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1/1,000,000 Mm ). A possible way to interpret this size is to take the width of a hair, and imagine something ten thousand times smaller. The term has sometimes been applied to Microscopic technology. Nanotechnology is any technology which exploits phenomena and structures that can only occur at the nanometer scale, which is the scale of several atoms and small molecules. The --which can result in different electromagnetic and optical properties of a material between Nanoparticles and the bulk material; the Gibbs-Thomson Effect --which is the lowering of the melting point of a material when it is nanometers in size; and such structures as Carbon Nanotubes . Nanoscience and nanotechnology are an extension of the field of Materials Science , and materials science departments at universities around the world in conjunction with Physics , Mechanical Engineering , Bioengineering , and Chemical Engineering departments are leading the breakthroughs in nanotechnology. The related term ''nanotechnology'' is used to describe the Interdisciplinary fields of science devoted to the study of nanoscale phenomena employed in nanotechnology. Nanoscience is the world of atoms, molecules, Macromolecule s, Quantum Dot s, and macromolecular assemblies, and is dominated by surface effects such as Van Der Waals Force attraction, Hydrogen Bond ing, electronic charge, Ionic Bond ing, Covalent Bond ing, Hydrophobicity , Hydrophilicity , and Quantum Mechanical Tunneling , to the virtual exclusion of Macro-scale effects such as Turbulence and Inertia . For example, the vastly increased ratio of surface area to volume opens new possibilities in surface-based science, such as Catalysis . HISTORY OF USE The first mention of some of the distinguishing concepts in nanotechnology (but predating use of that name) was in " enhances it with Parallelism to produce a useful quantity of end products. The term "nanotechnology" was defined by ,'' (ISBN 0-471-57518-6), and so the term acquired its current sense. More broadly, nanotechnology includes the many techniques used to create structures at a size scale below 100 nm, including those used for fabrication of Nanowire s, those used in Semiconductor Fabrication such as deep ultraviolet Lithography , Electron Beam Lithography , focused Ion Beam machining, Nanoimprint Lithography , Atomic Layer Deposition, And Molecular Vapor Deposition , and further including Molecular Self-assembly techniques such as those employing di-block Copolymer s. It should be noted, however, that all of these techniques preceded the nanotech era, and are extensions in the development of scientific advancements rather than techniques which were devised with the sole purpose of creating nanotechnology or which were results of nanotechnology research. Technologies currently branded with the term 'nano' are little related to and fall far short of the most ambitious and transformative technological goals of the sort in who invests in 'nano' only to find typical Materials Science advances result might conclude that the whole idea is Hype , unable to appreciate the Bait-and-switch made possible by the vagueness of the term. On the other hand, some have argued that the publicity and competence in related areas generated by supporting such 'soft nano' projects is valuable, even if indirect, progress towards nanotechnology's most ambitious goals. POTENTIAL BENEFITS Nanotechnology covers a wide range of industries, and therefore the potential benefits are also widespread. Telecommunications and Information Technology could benefit in terms of faster computers and advanced data storage. Healthcare could see improvements in skin care and protection, advanced Pharmaceuticals , drug delivery systems, Biocompatible materials, Nerve and Tissue Repair , and Cancer treatments. Other industries benefits include Catalyst s, sensors and magnetic materials and devices {Link without Title} . Nanotechnology can also benefit materials and manufacturing (large scale structures), nanoelectronics and computer technology (miniaturization, speed, power consumption reduction, mass storage), medicine and health (in-vivo devices, drug delivery, rejection-resistant artificial tissues and organs), aeronautics and space exploration (low-power, radiation-tolerant, high performance computers), environment and energy (nanoparticle-reinforced polymeric material that can replace structural metallic components in the auto industry that could lead to reduction of 1.5 billion liters of gasoline consumption over the life of one year’s production of vehicles and reduce related carbon dioxide emissions annually by more than 5 billion kilograms), biotechnology and agriculture (molecular building blocks of life - proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates and their non-biological mimics, molecular-engineered biodegradable chemicals for nourishing the plants and protecting against insects; genetic improvement for animals and plants; delivery of genes and drugs to animals), national security (information dominance through advanced nanoelectronics, more sophisticated virtual reality systems, increased use of enhanced automation and robotics to offset reductions in military manpower, reduce risks to