Activities of the BEANS Laboratory

Dream Devices from BEANS
Devices that BEANS Researchers Would Like toSee Ten Years from Now

brain waves with great sensitivity and uses the detected data tocommunicate or to control an external device. Hence, by using
this device, a person could manipulate a tool by thought, or two
people could communicate with each other without speaking. In
the case of an implanted device, a biocompatible membrane
could be used to cover the device, and a mechanism could bedevised to generate power from heat or glucose in the body todrive the device without a battery, thereby involving bio-relatedfields. The brain wave sensing function could be configured ofeither a) a very sensitive magnetometer such as asuperconducting quantum interference device (SQUID),
requiring a technology for forming a room-temperature
superconducting wire into a micro-coil, or b) a biosensor
capable of detecting hormones and neurotransmitters.

The BEANS Project was not established to develop any
specific device. We simply cannot designate any specific target
device because devices so innovative as to change the way welive are beyond our imagination today. Thus, trying to develop
innovative processes is much like feeling our way in the dark,
but we expect that such processes will eventually lead us toproduce innovative devices. By the same token, you cannot takea journey without knowing your destination, and we cannot
develop manufacturing processes without giving any thought toa target device. Therefore, we decided to dream up someinnovative devices for the future by thinking about what wetruly wanted to achieve and, when our entire research staff
gathered for the Annual Meeting of the BEANS Project on June
16, we held a brainstorming session.

(2) Hayabusa drug delivery: Much like the unmanned
spacecraft Hayabusa, which was controlled to land on anasteroid far away from Earth, the proposed system would
deliver a drug directly to a very small affected area within the
inner “space” of the body with pinpoint accuracy. As in the film
Fantastic Voyage, a drug capsule 4–400 nm in size would be
injected into the blood vessel, and the capsule could beconfigured of means for navigating through the bloodstream
and for releasing the drug once the capsule reached a desired
target. Here, the drug capsule must be manufactured with highprecision of nano order. It is apparent that a capsule too large
or too small could not navigate safely or with stability in thebloodstream.

Format of the Discussions
The BEANS Project is currently composed of four major
research centers: Center A involved in the biomedical field,
Center B involved in organic materials and nanostructures,
Center C involved in 3D micromachining and low-damage
etching, and Center D involved in non-vacuum large-area
deposition and nanofabrication of fiber substrates. Since R&D
conducted by integrating dissimilar fields (heterogeneousintegration) is a defining feature of the BEANS Project,discussion was performed among groups intentionallycomposed of members specializing in different fields. Members
were divided into four groups, and three thirty-minute sessions
were held while shuffling the group members between eachsession. In Session One, the groups were asked to identify fromvarious perspectives the difficulties, inconveniences, or
frustrations that they as individuals or society as a whole deals
with in today’s world. In Session Two, the groups were asked to
discuss what type of device could be used to solve the issues
identified in Session One. In Session Three, the final session,groups were asked to devise a road map needed to link theattainment of the target device clarified in Session Two withresearch currently being performed at the BEANS researchcenters.

(3) Flexible device: A great advantage of using organic
materials in electronics is their flexibility. The domain of
wearable devices similar to clothing stimulates the imagination.
There is no limit to the vast number of applications for devices
that can be fibrous one minute and membranous the next, suchas an organic EL display, thin-film solar cells, and polymer
batteries. Organic semiconductors may also be used toconfigure the drive circuit. Thus, this device is likely theexclusive domain of Center B, which is investigating
nanostructures of organic materials and nanofabrication.
However, the technologies being developed by Center D for thenanofabrication of fiber substrate surfaces inspired proposals
for designing ambient clothing formed of fibers whereby thecolor of the fibrous surface could be changed at will, and asimple method to nanoimprint hair, enabling people to change
their hair color easily.

Dream Devices Conceived by Our Young
Research Staff
While the composition of the groups arranged to come up
with dream devices through heterogeneous integration may
have had some influence, the proposals showed a particular bias
toward devices that integrate bio-related fields developed byCenter A with micromachining by Center C, with very few
proposals linking organic materials developed by Center B andlarge-area deposition processes or fiber substrates developed byCenter D with other technological fields. Below are some
representative examples of their proposals.

(4) Portable thin-film spray: Based on the non-vacuum thinfilm deposition technology developed by Center D, one groupproposed a portable device that could be carried anywhere to
apply thin films in much the same way as a spray gun is used topaint a wall. Such a device is significant in that it would allow us
to coat walls and roofs with solar cells and to apply a solar cellcoating on cars. One day we might even see campgrounds
offering a service to spray your tent with solar cells.
At any rate, for one day we were allowed to wonder
whether devices such as those mentioned above would be taken
for granted ten years from now.

(1) Brain wave response device: While the group referred totheir device as a “psychokinesis (telekinesis) remote controller”
in their discussions, this device is not designed to use psychic
abilities like psychokinesis or telekinesis but rather detects faint9