more powerful to
atoms in the vicinity of the surface plasmon. From this comes the
surface enhanced raman spectroscopy
which is increasingly used today because it makes it possible to do
sensitive raman spectroscopy on the large majority of samples that would
otherwise be impossible to make such spectra on. In addition,  photonic
crystals, fancy new quantum light
sources that can make single photons on demand and other non-classical
photon states are being developed, based on nanotechnology.

**The future**

There are definitely future scientific applications and commercial
potential of all these new methods to handle light, use it for extremely
sensitive detection and control its interaction with matter - and so it
seems nanotechnology, being about making smaller versions of existing
technology as well as new technology, is worth a bit of hype.

# References

See also notes on editing this book
Nanotechnology/About#How_to_contribute.
.

```{=html}
<references />
```

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[^1]:

[^2]: N. Taniguchi, \"On the Basic Concept of \'Nano-Technology\',\"
    Proc. Intl. Conf. Prod. Eng. Tokyo, Part II, Japan Society of
    Precision Engineering, 1974.

[^3]: Steven A. Edwards, *The Nanotech Pioneers*, (WILEY-VCH, 2006)

[^4]: Eric Drexler, *Engines of Creation*, (New York: Anchor
    Press/Doubleday, 1986).

[^5]: Eric Drexler, *Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and
    Computation*, (New York: John Wiley, 1992).

[^6]: Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of
    Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, W. W. Norton; Reissue
    edition (September 19, 1996)

[^7]: Eric Drexler, *Engines of Creation*

[^8]: Nanotech Pioneers, Steven A. Edwards (WILEY-VCH, 2006, Weinheim)


# Nanotechnology/Perspective#Nanocomponents.2C Tools.2C and Methods

  Navigate
  ---------------------------------------------------------
   \<\< Prev: Introduction
   \>\< Main: Nanotechnology
   \>\> Next: Overviews

\_\_TOC\_\_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

# A perspective on Nanotechnology

**Nanotechnology in the Middle Ages?**

The Duke TIP eStudies Nanotechnology course will be adding more to this
section (this will be completed by 22 Jun 08)

One of the first uses of nanotechnology was in the Middle Ages. It was
done by using gold nanoparticles to make red pigments in stained glass
showing that nanotechnology has been around for centuries. The gold when
clumped together appears gold, but certain sized particles when spread
out appear different colors. Reference: The Nanotech Pioneers Where are
they taking us? By Steven A Edwards

In the year 1974 at the Tokyo Science University, Professor Norio
Taniigrichi came up with the term
nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology was first used to describe the extension of traditional
silicon machining down into regions smaller than one micron (one
millionth of a meter) by Tokyo Science University Professor Norio
Taniguchi in 1974. It is now commonly used to describe the engineering
and fabrication of objects with features smaller than 100 nanometers
(one tenth of a micron). [^1]

Nanotechnology has been used for thousands of years, although people did
not know what they were doing. For example, stained glass was the
product of nanofabrication of gold. Medieval forgers were the first
nanotecnologists in a sense, because they, by accident, found out a way
to make stained glass.

Reference Nanotechnology A GENTLE INTRODUCTION TO THE NEXT BIG IDEA By
Mark Ratner & Daniel Ratner

In 2001, the federal government announced the National Nanotechnology
Intiative to coordinate the work of different U.S. agencies and to
provide funds for research and accelerate development in nanotechnology.
This was spearheaded by Mahail Roco and supported by both president
Clinton and Bush.

References The Nanotech Pioneers Where are they taking us? By Steven A.
Edwards
<http://www.nano.gov/html/about/docs/20070521NNI_Industrial_Nano_Impact_NSTI_Carim.pdf>

**A Vision**

Richard Feynman was a man of great importance to the field of
nanotechnology. He was a man with a vision. He believed that with
research we could change things on a small scale. In his famous speech
There\'s Plenty of Room at the
Bottom in 1959,  Richard
Feynman discussed the possibility of
manipulating and controlling things on a molecular scale in order to
achieve electronic and mechanical systems with atomic sized components.
He concluded that the development of technologies to construct such
small systems would be interdisciplinary, combining fields such as
physics, chemistry and biology, and would offer a new world of
possibilities that could radically change the technology around us.

**Miniaturization**

A few years later, in 1965,  Moore
noted that the number of transistors on a chip had roughly doubled every
other year since 1959, and predicted that the trend was likely to hold
as each new generation of microsystems
would help to develop the next generation at lower prices and with
smaller components. To date, the semiconductor industry has been able to
fulfill Moore\'s Law, in part through the reduction of lateral feature
sizes on silicon chips from around 10 micrometers in 1965 to 45-65 nm in
2007 via changing from the use of optical contact lithography to deep
ultraviolet projection lithography.

In 1974 in Japan, Norio Taniguchi coined the word \"nano-technology\"
[^2] to describe semiconductor processes such as thin film deposition
and ion beam milling exhibiting characteristic control on the order of a
nanometer: \"'Nano-technology' mainly consists of the processing of
separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or
one molecule.\"

Since Feynman\'s 1959 speech the arts of \"seeing\" and \"manipulation\"
at the nanoscale have progressed from transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to various forms of
scanning probe microscopy including scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM) developed by Binnig and Rohrer
at IBM Zurich and atomic force microscopy
(AFM) devloped by (Binnig and Quate?)
The STM, in particular, is capable of single-atom manipulation on
conducting surfaces and has been used to build \"quantum corrals\" of
atoms in which quantum mechanical wave function phenomena can be
discerned. These atomic-scale manipulation capabilities prompt thoughts
of building up complex atomic structures via manipulation rather than
traditional stochastic chemistry. (Note: this pragraph is still rough
and references are needed.)

