Nanotechnology: Science, Business Strategy, and Ethics

Introduction to Nanotechnology

All manufactured products are made from atoms, with the properties of those products determined by how atoms are arranged. By rearranging coal atoms, diamonds are formed. Similarly, by rearranging the atoms in sand and adding trace elements, electronic chips are produced. In time, it will be possible to connect the fundamental building blocks of nature far more readily. The word "nanotechnology" is used to describe any technology whose characteristic dimensions are less than about 1,000 nanometers. The future will bring new manufacturing processes that allow companies to inexpensively build systems and products that are molecular in both size and precision. Any business — old or new — that is interested in, considering, or already applying this advanced and still relatively unfamiliar technology will need to conduct extensive research on its benefits and drawbacks, and then, if choosing to proceed, develop a complete and thorough implementation strategy in order to maximize its chances of success.

Nanotechnology uses either top-down processes (such as lithography) to cut or add material to a surface, or bottom-up processes in which materials self-assemble to create larger structures. Merkle of Xerox Corporation explains that this is a process performed continuously in nature. "Trees grow by taking energy from sunlight and nutrients from the soil to build themselves... They only use what they need, arranging the atoms in complex internal patterns." Furthermore, "trees also self-replicate: They produce seeds that build other trees. Precisely because it's a miracle of biology, lumber costs only a few dollars per pound." In other words, once self-replication is achieved, a company gains a manufacturing process that is intrinsically low-cost (in Fouke 47).

Living systems also use self-assembly, adds Merkle (in Fouke ibid), who calls this "selective stickiness." If two molecular parts have complementary shapes and charge patterns, they tend to stick together to form a larger part. This principle helps in building "nanotools," which can then construct other things. Molecular-scale positional devices hold molecules in precise positions, while robotic arms operating at one-ten-millionth scale sweep back and forth over a surface to add and withdraw atoms, thereby building structures. The process is comparable to constructing a car: first, use nanotools to build an assembler — a minute, computer-controlled robot that can be programmed to build nearly anything; then program the assemblers to replicate; finally, build the product.

The time required for "selective stickiness" is brief. A nanotool can move a molecule into position in a microsecond. With a million operations per second and a billion atoms per assembler, it would take approximately 20 minutes for an assembler to build a copy of itself, yielding a billion assemblers in about 20 hours. A car could be built in a matter of hours.

The basis of nanotechnology has grown out of years of research, innovation, and advances across a number of fields including science, engineering, and manufacturing. Computer circuits have become increasingly small and chemicals increasingly complex. Biochemists regularly expand their knowledge of how to study and control the molecular basis of organisms, while mechanical engineers continually improve the precision of their design and production.

In 1959, Nobel laureate and Caltech physicist Richard Feynman suggested that it should be possible to build machines small enough to manipulate things at the atomic scale. His talk, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," is widely considered the foreshadowing of nanotechnology. Among other things, he predicted that information could be stored with remarkable density. Despite the fact that the power of computers was only just being recognized, he had the foresight to envision this as the future:

"I do know that computing machines are very large; they fill rooms. Why can't we make them very small, make them of little wires, little elements — and by little, I mean little. For instance, the wires should be 10 or 100 atoms in diameter, and the circuits should be a few thousand angstroms across. Everybody who has analyzed the logical theory of computers has come to the conclusion that the possibilities of computers are very interesting — if they could be made to be more complicated by several orders of magnitude."

He could also imagine how this might be achieved:

Scientific Foundations and Historical Development

"Up to now, we have been content to dig in the ground to find minerals. We heat them and we do things on a large scale with them, and we hope to get a pure substance with just so much impurity. But we must always accept some atomic arrangement that nature gives us. We haven't got anything, say, with a 'checkerboard' arrangement, with the impurity atoms exactly arranged 1,000 angstroms apart, or in some other particular pattern. What could we do with layered structures with just the right layers? What would the properties of materials be if we could really arrange the atoms the way we want them?"

Another Nobel laureate, physicist Philip W. Anderson, articulated the concept of "emergent" properties in complex systems in his 1972 article "More is Different" (Scientific American ix). He noted that the behavior of large and complex aggregations of elementary particles cannot be understood as a simple extrapolation from the properties of a few particles. "Instead, at each level of complexity, entirely new properties appear, and the understanding of the new behaviors requires research which I think is as fundamental in its nature as any other."

