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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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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