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WEST
LAFAYETTE, Ind. –
Nanotechnology is an
emerging science in
which new materials and
tiny structures are
built atom-by-atom, or
molecule-by-molecule,
instead of the more
conventional approach of
sculpting parts from
pre-existing materials. Nano is
a prefix meaning
one-billionth, so a
nanometer is
one-billionth of a
meter.
“We
think of nanotechnology
as things that are on
the order of 100-150
nanometers or
smaller,” said George
Adams, a Purdue engineer
who headed the planning
committee for the new
nanotechnology center.
To put
that scale of
measurement into
perspective, a human red
blood cell is about
7,500 nanometers across,
and one nanometer is
roughly 10 atoms wide.
The letter “I”
printed here is about
one million nanometers
wide.
“Just
as antibiotics, the
silicon transistor and
plastics affected nearly
every aspect of society
in the 20th century,
nanotechnology is likely
to have profound
influences in the 21st
century,” Adams said.
The
possibilities include:
• The
creation of entirely new
materials with superior
strength, electrical
conductivity, resistance
to heat and other
properties.
•
Microscopic machines for
a variety of uses,
including probes that
could be injected into
the body for medical
diagnostics and repair.
• A
new class of
ultra-small,
super-powerful computers
and other electronic
devices, including
spacecraft.
• A
technology in which
biology and electronics
are merged, creating
“gene chips” that
instantly detect
food-borne
contamination, dangerous
substances in the blood
or chemical warfare
agents in the air.
•
Artificial organs.
• The
development of
“molecular
electronics” and
devices that “self
assemble,” similar to
the growth of complex
organic structures in
living organisms.
Theoretically, once set
in motion, such
self-assembling devices
would build themselves,
making electronics
processing far less
expensive than
conventional
semiconductor
processing.
Nanotechnology
requires specialized
laboratory facilities
for research and
development, said James
Cooper, a professor of
electrical and computer
engineering at Purdue
University.These
facilities include
state-of-the-art
“clean rooms,” or
labs in which the air is
constantly filtered to
remove minute dust
particles. Such labs
must be equipped with
high-tech instruments
like atomic-force
microscopes, which use a
tiny probe that can
actually touch and feel
individual atoms;
molecular beam epitaxy
equipment to build new
semiconductor crystals,
atom-by-atom, for
advanced computers and
electronics; and
chemical vapor
deposition machines,
which allow extremely
precise, layer-by-layer
construction of entirely
new materials that never
existed in nature.
Meanwhile,
factors such as
temperature, humidity
and vibration must be
scrupulously controlled.
Because the research is
conducted on such a
small scale, even the
slightest increase in
temperature, or the
smallest vibration,
might ruin an
experiment.
“When you are
manipulating atoms and
making things only a few
atoms across, you need
an extremely clean
environment,” Cooper
said. “The air has to
be filtered so that
there are very few
particulates in the air.
It’s much more clean
than a surgery room in a
hospital.”
Writer:
Emil Venere, (765)
494-4709, venere@purdue.edu
Sources:
George Adams, (765)
494-2698, gba@purdue.edu
James Cooper, (765)
494-3514, cooperj@ecn.purdue.edu
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