Motivated by Feynman's beliefs building things nanoscale top-down, Eric
Drexler devoted much of his research to making a universal assembler.
The American engineer  Eric Drexler has
speculated extensively about the laboratory synthesis of machines at the
molecular level via manipulation techniques, emulating biochemistry and
producing components much smaller than any microprocessor via techniques
which have been called molecular
nanotechnology or MNT. [^3] [^4]
[^5]

Successful realization of the
MNT dream would comprise a
collection of technologies which are not currently practical, and the
dream has resulted in considerable hyperbolic description of the
resulting capabilities. While realization of these capabilities would be
a vindication of the hype associated with MNT, concrete plans for
anything other than computer modeling of finished structures are scant.
Somehow, a means has to be found for MNT design evolution at the
nanoscale which mimics the process of biological evolution at the
molecular scale. Biological evolution proceeds by random variation in
ensemble averages of organisms combined with culling of the
less-successful variants and reproduction of the more-successful
variants, and macroscale engineering design also proceeds by a process
of design evolution from simplicity to complexity as set forth somewhat
satirically by John Gall: \"A
complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that worked. . . . A complex system designed from scratch
never works and can not be patched up to make it work. You have to start
over, beginning with a system that works.\" \<ref name=\"JohnGall\>
Gall, John, (1986) Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How They
Fail, 2nd ed. Ann Arbor, MI : The General Systemantics Press.

```{=html}
</ref>
```
A breakthrough in MNT is needed
which proceeds from the simple atomic ensembles which can be built with,
e.g., an STM to complex
MNT systems via a process of
design evolution. A handicap in this process is the difficulty of seeing
and manipulation at the nanoscale compared to the macroscale which makes
deterministic selection of successful trials difficult; in contrast
biological evolution proceeds via action of what Richard Dawkins has
called the \"blind watchmaker\" [^6] comprising random molecular
variation and deterministic survival/death.

**Technological development and limits**

The impact on society and our lives of the continuous downscaling of
systems is profound, and continues to open up new frontiers and
possibilities. However, no exponential growth can continue forever, and
the semiconductor industry will eventually reach the atomic limit for
downsizing the transistor. Atoms in solid matter are typically one or
two hundred picometers apart so nanotechnology involves manipulating
individual structures which are between ten and ten thousand atoms
across; for example, the gate length of a 45 nm transistor is about 180
silicon atoms long. Such very small structures are vulnerable to
molecular level damage by cosmic rays, thermal activity, and so forth.
The way in which they are assembled, designed and used is different from
prior microelectronics.

**New ways**

Today, as that limit still seems to be some 20 years in the future, the
growth is beginning to take new directions, indicating that the atomic
limit might not be the limiting factor for technological development in
the future, because systems are becoming more diverse and because new
effects appear when the systems become so small that quantum effects
dominate. The semiconductor devices show an increased diversification,
dividing for instance processors into very different systems such as
those for cheap disposable chips, low power consumption portable
devices, or high processing power devices. Microfabrication is also
merging with other branches of science to include for instance chemical
and optical micro systems. In addition, microbiology and biochemistry
are becoming important for applications of all the developing methods.
This diversity seems to be increasing on all levels in technology and
many of these cross-disciplinary developments are linked to
nanotechnology.

**Diversification**

As the components become so small that quantum effects become important,
the diversity will probably further increase as completely new devices
and possibilities begin to open up that are not possible with the bulk
materials of today\'s technology.

**The nanorevolution?**

The visions of Feynman are today shared by many others: when
nanotechnology is seen as a general cross disciplinary technology, it
has the potential to create a coming \"industrial\" revolution that will
have a major impact on society and everyday life, comparable to or
exceeding the impact of electricity and information technology.

# Nanocomponents, Tools, and Methods

**A positive spiral**

As an emerging technology, the methods and components of nanotechnology
are under continuous development and each generation is providing a
better foundation for the following generation.

**Seeing \'nano\'**

With regards to the methods, the  Scanning tunneling microscope
(STM) and  Atomic Force
Microscope (AFM) were developed
in the 1980s and opened up completely new ways to investigate nanoscale
materials. An important aspect was the novel possibility to directly
manipulate nanoscale objects. Transmission and scanning electron
microscopes (TEM and
SEM) had been available
since the 30s, and offered the possibility to image as well as create
nanodevices by electron beam
lithography.

**New nanomaterials**

Several unique nanoscale structures were also discovered around 1990:
the  Carbon-60 molecule and later the  carbon
nanotubes. In recent years, more complex
nanostructures such as  semiconductor nanowire
heterostructures have also proven to be useful building blocks or
components in nanodevices.

**So what can I use this \'nano\' for?**

The applications of such nanocomponents span all aspects of technology:
Electronics, optics/photonics, medical, and
biochemical, as well as better and smarter materials. But to date few
real products are available with nanoscale components, apart from
traditional nanoscale products, such as paint with nanoparticles or
catalytic particles for chemical reactors.

Prototype devices have been created from individual nanocomponents, but
actual production is still on the verge. As when integrated electronics
were developed, nanotechnology is currently in the phase where component
production methods, characterization methods, tools for manipulation and
integration are evolving by mutual support and convergence.

**Difficult nanointegration**

A main problem is reliable integration of the nanoscale components into
microsystems, since the production methods
are often not compatible. For fabrication of devices with integrated
nanocomponents, the optimal manipulation technique is of course to have
the individual components self-assembling or growing into the required
complex systems. Self assembly of devices in liquids is an expanding
field within nanotechnology but usually requires the components to be
covered in various surfactants, which usually also influence the
component properties. To avoid surface treatments, nanotubes and
whiskers/wires can be grown on chips and
microsystems directly from pre-patterned
catalytic particles. Although promising for future large scale
production of devices, few working devices have been made by the method
to date.

The prevailing integration technique for nanowire/tube systems seems to
be  electron beam lithography
(EBL) of metal structures onto
substrates with randomly positioned nanowires deposited from liquid
dispersions. By using flow alignment or electrical fields, the wire
deposition from liquids can be controlled to some extent. The EBL method
has allowed for systematic investigations of nanowires\' and tubes\'
electrical properties, and creation of high performance electronic
components such as field-effect transistors and chemical sensors. These
proof-of-principle devices are some of the few but important
demonstrations of devices nanotechnology might offer. In addition,
nanomechanical structures have also recently been demonstrated, such as
a rotational actuator with a carbon nanotube axis built by Fennimore et
al.

A more active approach to creating nanowire structures is to use
Scanning probe microscopy(SPM)
to push, slide and roll the nanostructures across surfaces. SPM
manipulation has been used to create and study nanotube junctions and
properties. The ability to manipulate individual nanoscale objects has
hence proven very useful for building proof-of-principle devices and
prototypes, as well as for characterizing and testing components.

**Top-down manufacturing** takes bulky products and shrinks them to the
nano scale, vs. bottom-up manufacturing is when individual molecules are
placed in a specific order to make a product.[^7] The **bottom-up
self-assembly** method may be important for future large scale
production as well as many of the different approaches to improve the
top-down lithographic processes. Such techniques could hence become
important factors in the self-sustaining development of nanotechnology.

