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Molecular Nanotechnology

www.zyvex.com/nano

Ralph C. MerklePrincipal Fellow, Zyvex

www.merkle.com

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Nick Smith, ChairmanHouse Subcommittee on Basic Research

June 22, 1999

In Fiscal Year 1999, the federal government will spend approximately $230 million on nanotechnology research.

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National Nanotechnology Initiative

• Interagency (AFOSR, ARO, BMDO, DARPA, DOC, DOE, NASA, NIH, NIST, NSF, ONR, and NRL)

• Congressional hearings• Objective: double funding through

existing channels

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Academic and Industry• Caltech’s MSC (1999 Feynman Prize),

Rice CNST (Smalley), USC Lab for Molecular Robotics, etc

• Private nonprofit (Foresight, IMM)• Private for profit (IBM, Zyvex, Covalent)• And many more….

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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 Smalley1996 Nobel Prize, Chemistry

http://www.house.gov/

science/smalley_062299.htm

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The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not anattempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are toobig.

Richard Feynman, 1959

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html

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The book that laid out the technical argument for molecular nanotechnology:

Nanosystemsby K. Eric Drexler, Wiley 1992

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Three historical trendsin manufacturing

• More flexible• More precise• Less expensive

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The limit of these trends: nanotechnology

• Fabricate most structures consistent with physical law

• Get essentially every atom in the right place

• Inexpensive (~10-50 cents/kilogram)

http://www.zyvex.com/nano

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• Coal• Sand• Dirt, water

and air

• Diamonds• Computer chips• Grass

It matters how atoms are arranged

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Today’s manufacturing methods move atoms in

statistical herds• Casting• Grinding• Welding• Sintering• Lithography

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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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Core molecularmanufacturingcapabilities

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ProductsOverview of the development of molecular nanotechnology

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Terminological caution“Nanotechnology” has been

applied to almost any research where some dimension is less than a micron (1,000 nanometers) in size.

Example: sub-micron optical lithography

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Two morefundamental ideas

• Self replication (for low cost)• Positional assembly (so

molecular parts go where we want them to go)

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Von Neumann architecture for a self replicating system

UniversalComputer

UniversalConstructor

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/vonNeumann.html

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Drexler’s architecture for an assembler

Molecularcomputer

Molecularconstructor

Positional device Tip chemistry

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Illustration of an assembler

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

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The theoretical concept of machine duplication is well developed. There are several alternative strategies by which machine self-replication can be carried out in a practical engineering setting.

Advanced Automation for Space MissionsProceedings of the 1980 NASA/ASEE Summer Study

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRepNASA.html

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A C program that prints out an exact copy of itself

main(){char q=34, n=10,*a="main() {char q=34,n=10,*a=%c%s%c; printf(a,q,a,q,n);}%c";printf(a,q,a,q,n);}

For more information, see the Recursion Theorem:http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html

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English translation:

Print the following statement twice, the second time in quotes:“Print the following statement twice, the second time in quotes:”

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C program 800Von Neumann's universal constructor 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://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/selfRep.html

Complexity of self replicating systems

(bits)

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How cheap?

• Potatoes, lumber, wheat and other agricultural products are examples of products made using a self replicating manufacturing base. Costs of roughly a dollar per pound are common.

• Molecular manufacturing will make almost any product for a dollar per pound or less, independent of complexity. (Design costs, licensing costs, etc. not included)

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How long?

• The scientifically correct answer is I don’t know

• Trends in computer hardware suggest early in the next century — perhaps in the 2010 to 2020 time frame

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

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Developmental pathways

• Scanning probe microscopy• Self assembly• Ever smaller systems• Hybrid approaches

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Moving molecules with an SPM(Gimzewski et al.)

http://www.zurich.ibm.com/News/Molecule/

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Self assembled DNA octahedron(Seeman)

http://seemanlab4.chem.nyu.edu/nano-oct.html

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DNA on an SPM tip(Lee et al.)

http://stm2.nrl.navy.mil/1994scie/1994scie.html

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Buckytubes(Tough, well defined)

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Buckytube glued to SPM tip(Dai et al.)

http://cnst.rice.edu/TIPS_rev.htm

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Building the tools to build the tools

• Directly manufacturing a diamondoid assembler using existing techniques appears very difficult .

• We’ll have to build intermediate systems able to build better systems able to build diamondoid assemblers.

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If we can make whatever we wantwhat do we want to make?