In 1981, Eric Drexler of MIT began exploring Feynman's vision by describing the physical principles of molecular manufacturing systems in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He envisioned nanomachines making products with atomic precision and introduced what would become molecular manufacturing. He quickly realized that molecular machines could control the chemical manufacture of complex products, including additional manufacturing systems with very powerful capabilities. "Molecular assemblages of atoms can act as solid objects, occupying space and holding a definite shape. Thus, they can act as structural members and moving parts." That same year, the scanning tunneling microscope was invented by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at IBM's Zurich Research Labs, providing the first direct images of individual atoms.

In 1986, Drexler introduced the term "nanotechnology" in his book Engines of Creation. Norio Taniguchi in Japan had used the word in the mid-1970s to describe precision micromachining. His definition remains relevant today: "Nano-technology mainly consists of the processing of separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or one molecule." In 1992, Drexler's Nanosystems technically outlined a way to manufacture extremely high-performance machines out of molecular carbon lattice, or "diamondoid."

In 1990, IBM painstakingly positioned 35 xenon atoms to spell the company's three-letter name, creating the world's tiniest logo. Cornell University scientists later produced a non-visible "nanoguitar" — invisible to the naked eye — whose strings, only a few atoms across, could be "plucked" by laser beams to play notes 17 octaves above those of a typical guitar, exceeding human hearing capability. Hewlett-Packard then began in 1999 to assemble circuits one molecule thick, announcing the development in an article in the journal Science on July 16, 1999.

Research into nanotechnology had also long been conducted in the field of biology. Erwin Schrödinger, a 1933 Nobel Prize–winning physicist who discovered new forms of atomic energy, asked in 1945: "What is Life?" His concern was not philosophical but rather how physics and chemistry could account for events in space and time within the spatial boundary of a living organism (Crandall 18). He examined the materiality of cellular life, speculating that the theorized gene was able to reproduce itself and use a code to determine the organism's development. Schrödinger thus foresaw a key characteristic of DNA — its ability to define a set of instructions for the material construction of living forms.

At the same time, John von Neumann published his report on the EDVAC that detailed the basic constructs of the modern computer. Based on the apparent similarities between organic systems and logical computation, mathematicians responsible for designing the first electronic computers began studying the information-processing capabilities of both living creatures and engineered automata (Crandall 20–22).

Scientists envisioned that nanotechnology would benefit everything from microprocessing and laboratory work to agriculture and medicine. If these areas of nanoscience were advanced through nanotechnology, society would benefit from the commercial impact in manufacturing and from a worldwide competitive advantage. This vision for the future was enhanced under President Clinton's administration, with the National Science Foundation creating a network of institutions researching the field. In 2001, over 30 nanotechnology research centers were established in the United States, compared with fewer than ten in 1999. In other countries, total funding for nanotechnology grew from $316 million in 1997 to approximately $835 million in 2000 (Scientific American).

Since then, an increasing number of applications have been hypothesized for nanotechnology. Possible applications range from quantum computers to long-term life preservation, including:

Medicine: Nanotechnology could eradicate disease. Molecule-sized "nanobots" could be programmed to enter a body's cells and fight viruses. In the case of a genetic disease, nanobots would burrow into DNA and repair defective genes.

Power Storage: Nanotechnology could enable the construction of smaller and more efficient fuel cells for clean energy storage.

New Materials: By bonding a molecule with a nanoparticle or single atom, scientists could create tubular fibers. When these fibers are threaded together and crystallized, they could behave like metal — 100 times stronger and four times lighter than steel.

Environment: Nanobots could manipulate the atoms in an oil spill and render it harmless. They could also purify the air in homes and office buildings.

Energy: Atoms bonded together could create a machine that converts water to hydrogen using sunlight.

Applications and Commercial Potential

Military: Advanced forms of weaponry and electronic tracking devices could be developed at the nanoscale.

NASA Space Exploration: "Swarm" materials composed of several machines could develop new materials that make space suits much more effective and greatly improve the safety of aerospace vehicles. Such materials could also significantly reduce the weight of rockets used to boost payloads into space.

