2 Nanotechnology Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Principal Fellow, Zyvex

3 Eighth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology November 3-5, 2000 Bethesda, Maryland (near Washington D.C.) Overview

4 Three historical trends in manufacturing More diverse More precise Less expensive Overview

5 Where these trends are going: nanotechnology Fabricate most products consistent with physical law Get essentially every atom in the right place Reduce manufacturing costs to $1/kilogram or less Overview

6 Coal Sand Dirt, water & air Diamonds Computer chips Wood Molecular arrangement matters Overview

7 There’s plenty of room at the bottom “...our ability to see what we are doing, and to do things on an atomic level, is... a development which I think cannot be avoided.” Nobel Laureate (physics) Richard Feynman, 1959 Overview

8 The 1980’s and 1990’s Invention of Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPMs) Publication of Nanosystems by Eric Drexler Conferences, journals, newsletters, net news discussion groups, media coverage Overview

9 National Nanotechnology Initiative Announced by Clinton at Caltech, January 2000 Interagency (AFOSR, ARO, BMDO, DARPA, DOC, DOE, NASA, NIH, NIST, NSF, ONR, and NRL) Proposed for FY 2001: $497 million Overview

10 President Clinton on the NNI “Imagine the possibilities: materials with ten times the strength of steel and only a small fraction of the weight -- shrinking all the information housed at the Library of Congress into a device the size of a sugar cube -- detecting cancerous tumors when they are only a few cells in size.” Overview

11 “Nanotechnology” has been applied to almost any research where some dimension is less than a micron (1,000 nanometers) in size “Molecular nanotechnology” is focused specifically on inexpensively making most arrangements of atoms permitted by physical law Overview

12 What we can make today (not to scale) Possible arrangements of atoms Overview

13 The goal: a healthy bite. Possible arrangements of atoms Overview

14 Core nanotechnology capabilities Today Products Developmental pathways Products Approach

15 Positional assembly (so parts go where we want them to go) Self replication (for low cost) Both concepts are applicable at many different sizes Approach Two important ideas

16 Positional assembly Positional assembly of millimeter and larger parts is central to today’s manufacturing Positional assembly of micrometer sized parts has been demonstrated, but is still rare Positional assembly of molecular parts has been demonstrated only in rudimentary form Approach

17 (Gimzewski et al.) Approach Scanning Probe Microscopes

18 Approach H. J. Lee and W. Ho, SCIENCE 286, p. 1719, NOVEMBER 1999 Manipulation and bond formation by STM

19 Complexity of self replicating systems (bits) Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140 Drexler’s assembler 100,000,000 Human6,400,000,000 Approach

20 Self replicating does not imply living Approach Life is a “proof of concept” Birds fly, airplanes fly; they aren’t the same Broadcast architecture

21 Proposal for a molecular planetary gear The Vision

22 Proposal for a molecular robotic arm The Vision

23 Drexler’s proposal for an assembler The Vision

24 The Vision Assembler Mitochondrion ~1-2 by microns

25 “Typical” cell: ~20 microns Mitochondrion The Vision Assembler

26 Nanotechnology is a manufacturing technology The impact depends on the product being manufactured The impact of nanotechnology The Vision

27 We’ll have more computing power in the volume of a sugar cube than the sum total of all the computer power that exists in the world today More than bits in the same volume Almost a billion Pentiums in parallel Powerful Computers The Vision

28 New, inexpensive materials with a strength-to-weight ratio over 50 times that of steel Critical for aerospace: airplanes, rockets, satellites… Useful in cars, trucks, ships,... Lighter, stronger, smarter, less expensive The Vision

29 “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 Staff November 9, The Vision

30 New technologies, new weapons At least one decade and possibly a few decades away Public debate (Joy, etc.) has begun Research into defensive systems is essential Gray goo, gray dust, … The Vision

31 Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level Today’s surgical tools are huge and imprecise in comparison The Vision Nanomedicine

32 Eliminate cancer cells, bacteria Remove circulatory obstructions Provide oxygen, remove CO 2 (artificial red blood cells) The Vision Molecular medical tools could

33 The Vision Artificial red blood cells hold your breath for hours

34 Restoring the environment with nanotechnology Low cost solar power Low cost greenhouse agriculture Pollution free manufacturing The Vision

35 “Nanotechnology offers... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings.” K. Eric Drexler Summary