Technical Paper Presentation

ON

BY

K.YAMINI,

ECE DEPARTMENT, VIGNANS NIRULA, PEDAPALAKALURU.

repair devices become available, the fatal ABSTRACT A patients heart stops beating, but before the structure of his brain starts to degenerate, the patient is attached to a heart-lung stabilizers machine which and makes progressively his body makes This sounds like a description from a fiction novel. But the technology that this fiction a fact is Nanotechnology. infused with anti-freeze and other cellular temperature to lower to liquid nitrogen temperatures At this point, all molecular changes stops indefinitely and he is put in storage. Later, when nanotechnology cell disease that caused death is reversed, the antifreeze toxicity is removed and the patient is warmed back up alive and well.

Fifty years from now, what causes death will be preventable? That depends largely on the technology we will have available. Medical devices such as artificial hearts and insulin pumps will be implantable and well integrated with the bodys natural what demands. today is Surgical major instruments will be more delicate and less destructive; surgery will be done with an office visit. Computers will be millions of times faster than todays machines. Last but not least, we will probably have the ability to build strong, useful, complex machines out of individual atoms and molecules. This is called Nanotechnology and it will make us healthier in several important ways.

This paper discusses the evolution of this technology and about the emerging trends in this Nanotechnology such as Nanomedicine, Nanorobotics, Nanooptics etc.,

Nanotechnology is all set to prove that there are no limits for technological developments and is going to make our life easier than before. In the last 15 years, over a dozen of Nobel Prizes have been awarded in INTRODUCTION NANOTECHNOLOGY The dreams beyond human imagination have almost become a reality and nothing is impracticable age. We are at the threshold of next generation Nanotech age where smaller and smarter things will play a big role. The dream of a near perfect future will come true with these smart materials. Though Nanotechnology is at its infant stage, the lead-time for it to mature TO nanotechnology. Fortune companies like IBM, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi have launched significant nanotech initiatives through their own venture capital funds; one third of their R&D expenditure is spent on Nanotechnology.

into technology can be expected in the next 10-15 years. With miniature components and unlimited technological possibilities, it is sure to outshine the impacts Technology. made by Information

precise. Each element would be smart enough to repair & replicate itself as and when required. All this would be possible by manipulating matter at the molecular scale. WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?

Nanotechnology application Electronics, in

will

find

its

The prefix nano is thought to be derived from the Greek noun for dwarf. It One Millimeter is1/1000 actually means one billionth. of a Meter One Micrometer is1/1,000,000 of a Meter One Nanometer is 1/1,000,000,000 of a Meter

Energy,

Medicine, Security,

Computing,

Material Sciences etc.,

Nanometer is by definition 10-9 of a metre. It may seem difficult to imagine but the relative size is 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Hydrogen and Carbon atoms appear as large as baseballs in the nanoscale.

HISTORY OF NANOTECHNOLOGY Building things atom by atom, molecule manufacturing by molecule approach in is which Nanotechnology. It is a bottom-up For example, atoms in sand can be rearranged to make computer ships. The possible applications are really endless. They are restricted only by the imagination of the one developing them. Besides promising a better machines and mechanisms are built with nanoscale dimensions using Molecular assemblers. So Nanotechnology of roughly is the 1-100

understanding and control of matter at dimensionally nanometers, where phenomena enable

lifestyle, it makes most products lighter, stronger, cleaner, cheaper and more

novel applications. Such phenomena include Quantum Confinement---which can result in different electromagnetic and optical properties of a material between nanoparticles and bulk materials. The Gibbs-Thomson effect--- which is the lowering of the melting point of a material when it is nanometers in size. Thus Nanotechnology is a hybrid science combining Engineering, Information, Chemistry and Biology.

individual atoms and moving them from place to place. MOLECULAR MANUFACTURING Originally, Nanotechnology is

termed molecular manufacturing. The idea of nano technology is therefore to master over the characteristics of matter in an intelligent manner to develop highly efficient systems. It is a challenge for scientists to understand the size, shape, strength and other properties while

