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NANOTECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT:

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. As the name suggests, Nanotechnology symbolises a

technology in which the elemental entity is of the order of nano scale i.e. 10A-9 meters. The
central thesis of nanotechnology is that almost any chemically stable structure that is not
specifically disallowed by the laws of physics can in fact be built. It would be interesting to
know that one of the driving factors of this technology has been device scaling i.e. making things
on a smaller scale so that they are more efficient, cheaper and consume less power. But an even
more important driving force has been to acquire 'precision' i.e. schematics will be detailed and
there would be no unnecessary parts anywhere in the design. Precise atomic level fabrication
has previously only been seen in the growth of crystals or in biological molecular machinery,
like the ribosome, which assembles all proteins in living creatures or DNA, which carries the
instruction for creating a living being. If we incorporate similar processes during our
development of nanotechnology, we will begin to gain a degree of complexity and control over
systems that previously only nature and evolution have had.

The following paper cites the need for nanotechnology today and how the so-called
nanoproducts built under this technology are synthesized, i.e. their basic modes of synthesis and
processes under each approach. The paper also attempts to throw a light on the various
nanostructures that are being synthesized and how these structures are being implemented in
medical and electronics applications. Nanotechnology has opened new doors in the field of
medicine and electronics and this paper attempts to highlight those developments.

Finally the paper talks about the pros and cons of this technology and it's future, i.e. where we
are heading towards and the potential areas of development in nanotechnology.
9>0 TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION:

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. As the name suggests, nanotechnology symbolises a

technology in which the elemental entity is of the order of nano scale i.e. 10*-° meters. The
central thesis of nanotechnology is that almost any chemically stable structure that is not
specifically disallowed by the laws of physics can in fact be built. Theoretical and computational
models indicate that molecular manufacturing systems are possible-that they do not violate
existing physical law. Molecular nanotechnology will be achieved when we are able to build
things from the atom up and we will be able to rearrange matter with atomic precision. Today
scientists are devising numerous tools and techniques that would be needed to transform
nanotechnology from computer models into reality.

WHY DO WE NEED NANOTECHNOLOGY?

One of the key trends that is driving the entire silicon revolution is making things smaller or in
engineer speak-device scaling. In the early days of transistor, it was observed that when a device
was made smaller, it's performance improved in terms of speed, power consumption, efficiency
and price. Therefore, once we are working on atomic scale, we can create machines that will go
places about which we could once only dream. More information will be packed into smaller and
smaller spaces and we will be able to do much more with much less. But device-scaling is not
the only driving force behind nanotechnology, instead one of the more important motivators is
'precision'. In this application, precision means that there is space for every atom and every atom
is in it's pllsce Le. schematics will be detailed and there would be no unnecessary parts anywhere
in the design. With this precision, we should be able to recycle all of the waste products produced
by the manufacturing processes and put them into good use elsewhere. On the contrary, all our
technologies today are bulk technologies. We take a lump of something and add or remove pieces
until we are left with whatever object we are trying to create. We assemble our objects from parts
without regard to structure at molecular level, precise atomic level fabrication has previously only
been seen in the growth of crystals or in biological molecular machinery, like the ribosome, which
assembles all proteins in living creatures or DNA ,which carries the instruction for creating a
living being. If we incorporate similar processes during our development of nanotechnology, we
will begin to gain a degree of complexity and control over systems that previously only nature and
evolution have had.

SYNTHESIS :

As in nanotechnology, building such small things from scratch requires extremely sensitive
equipment and many dangerous chemicals. Considering the many challenges in laboratory
environments, sample sensitivity and so on, the current synthesis of nanostructured materials is a
time consuming task with extremely low yields.

There are two broad methods of synthesising nanostructured materials-

• Top-down
• Bottom-up
Top-down is an already established method whereby we start with a larger material and slowly
process it by removing matter and leaving behind nanoscale features. On the other hand it was only
with nanotechnology that the whole concept of bottom-up approach was even possible.

♦ TOP-DOWN :
This method says that we begin with a bulk material and slowly remove bits of it to form things
that we ultimately desire. One of the methods under this paradigm is lithography . It is the only
process that can mass produce microchips and other complex semiconductor devices.