# Hot and hyped

**Suddenly everything is \'nano\'**

There\'s no question that the field of nanotechnology has quite a sense
of hype to it - many universities have created new nanotech departments
and courses. But there is also a vision behind the hype and emerging
results - which are truly very few in industrial production, but
nevertheless hold promise for a bright future. In the hype, many things
that were once chemistry, microtechnology,
optics, mesoscopic or cluster physics, have been
reborn as nanotechnology.

**Nanotech is old**

You can find nanotechnology in the sunscreen you use in the summer, and
some paints and coatings can also be called nanotech since they all
contain nanoparticles with unique optical properties. In a way,
nanoparticles have been known in optics for
hundreds of years if you like to take a broad perspective on things,
since they have been used to stain and color
glasses, etc. since the middle ages.
Nano-size particles of gold were used to create red pigments.[^8]

Catalysis is a major industrial process,
without which not many of the materials we have around us today would be
possible to make, and catalysis is often highly dependent on nanoscale
catalytic particles. In this way thousands of tons of nanotechnology
have been used with great benefit for years.

Nanoscale wires and tubes have only recently really been given attention
with the advent of carbon nanotubes and
semiconductor nanowires, while nanoscale films are ever present in
antireflection coatings on your glasses and binoculars, and thin metal
films have been used for sensitive detection with surface
plasmons for decades. Surface
plasmons are excitations of the charges at a surface. Nanowires actually
were observed in the middle ages - well, they did not have the means to
observe them, but saw whiskers grow from melted metals.

The better control over the nanostructure of materials has led to
optimization of all these phenomena - and the emergence of many new
methods and possibilities.

**An example**

Take for instance nano-optics: The surface plasmons turn out to be very
efficient at enhancing local electrical fields and work as a local
amplifier for optical fields, making a laser seem much more powerful to
atoms in the vicinity of the surface plasmon. From this comes the
surface enhanced raman spectroscopy
which is increasingly used today because it makes it possible to do
sensitive raman spectroscopy on the large majority of samples that would
otherwise be impossible to make such spectra on. In addition,  photonic
crystals, fancy new quantum light
sources that can make single photons on demand and other non-classical
photon states are being developed, based on nanotechnology.

**The future**

There are definitely future scientific applications and commercial
potential of all these new methods to handle light, use it for extremely
sensitive detection and control its interaction with matter - and so it
seems nanotechnology, being about making smaller versions of existing
technology as well as new technology, is worth a bit of hype.

# References

See also notes on editing this book
Nanotechnology/About#How_to_contribute.
.

```{=html}
<references />
```

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[^1]:

[^2]: N. Taniguchi, \"On the Basic Concept of \'Nano-Technology\',\"
    Proc. Intl. Conf. Prod. Eng. Tokyo, Part II, Japan Society of
    Precision Engineering, 1974.

[^3]: Steven A. Edwards, *The Nanotech Pioneers*, (WILEY-VCH, 2006)

[^4]: Eric Drexler, *Engines of Creation*, (New York: Anchor
    Press/Doubleday, 1986).

[^5]: Eric Drexler, *Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and
    Computation*, (New York: John Wiley, 1992).

[^6]: Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of
    Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, W. W. Norton; Reissue
    edition (September 19, 1996)

[^7]: Eric Drexler, *Engines of Creation*

[^8]: Nanotech Pioneers, Steven A. Edwards (WILEY-VCH, 2006, Weinheim)


# Nanotechnology/Perspective#Hot and hyped

  Navigate
  ---------------------------------------------------------
   \<\< Prev: Introduction
   \>\< Main: Nanotechnology
   \>\> Next: Overviews

\_\_TOC\_\_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

# A perspective on Nanotechnology

**Nanotechnology in the Middle Ages?**

The Duke TIP eStudies Nanotechnology course will be adding more to this
section (this will be completed by 22 Jun 08)

One of the first uses of nanotechnology was in the Middle Ages. It was
done by using gold nanoparticles to make red pigments in stained glass
showing that nanotechnology has been around for centuries. The gold when
clumped together appears gold, but certain sized particles when spread
out appear different colors. Reference: The Nanotech Pioneers Where are
they taking us? By Steven A Edwards

In the year 1974 at the Tokyo Science University, Professor Norio
Taniigrichi came up with the term
nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology was first used to describe the extension of traditional
silicon machining down into regions smaller than one micron (one
millionth of a meter) by Tokyo Science University Professor Norio
Taniguchi in 1974. It is now commonly used to describe the engineering
and fabrication of objects with features smaller than 100 nanometers
(one tenth of a micron). [^1]

Nanotechnology has been used for thousands of years, although people did
not know what they were doing. For example, stained glass was the
product of nanofabrication of gold. Medieval forgers were the first
nanotecnologists in a sense, because they, by accident, found out a way
to make stained glass.

Reference Nanotechnology A GENTLE INTRODUCTION TO THE NEXT BIG IDEA By
Mark Ratner & Daniel Ratner

In 2001, the federal government announced the National Nanotechnology
Intiative to coordinate the work of different U.S. agencies and to
provide funds for research and accelerate development in nanotechnology.
This was spearheaded by Mahail Roco and supported by both president
Clinton and Bush.

References The Nanotech Pioneers Where are they taking us? By Steven A.
Edwards
<http://www.nano.gov/html/about/docs/20070521NNI_Industrial_Nano_Impact_NSTI_Carim.pdf>

**A Vision**

Richard Feynman was a man of great importance to the field of
nanotechnology. He was a man with a vision. He believed that with
research we could change things on a small scale. In his famous speech
There\'s Plenty of Room at the
Bottom in 1959,  Richard
Feynman discussed the possibility of
manipulating and controlling things on a molecular scale in order to
achieve electronic and mechanical systems with atomic sized components.
He concluded that the development of technologies to construct such
small systems would be interdisciplinary, combining fields such as
physics, chemistry and biology, and would offer a new world of
possibilities that could radically change the technology around us.

**Miniaturization**

A few years later, in 1965,  Moore
noted that the number of transistors on a chip had roughly doubled every
other year since 1959, and predicted that the trend was likely to hold
as each new generation of microsystems
would help to develop the next generation at lower prices and with
smaller components. To date, the semiconductor industry has been able to
fulfill Moore\'s Law, in part through the reduction of lateral feature
sizes on silicon chips from around 10 micrometers in 1965 to 45-65 nm in
2007 via changing from the use of optical contact lithography to deep
ultraviolet projection lithography.

