TAMU, 02

2. Nanotechnology – Vision and Implementation Winfried Teizer Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and Department of Physics Texas A&M University

3. Nanotechnology – At the Beginning “I imagine experimental physicists must often look with envy at men like Kamerlingh Onnes, who discovered a field like low temperature, which seems to be bottomless and in which one can go down and down. Such a man is then a leader and has some temporary monopoly in a scientific adventure. Percy Bridgman, in designing a way to obtain higher pressures, opened up another new field and was able to move into it and to lead us all along. The development of ever higher vacuum was a continuing development of the same kind. I would like to describe a field, in which little has been done, but in which an enormous amount can be done in principle. This field is not quite the same as the others in that it will not tell us much of fundamental physics (in the sense of, ``What are the strange particles?'') but it is more like solid-state physics in the sense that it might tell us much of great interest about the strange phenomena that occur in complex situations. Furthermore, a point that is most important is that it would have an enormous number of technical applications. What I want to talk about is the problem of manipulating and controlling things on a small scale.“

4. Who Invented Nanotechnology? 1959 Richard Feynman (Nobel in Physics) “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An invitation to enter a new field of physics.” Offered two $1,000 prizes: to build an electric motor in a 1/64 inch cube; another to reduce a page of a book to an area 1/25,000 smaller, and read it using an electron microscope 1960: the first prize claimed 1985: a graduate student claimed the second by writing a page from “A Tale of Two Cities” on a page 1/160 of a milimeter in length, using electron beam lithography.

5. Outline What is Nanotechnology? What can Nanotechnology do for us now? What may Nanotechnology be able to do in the future? Should we go down this path?

6. A Wake-up Call Invention of scanning tunneling and atomic force microscope, (Gerd Binning and Heinrich Rohrer of IBM, Nobel in Physics, 1986)

7. Nanotechnology: A Definition The study and applications of things or structures that are of the order or below 100 nm (1 nm = 10-9 m or one-billionth of a meter) in sizes. Essentially this is the study of the “super small.” Manipulation of building blocks at this scale Expectation of practical applications

8. The Nanoscale “The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom.” Richard Feynman, 1959

9. Outline What is Nanotechnology? What can Nanotechnology do for us now? What may Nanotechnology be able to do in the future? Should we go down this path?

10. How to fabricate Nanostructures? – 2 principal approaches Bottom-Up Assembling structures from the atomic/molecular level Novel approach, conceptually imitating nature E.g. chemical self-assembly Top-Down Miniaturizing existing processes at the Macro/Microscale Traditional approach in industrial applications E.g. Lithography, backbone of computing systems

11. Lithography Lithography in Art How lithography works Materials used for lithography drawing Photolithography Photolithographic process

12. Lithography in Art Invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798 Used for book illustrations, artist's prints, packaging, posters etc. In 1825, Goya produced a series of lithographs. In the 20th and 21st century, become an important technique with unique expressive capabilities in the Art field

13. How Lithography started Lithography (Greek for "stone drawing") relies on the fact that water and grease repel Draw a pattern onto a flat stone surface with a greasy substance Paint the printing ink onto the stone While the stone background absorbs water, the greasy substance retains wet ink on top Press paper against the stone to transfer the pattern Positive! Repeatable!

14. Materials used for lithography drawing Litho crayons and pencils (containing wax, pigment, soap and shellac), conte crayons, pens and graphite pencils, etc. 

15. Lithography, to date Miniaturized computing circuits require mass manufacturing of small features ? push lithographic approach to new limits Some lithography approaches for manufacturing Optical lithography (including ultraviolet) X-Ray lithography Electron Beam lithography Ion Beam lithography “Dip-Pen” lithography …

16. Optical/UV Lithography Workhorse of current chip manufacturing processes Limited by wave length of light employed Smaller features ? reduce wave length ? UV light Here is how it works

17. Photolithographic process Wafer cleaning Barrier layer formation Photoresist application Soft baking Mask alignment Exposure and development Hard-baking

18. Optical Lithography

19. Optical Lithography

20. Optical Lithography

21. Optical Lithography

23. Fundamental Limitations

24. Example: Pentium III

25. History of transistor Discovered and Invented at Bell Labs in 1947 By John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley Practical and useful electronic devices for communications (1st_transistor.jpg)http://www.101science.com/transistor.htm

26. Outline What is Nanotechnology? What can Nanotechnology do for us now? What may Nanotechnology be able to do in the future? Should we go down this path?

27. Bottom-Up Techniques

28. A vision: Portability

29. Self Assembled Monolayers

30. Self Assembled Monolayers

31. Self Assembled Monolayers

35. Nanotube Bundles

36. Space Elevator

37. MEMS (MICRO-ELECTRO MECHANICAL SYSTEMS) MEMS have made electrically-driven motors smaller than the diameter of a human hair MEMS technology is NOT just about size Not about making things out of silicon...

38. How small is a micrometer? 1 ?m = 10-6 meters = 1000 nm Average diameter of a human hair = 70 micrometer Component of MEMS may be <1 ?m

39. More Images of MEMS Courtesy Sandia National Laboratories, SUMMiTTM Technologies, www.mems.sandia.gov

40. What are MEMS? Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Integration of:- mechanical elements- sensors- actuators- electronics Created on a common silicon substrate Using Microfabrication technology

41. Electronics vs. Micromechanical components Electronics: - fabricated using integrated circuit (IC) process sequences Micromechanical components: - fabricated using compatible "micromachining" processes

42. Typical MEMS Applications Biotechnology: - Scanning Tunneling Microscopes (STMs) to detect hazardous chemical and biological agents Communications using RF-MEMS technology: - Improvement on electrical components (inductors, tunable capacitors, etc.) - Huge potential in various microwave circuits with mechanical switch Accelerometers:- Better accelerometers for crash air-bag systems

43. Advantages of MEMS Manufacturing Extremely diverse technology - significant effect on commercial and military product, e.g. flaps Already used for in-dwelling blood pressure monitoring, active suspension systems for automobiles, etc. Blurs the distinction between complex mechanical systems and integrated circuit electronics Complex electromechanical systems to be manufactured using batch fabrication techniques, increasing the reliability of the sensors and actuators to equal that of integrated circuits Cost is predicted to be much lower than macrodevices

44. Current Challenges In most companies:- Limited options for prototyping/manufacturing devices- No capability/expertise in microfabrication technology - High cost for own fabrication facilities 

45. Outline What is Nanotechnology? What can Nanotechnology do for us now? What may Nanotechnology be able to do in the future? Should we go down this path?

46. Ethical Consideration

47. Nanoscale in Nature Nanoscale structures in nature: Diatoms (single cell algae) Diatoms have a silica (glass) structure cell wall.

48. Conclusions Nanotechnology can be fun (!) and useful (!?) If nanotechnology will fulfill the promise, there will be a lot of new gadgets and jobs, many of which are unheard of Like many things in science, one needs to watch for the drawbacks, but there is no reason to panic

50. References References:http://www.memsnet.org/mems/what-is.htmlhttp://www1.coe.neu.edu/~pmakaram/mems.htm http://www.mems-exchange.org http://mems.sandia.gov/scripts/images.asp

51. Sources