Lithography :

The technique of lithography is all about patterning a substrate (wafer) with a desired layout. To
begin with, we coat the substrate with photoresist. Next, the substrate is carefully aligned with it's
mask which holds the key to patterning process. By selectively allowing the light to pass through,
only certain layers are exposed. The light will either breakdown the layer of photoresist or harden
it. Any photoresist that remains will act as a barrier for any subsequent process like epitaxy,
doping or etching.Other portions that are weakened can be removed with acid or volatile
substances. It is with these layers of photoresist layering, masking, exposure, photoresist removal
and semiconductor processing that makes up the whole semiconductor fabrication process.

Lithography with respect to nanotechnology is very useful in the sense that it can be used to grow
nanostructures like nanowires and quantum dots only in the selected areas. It can also be used for
a number of other structures. The fundamental restriction on the light that is used to pass through
the mask is the 'Diffraction limit of light'. Using extreme UV rays, it is possible to have feature
sizes of the order 90nm.While it is possible to create lithographic nanomachines that can go
smaller, prohibitive costs are retarding the growth. Nanotechnology is therefore the only way that
future miniaturization of electronics can proceed further beyond fundamental limits of lithography.

♦ BOTTOM-UP:
Instead of starting with large materials and clipping away to reveal small materials, the bottom-
up approach starts with atoms and molecules and creates larger nanostructures. Two of the most
important techniques in this approach are-

S Electroplating
S Chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Electroplating :

This technique has been used to create nanostructures. An applied electric field draws precursor
ions towards the substrate's surface. Once the ion reaches the surface, it chemically bonds with
certain bonding sites and stays there. This technique is used to create mono layers and thin films
to substrates that are conductive. One of the most common uses of electroplating comes in the
form of nanocrystalline metals. In a solid-state, many identical crystals lie side-by-side in
random orientations. These patches are called grains. We know by Hall-petch relationship that
metal's hardness varies inversely with the root of it's grain's diameter. With electroplating, this
minimization of growth can be achieved by pulse plating and dopants. Dopants are
contaminating atoms that can be added through a variety of processes. Pulse plating is the one in
which electrode deposition happens only in short bursts by pulsing the electric field. The
combination of the above two has yielded many nanocrystalline metals. Chemical vapour
deposition :
The basic operation of this method involves a gaseous precursor material that enters a sealed
chamber. By maintaining a cooler temperature at the other end, the gas will move in that
direction. Once there, it wifl chemically bond into an inert substrate and form a thin film.

In most cases, the target substrate need only be coated with a catalytic layer before it is placed in
the chamber. The catalyst will then melt and form clusters on the surface of the substrate. It is
from these clusters that important structures like wires, tubes etc. can be created on a nanoscale.
Other methods like molecular beam epitaxy are also used to manufacture crystalline
nanostructures.

STRUCTURES:
Nanotechnology has yielded a number of unique structures that are not found anywhere in
nature. These structures are very important to nanotech research. Buckvballs :

It is officially called buckminsterrullerene. A buckyball is an entire class of spheres made

entirely from carbon. It's basic planar treatment is like a sheet of graphite. Buckyballs are not
very reactive, therefore they are highly stable. They are also insoluble in most solvents. For these
two reasons they have become the center of attention in the bio-nanotech research front. Since
they are hollow, they could be a potentially hardy delivery method for drugs inside the body.

Quantum dots:
Quantum dots reign as the most functional and reproducible nanostructures available to
researchers. It's structure is much like a small dot. They are important because they confine
electrons in 3 directions. This means that electrons within a dot cannot move freely in any
direction. The only thing that behaves like this is an atom. But a quantum dot is 10 times bigger
than an atom. This has lot of scientific importance because of the following reasons--> They
exhibit quantized energy levels like an atom.
For a given input energy, a quantum dot will emit specific spectra of light. With decreasing
diameters of quantum dots, there will be a corresponding increase in the energy of emitted light.
This element of control has huge implications for both lasers and medical tags. Quantum dots are
already in practice a tags can be inserted into patients. They can help pinpoint biological
processes as they occur. They can be manufactured by both top-down and bottom-up approach.