In 1974 in Japan, Norio Taniguchi coined the word \"nano-technology\"
[^2] to describe semiconductor processes such as thin film deposition
and ion beam milling exhibiting characteristic control on the order of a
nanometer: \"'Nano-technology' mainly consists of the processing of
separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or
one molecule.\"

Since Feynman\'s 1959 speech the arts of \"seeing\" and \"manipulation\"
at the nanoscale have progressed from transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to various forms of
scanning probe microscopy including scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM) developed by Binnig and Rohrer
at IBM Zurich and atomic force microscopy
(AFM) devloped by (Binnig and Quate?)
The STM, in particular, is capable of single-atom manipulation on
conducting surfaces and has been used to build \"quantum corrals\" of
atoms in which quantum mechanical wave function phenomena can be
discerned. These atomic-scale manipulation capabilities prompt thoughts
of building up complex atomic structures via manipulation rather than
traditional stochastic chemistry. (Note: this pragraph is still rough
and references are needed.)

Motivated by Feynman's beliefs building things nanoscale top-down, Eric
Drexler devoted much of his research to making a universal assembler.
The American engineer  Eric Drexler has
speculated extensively about the laboratory synthesis of machines at the
molecular level via manipulation techniques, emulating biochemistry and
producing components much smaller than any microprocessor via techniques
which have been called molecular
nanotechnology or MNT. [^3] [^4]
[^5]

Successful realization of the
MNT dream would comprise a
collection of technologies which are not currently practical, and the
dream has resulted in considerable hyperbolic description of the
resulting capabilities. While realization of these capabilities would be
a vindication of the hype associated with MNT, concrete plans for
anything other than computer modeling of finished structures are scant.
Somehow, a means has to be found for MNT design evolution at the
nanoscale which mimics the process of biological evolution at the
molecular scale. Biological evolution proceeds by random variation in
ensemble averages of organisms combined with culling of the
less-successful variants and reproduction of the more-successful
variants, and macroscale engineering design also proceeds by a process
of design evolution from simplicity to complexity as set forth somewhat
satirically by John Gall: \"A
complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that worked. . . . A complex system designed from scratch
never works and can not be patched up to make it work. You have to start
over, beginning with a system that works.\" \<ref name=\"JohnGall\>
Gall, John, (1986) Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How They
Fail, 2nd ed. Ann Arbor, MI : The General Systemantics Press.

```{=html}
</ref>
```
A breakthrough in MNT is needed
which proceeds from the simple atomic ensembles which can be built with,
e.g., an STM to complex
MNT systems via a process of
design evolution. A handicap in this process is the difficulty of seeing
and manipulation at the nanoscale compared to the macroscale which makes
deterministic selection of successful trials difficult; in contrast
biological evolution proceeds via action of what Richard Dawkins has
called the \"blind watchmaker\" [^6] comprising random molecular
variation and deterministic survival/death.

**Technological development and limits**

The impact on society and our lives of the continuous downscaling of
systems is profound, and continues to open up new frontiers and
possibilities. However, no exponential growth can continue forever, and
the semiconductor industry will eventually reach the atomic limit for
downsizing the transistor. Atoms in solid matter are typically one or
two hundred picometers apart so nanotechnology involves manipulating
individual structures which are between ten and ten thousand atoms
across; for example, the gate length of a 45 nm transistor is about 180
silicon atoms long. Such very small structures are vulnerable to
molecular level damage by cosmic rays, thermal activity, and so forth.
The way in which they are assembled, designed and used is different from
prior microelectronics.

**New ways**

Today, as that limit still seems to be some 20 years in the future, the
growth is beginning to take new directions, indicating that the atomic
limit might not be the limiting factor for technological development in
the future, because systems are becoming more diverse and because new
effects appear when the systems become so small that quantum effects
dominate. The semiconductor devices show an increased diversification,
dividing for instance processors into very different systems such as
those for cheap disposable chips, low power consumption portable
devices, or high processing power devices. Microfabrication is also
merging with other branches of science to include for instance chemical
and optical micro systems. In addition, microbiology and biochemistry
are becoming important for applications of all the developing methods.
This diversity seems to be increasing on all levels in technology and
many of these cross-disciplinary developments are linked to
nanotechnology.

**Diversification**

As the components become so small that quantum effects become important,
the diversity will probably further increase as completely new devices
and possibilities begin to open up that are not possible with the bulk
materials of today\'s technology.

**The nanorevolution?**

The visions of Feynman are today shared by many others: when
nanotechnology is seen as a general cross disciplinary technology, it
has the potential to create a coming \"industrial\" revolution that will
have a major impact on society and everyday life, comparable to or
exceeding the impact of electricity and information technology.

# Nanocomponents, Tools, and Methods

**A positive spiral**

As an emerging technology, the methods and components of nanotechnology
are under continuous development and each generation is providing a
better foundation for the following generation.

**Seeing \'nano\'**

With regards to the methods, the  Scanning tunneling microscope
(STM) and  Atomic Force
Microscope (AFM) were developed
in the 1980s and opened up completely new ways to investigate nanoscale
materials. An important aspect was the novel possibility to directly
manipulate nanoscale objects. Transmission and scanning electron
microscopes (TEM and
SEM) had been available
since the 30s, and offered the possibility to image as well as create
nanodevices by electron beam
lithography.

**New nanomaterials**

Several unique nanoscale structures were also discovered around 1990:
the  Carbon-60 molecule and later the  carbon
nanotubes. In recent years, more complex
nanostructures such as  semiconductor nanowire
heterostructures have also proven to be useful building blocks or
components in nanodevices.

**So what can I use this \'nano\' for?**

The applications of such nanocomponents span all aspects of technology:
Electronics, optics/photonics, medical, and
biochemical, as well as better and smarter materials. But to date few
real products are available with nanoscale components, apart from
traditional nanoscale products, such as paint with nanoparticles or
catalytic particles for chemical reactors.

Prototype devices have been created from individual nanocomponents, but
actual production is still on the verge. As when integrated electronics
were developed, nanotechnology is currently in the phase where component
production methods, characterization methods, tools for manipulation and
integration are evolving by mutual support and convergence.

**Difficult nanointegration**

A main problem is reliable integration of the nanoscale components into
microsystems, since the production methods
are often not compatible. For fabrication of devices with integrated
nanocomponents, the optimal manipulation technique is of course to have
the individual components self-assembling or growing into the required
complex systems. Self assembly of devices in liquids is an expanding
field within nanotechnology but usually requires the components to be
covered in various surfactants, which usually also influence the
component properties. To avoid surface treatments, nanotubes and
whiskers/wires can be grown on chips and
microsystems directly from pre-patterned
catalytic particles. Although promising for future large scale
production of devices, few working devices have been made by the method
to date.