For the first time in the history of Nobel Prizes, in 1959 Richard.P.Feynman of the Southern California was awarded the Noble Prize for his work in Nanotechnology. But people at that time were pessimistic about his theory of manipulating atoms. People often muddle up Nanotechnology with Science Fiction. It often comes as a surprise to learn that the Romans & Chinese were using nanoparticles thousands of years ago. Of course, people were not aware that they were using nanotechnology and as they had no control over particle size, or even any knowledge of the nano scale.

designing nano machines. Nano technology fundamental understanding of how nature works at the atomic scale. New industries will be generated as a result of this understanding, just as the understanding of how electrons can be moved in a conductor by applying a potential difference led to electric lighting, the telephone, computing, the internet and many other industries, all of which would not have been possible without it. Common misconception is that is a

The icons of this revolution are Scanning Tunneling Microscopes [STM] and Atomic Force Microscope [AFM] that are capable of creating pictures of

nano technology is primarily concerned with making the things smaller. Merely making things smaller will not achieve us. Nano technology is all about building devices from the bottom. Only the

strongest, the hardest, the highest melting point metals are worth considering as parts of nano machines. Atoms and molecules stick

The

applications

of

nano

technology are near limitless, but the main focus seems to be on its use in medical applications and the application of nanotechnology to medicine gave rise to a new field of science is called Nanomedicine. NANOMEDICINE It subsumes three mutually overlapping and progressively more powerful technologies molecular

together because of their complementary shapes. Just like magnets, a positively charged atom will stick to a negatively charged atom. As millions of these atoms are pieced together by nano-machines, a specific product will begin to take the shape we want. Building from atoms and molecules would require less material and create less pollution. Most of the products are made of trillions and trillions of atoms. One nano assembler working atom by atom would be rather slow. An assembler robot arm is hence designed to make copies of it and those copies are capable of making further copies. Using small amounts of resources and energy will make molecular manufacturing cheaper. Its initial outlay, space requirements and labour will also add little costs. Molecular manufacturing is resource efficient as well because the products contain less material then the conventional products. NANO TECHNOLOHY IN HUMAN HEALTH

First, fabricated

nanoscale-structured today hold great

materials and devices that can be promise for advanced diagnostics and bio-sensors, targeted drug delivery and smart drugs and immunization, therapies. Secondly, biotechnology offers the benefits of molecular

medicine proteomics

via and

genomics, artificial

other molecules around it powers it.

engineered microbes. Thirdly, in the longer term, molecular machine systems and medical nanorobots will allow instant pathogen diagnosis and extermination, chromosome replacement and individual cell surgery in vivo, and the efficient augmentation and improvement of natural physiological function. NANOROBOTICS The goal of nanotechnology is to build nanomachines. Right now molecular machines are working in our body. A protein in the human body behaves like a nanomachine that Shrinking machines down to the size where they can be inserted into the human body in order to detect and repair the diseased cells is a popular idea of the benefits of nanotechnology. Diseases are caused by damages at the molecular and cellular level. A patient affected by cancer can survive up to 5 years on Chemotherapy treatment. A nano-robot with sensors can be programmed to detect and kill the cancer cells in our body. A Nanorobot is basically a robot with parts of atomic scale and precision. A typical nanorobot, smaller than a cell, may contain billions of atoms. But manipulates individual atoms routinely and they have their own physical structure and functionality. The heat of

