NANOTECHNOLOGY IN PHYSICS WORLD: AN OVERVIEW Dr. Amba Prasad
Assistant Professor – Physics, RLS, Rajkiya Mahila College, Pilibhit, UP, India
Abstract- The manipulation of materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (such as robots) Placing atoms as though they were bricks, nanotechnology will give us complete control over the structure of matter, allowing us to build any substance or structure permitted by the laws of nature. Nanotechnology is helping to considerably improve, even revolutionize, many technology and industry sectors:
information technology, homeland security, medicine, transportation, energy, food safety, and environmental science, among many others. With the help of this paper I try to define fundamental concepts of Nanoscience and nanotechnology, application of nanotechnology, majour branches of nanotechnology, and nanotechnology in physics world, etc…
Keyword: Nanoscience, Nanoelectronic, and Nanomaterials, etc….
1. INTRODUCTION
Research on the nano scale has been an
active part of
physics/chemistry/materials science (take your pick) for more than three decades now. That's ample time for the fruits of this research to start appearing in our daily lives, and indeed, many innovations have already made that transition. But other potential products seem to get stalled in a sort of grey, pre- dawn twilight. This collection explores some of the challenges and opportunities associated with turning advances in nanotechnology into commercial products.
Nanotechnology (or "nanotech") is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supra molecular scale for industrial purposes. ... It is therefore common to see the plural form
"nanotechnologies" as well as "nano scale technologies" to refer to the broad range of research and applications whose common trait is size.
Nanotechnology is the science of management and manipulation of atoms and molecules to design a new technology.
Nanotechnology is the supra molecular technology, which means, it is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular or supra molecular scale.
Interestingly, one nanometer (nm) is equal to one billionth, or 10−9, of a meter.
The concept and idea of nanotechnology original discussed first time in 1959 by Richard Feynman, the renowned physicist.
Richard Feynman in his talk
―There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom,‖ described the feasibility of synthesis via direct manipulation of atoms.
However, in 1974, the term
"Nano-technology" was first used by Norio Taniguchi.
Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering.
1.1. How it started
The ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and nanotechnology started with a talk entitled ―There‘s Plenty of Room at the Bottom‖ by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) on December 29, 1959, long before the term nanotechnology was used. In his talk, Feynman described a process in which
scientists would be able to manipulate and control individual atoms and molecules. Over a decade later, in his explorations of ultra precision machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi coined the term nanotechnology. It wasn't until 1981, with the development of the scanning tunneling microscope that could "see"
individual atoms, that modern nanotechnology began.
2. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN
NANOSCIENCE AND
NANOTECHNOLOGY
It‘s hard to imagine just how small nanotechnology is. One nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or 10-9 of a meter.
Here are a few illustrative examples:
There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch
A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick
On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then one meter would be the size of the Earth
Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules.
Everything on Earth is made up of atoms—the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings and houses we live in, and our own bodies. But something as small as an atom is impossible to see with the naked eye. In fact, it‘s impossible to see with the microscopes typically used in a high school science classes. The microscopes needed to see things at the nanoscale were invented relatively recently—about 30 years ago.
Once scientists had the right tools, such as the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM), the age of nanotechnology was born. Although modern nanoscience and nanotechnology are quite new, nanoscale materials were used for centuries.
Alternate-sized gold and silver particles created colors in the stained glass windows of medieval churches hundreds of years ago. The artists back then just didn‘t know that the process they used to create these beautiful works of art actually led to changes in the composition of the materials they were working with.
Today's scientists and engineers are finding a wide variety of ways to deliberately make materials at the
nanoscale to take advantage of their enhanced properties such as higher strength, lighter weight, increased control of light spectrum, and greater chemical reactivity than their larger-scale counterparts.
3. MAJOR FIELDS OF RESEARCH Following are the major fields in which nanotechnology is being researched −
Advance computing − Developing super computer
Electronics − developing conductors and semi- conductors
Medicines − Developing technology to treat cancer (especially breast cancer)
Textile Engineering − Nanofabrication, etc.
4. APPLICATION OF
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Following are the major application of nanotechnology −
Manufacturing of lifesaving medical robots
Making available the networked computers for everyone in the world
Plant networked cameras to watch everyone‘s movement (very helpful for the administrative service and maintaining the law and order.
Manufacturing untraceable weapons of mass destruction.
Swift inventions of many wonderful products useful in everyday life.