The prevailing integration technique for nanowire/tube systems seems to
be  electron beam lithography
(EBL) of metal structures onto
substrates with randomly positioned nanowires deposited from liquid
dispersions. By using flow alignment or electrical fields, the wire
deposition from liquids can be controlled to some extent. The EBL method
has allowed for systematic investigations of nanowires\' and tubes\'
electrical properties, and creation of high performance electronic
components such as field-effect transistors and chemical sensors. These
proof-of-principle devices are some of the few but important
demonstrations of devices nanotechnology might offer. In addition,
nanomechanical structures have also recently been demonstrated, such as
a rotational actuator with a carbon nanotube axis built by Fennimore et
al.

A more active approach to creating nanowire structures is to use
Scanning probe microscopy(SPM)
to push, slide and roll the nanostructures across surfaces. SPM
manipulation has been used to create and study nanotube junctions and
properties. The ability to manipulate individual nanoscale objects has
hence proven very useful for building proof-of-principle devices and
prototypes, as well as for characterizing and testing components.

**Top-down manufacturing** takes bulky products and shrinks them to the
nano scale, vs. bottom-up manufacturing is when individual molecules are
placed in a specific order to make a product.[^7] The **bottom-up
self-assembly** method may be important for future large scale
production as well as many of the different approaches to improve the
top-down lithographic processes. Such techniques could hence become
important factors in the self-sustaining development of nanotechnology.

# Hot and hyped

**Suddenly everything is \'nano\'**

There\'s no question that the field of nanotechnology has quite a sense
of hype to it - many universities have created new nanotech departments
and courses. But there is also a vision behind the hype and emerging
results - which are truly very few in industrial production, but
nevertheless hold promise for a bright future. In the hype, many things
that were once chemistry, microtechnology,
optics, mesoscopic or cluster physics, have been
reborn as nanotechnology.

**Nanotech is old**

You can find nanotechnology in the sunscreen you use in the summer, and
some paints and coatings can also be called nanotech since they all
contain nanoparticles with unique optical properties. In a way,
nanoparticles have been known in optics for
hundreds of years if you like to take a broad perspective on things,
since they have been used to stain and color
glasses, etc. since the middle ages.
Nano-size particles of gold were used to create red pigments.[^8]

Catalysis is a major industrial process,
without which not many of the materials we have around us today would be
possible to make, and catalysis is often highly dependent on nanoscale
catalytic particles. In this way thousands of tons of nanotechnology
have been used with great benefit for years.

Nanoscale wires and tubes have only recently really been given attention
with the advent of carbon nanotubes and
semiconductor nanowires, while nanoscale films are ever present in
antireflection coatings on your glasses and binoculars, and thin metal
films have been used for sensitive detection with surface
plasmons for decades. Surface
plasmons are excitations of the charges at a surface. Nanowires actually
were observed in the middle ages - well, they did not have the means to
observe them, but saw whiskers grow from melted metals.

The better control over the nanostructure of materials has led to
optimization of all these phenomena - and the emergence of many new
methods and possibilities.

**An example**

Take for instance nano-optics: The surface plasmons turn out to be very
efficient at enhancing local electrical fields and work as a local
amplifier for optical fields, making a laser seem much more powerful to
atoms in the vicinity of the surface plasmon. From this comes the
surface enhanced raman spectroscopy
which is increasingly used today because it makes it possible to do
sensitive raman spectroscopy on the large majority of samples that would
otherwise be impossible to make such spectra on. In addition,  photonic
crystals, fancy new quantum light
sources that can make single photons on demand and other non-classical
photon states are being developed, based on nanotechnology.

**The future**

There are definitely future scientific applications and commercial
potential of all these new methods to handle light, use it for extremely
sensitive detection and control its interaction with matter - and so it
seems nanotechnology, being about making smaller versions of existing
technology as well as new technology, is worth a bit of hype.

# References

See also notes on editing this book
Nanotechnology/About#How_to_contribute.
.

```{=html}
<references />
```

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[^1]:

[^2]: N. Taniguchi, \"On the Basic Concept of \'Nano-Technology\',\"
    Proc. Intl. Conf. Prod. Eng. Tokyo, Part II, Japan Society of
    Precision Engineering, 1974.

[^3]: Steven A. Edwards, *The Nanotech Pioneers*, (WILEY-VCH, 2006)

[^4]: Eric Drexler, *Engines of Creation*, (New York: Anchor
    Press/Doubleday, 1986).

[^5]: Eric Drexler, *Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and
    Computation*, (New York: John Wiley, 1992).

[^6]: Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of
    Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, W. W. Norton; Reissue
    edition (September 19, 1996)

[^7]: Eric Drexler, *Engines of Creation*

[^8]: Nanotech Pioneers, Steven A. Edwards (WILEY-VCH, 2006, Weinheim)


# Nanotechnology/Overviews#Peer reviewed Journals

  Navigate
  ---------------------------------------------------------
   \<\< Prev: Perspective
   \>\< Main: Nanotechnology
   \>\> Next: About

\_\_TOC\_\_

------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Internet Resources

## Handbooks and Encyclopedias

These are only accessible for subscribers (which is one reason this
Wikibook on Nanotechnology was started):

-   Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 10-Volume
    Set
-   Handbook of Theoretical and Computational Nanotechnology, 10-Volume
    Set
-   Springer Handbook of
    Nanotechnology

## Websites and newsletters

-   International Council on Nanotechnology
    (ICON) a multi-stakeholder group dedicated to
    the safe, responsible and beneficial development of nanotechnology.
    ICON serves as an aggregator for news and research related to
    nanotechnology environment, health and safety.
-   ICON Virtual Journal of Nanotechnology Environment, Health and
    Safety compiles papers in
    peer-reviewed journals that address EHS issues in nanotechnology.
-   Virtual journal of nanotechnology
    compiles nano-related papers in peer reviewed journals that do not
    specialize solely in nanotechnology.
-   ACS Nanotation
-   Nanotechweb.org
-   Nanoforum
-   Nanowerk
-   nanoRISK
-   Physorg.com
-   Foresight Nanotech Institute
-   Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
-   A-Z of nanotechnology
-   Google Directory -
    Nanotechnology
    (sourced from the Open Directory
    Project)
-   Scientific American Nanotechnology
    Page
-   NanoEd Resource Portal managed by the
    National Center for Learning and Teaching in Nanoscale Science and
    Engineering (NCLT)
-   NanoHub.org
-   UnderstandingNano