nanorobots need not be small. Sometimes it is useful to fit a lot of functionality into a single device. Some nanorobots may have structural applications, such as reinforcing bone or replacing musclesuch devices could be quite large. Nanorobots are programmed to attack the desired targets and reconstruct the molecular structure and to perform delicate surgeries. Nano-Surgeons could work at level of thousand times more precise than the present day surgeons. By working on such a small scale, surgeries could be performed seamlessly without leaving scars that conventional surgery does. The next generation is thus promised of painless surgeries. Nanorobots could also be programmed to perform cosmetic surgery. By rearranging atoms, our physical appearance could be modified. The important point about a nano robot is that it can make efficient use of space, with functionality as densely packed as bacterium. Nano robots are often referred to as Cell Sentinels, which could make our body immune to any present or future infectious diseases. No more AIDS! Disease free world would then become a reality. NANOTECHNOLOGY ELECTRONICS While it might appear that electronics will be required for the computational element in the assembler, molecular mechanical logic elements will be sufficient. Drexels analysis of a specific molecular mechanical logic element and further analysis of system design issues also makes it clear that molecular mechanical computation is sufficient for the molecular computer required in an assembler. However electronic designs will prove superior to molecular mechanical designs, particularly when device parameters such as size and energy dissipation are considered. Nanocomputers will be more powerful than todays supercomputer. NANOCOMPUTER The dwindling size of circuits in electronics chips drives on much interest in nanotechnology. Hardware Engineers are confident that the basic components would shrink making the nanocomputer more powerful than todays Supercomputer IN

can be used as miniscule wire in ultra small electronic devices. The properties of a nanotube can be improved by changing its shape. Nanotubes promise to meet the 10,000-hour lifetime capacity of electronic components. Researchers at Infineon

Technologies have made the worlds smallest nanotube transistor. With a channel length of 18nm, the new transistor is only one-fourth the size of Nanocomputer is a the advanced transistors presently available. It can deliver currents in excess of 15A at a supply voltage of 0.4V as against the current norm of 0.7V. The memory first major using an commercial array of

supercomputer smaller than a human cell whose fundamental components measure less than 100nm. Nanocomoputers can store trillions of bytes of information in a structure of the size of a sugar cube. When electrical devices are scaled down to the dimensions of molecules, their behavior differs radically from their large counterparts. Silicon transistors will be phased out in the next 10 years and they will be replaced than the by Carbon nanotubes. silicon Nanotube transistors can be made smaller smallest possible transistor. Carbon nanotubes are tiny cylindrical structures made of carbon atoms. Nanotubes conduct electricity better than copper. They can do faster data transfer, supercomputing with larger storage capacity. Nanotubes consist of rolled up sheets of carbon hexagons that

application will likely be in computer chips miniaturized cantilevered arms to read the surface of a memory for 1s and 0s. 0s and 1s make up the digital information. Nonscientists claim that computer storage densities can be in the order of lerabits or even petabits. IBM and Silicon Valley have to rollout nanotech memory chips now. The application will eventually provide much increased storage capacity, for example, thousands of ultra high-quality movies on a single DVD. Matter could be considered in such a way that an entire

encyclopedia can be stored in our wristwatch. IBM has already developed a Millipede chip of the size of a postage stamp that could store up to 25 million textbooks of information. More than 3 billion bits of data can be in the space occupied by just one hole in a standard punch card. Millipede chips are 20 times more densely packed than current hard drives. IBM claims that with such a technology, cell phones would be able to carry around 10GB of data. WEAPONIZATION NANOTECHNOLOGY Nanotechnology also forms a potential application. While advanced nanomaterials applications novel for obviously improving and have existing molecular for While conceivably we could OF

weapons and military hardware through properties computer electronics could be used to build ruggedized systems missiles, there is no obvious way for nanotechnology in any of its practical forms nowadays and into the foreseeable future to be weaponized beyond what is already possible with other technologies such as genetic engineering.

design nanomachines, which attacked biological systems or the components of vehicles, such designs are afar concept. In terms of efficacy, they might be compared to weapon concepts such as genetically engineered bacteria or viruses, which are similar in intended and practical function and still generally are unattractive tactical weapons, through their terrorism applications are clear. Example: A sample of smart dust could be air flown into the enemy country to report

