Thinking Small:An Introduction to Nanotechnology

Patrick Pilarski3rd June 2005

2Thinking about Shrinking

How tiny are these things?

Getting small: Microtechnology• Some Micro-motion examples• How do we build and power them?

Getting smaller: Nanotechnology• The worlds smallest motors• Borrowing from biology• Bottom-up assembly

3An Idea of Scale: Micro

Features much smaller than a millimetre

Complex machines on the head of a pin

1000 microns=

1 millimetre

Picture Courtesy: Dalhousie MEMS Research Group micron.me.dal.ca

4An Idea of Scale: Nano

1 nanometre is one-billionth of a metre!Approximately 10 atoms placed in a line1/100,000th the width of a human hair

1000 nanometres

=1 micron

Picture Courtesy: Micralyne Inc. www.micralyne.com

5What is Microtechnology?

MEMS: Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems

Features on the scale of micronsFirst commercial MEMS device: • An airbag acceleration sensor

Courtesy: LucentCourtesy: Analog Devices

6Micro-Movement?

We can use comb drives!

Voltage makes combs to attract or repel

Courtesy: Micralyne Inc. www.micralyne.com Courtesy: Holly Rourke

7Micro-Tweezers

Comb drives move the pincers!

Courtesy: Micralyne Inc. www.micralyne.com

8Tiny Gears

MEMS gears allow the platform to spinDo dust mites get motion sickness?

Courtesy: Sandia

9How do we build MEMS?

A top-down approach:• Depositing and eroding (etching) layers

Deposit Metal Deposit “Filler”

Etch

Diagrams Courtesy of: Holly Rourke

10Building an Optical Switch

Add Structure Etch Out Filler

Diagrams Courtesy of: Holly Rourke

LightBeam

11What is Nanotechnology?

On the scale of 1 to 100 nanometres

Material properties and manufacturing VERY different at small scales!

Is it:• Physics?• Chemistry?• Biology?

Courtesy: Dr. K. Namba, Osaka University

12A new kind of steel

Carbon Nanotubes!100 times stronger than steel, 1/5 the weight

Courtesy: Smalley Researchgroup, http://cohesion.rice.edu/naturalsciences/smalley/index.cfm

13Nanomotors

The rotor is 300 times smaller than the width of a human hair!Uses a nanotube as an axel

300 nm

MWNT shaftAu rotor

Pictures Courtesy: Zettl Reseach Group, UC Berkeley, California

14Biomolecular Propellors

Use self-assembly to create bio-motors Add ATP and the rotor spins the beam!

Pictures Courtesy: Montemagno Research Group, Cornell (published in Science, November 24th, 2000)

15Bottom-up Assembly!

c

c

1 2

3Example: Building a “nano-bridge” with bump-and-stick reactions

Like putting together a jigsaw puzzle by shaking the table

16Building Organic Motors

Pictures Courtesy: Dr. K. Namba, Osaka University, http://www.nanonet.go.jp/english/mailmag/2004/011a.html

17Thoughts to leave with…

Microtechnology is currently used in many commercial applications!• Airbags, telecommunications, computers

Nanotechnology has already made great leaps towards tiny moving things• Molecular motors, powered by our body• Super-strong structures of carbon tubing

Manufacturing and even physical laws are VERY different “down there”