## Search engines

There are many ways to find information in scientific literature and
some that even specialize in nanotechnology. Apart from the free search
engines and useful tools such as Google
scholar and Google
Desktop, there are several more dedicated
commercial services:

-   ICON Virtual Journal of Nanotechnology Environment, Health and
    Safety (VJ-NanoEHS)
    compiles papers in peer-reviewed journals that address EHS issues in
    nanotechnology.
-   ISI - Web of Science
    Database contains peer
    reviewed journals, their references and citations. It also has very
    useful tools such as \'find related papers\' that searches for
    papers sharing the same references as the entry you\'re looking at.
    This is the database behind the compilation of the journal citation
    factors.
-   Knovel - Online Handbook Collection and
    Database is an
    extensive collection of handbooks and tables.
-   PROLA - the Physical Review Online Archive
    searches Physical Review journals.
-   Rubber Bible Online is a physical
    chemistry handbook which contains tables of physical and chemical
    data.
-   Spin AIP Scitation searches related
    journals.
-   Web of Science by ISI
    generates the  impact factors (see
    journals below).
-   Virtual Journal of Nanotechnology
    collects nanotech related papers from non-nano specialized journals.
-   Derwent Patent database

# Peer reviewed Journals

Overview of the nanotechnology related journals and their impact factors
(2007 values):

  Name                                                            Web                                                                                Impact Factor   ISSN   Comments
  --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ACS Nano                                                        1                                                                                N/A                                            1936-0851                      general nanotech journal
  Advanced Functional Materials                                   2                                                              7.5                                            1616-301X                      ?
  Advanced Materials                                              3                                                             8.2                                            0935-9648                      ?
  American Journal of Physics (AJP)                               4                                                                                0.9                                            0002-9505                      ?
  Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing               5                                                   1.9                                            0947-8396                      ?
  Applied Physics Letters (APL)                                   [](http://apl.aip.org/apl/top.jsp)                                                                                3.6                                            ?                              ?
  AZojono - Journal of Nanotechnology Online                      6                                                                              N/A                                            ?                              Free access journal
  Chemical Reviews                                                7                                                                                22.8                                           0009-2665                      ?
  Current Nanoscience                                             8                                                                                2.8                                            1573-4137                      Reviews and original research reports
  Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Carbon Nanostructures                9                                                                    0.5                                            1536-383x                      all areas of fullerene research
  IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology                             10                                                   2.1                                            1536-125X                      physical basis and engineering applications of nanotechnology
  International Journal of Nanomedicine                           11                                                           N/A                                            1176-9114                      ?
  International Journal of Nanoscience                            12                                                                             N/A                                            0219-581X                      New nanotech journal (Feb 2002)
  Japanese Journal of Applied Physics                             13                                                                              1.2                                            1347-4065                      ?
  Journal of Applied Physics                                      14                                                                                2.2                                            ?                              ?
  Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology                            \[\]                                                                                N/A                                            ?                              JBN is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal providing broad coverage in all research areas focused on the applications of nanotechnology in medicine, drug delivery systems, infectious disease, biomedical sciences, biotechnology, and all other related fields of life sciences.
  Journal of Experimental Nanoscience                             15                                                                  N/A                                            1745-8080                      New nanotech journal(March 2006)
  Journal Of Microlithography Microfabrication And Microsystems   16                                               N/A                                            1537-1646
  Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering                  17                                                                             1.9                                            0960-1317                      ?
  Journal of Nano Research                                        18                                                                                N/A                                            1661-9897
  Journal of Nanomaterials                                        19                                                                                N/A                                            ?                              science and applications of nanoscale and nanostructured materials
  Journal of Nanoparticle Research                                20                                                                        2.3                                            1388-0764                      ?
  Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology                       21                                                                                2.0                                            ?                              JNN is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal covering fundamental and applied research in all disciplines of science, engineering and medicine. JNN publishes all aspects of nanoscale science and technology dealing with materials synthesis, processing, nanofabrication, nanoprobes, spectroscopy, properties, biological systems, nanostructures, theory and computation, nanoelectronics, nano-optics, nano-mechanics, nanodevices, nanobiotechnology, nanomedicine, nanotoxicology.
  Journal of Physical Chemistry A                                 22                                                                               2.9                                            ?                              ?
  Journal of Physical Chemistry B                                 23                                                                               4.1                                            ?                              ?
  Journal of Physical Chemistry C                                 24                                                                                N/A                                            ?                              Nanomaterials and Interfaces, Nanoparticles and Nanostructures, Surfaces, Interfaces, Catalysis, Electron Transport, Optical and Electronic Devices, Energy Conversion and Storage
  Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS)                 25                                                                                7.9                                            ?                              Multidisciplinary chemistry journal
  Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A (JVSTA)                26                                                                                1.3                                            ?                              Vacuum, Surfaces, Films
  Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B (JVSTB)                27                                                                                1.4                                            ?                              Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures: Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena
  Langmuir                                                        28                                                                        4.0                                            ?                              Research in the fields of colloids, surfaces, and interfaces
  Micron                                                          29                                                                           1.7                                            ?                              Journal for Microscopy
  Materials Chemistry and Physics                                 30                                                                       1.9                                            0254-0584                      materials science, including nanomaterials and opto electronics
  Materials Science and Engineering: C                            31                                                                 1.3                                            0928-4931                      Biomimetic and Supramolecular Systems
  Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports                   32                                                                 17.7                                           0927-796X                      Invited review papers covering the full spectrum of materials science and engineering
  Materials Today                                                 33                                                                                N/A                                            1369-7021                      materials science and technology
  Microfluidics and Nanofluidics                                  34                                                                     2.2                                            1613-4982                      all aspects of microfluidics, nanofluidics, and lab-on-a-chip science and technology
  Microscopy Research and Technique                               35                                                                1.6                                            ?                              ?
  Nano                                                            36                                                                           N/A                                            1793-2920                      New nanotech journal (July 2006)
  Nano Letters                                                    37                                                                        9.6                                            ?                              General nanotechnology journal
  Nanomedicine                                                    38                                                                                2.8                                            ?                              ?
  Nanopages                                                       39                                                                           N/A                                            1787-4033                      Since sept 2006.
  Nano Research                                                   40   N/A                                            ?                              First issue july 2008
  Nano Research Letters                                           41                                wait                                           1931-7573                      articles with open access
  Nanotechnology                                                  42                                                                               3.3                                            ?                              Journal specializing in nanotechnology
  NanoToday                                                       43                                                                                N/A                                            ?                              Is this peer reviewed or more a news/reviews journal?
  Nature                                                          44                                                                                31.434                                         ?                              One of the major journals in science
  Nature Biotechnology                                            45                                                                                22.8                                           ?                              advances in life sciences
  Nature Materials                                                46                                                                                19.8                                           ?                              covers a range of topics within materials science
  Nature Methods                                                  47                                                                                15.5                                           ?                              tried-and-tested techniques in the life sciences and related area of chemistry
  Nature Nanotechnology                                           48                                                                                14.9                                           ?                              mix of news, reviews, and research papers
  Nanotoxicology                                                  49                                                                   N/A                                            1743-5404                      Research relating to the potential for human and environmental exposure, hazard and risk associated with the use and development of nano-structured materials
  Open Nanoscience Journal                                        [](http://www.bentham.org/open/tonanoj)                                                                                N/A                                            1874-1401                      Open access journal with research articles, reviews and letters.
  Physical Review Letters (PRL)                                   [](http://scitation.aip.org/prl/help.jsp)                                                                                6.9                                            ?                              One of the top physics journals
  PLoS Biology                                                    [](http://biology.plosjournals.org/)                                                                                13.5                                           1544-9173                      Peer reviewed open access bio journal
  PLoS ONE                                                        [](http://one.plosjournals.org/)                                                                                N/A                                            ?                              Peer reviewed open access science journal
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS)           [](http://www.pnas.org)                                                                                10.2                                           ?                              multidisciplinary scientific serial: biological, physical, and social sciences.
  Recent Patents on Nanotechnology                                50                                                                                N/A                                            1872-2105                      ?
  Science                                                         51                                                                                26.4                                           ?                              One of the major journals in science
  Solid-State Electronics                                         52                              1.3                                            ?                              ?
  Small Journal                                                   53                                                            6.4                                            1613-6810                      New nanotech journal
  Smart Materials and Structures                                  54                                                                                1.5                                            0964-1726                      since 1992
  Thin Solid Films                                                55                                                                               1.7                                            0040-6090                      Thin-film synthesis, characterization, and applications.
  Ultramicroscopy                                                 56                                                                 2.0                                            ?                              Microscopy related research.
  Virtual Journal of Nanotechnlogy                                57                                                                                N/A                                            1553-9644                      Collecting nanotech related papers from non-nano spcialized journals

