Nanotechnology: The future is now

The word "Nanotechnology" comes from "Nano", which means "a thousand millionth" (10 -9). For instance, a "nanometer" stands for a millionth of one millimeter (or 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair). At this scale, things appear to be very close to molecules. And this is precisely what nanotechnology is all about. This word is used to refer to "the ability to work at the molecular level, atom by atom, to create large structures with fundamentally new molecular organization." Take a close look at this definition. We are not speaking about blending colored mixtures together in test tubes, or creating collisions between electrons running at light speed in huge particle accelerators. Forget these old fashioned techniques. We are now dealing "directly" with atoms and molecules. I mean taking them, moving them, combining them, machining them, in order to create, well, some other stuff. At its very first steps, nanotechnology benefited from the creation of a new kind of machines, such as the Scanning Tunneling Microscope. This STM allows us to move atoms one by one and to observe their behavior. The results are often odd, colorful and beautiful "drawings". But nanotechnology is not only restricted to miniaturists-draftmen. Far from that.

Nano Now

What's strange with nanotechnology is that the word is inseparable from science fiction. For most people, nanotechnology "will" allow everything, "will" change everything, one day... Actually, nanotechnology is already a reality of today's life. Dozens of companies in the world produce and commercialize carbon nanotubes, single molecules of graphite shaped in a cylindric sheet, with extraordinary properties (100 times stronger than steel but six times lighter, as conductive as copper, and able to resist to very high temperatures). Other are specialized in nanopowders, which are powders with an average grain size below 50nm (far smaller than the powdered sugar you put on your strawberries), with multiple applications (fillers for paints, plastics or rubber, improving their resistance and mechanical properties). There is a global market right now, specifically, a market for nanomaterials and nanotechnology-based products. According to the Spanish consulting firm CMP Cientifica, the sale of nanoproducts already represents about $30 million a year. And, although many people are concerned about the hype that sometimes comes with the word nano, there are today hundreds of nanotech companies and start-ups everywhere in the world, working on creating new materials or devising new industrial processes.

Show me the (nano) money

But what's true is that today's market is nothing compared to what could happen. The NanoBusiness Alliance, in its annual nanotechnology survey released last year, declared that "the global market for nanotech products will reach $700 billion by 2008." And the National Science Foundation had stated earlier that nanotechnology could lead to a trillion dollar industry by the year 2015... If everybody agrees on the fact that nanotechnology will become a huge market, the question is still "when?". Most venture capitalists, especially in Europe, are not used to financing fundamental research, and are looking for quick returns on investment. But what had been difficult for dot-coms may seem quite impossible for companies working on building quantum computers or molecular-size motors. Needless to say, it will take more than two years for major achievements by nano-companies to hit the market - and I don't speak about profitability. For the NanoBusiness Alliance, "Venture Capital investment in nanotechnologies will rise from $100 million in 1999 to more than $1.2 billion by 2003." That sounds encouraging, but will probably not be enough to boost what should be the greatest industrial revolution ever. That's why most governments in the world are getting involved. In the US, the government has allocated $710 million to nanotech research, for fiscal year 2003, starting in October 2002. Not bad, compared to the $270 million in fiscal year 2000. In Europe, the funding for nanotechnology has been allocated $700 million for four years (2002-2006), but could be increased. And in Asia, the total budget for nanotech in Japan, China and Korea exceeded $1 billion in 2002.

One world, many applications

You could ask what this money is being used for? Actually, for many things. The point with nanotechnology - or more exactly, nanotechnologies - is that it has potential applications in virtually any industrial field. Once you start to think about creating something out of matter - atoms and molecules - you can imagine anything. According to Robert Freitas, author of the book Nanomedicine and researcher at Zyvex, the oldest nano-company, "Nanomedicine will eliminate virtually all common diseases of the 20th century, virtually all medical pain and suffering, and allow the extension of human capabilities - most especially our mental abilities."
Most people involved in nanotechnology speak about a new paradigm. Said Josh Wolfe, a partner at venture capital firm Lux Capital and a co-founder of the NanoBusiness Alliance: "Nanotechnology will be bigger than the Internet and more far-reaching. It will create vast new wealth. It will destroy a lot of old wealth. And it will shake up just about every business on the planet." But undoubtedly, one of the major areas impacted by nanotechnology applications is electronics. Often referred as "molecular electronics", or molectronics, the discipline is wide and seen as more than promising. As Moore's Law will not last for more than 10 years from now, the death of traditional, silicon-based circuits has already been announced. But above all, there is a good chance that a law based on a linear evolution of processors' speed seems quickly old-fashioned. Using molecules to store data or perform computations could lead to performances that are still hard to imagine. Think about passing directly from a push bike to a dragster, and fasten your seat belt.

