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Nanotechnologyand Meaning

Ralph C. Merkle

www.merkle.com

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Seventh Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology

October 15 -17, 1999Santa Clara, CA

www.foresight.org/Conferences

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Three historical trendsin manufacturing

• More flexible

• More precise

• Less expensive

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Approaching the limit: nanotechnology

• Fabricate most structures consistent with physical law

• Get essentially every atom in the right place

• Inexpensive manufacturing costs (~10-50 cents/kilogram)

http://nano.xerox.com/nano

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• Coal

• Sand

Diamonds

Computer chips

It matters how atoms are arranged

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Today’s manufacturing methods move atoms in great

thundering statistical herds

• Casting

• Grinding

• Mixing

• Lithography

• …..

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A modern manufacturing facility

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Possible arrangements of

atoms.

What we can make today(not to scale)

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The goal: a healthy bite.

.

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Two morefundamental ideas

• Self replication for low cost

• Positional assembly of molecular parts

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Von Neumann's universal constructor about 500,000Internet worm (Robert Morris, Jr., 1988) 500,000Mycoplasma capricolum 1,600,000E. Coli 9,278,442Drexler's assembler 100,000,000Human 6,400,000,000NASA Lunar

Manufacturing Facility over 100,000,000,000http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/selfRep.html

Complexity of self replicating systems (bits)

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Self replication can be very low cost

• Potatoes, lumber, wheat and other agricultural products are often roughly a dollar per kilogram.

• Nanotechnology will let us make almost any product for about a dollar per kilogram, independent of complexity. (Design costs, licensing costs, etc. not included)

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Positional assembly of molecular parts is new

• Self assembly: stir together molecular parts that spontaneously self assemble into desired structures.

• Positional assembly: put molecular parts exactly where we want them, vastly increasing the range of molecular structures we can make.

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Moving molecules with an SPM

Gimzewski, IBM Zurich

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A proposal for a molecular positional device

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Classical uncertainty

kTkb2

σ: RMS positional error k: restoring forcekb: Boltzmann’s constantT: temperature

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A numerical example of classical uncertainty

kTkb2

σ: 0.02 nm (0.2 Å) k: 10 N/mkb: 1.38 x 10-23 J/KT: 300 K

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If we can make

whatever we want

what

do we want

to make?

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Diamond Physical Properties

Property Diamond’s valueComments

Chemical reactivity Extremely lowHardness (kg/mm2) 9000 CBN: 4500 SiC: 4000Thermal conductivity (W/cm-K) 20 Ag: 4.3 Cu: 4.0Tensile strength (pascals) 3.5 x 109 (natural) 1011 (theoretical)Compressive strength (pascals) 1011 (natural) 5 x 1011 (theoretical)Band gap (ev) 5.5 Si: 1.1 GaAs: 1.4Resistivity (W-cm) 1016 (natural)Density (gm/cm3) 3.51Thermal Expansion Coeff (K-1) 0.8 x 10-6 SiO2: 0.5 x 10-6

Refractive index 2.41 @ 590 nm Glass: 1.4 - 1.8Coeff. of Friction 0.05 (dry) Teflon: 0.05

Source: Crystallume

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A hydrocarbon bearing(theoretical)

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A bearing made of H, C, N, O, and S. The shaft has 17 fold

symmetry, the sleeve 23

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Memory probe

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Neon pump

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A planetary gear

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Fine motion controller

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Drexler’s assembler

http://www.foresight.org/UTF/Unbound_LBW/chapt_6.html

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Core molecularmanufacturingcapabilities

Today ProductsProducts

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ProductsProducts

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Products

Overview of the development of nanotechnology

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The impact of nanotechnology

depends on what’s being made• Computers, memory, displays

• Space Exploration• Medicine• Military• Energy, Transportation, etc.

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Displays

• Molecular machines smaller than a wavelength of light will let us build holographic displays that reconstruct the entire wave front of a light wave

• It will be like looking through a window into another world

• Covering walls, ceilings and floor would immerse us in another reality

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Computer generated reality

• Vast computational power will be needed to model a 3-D “reality” in real time and generate the full optical wavefront (ten trillion samples per square meter every 10 milliseconds)

• Nanotechnology will give us vast computational power

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Powerful computers• In the future we’ll pack more computing

power into a sugar cube than the sum total of all the computer power that exists in the world today

• We’ll be able to store more than 1021 bits in the same volume

• Or more than a billion Pentiums operating in parallel

• Powerful enough to run Windows 2015

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Easier methods?• Optic nerve

– has ~1,000,000 nerves

– can carry only a few megabytes/sec

• Human brain– 1013 to 1016 operations/sec

• A sugar cube computer– over 1018 operations/sec

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Easier alternatives

• Track eye location, generate only that portion of the wavefront actually seen (which is also low power)

• Directly stimulate the retina

• Directly stimulate the optic nerves (involves implantable nanodevices)

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Swallowing the surgeon...it would be interesting in surgery if you could swallow

the surgeon. You put the mechanical surgeon inside the blood vessel and it goes into the heart and “looks” around. ... Other small machines might be permananetly incorporated in the body to assist some inadequately-functioning organ.

Richard P. Feynman, 1959

Nobel Prize for Physics, 1965

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Mitochondrion

20 nm scale bar

Ribosome

Molecular computer(4-bit) + peripherals

Molecular bearing

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“Typical” cell

Mitochondrion

Molecular computer + peripherals

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Medical nanodevicepower and signal

• Oxygen/glucose fuel cells can be scaled to molecular size and provide electric power, producing H2O and C02

• Megahertz acoustic signals are safe and can transmit data to devices that are tens of nanometers in size

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Nerve cell

Acoustically activatednanodevice (large)

Resting potential: ~-0.65 volts

membrane

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An alternative to displays

• Direct stimulation of human nerve cells via nanodevices will be feasible

• High-bandwidth externally derived input, augmenting or replacing ordinary input from the eye, ear, nose, skin, etc.

• Safe for long term use if desired

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Nanomedicine Volume I• A comprehensive survey of medical

applications of nanotechnology

• Extensive technical analysis

• Volumes II, III and popular book planned

• Author: Robert Freitas

• http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine

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Types of medical treatment

• Surgery:intelligent guidance, crude tools

• Drugs:no intelligence, molecular precision

• Medical nanodevices:intelligent guidance, molecular precision

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A revolution in medicine

• Today, loss of cell function results in cellular deterioration:

function must be preserved• With medical nanodevices, passive

structures can be repaired. Cell function can be restored provided cell structure can be inferred:

structure must be preserved

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Cryonics37º C 37º C

-196º C (77 Kelvins)

Freeze Restoreto health

Time

Tem

pera

ture

(many decades)

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Would you rather join:

The control group?(no action required)

or

The experimental group?(see www.alcor.org for info)

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National Nanotechnology Initiative

• Interagency (NSF, NASA, NIST, NIH, DOD, .... See http://www.nsf.gov/nano)

• Favorable congressional hearings

• Government funding expected to double

• Academic interest increasing

• Private funding increasing (existing companies, startups such as Zyvex)

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There is a growing sense in the scientific and technical community that we are about to enter a golden new era.

Richard Smalley http://www.house.gov/

science/smalley_062299.htm

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Nanotechnology offers ... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings.

K. Eric Drexler

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How long?• The scientifically correct answer is

I don’t know

• Trends in computer hardware suggest the 2010 to 2020 time frame

• Of course, how long it takes depends on what we do

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The best wayto predict the

futureis to invent it.

Alan Kay