  : Nanotechnology Related Journals

-   Impact factors are only guides to how much a papers is referenced in
    the years just after publication.
-   Please add comments about the journals and update impact factors!
-   The Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme
    PACS2006 and
    Nanoscale Science and Technology - Collection of Applicable Terms
    from PACS 2006

# Conferences

-   NSTI Nanotech 2008
-   TNT - Trends in Nanotechnology
    2007;2006
-   MNE - Micro and Nanoengineering
    2007;2008
-   Virtual Conference on Nanoscale Science and
    Technology
-   Foresight Unconference Vision
    Weekend
    NanoBioInfoCognoSocioPhysical technologies
-   58
-   International Microprocess and Nanotechnology Conference,
    Japan
-   Nanosafe 2008: International Conference on Safe production and use
    of nanomaterials

# Nanotech Products

Please add more products, comments and more info about the products if
you have any!

See also the  List of nanotechnology applications in
wikipedia

Woodrow Wilsom Center for International Scholars is starting a Project
on Emerging Nanotechnologies (website should be under construction at
www.nanoproject.org) that among other
things will try to map the available \'nano\'products and work to ensure
possible risks are minimized and benefits are realized.

### Emerging products

-   2008 MultiProbe's AFM Nanoprober is now qualified for 32nm
    technology nodes. 59
-   Intel will make products with 45 nm linewidth transistors available
    from 2008
    60
-   Batteries are increasingly incorporating nanostructures.
-   Flexible, cheaper, or more luminous Flat screen displays
-   Pressure-sensitive mobile devices
    61

### Available in 2006

-   Surface coatings: TCnano,
    Nanocover, Stay
    clean.

### Available in 2005

-   Molybdenum disulfide catalytic nanoparticles in Brimm
    catalysts62
    made by Haldor Topsøe
-   Forbes top ten nanoproducts in
    200563
    -   Apples IPod with sub 100nm elements in its memory chips
    -   Choleterol reducing nanoencapsulated oil,Shemen Industries
        Canola Active.
    -   Nanocrystals improve the consistency of
        chocolate64
    -   Zelen Fullerene C-60 Day Cream 65
    -   Easton Stealth CNT baseball bat
    -   Nanotex textiles once again
    -   ArcticShield polyester socks from ARC Outdoors with 19nm silver
        particles that kill fungs to reduce odor.
    -   NanoGuard developed by Behr Process for improved paint hardness.
    -   Pilkingtons self-cleaning \'Activ Glass\'.
    -   NanoBreeze Air Purifier from NanoTwin Technologies, where the UV
        light from a fluorescent tube cleans the air by photochemical
        reactions in nanoparticles.

### Available in 2004

-   Cold cathode carbon nanotube emitters for X-ray analysis by Oxford
    instruments66\[\]
-   Forbes has an overview in 2004 of what they consider the top ten
    nanotech
    products:
    -   Footwarmers with nanporous aerogel for 3-20 times lighter than
        comparable insulating materials used in shoes (produced by Aspen
        Aerogels).
    -   Matress covers with nanotex fibres that can be washed (Simmonos
        bedding company).
    -   Better golf drivers with carbon nanotube enforced metal
        composites (produced by Maruman & Co) and nanocomposite
        containing golf balls (produced by NanoDynamics)
    -   The company \'Bionova\' apparently adds some nanoproducts to
        their \'personalized product line\'.
    -   EnviroSystems make a nanoemulsive disinfectant cleaner, called
        EcoTru, that is EPA Tox category 4 registered (meaning very safe
        to use)
    -   EnviroSystems also make a spray-on version of this product.
    -   BASF makes a nanoparticle coating for building materials called
        Mincor, that reduces their wettabililty.
    -   A nanostructured coating produced by Valley View, called Clarity
        Defender, improves visibility through windscreens in rain.
        Another company, Nano-Film, makes a similar coating on
        sunglasses.
    -   w:Flex-Power makes a gel containing
        nanoscale liposomes for soothing aching muscles
    -   3M espe Dental adhesive with silica nanoparticle filler.

