1. Tiny Technologies The Speculative Possibilities Work at MIT The Money
Overview by Joost Bonsen *
The Speculative Possibilities
Work at MIT
The Money
Business Implications
Further Sources

2. Tiny = ? Micro through Nano in size / length scale
MEMS, NEMS, PEMS, Molectronics, Spintronics, Photonics, optoelectronics…
Nano + tubes, wires, crystals, balls, logic, rods, gears, engines…
Molecular Engineering, Biological Engineering…

3. There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom!
Feynman’s Vision
There’s Plenty
of Room
at the
Bottom!
Dec 1959 Talk at APS / CalTech

4. Drexler’s Engine’s of Creation
1985 Book while at MIT
Dismissed often as “Pure SF”

5. Drawing Inspiration & More from Biology
Ribosomes
Flagellar Motors
Muscles …

6. Dimensions in Silicon and in Biology
red blood cell
~5 m (SEM)
diatom
30 m
Simple molecules
<1nm
DNA
proteins nm
bacteria
1 m
10-10
10-5
10-9
10-7
10-6
10-8
10-4
10-3
10-2 m
SOI transistor
width 0.12m
semiconductor
nanocrystal (CdSe)
5nm
Circuit design
Copper wiring
width 0.2m
Nanometer memory element
(Lieber)
1012 bits/cm2 (1Tbit/cm2)
IBM PowerPC 750TM Microprocessor
7.56mm×8.799mm
6.35×106 transistors
Source: Molecular Machines (Jacobson) Group

7. Tiny Tech @ MIT Research Centers Unifying Projects
Faculty & Principal Investigators

8. Tiny Research Centers
MTL
MPC
CBE
SNL
CBA
ISN
…several others

9. Microsystems Technology Labs
MEMS
CAD
Materials
Fabrication
Schmidt

10. MicroTurbine Project
                                                            

11. Materials Processing Center
Advanced materials
Processes
Properties
Fabrication
Kimmerling

12. Center for Biomedical Engineering
Molecular Engineering
Cell & Tissue Engineering
Physiological Systems Engineering
Grodzinsky

13. Space Nanotechnology Lab
Space Imaging
High-Performance
Schattenburg

14. from atomic nuclei to global networks
from atomic nuclei
to global networks
Nanofab, Biofab, Macrofab
Gershenfeld

15. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology
Protective Suits
Human Augmentation
Thomas
“It sounds a lot like
Science Fiction!”
-- MIT Student & Comic Book Fan

16. Tiny Faculty Slocum Hunter Subresh Ortiz Jacobson Manalis Ippen Smith
(a Sampling)
Slocum
Hunter
Subresh
Ortiz
Jacobson
Manalis
Ippen
Smith
Knight
Sasisekharan
Endy
Hammond
Lauffenberger
…many more

17. Precision Engineering
Flextesters
Slocum Group

18. Bioinstrumentation / Nanorobotics
Hunter Group

19. Cellular Solids Research
Gibson Group

20. NanoMechanical Testing
Subresh Group

21. Nanomechanics
Ortiz Group

22. Molecular Machinery RF Biology Jacobson Group Printed Electronics

23. Nanoscale Sensing / Silicon Biology
Manalis Group

24. Molecular Self-Assembly
Zhang Group

25. Functional Glycomics Sasisekharan Group

26. Lithographed Nanostructures
Smith Group

27. Femtosecond Optics
“pulses … sufficiently short duration to capture the motion of
particles in the atomic and subatomic regime”
Ippen Group

28. Microbial Engineering / Cellular Robotics / Synthetic Biology
Knight Group

29. Systems Biology Endy Lab

30. MacroMolecular Synthesis
Hammond Group

31. Biological Engineering / Bioengineering
Lauffenberger

32. Tiny Money Billions in research Millions in VC Still early days
NNI $600M in 2002, vs $420M in 2001
Millions in VC
Polaris, DFJ
Corporate Venturing
Still early days

33. Tiny Business Implications
Profitable Product Lines in MEMS
Startups in Nano

34. Successful MEMS Products
TI’s Digital Mirror Device
ADI’s Accelerometer

35. TI’s Digital Mirror Device

36. ADI’s Crash Bag Accelerometer

37. Selected MEMS Startups
Iridigm
MicroCHIPS
E-Ink
Flexics
Memgen
Plastilogic
Rolltronics

38. Selected Nano Startups
OmniGuide
SurfaceLogix
Nanosys
EngeneOS
Calmec
Molecular Electronics
Zyvex
Nanopto
Nanotechtonics

39. Big Business Investments
Xerox – e.g. Eink competitor
IBM – deep investments
Big Pharma
Medical Devices – e.g. J&J + Medtronics
HP spinoff Agilent – Nano LabChip

40. Dangers of Over-Hype Like AI in 80’s
Some things are fundamentally hard
Progress is rather bursty

41. MIT Sources MIT’s David Ward has a Nanotech pointer site, very good:
The MIT Alum Association openDOOR February edition was on Tiny
Technologies, very nice, very comprehensive:
MIT’s Technology Review does a stellar job of covering ever smaller-scale
Engineering:

42. Commercial Sources Nanotech Planet Zyvex has a comprehensive Nano site
Zyvex has a comprehensive Nano site
ACRS NanoTech

43. Other Sources Foresight Institute Nanotech Opportunity Report
Nanotech Opportunity Report
Sandia’s MEMS movies!
NanoSIG.org

44. 3D thru Cross-Eye