troops, improve vehicle performance resulting in longer missions, achievement of the higher performance (lighter weight, higher strength) needed in military platforms while simultaneously providing diminished failure rates and lower life-cycle costs, control of nuclear defense systems, printing and engraving of high quality, forgery-proof documents and currency). POTENTIAL RISKS For the near-term, critics of nanotechnology point to the potential toxicity of new classes of nanosubstances that could adversely affect the stability of Cell Membrane s or disturb the Immune System when inhaled, digested or absorbed through the skin. Objective risk assessment can profit from the bulk of experience with long-known microscopic materials like carbon soot or Asbestos fibres. Nanoparticles in the environment could potentially accumulate in the Food Chain . {Link without Title} An often cited worst-case Scenario is " Grey Goo ", a hypothetical substance into which the surface objects of the earth might be transformed by self-replicating Nanobots running amok.(Due to recent suggestions, this case has been proven as "impossible".) Societal risks from the use of nanotechnology have also been raised, such as hypothetical nanotech weapons (e.g. a nanomachine which consumed the rubber in tires would quickly disable many vehicles), and in the creation of undetectable surveillance capabilities. NEW MATERIALS, DEVICES, TECHNOLOGIES Manufacturing When the term "nanotechnology" was independently coined and popularized by Eric Drexler , who at the time was unaware of Taniguchi's usage, it referred to a future manufacturing technology based on molecular machine systems. The premise was that molecular-scale biological analogies of traditional machine components demonstrated that molecular machines were possible, and that a manufacturing technology based on the mechanical functionality of these components (such as gears, bearings, motors, and structural members) would enable programmable, positional assembly to atomic specification (see the original reference PNAS-1981 ). The physics and engineering performance of exemplar designs were analyzed in the textbook Nanosystems . Because the term "nanotechnology" was subsequently applied to other uses, new terms evolved to refer to this distinct usage: "molecular nanotechnology," "molecular manufacturing," and most recently, "productive nanosystems." One alternative view is that designs such as those proposed by Drexler and Merkle do not accurately account for the electrostatic interactions and will not operate according to the results of the analysis in Nanosystems . The contention is that man-made nanodevices will probably bear a much stronger resemblance to other (less mechanical) nanodevices found in nature: Cells , Viruses , and Prions . This idea is explored by Richard A. L. Jones in his book ''Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and Life'' (ISBN 0-19-852855-8). Another view, put forth by Carlo Montemagno , is that future nanosystems will be hybrids of silicon technology and biological molecular machines, and his group's research is directed toward this end. The seminal experiment proving that positional molecular assembly is possible was performed by Ho and Lee at Cornell University in 1999. They used a scanning tunneling microscope to move an individual carbon monoxide molecule (CO) to an individual iron atom (Fe) sitting on a flat silver crystal, and chemically bind the CO to the Fe by applying a voltage. Though biology clearly demonstrates that molecular machine systems are possible, non-biological molecular machines are today only in their infancy. Leaders in research on non-biological molecular machines are Dr. Alex Zettl and his groups at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and UC Berkeley. They have constructed at least three distinct molecular devices whose motion is controlled from the desktop with changing voltage: a rotating molecular motor , a molecular actuator , and a nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator . Manufacturing in the context of productive nanosystems is not related to, and should be clearly distinguished from, the conventional technologies used to manufacture nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles. Key Characteristics
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Problems ADVANCED NANOTECHNOLOGY Advanced nanotechnology, sometimes called ) In August 2005, a task force consisting of 50+ international experts from various fields was organized by the Center For Responsible Nanotechnology to study the societal implications of molecular nanotechnology {Link without Title} . Determining a set of pathways for the development of (the manager of several U.S. National Laboratories) and the Foresight Institute . That roadmap should be completed by early 2007 . INTERDISCIPLINARY ENSEMBLE A definitive feature of nanotechnology is that it constitutes an interdisciplinary ensemble of several fields of the natural sciences that are, in and of themselves, actually highly specialized. Thus, physics plays an important role—alone in the construction of the microscope used to investigate such phenomena but above all in the laws of Quantum Mechanics . SEE ALSO
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