Likewise, the molecular technology has range of potentials that benefit to humankind; however, at the same time, it also brings severe dangers. Untraceable weapon of mass destruction is an ideal example of its deadliness.
4.1. Major Branches of Nanotechnology Following are the major branches of nanotechnology −
Nanoelectronics
Nanomechanics
Nanophotonics
Nanoionics
4.2. Contributory Disciplines of Nanotechnology
Following are the major disciplines that integrated into the development of science of nanotechnology −
Surface science
Organic chemistry
Molecular biology
Semiconductor physics
Microfabrication
Molecular engineering 4.3. Implication of Nanotechnology
Every coin has two faces, similarly, the application of nanotechnology at industrial scale i.e. manufacturing nanomaterials might have negative implications on human health as well as on the environment.
The workers who especially work in such industry where non materials are used, are more vulnerable, as they inhale airborne nanoparticles and nanofibers. These Nano materials may lead to a number of pulmonary diseases, including fibrosis, etc.
5. NANOTECHNOLOGY IN PHYSICS WORLD
Research on the nanoscale has been an
active part of
physics/chemistry/materials science (take your pick) for more than three decades now. That's ample time for the fruits of this research to start appearing in our daily lives, and indeed, many innovations have already made that transition. But other potential products seem to get stalled in a sort of grey, pre- dawn twilight. This collection explores some of the challenges and opportunities associated with turning advances in nanotechnology into commercial products.
5.1. Length Scales for Nanomaterials (Metrology)
The prefix of nanoscience and nanotechnology derives from the unit of length, the nanometer, and in their broadest definitions these terms refer to the science and technology that derives from being able to assemble, manipulate, observe and control matter on length scales from one nanometre up to 100 nanometres or so. One nanometer is a billionth of a metre or one thousandth of a micrometre, sometimes called a micron, which in turn is one thousandth of a millimetre. It is abbreviated to 1 nm.
These numbers can be put into context by observing that a medium-size atom has a size of a fraction of a nm, a small molecule is perhaps 1 nm, and a biological macromolecule such as a protein is about 10 nm. A bacterial cell might be up to a few thousand nanometers in size. The smallest line width in a modern integrated circuit, such as would be found in a fast home computer, is a few hundred nm.
The Difference Between Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
What is Special about Nanoscience?
The laws of physics operate in unfamiliar ways on these length scales, and this is important to appreciate for two reasons.
The peculiarities in behaviour imposed by the nanoscale impose strong constraints on what is possible to design and make on this scale. But the very different behaviour of matter on the nanoscale also offers opportunities for structures and devices that operate on radically different principles from those that underlie the operation of familiar macroscopic objects and devices. For example, the importance of quantum effects could lead to highly novel computer architectures - quantum computing - while the importance of Brownian motion and surface forces leads to an entirely different principle for constructing structures and devices - self- assembly.
5.2. Differences in the Way Physics Operates at the Nanoscale
Key differences in the way physics operates at the nanoscale include:
5.2.1. Quantum Physics
On small length scales matter behaves in a way that respects the laws of quantum
mechanics, rather than the familiar Newtonian mechanics that operates in the macroscopic world. These effects are particularly important for electrons. One example arises from Heisenberg‘s uncertainty principle, which states that we cannot know accurately and simultaneously the position and momentum of a particle. If we confine an electron by reducing the dimensions of a metal or semiconductor particle, then its energy has to increase, in effect to compensate for its spatial localisation.
This means that confinement can be used to modify the energy levels of electrons in semiconductors, to create novel materials whose optoelectronic properties can be designed to order.
5.2.2 Brownian Motion
Submicron particles and structures immersed in water are subject to continuous bombardment from the molecules around them, causing them to move about and internally flex in a random and uncontrollable way. If we expect nano machines to work according to the principles of macroscopic engineering, Brownian motion imposes strong constraints on the stiffness of the component materials and the operating temperatures of the device. In the view of many scientists this renders impractical some radical proposals for nanodevices which consist of assemblies of molecular- scale cogs and gears. On the other hand, some biological nanodevices, like molecular motors, are clearly not subject to these constraints, because their mode of operation actually depends in a deep way on Brownian motion.
5.2.3. Surface Forces
Surfaces and interfaces play an increasingly important role for particles or structures as they are made smaller. A variety of physical mechanisms underlie the forces that act at surfaces (at a macroscopic scale, the surface tension that allows a water beetle to walk on water is an example of one of these), but the overall effect is simple; small objects have a very strong tendency to stick together. This stickiness at the nanoscale, and the accompanying strong friction that occurs when parts are made to move against each other, are an important factor limiting the degree to which
microelectronic mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies can be scaled down to the nanoscale. These phenomena also underlie the almost universal tendency of protein molecules to stick to any surface immersed within the body, with important consequences for the design of biomedical nanodevices.