Applications that may appear within the next decade include: targeted drug delivery enabling lower dosages and reduced side effects; anti-corrosion coatings; tougher and harder cutting tools; polymer electronics; flat-panel electronic displays; longer-lasting medical implants and artificially created organs; retinal implants; and medical sensors to monitor patients at home.

Merkle (49) believes that some degree of molecular manufacturing will be possible by 2010 to 2020 and predicts a major shift across economic sectors. Companies that primarily manufacture products in a traditional manner may be at a disadvantage compared to those specializing in the design of new forms of development.

Nano research and applications have already begun at companies worldwide, driven primarily by the rapid decrease in the size of electronic chips. Firms such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard have substantial nano programs. Quantum Dot Corporation has used semiconductor quantum dots as labels in biological experiments, drug-discovery research, and diagnostic tests. Nanophase Technologies, a publicly traded company, produces nano-size zinc oxide particles for use in sunscreen — the tiny particles do not scatter visible light, making the typically white-colored cream transparent (Scientific American 11).

It should be noted that the definition of "nano" varies. Some nanotechnology does not deal with structures at the micron scale, or millionths of a meter, but with structures 1,000 times larger. Also, nanotechnology is not always technology in the strict sense — it involves basic research on structures having at least one dimension of approximately one to several hundred nanometers. In fact, nanotechnology has existed in some form for some time: the nano-size carbon black particles in tires date back a century, and vaccines, which consist of one or more nanoscale proteins, have an even longer history.

For the next 20 or so years, the first generation of micromachines — called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) — are expected to find wide commercial application (Kaku 269). MEMS are miniature sensors and motors about the size of dust particles. Although far from molecular machines, MEMS are already in use in the marketplace and created a $3.2 billion industry by the year 2000, an industry expected to exceed $15 billion over the next couple of decades. Instead of etching millions of transistors, scientists are now etching tiny sensors and motors onto silicon wafers. In addition, minute X-ray beams are being used to etch polymers that can be electroplated to create metallic molds.

Sales of products incorporating nanotechnology are projected to total $2.6 trillion within ten years — approximately one-sixth of gross manufacturing output in 2014 — greatly exceeding previous estimates (Lux). Nano-enhanced products are expected to account for 50% of all electronics and information technology products and 16% of all healthcare products by 2014. Within a decade, 11% of total manufacturing jobs worldwide will involve nano-enhanced products. The National Science Foundation had previously predicted that nanotechnology would contribute $1 trillion to the global economy by 2015. Initial deployments of the technology, in products ranging from automobiles to pharmaceuticals, highlight its potential to improve consumer goods across all sectors.

In addition, a motion detector approximately the size of a human hair is already being used in automobile airbags to detect sudden decelerations. Denso Corporation of Toyota has made a micro-engine measuring 0.7 millimeters that can propel a micro-car at two inches per second. In the long run, MEMS could dramatically reduce the current cost of $20,000 laboratory spectrometers to as little as $10; create a complete laboratory-on-a-chip capable of full medical diagnostics and chemical analysis; and produce micro-devices capable of treating blood vessels (Kaku 270).

Today, Levi's Dockers and Gap khakis employ nano-fibers that bind to cotton fibers in the fabric to create an invisible barrier protecting slacks from spilled red wine or coffee. IBM has designed a nanocomponent known as GMR that has dramatically improved memory performance. Chevrolet replaced the "rub strip" — the molding that protects car doors — on the Impala with a nanocomposite version. Eastman Kodak has begun marketing a digital camera whose viewscreen includes a nanocomponent (Varchaver).

General Motors' nanocomposites embody a unique combination of strength and flexibility. The company altered the molecules of clay so that it clings to oil, something it would not otherwise do. GM adopted nanocomposites for the trim on the Impala and Hummer and used 660,000 pounds of the clay in one year alone. The company plans to expand its use gradually over the coming years, with interest in moving nanocomposites into vehicle interiors for weight and mass savings. Eventually, GM hopes to have exterior panels made from these materials (Varchaver).

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt has cited nanotech, along with diagnostic medicine and renewable energy, as "three big trends we're investing in for the future." The company has built an R&D staff of nearly 50 scientists and engineers working full-time on nanotech. At the end of 2003, GE began selling plastic used in automobiles with nanofillers that allow paint to bind more readily. The company's chemists are also studying a range of other technologies with potential applications throughout the organization (Varchaver).