Nanopores :
A nanoporous material has many deep pores with diameters in the nanoscale. They can be
manufactured by both top-down and bottom-up approach of synthesis. They act as ideal storage
sources for fuels and batteries. In medical sciences, a single nanopore could be tuned to the
diameter of a DNA strand. This would act as a filter for DNA and would also allow researchers
to analyse the entire length of DNA strand in a sequence. A more advanced application would be
an oxygen-nitrogen separator, but the amount of precision required is so high since the difference
between the diameters of oxygen and nitrogen is only 0.2 angstroms. Similarly nanorubes and
nanowires which are primarily built using the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process can be
used to build p-n junctions, logic gates and host of other applications as discussed below.

APPLICATIONS OF NANQTECHNOLOGY :
Medical applications:
One of the most important fields where nanotechnology has a great potential is medicine. All
biological processes happen at cellular or molecular level and this is roughly the same as
nanotechnology. Some of the important medical applications are: Protein engineering:

There exists many forms of molecular machinery in the body from ion pumps to power plants.
They operate on chemical properties built on protein backbones. We therefore should be able to
copy the machinery and create our own molecular machines for a variety of interesting nanotech
applications. This would require us to accurately engineer protein to fold in proper sequence. But
it is a very complex subject to treat and requires many self-consistent applications which could
lead nowhere despite days of computation time. Our first need is to understand how material
proteins fold. If this is done, it will open up the path to molecular machines. Biomaterials:

The main goals of biotech as we know them are replication of bones, tissues and organs. In the
field of tissue engineering, nanotech can improve the efficiency of skin production and
regeneration. Another prospect is cell engineering. An average cell is in micrometer regime. If
we could tailor individual cells with a network of'scaffolds' on the nanometer scale on it's
exterior, we may be able to significantly enhance tissue properties.

Implants are also an important application. It is hoped that nanotech could further reduce the size
and cumbersome nature of today's modem hearing implants. Bone engineering is one field where
it is hoped that the complex structure of bone and tooth can be replicated with some substitute
that nanotechnology may perhaps facilitate. Drug delivery :

Currently benzene rings are being used for drug delivery within the body. But nanotech has
facilitated buckyballs (C60) structures for the same which offer great stability and non-toxic
results unlike the benzene rings which are both unstable and toxic at certain dosages. In order for
target drug delivery to work, 2 conditions must be met-the carrier must have internal space that
can carry the drug and it must have attachment points tailored for it's target location.
Buckyballs hold all advantages, also, it offers 60 attachment points unlike the 6 in the benzene
ring. Electronics applications :
The most pressing need for miniaturization on the nanoscale is in the field of electronics. At the
most basic level, nanoelectronics should theoretically less power,, generate less heat and work
more efficiently than it's arger counterparts in the micro realm. A number of exciting
nanoelectronics demonstrations have already been published. Lasers, molecular switches, p-n
junctions, logic gates and early forms of memory have all been made in the lab. Nanotechnology
in sports : (CURRENT AFFAIRS)
Nanotechnology is finding its way into sports as well. A company called NanoDynamics has
come up with a golf ball that can correct its own flight path so it flies straighter than
conventional balls.

Another company called Easton Sports is developing bike components made from carbon
nanotubes that would be stronger and lighter than conventional parts. Some companies had
developed nano tennis balls that don't lose air and golf shafts constructed with nanomaterials.
Pennsylvanis's Nano-Horizons has developed socks containing silver and gold nanoparticles that
kill foot odour and bacteria.

WHERE ARE WE IN NANOTECHNOLOGY TODAY?

Today, scientists are interested in building molecular machines which require a proper
understanding of natural protein functionality. Proteins are molecular objects which fold and then
go together to form more complex objects.
A very powerful principle in developing nanotechnology is the principle that if complex
molecules are made with complementary surfaces, they will self-assemble to make complex
structures. But along the path, several improvements need to be made in design technology.
Molecular machines can, by holding reactive molecules at particular positions and orientations,
perform chemical operations to build complex structures in specific ways. Also one can extend
the scanning tunneling microscope or it's relative, the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), for
molecular manipulation. The STM is a device that can position a tip to atomic precision near a
surface and can move it around." But the STM is not something at this time that can build
nanomechanisms.