6. ALL ABOUT SELF-ASSEMBLY
Although the combination of Brownian motion and strong surface forces is sometimes thought of as a problem that nanotechnology must overcome, these features of the nano world in fact combine to offer a remarkable opportunity to exploit an approach to fabricating devices peculiar to the nanoscale. If molecules are synthesised with a certain pattern of sticky and non-sticky patches, the agitation provided by Brownian motion can lead to the molecules sticking together in well-defined ways to make rather complex nanoscale structures. The key to understanding this mode of assembly – known as self-assembly – is that all the information necessary to specify the structure is encoded in the structure of the molecules themselves.
This is in contrast to the methods of directed assembly that we are familiar with at the macroscale, in which the object is built, whether by a tool-using human being or by a machine, according to some externally defined plan or blueprint. The attraction of self-assembly as a route to creating nanostructures is that it is parallel and scalable - the number of structures created is limited only by how many molecules are put in.
This is in contrast to the serial processes that are familiar at the macroscale, in which objects are created one at a time.
6.1. Bottom-Up Production Related Stories
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Self-assembly is an example of an
approach to making
nanostructures which is often referred to as ‗bottom-up‘
nanotechnology. This term indicates approaches which start with small components – almost always individual molecules – which are assembled to make the desired structure. Bottom-up nanotechnology does not necessarily involve self-assembly.
An alternative, but much less well developed, realisation of a bottom- up approach uses scanning probe microscopes to position reactive molecules at the desired position on surfaces.
6.2. Top-Down Production
In the opposite approach – ‗top-down‘
nanotechnology – one starts with a larger block of material and by physical methods carves out the desired nanostructure, as you would make a statue from a block of marble. Top-down nanotechnology is a natural extension of current methods of microelectronics, in which structures of very limited dimensions are created by laying down thin layers of material and etching away those parts of each layer that are unwanted.
6.3. Bottom-up Production Techniques in Cell Biology
The epitome of bottom-up processing technologies is provided by biology.
Nanoscience is thought of as a physical science, but cell biology operates on exactly these length scales. The nanoscale devices that carry out the functions of living cells – the ribosomes that synthesise new proteins according to the blueprint provided by DNA, the chloroplasts that harvest the energy of light and convert it into chemical fuel, the molecular motors that move components around within cells and which in combination allow whole cells and indeed whole multicellular organisms to move around – are all precisely the kinds of machines imagined by nanotechnologists.
Cell biology offers a proof that at least one kind of nanotechnology is possible. What interactions, then, are possible between nanoscale science and technology and biology?
6.4. Synthetic Molecular Devices in Biology
Biology can provide lessons for nanotechnology. Long eons of evolution
have allowed the perfection of devices optimised for working in the unfamiliar conditions that prevail at the nanoscale, and careful study of the mechanisms by which they work should suggest designs for synthetic analogues. This may lead to the design of synthetic molecular motors, selective valves and pores, and pumps that can move molecules around against concentration gradients.
6.5. Nanotechnology Will Provide New Tools and Methods for Biology
Nanoscience and nanotechnology will also make substantial contributions to biology by providing new tools and methods. This has already started to happen, with single molecule methods allowing the properties of biological macromolecules to be probed one at a time, and the use of fluorescent nanoparticles to tag and track the motion of particular macromolecules and structures. There will be an increasing demand for these sorts of tools. When the complete genome of an organism is known, and one knows the complete set of proteins present in it (the proteome), then to disentangle the complex webs of interaction that convert a sack of chemicals into a living organism will become the major challenge. There will also be a demand for cheaper and faster ways of characterising organisms – a physically based instrument for directly reading the sequence of a strand of DNA would be very valuable, and is likely to be one of the outcomes of nanotechnology as applied to biology.
6.6. Combining Synthetic and Natural Components to Make New Structures Biological components could themselves be incorporated into man-made nanoscale structures and devices. It is already feasible to incorporate biological molecular motors into artificial structures, and the light harvesting complexes of plants or photosynthesising bacteria can be incorporated into synthetic membranes. It is easy to imagine building up complex nanomachines by combining synthetic and natural components, an approach referred to as bionanotechnology.
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