Nanoputers?

Take storage. What we know now is often based on "holes". CDs are basically plastic disks on which laser-made holes represent bits of data. What about reducing the size of these holes? That's precisely what IBM folks are working on. At IBM Zurich Lab, researchers demonstrated this year the results of the Millipede project, a new technology able to store data with a density 20 times higher than the one of magnetic storage. In Millipede, thousands of molecular-sized tips are used to punch indentations representing individual bits into a thin plastic film. To figure out how small these indentations are, try to consider that the dot at the end of this sentence could contain about 50,000 of them (didn't I tell you that we were dealing with very small stuff?). With this kind of technology, we could be able to store the content of 100,000 books, or 25 DVDs, on a single post stamp (a piece of paper we used a long time ago to send mail).
But what's true with storage is also true with computation, as you may guess. Several labs are working on radically new ways of performing logical operations, with tremendous speed and incredibly small sizes. Quantum computing, for instance, is based on the physical properties of electrons. As you probably know, we were dealing so far with "bits", representing either "0" or "1". Now, try to get used to "qubits", their quantum equivalents. What happens with qubits is that they are not limited to a single value, but can represent "at the same time" a superposition of "0" and "1". I know it sounds strange but, hey, that's the world we live in. At its most elementary level, matter is strange. As elementary particles change state at very (very) high speed, quantum computing could help create processors using matter (say, electrons or photons) that would be thousands of times faster than traditional chips.
This spring, a French team at CEA demonstrated what was probably the most advanced qubit ever. Presented as a single electronic component, this qubit could be the basis of future processors. Said Denis Vion, one of the researcher involved in the experiment: "This component is the result of 18 years of research. It's an important step towards a quantum computer. Now we are trying to link several qubits together and build a quantum logical gate". Although promising, quantum physics is still considered as a faraway solution to increase the power of computers. But other means could be tried in between. Molecules for instance. In October 2002, IBM (them, again) presented the smallest operating computing circuits ever built. The circuits were made "by creating a precise pattern of carbon molecules on a copper surface." By moving these molecules, a kind of "cascade" was created, like dominos falling on each other. Specially adapted, the structures were then designed to allow "OR" and "AND" logical functions, and then to store and retrieve data out of a functioning computing circuit.
Playing dominos with molecules may sound weird. And if you consider that the experiment required placing molecules "one by one", using the machine we talked about earlier, the Scanning Tunneling Microscope, it's even stranger. The component needs 100,000 times less energy that its equivalent traditional semiconductor circuit. These molecular circuits are so small that you could put 200 billion of them on a single button of your shirt.

Honey, I ate the computer!

For sure, it will take time to create a nano-based computer. Most achievements so far need very specific conditions, such as working near absolute zero temperatures (don't ask, it means very cold). Molecular based chips will not be available in stores next Christmas. According to researchers, you can expect to wait an additional 10 to 15 years before wearing a supercomputer at your wrist. Yet, there seems to be no real doubt about the feasibility of such a computing monster. Molecular logical gates, working qubits or nanowires (wires made out of single atoms) have all been demonstrated in labs. Existing carbon nanotubes are very promising too. Motorola intends to use them to create new generations of high quality and inexpensive flat-panel displays, while many others are trying to use them as logic circuits, memories, or molecular wires. All the big players of the IT industry, in almost every country, are working on nanotech projects. And, as stated by Richard Feynman, a Nobel prize winner in 1965 who is considered the father of nanotechnology, "The principles of Physics, as far as we can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom." We're working on that, Richard.

 
Cyril Fievet