Nanotechnology

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Nanotechnology

• Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D.
• Principal Fellow, Zyvex

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Eighth Foresight Conferenceon Molecular
Nanotechnology
Overview

• November 3-5, 2000
• Bethesda, Maryland (near Washington D.C.)
• http//www.foresight.org/Conferences/

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Three historical trendsin manufacturing
Overview

• More diverse
• More precise
• Less expensive

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Where these trends are going nanotechnology
Overview

• Fabricate most products consistent with physical
  law
• Get essentially every atom in the right place
• Reduce manufacturing costs to 1/kilogram or less

http//www.zyvex.com/nano
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Overview
Molecular arrangement matters

• Coal
• Sand
• Dirt, water air

• Diamonds
• Computer chips
• Wood

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Overview
Theres plenty of room at the bottom
...our ability to see what we are doing, and to
do things on an atomic level, is ... a
development which I think cannot be
avoided. Nobel Laureate (physics) Richard
Feynman, 1959
http//www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html
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The 1980s and 1990s
Overview

• Invention of Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPMs)
• Publication of Nanosystems by Eric Drexler
• Conferences, journals, newsletters, net news
  discussion groups, media coverage

http//www.zyvex.com/nano
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National Nanotechnology Initiative
Overview

• Announced by Clinton at Caltech, January 2000
• Interagency (AFOSR, ARO, BMDO, DARPA, DOC, DOE,
  NASA, NIH, NIST, NSF, ONR, and NRL)
• Proposed for FY 2001 497 million

http//www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/20000121_4.h
tml
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President Clinton on the NNI
Overview

• Imagine the possibilities materials with ten
  times the strength of steel and only a small
  fraction of the weight -- shrinking all the
  information housed at the Library of Congress
  into a device the size of a sugar cube --
  detecting cancerous tumors when they are only a
  few cells in size.

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Overview

• Nanotechnology has been applied to almost any
  research where some dimension is less than a
  micron (1,000 nanometers) in size
• Molecular nanotechnology is focused
  specifically on inexpensively making most
  arrangements of atoms permitted by physical law

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Overview
Possible arrangements of atoms
What we can make today (not to scale)
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Overview
Possible arrangements of atoms
The goal a healthy bite.
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Approach
Products
Developmental pathways
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Products
Today
Products
Products
Products
Products
Core nanotechnology capabilities
Products
Products
Products
Products
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Approach
Two important ideas

• Positional assembly (so parts go where we want
  them to go)
• Self replication (for low cost)
• Both concepts are applicable at many different
  sizes

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Positional assembly
Approach

• Positional assembly of millimeter and larger
  parts is central to todays manufacturing
• Positional assembly of micrometer sized parts has
  been demonstrated, but is still rare
• Positional assembly of molecular parts has been
  demonstrated only in rudimentary form

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Approach
Scanning Probe Microscopes
(Gimzewski et al.)
http//www.zurich.ibm.com/News/Molecule/
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Approach
Manipulation and bond formation by STM
H. J. Lee and W. Ho, SCIENCE 286, p. 1719,
NOVEMBER 1999
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Approach
Complexity of self replicating systems (bits)

• Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140
• Drexlers assembler 100,000,000
• Human 6,400,000,000

http//www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html
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Approach
Self replicating does not imply living

• Life is a proof of concept
• Birds fly, airplanes fly they arent the same
• Broadcast architecture

http//www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html
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The Vision
Proposal for a molecular planetary gear
http//www.zyvex.com/nanotech/gearAndCasing.html
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Proposal for amolecular robotic arm
The Vision
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The Vision
Drexlers proposal for an assembler
http//www.foresight.org/UTF/Unbound_LBW/chapt_6.h
tml
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The Vision
Assembler
Mitochondrion 1-2 by 0.1-0.5 microns
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The Vision
Mitochondrion
Assembler
Typical cell 20 microns
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The Vision
The impact of nanotechnology

• Nanotechnology is a manufacturing technology
• The impact depends on the product being
  manufactured

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The Vision
Powerful Computers

• Well have more computing power in the volume of
  a sugar cube than the sum total of all the
  computer power that exists in the world today
• More than 1021 bits in the same volume
• Almost a billion Pentiums in parallel

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The Vision
Lighter, stronger, smarter, less expensive

• New, inexpensive materials with a
  strength-to-weight ratio over 50 times that of
  steel
• Critical for aerospace airplanes, rockets,
  satellites
• Useful in cars, trucks, ships, ...

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The Vision

• Military applications of molecular
  manufacturing have even greater potential than
  nuclear weapons to radically change the balance
  of power.
• Admiral David E. Jeremiah, USN (Ret)
• Former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
• November 9, 1995

http//nano.xerox.com/nanotech/nano4/jeremiahPaper
.html
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The Vision
Gray goo, gray dust,

• New technologies, new weapons
• At least one decade and possibly a few decades
  away
• Public debate (Joy, etc.) has begun
• Research into defensive systems is essential

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The Vision
Nanomedicine

• Disease and ill health are caused largely by
  damage at the molecular and cellular level
• Todays surgical tools are huge and imprecise in
  comparison

http//www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine
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The Vision
Molecular medical tools could

• Eliminate cancer cells, bacteria
• Remove circulatory obstructions
• Provide oxygen, remove CO2 (artificial red blood
  cells)

http//www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine
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The Vision
Artificial red blood cells hold your breath for
hours
http//www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Respirocytes
.html
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Restoring the environment with nanotechnology
The Vision

• Low cost solar power
• Low cost greenhouse agriculture
• Pollution free manufacturing

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Summary

• Nanotechnology offers ... possibilities for
  health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most
  past imaginings.
• K. Eric Drexler

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