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Nanotechnology
Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D.
Principal Fellow, Zyvex
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Eighth Foresight Conferenceon Molecular Nanotechnology
• November 3-5, 2000
• Bethesda, Maryland (near Washington D.C.)
• http://www.foresight.org/Conferences/
Overview
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Three historical trendsin manufacturing
• More diverse• More precise• Less expensive
Overview
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Where these trends are going: nanotechnology
• 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
Overview
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• Coal• Sand• Dirt, water & air
• Diamonds• Computer chips• Wood
Molecular arrangement matters
Overview
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http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html
There’s plenty of roomat 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
Overview
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The 1980’s and 1990’s
• 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
Overview
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National Nanotechnology Initiative
• 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
Overview
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President Clinton on the NNI
“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
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• “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
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What we can make today(not to scale)
Possible arrangements of
atoms
Overview
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The goal: a healthy bite.
Possible arrangements of
atoms
Overview
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Core nanotechnologycapabilities
Today
ProductsProducts
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Developmental pathwaysProducts
Approach
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• Positional assembly (so parts go where we want them to go)
• Self replication (for low cost)• Both concepts are applicable at many
different sizes
Approach
Two important ideas
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Positional assembly
• 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
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(Gimzewski et al.)
http://www.zurich.ibm.com/News/Molecule/
Approach
Scanning Probe Microscopes
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Approach
H. J. Lee and W. Ho, SCIENCE 286, p. 1719, NOVEMBER 1999
Manipulation and bond formation by STM
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http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html
Complexity ofself replicating systems (bits)
• Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140• Drexler’s assembler 100,000,000• Human 6,400,000,000
Approach
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http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html
Self replicating does not imply living
Approach
• Life is a “proof of concept”• Birds fly, airplanes fly; they aren’t the
same• Broadcast architecture
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http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/gearAndCasing.html
Proposal for a molecular planetary gear
The Vision
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Proposal for amolecular robotic arm
The Vision
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http://www.foresight.org/UTF/Unbound_LBW/chapt_6.html
Drexler’s proposalfor an assembler
The Vision
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The Vision
Assembler
Mitochondrion~1-2 by 0.1-0.5 microns
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“Typical” cell: ~20 microns
Mitochondrion
The Vision
Assembler
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• Nanotechnology is a manufacturing technology
• The impact depends on the product being manufactured
The impact of nanotechnology
The Vision
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• 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
Powerful Computers
The Vision
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• 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, ...
Lighter, stronger, smarter,less expensive
The Vision
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“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
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• 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
Gray goo, gray dust, …
The Vision
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• 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
The Vision
Nanomedicine
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine
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• Eliminate cancer cells, bacteria• Remove circulatory obstructions
• Provide oxygen, remove CO2 (artificial red blood cells)
The Vision
Molecular medical tools could
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine
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The VisionArtificial red blood cellshold your breath for hours
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Respirocytes.html
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Restoring the environment with nanotechnology
• Low cost solar power• Low cost greenhouse agriculture • Pollution free manufacturing
The Vision
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“Nanotechnology offers ... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings.”
K. Eric Drexler
Summary