### Available in 2003

-   NanoGuard Zink Oxide nanoparticles for sunscreens FDA
    approved
-   Forbes 2003 top ten nanoproduct
    67
    includes:
    -   High performance ski wax, Cerax Nanowax
        68.
    -   Nanotex textiles in ski jackets from
        Ziener69
    -   Nanotex textiles
    -   Plenitude Revitalift antiwrinkle cream by L\'Oréal contains
        nanocapsules with vitamin A 70
    -   organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in Sony camera flat screen
        display
    -   Nanofilm coatings for ani-reflection and scratch resistance
        71
    -   Zink oxide nanoparticles in Sunscreen by BASF
        72
    -   carbon nanotube enforced tennis rackets
        73 and nanopolymer enforced tennis
        balls 74

### Available in 2000

Nanotex makes textiles where the clothing
fibres have been coating in nanoscale fibres to change the textile
wettability. This makes the textile much more stain resistant.

## Companies making nanotech research equipment

-   MultiProbe Manufacturer of a 1-to-6 head
    Atomic Force nanoprobing tool used in failure analysis, that
    combines multi-scan fault isolation imaging with nanoprobing
    electrical capabilities. For process technology node measurements of
    32nm, 45nm, 65nm, 90nm or larger.
-   Veeco AFM and related equipment
-   Zyvex nanomanipulation equipment
-   Nanofactory in-situ TEM manipulation
    equipment
-   SmarAct nanomanipulators
-   Capres micro four point conductance measurement
    probes
-   ImageMetrology SPIP software for SPM
    analysis
-   QuantumWise software for simulating
    nanosystems
-   75 AFM and related equipment

## Products that have been nanostructured for decades

-   Catalysts
    -   Haldor Topsøe
-   Computer processesors are increasingly made of nanoscale systems
    -   Intel

## Non-nanotech products and a warning

Not everything that says nano is nano - and given the hype surrounding
nanotechnology you will see an increasing number of \'nano\' products
that have nothing to do with it. It is worrying when sometimes problems
arise with non-nano products and this adds to the \'scare\' that is
present in the public, fuelled by the newspapers where they are just
waiting for a nice scandal\... an example was the product Magic Nano
from a German
company that
made a number of users sick when inhaling the aerosol cleaning product -
which in the end turned out to have nothing \'nano\' in it. There is
good reason to be very alert to such issues. Not all countries have
legislation in place to secure the consumers against the possible
dangers present in nanoparticles and some products could end being
marketed before having been tested well enough. Though this example
turned out to be \'non-nano\', we will probably meet new cases shortly
that are truly \'nano\'. On this background environmental and health
aspects will be an important part of this book.

# Suppliers

Nanomaterials

-   Sigma-Aldrich
-   Zyvex
-   overview of companies making nanoparticles and related
    equipment

Nanolithography

-   NIL Technology sells stamps for nanoimprint
    lithography (NIL) and provides imprint services.

Quantum Dots

-   Evident technologies

# A nano-timeline

Overview of some important events in nanotechnology

See also  History of Nanotechnology in
Wikipedia

  Year       Development
  ---------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Medieval   Observation of metal whisker growth and nanoparticles used for staining glass
  1900        Max Planck proposes energy quantization.
  1905-30    Development of quantum mechanics
  1927       Heisenberg formulated his  uncertainty principle
  1933       The first  First electron microscope was built by Ernst Ruska
  1952       First  carbon nanotubes observation by Radushkevich and Lukyanovich
  1953        DNA structure discovered by James D. Watson and Francis Crick
  1959        Feynmanns talk  There is plenty of room at the bottom
  1965       Proposal of  Moores Law
  1981       Invention of  STM by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer
  1985       Invention of  AFM by Binnig, Quate and Gerber
  1985        Buckyball discovery by Harry Kroto, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley
  1986       K. Eric Drexler publishes his book *Engines of Creation*, in which he discusses both the potential huge benefits and the potential dangers of nanotechnology. He talks about a future of nanotechnology defined by molecular manufacturing, where self-replicating nanobots/assemblers are engineered to carry out practical applications.
  1989       Don Eigler pushed around xenon atoms to spell IBM

  : A Nanotechnology Timeline

# A nano-scale overview

Just to get a sense of proportion

  Scale           typical elements
  --------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1 m             1 m is 1.000.000.000 nanometers ( 10\^9 nm )
  200 µm          About the size of the smallest letters you can write with a very very sharp pencil and a very very steady hand.
  100 µm          Typical thick hair
  10-1000 µm      Cells in living organisms can have many sizes, and neurons can be much longer. In frog embryos (Tadpoles) the initial embryo cells can be up to 1000µm.
  8 µm            Red blood cell
  1 µm            Bacteria
  100 nm          Virus
  5-100 nm        The range for nanotechnology systems built from atomic/molecular components (quantum dots, nanoparticles, diameter of nanotubes and nanowires, lipid membranes, nanopores\...).
  10 nm           Size of typical Antibody molecules in living organisms immune defence
  6-10 nm         Thickness of a cell membrane, and typical pore size in membrane.
  2.5 nm          The width of DNA (but it depends on the conditions)
  1 nm            The size of a C60 buckyball molecule or glucose molecule.
  0.3 nm          The size of a water molecule.
  1 Å = 0.1 nm    Roughly the size of hydrogen atom.
  0.7 Å = 70 pm   The best resolution in AFM achieved so far where they managed to image individual orbitals in an atom.

  : A Nano-scale overview

-   Distances between objects can be measured with sub Å precision with
    STM, laser interferometry and its even done continuously in a
    standard airbag acceleration sensor chip that costs a few dollars
    and senses the vibrations of a micro-inertial mass element with
    femtometer precision (10\^-15 m).

# Bibliography

-   G. Ali Mansoori, *Principles of Nanotechnology*, Molecular-Based
    Study of Condensed Matter in Small Systems, (New Jersey: World
    Scientific, 2006).
-   Monthioux, Marc; Kuznetsov, Vladimir L. (2006). \"Who should be
    given the credit for the discovery of carbon nanotubes?\".
    Carbon 44. <doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2006.03.019>. Retrieved on
    2007-07-26.

# References

See also notes on editing this book
Nanotechnology/About#How_to_contribute.

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the nanotechnology pioneers by Steven A. Edwards

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*Engines of Creation 2.0: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology* by K. Eric
Drexler

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