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Diamond Physical Properties

Property Diamond’s value Comments

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 10-6SiO2: 0.5 x 10-6Refractive index 2.41 @ 590 nm Glass: 1.4 - 1.8Coeff. of Friction 0.05 (dry) Teflon: 0.05

Source: Crystallume

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Strength of diamond

• Diamond has a strength-to-weight ratio over 50 times that of steel or aluminium alloy

• Structural (load bearing) mass can be reduced by about this factor

• When combined with reduced cost, this will have a major impact on aerospace applications

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A hydrocarbon bearing

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/bearingProof.html

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Neon pump

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A planetary gear

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/gearAndCasing.html

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A proposal for a molecular positional device

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Classical uncertainty

kTkb2

σ: mean 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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Molecular tools• Today, we make things at the molecular scale

by stirring together molecular parts and cleverly arranging things so they spontaneously go somewhere useful.

• In the future, we’ll have molecular “hands” that will let us put molecular parts exactly where we want them, vastly increasing the range of molecular structures that we can build.

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Synthesis of diamond today:diamond CVD

• Carbon: methane (ethane, acetylene...)

• Hydrogen: H2

• Add energy, producing CH3, H, etc.

• Growth of a diamond film.

The right chemistry, but little control over the site of reactions or exactly what is synthesized.

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A hydrogen abstraction tool

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/Habs/Habs.html

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Some other molecular tools

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A synthetic strategy for the synthesis of diamondoid structures

• Positional assembly (6 degrees of freedom)

• Highly reactive compounds (radicals, carbenes, etc)

• Inert environment (vacuum, noble gas) to eliminate side reactions

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The impact of nanotechnology

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

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

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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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Memory probe

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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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Space• Launch vehicle structural mass will be

reduced by about a factor of 50• Cost per pound for that structural mass

will be under a dollar• Which will reduce the cost to low earth

orbit by a factor 1,000 or more

http://science.nas.nasa.gov/Groups/Nanotechnology/publications/1997/applications/

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It costs less to launch less

• Light weight computers and sensors will reduce total payload mass for the same functionality

• Recycling of waste will reduce payload mass, particularly for long flights and permanent facilities (space stations, colonies)

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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 permanently incorporated in the body to assist some inadequately-functioning organ.

Richard P. Feynman, 1959 Nobel Prize for Physics, 1965

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Nanomedicine Volume I• By Robert Freitas• Surveys medical applications of

nanotechnology• Extensive technical analysis• Volume I (of three) published in 1999• http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine

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Mitochondrion

20 nm scale barRibosome

Molecular computer(4-bit) + peripherals

Molecular bearing

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“Typical” cell

Mitochondrion

Molecular computer + peripherals

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Disease and illness are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level

Today’s surgical tools are huge and imprecise in comparison

http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine

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In the future, we will have fleets of surgical tools that are molecular both in size and precision.

We will also have computers that are much smaller than a single cell with which to guide these tools.

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Medical applications•Killing cancer cells, bacteria•Removing blockages•Providing oxygen (artificial red blood cell)

•Adjusting other metabolites

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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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Clinical trialsto evaluate cryonics

• Select N subjects• Freeze them• Wait 100 years• See if the medical technology of 2100 can

indeed revive them

But what do we tell those who don’t expect to live long enough to see the results?

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Would you rather join:The control group?

(no action required)

orThe experimental group?

(see www.alcor.org for info)

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Military applications of molecular manufacturing have even greater potential than nuclear weapons to radically change the balance of power.

Admiral David E. Jeremiah, USN (Ret)Former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of StaffNovember 9, 1995

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/nano4/jeremiahPaper.html

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Human impact on the environment depends on

• Population• Living standards• Technology

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Restoring the environment with nanotechnology

• Low cost greenhouse agriculture • Low cost solar power• Pollution free manufacturing• The ultimate in recycling

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Solar power and nanotechnology

• The sunshine reaching the earth has almost 40,000 times more power than total world usage.

• Nanotechnology will produce efficient, rugged solar cells and batteries at low cost.

• Power costs will drop dramatically

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Environmentally friendly manufacturing

• Today’s manufacturing plants pollute because they use imprecise methods.

• Nanotechnology is precise — it will produce only what it has been designed to produce.

• An abundant source of carbon is the excess CO2 in the air

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

K. Eric Drexler

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The best wayto predict the futureis to invent it.

Alan Kay