Stealth activities. NANO OPTICS Nanostructures also allow scientists to manipulate light in ways not previously possible. Based on nanofabricating several 100 nanometer-sized bars into regular structures, photonic lattices allow the steering of light beams around corners, and reflect them with near 100% efficiency.

generation of nanocomponents that may herald in an age of optical computing. Already, structuring semiconductors at the nanoscale led to the development of the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser -- or VCSEL -- the most efficient, low-power light source available and fast becoming a key 21st Century technology for communications. OTHER POTENTIAL NANOTECH APPLICATIONS With nanotechnology, even the finest textile fibers could have sensors, computers and motors embedded in the fabric. The fabric sensors ensure that garments resist fading or wrinkle and also monitor the body odour. Clothing would be smart enough to change according to ambient temperature. It will keep us warm in winter and cool in summer. Garments will clean and mend themselves. Dresses will grow or shrink so as to fit to our body size. Nanotechnology is finding its way into the sports as well. A company called NanoDynamics has come up with a golf ball that can correct its own flight path and it flies straighter balls. The than ball conventional

This capability represents the new

would not shift 45 degrees in the mid air.

It could be used to create highly undetectable surveillance or concealable devices-molecular

ozone layer. Relying on non-renewable resources would diminish. Cutting down trees, mining coal or drilling for oil may no longer be necessary. Resources could simply be constructed by nano-machines. FUTURE WONDERS DUE TO

sized microphones, cameras and homing beacons are well within the realms of possibility.

NANOTECHNOLOGY Imagine our body and bones woven with invisible diamond fabric. Then we can fall out from a tall building and walk away without mild injuries. Nanorobotic blood cells can be pressurized to 1000 atmospheres of pure carry oxygen. oxygen We more could have nanorobotic blood cells that would efficiently, allowing us to hold our breath for hours. In the event of a fire or chemical spill, these nanorobotic blood cells could sense oxygen levels in the blood and provide respiration for hours. With Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, all air Nanotechnology ensures clean bags in cars are controlled by accelerometers thus ensuring total safety. The accelerometer can provide better stability while driving a car around a bend or mountain terrain etc., In a few decades from now, our car will know the easiest route to our home. The computer system will calculate the instantaneous speed and

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WITH NANO PARTICLES Environment should be protected but not at the cost of technological advantages. Technological developments at the cost of environment should not be encouraged. Nanotechnology contributes significantly to the environment through pollution prevention and low emission levels. But there are adverse effects due to fine dust nanoparticles suspended in air. Fine nano-particles are capable of generating devastating explosions, emissions into air, toxicity and health related problems.

and green environment through removal of the finest contaminants from air, water and soil, waste reduction and eco friendly manufacturing processes. Nano technology can create filtration systems that will curb the toxins from the air or hazardous germs from the water we drink. Airborne nano-robots could be programmed to rebuild the thinning

history of every vehicle between our car and the destination. The car could be set to an auto mode allowing us to read our favorite novel. On the auto mode, the car would be smart enough to avoid any collision with other vehicles and take safety measures if we happen to doze off. CONCLUSION To conclude, INFO+BIO+NANO Technologies would rule the world in the next 10 years. During the past few years, this has led to an increase in the amount of study and research into the properties of materials. The industrial applications of this new science are far reaching. Industry is trying to harness the results of research to produce these smart products. The big challenge before nanoscientists is to integrate this new technology into industrial reality in the not so distant future. Nanotechnology has the potential to change our economy, health, standard of living, knowledge and above all the world we live in. But we have miles to go to exploit its exciting applications. As technology progresses, we must not forget that good things often come with potential dangers. REFERENCES Electronics for You magazine April 2003, August2004, January2005 issues.

THE

HINDU

daily

dated

01.011.2004 and 26.05.2005. http://www.xenophilia.org http://www.nanomedicine.com http://www.zyvex.com/publicatio ns/articles/Microbivores.html