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Nanotechnology. Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Principal Fellow, Zyvex. Eighth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology. Overview. November 3-5, 2000 Bethesda, Maryland (near Washington D.C.) http://www.foresight.org/Conferences/. Three historical trends in manufacturing. Overview.
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Nanotechnology Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Principal Fellow, Zyvex
Eighth Foresight Conferenceon Molecular Nanotechnology Overview • November 3-5, 2000 • Bethesda, Maryland (near Washington D.C.) • http://www.foresight.org/Conferences/
Three historical trendsin manufacturing Overview • More diverse • More precise • Less expensive
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
Coal Sand Dirt, water & air Diamonds Computer chips Wood Overview Molecular arrangement matters
Overview There’s 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
The 1980’s and 1990’s 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
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.html
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.”
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
Overview Possible arrangements of atoms What we can make today (not to scale)
Overview Possible arrangements of atoms The goal: a healthy bite.
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
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
Positional assembly Approach • Positional assembly of millimeter and larger parts is central to today’s 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
Approach Scanning Probe Microscopes (Gimzewski et al.) http://www.zurich.ibm.com/News/Molecule/
Approach Manipulation and bond formation by STM H. J. Lee and W. Ho, SCIENCE 286, p. 1719, NOVEMBER 1999
Approach Complexity of self replicating systems (bits) • Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140 • Drexler’s assembler 100,000,000 • Human 6,400,000,000 http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html
Approach Self replicating does not imply living • Life is a “proof of concept” • Birds fly, airplanes fly; they aren’t the same • Broadcast architecture http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html
The Vision Proposal for a molecular planetary gear http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/gearAndCasing.html
Proposal for amolecular robotic arm The Vision
The Vision Drexler’s proposal for an assembler http://www.foresight.org/UTF/Unbound_LBW/chapt_6.html
The Vision Assembler Mitochondrion ~1-2 by 0.1-0.5 microns
The Vision Mitochondrion Assembler “Typical” cell: ~20 microns
The Vision The impact of nanotechnology • Nanotechnology is a manufacturing technology • The impact depends on the product being manufactured
The Vision Powerful Computers • We’ll 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
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, ...
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
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
The Vision Nanomedicine • Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level • Today’s surgical tools are huge and imprecise in comparison http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine
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
The Vision Artificial red blood cells hold your breath for hours http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Respirocytes.html
Restoring the environment with nanotechnology The Vision • Low cost solar power • Low cost greenhouse agriculture • Pollution free manufacturing
Summary “Nanotechnology offers ... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings.” K. Eric Drexler