Nanotechnology Funding Coup – A Boost for the Industry

When the U.S. House of Representatives recently approved oversight legislation authorizing a national nanotechnology research and development program, those of us in the industry immediately began pondering how this three-year spending plan totaling $2.36 billion will further advance the semiconductor industry. It is clear that the impact in Silicon Valley and throughout the U.S. economy will be large, but the exact technologies that will be developed as a direct result are still in question.

Nanotechnology, the art and science of manipulating and rearranging individual atoms and molecules to create useful materials, devices and systems, is clearly the future of electronics. Nanotechnology may lead to advanced flat-panel display screens, plastics that conduct electricity, and dramatically faster semiconductor chips.

The National Science Foundation projects that the nanotechnology industry will grow into a $1 trillion business in the next 10 to 15 years. Over the next decade, the fields of chemistry, physics, material sciences, biology and computational sciences will converge in a way that will define nanotechnology and influence almost every industry, including semiconductors, PCs, pharmaceuticals, defense, health care, communications, transportation, energy, environmental sciences, entertainment, chemicals and manufacturing. This convergence will result in developments that are ground-breaking, but as yet are far from comprehension.

Unlocking the Future of the Electronics Industry

Nanotechnology involves the engineering of materials and devices with "nanometer-scale" features, a nanometer being roughly 100,000 times smaller than the width of an average human hair. Creating electronic devices whose parts are the size of molecules is one of the major goals of the burgeoning field of nanotechnology.

Within the electronics industry, researchers are working on more far-reaching uses, such as dramatically reducing the cost of computer power while increasing its speed. In the next decade, the technology could allow the storage of the entire collection of the Library of Congress on a device the size of a sugar cube, or the development of computer circuits so small that thousands could fit on the end of a human hair.

Buzz is Contagious

While we may not be able to draw a direct correlation between the funding itself and future semiconductor developments, the funding does signal that nanotechnology is being taken very seriously by the scientific and technology communities. An increased focus on this new branch of science will lead to a ripple effect in semiconductor research. Over the past several years, the ongoing component shrinkage and performance improvements that semiconductors have enjoyed are expected to start to bump against physical limits such as the number of wires that can be connected within a silicon-based chip. As this occurs, nanotech-based processes and chemical synthesis may replace today’s fabrication methods.

Nanotechnology is seen as a gateway to an array of new semiconductor-based products. Researchers are working on a variety of projects using nanoscale materials, processes and devices, such as nanoscale sensors that can be integrated into silicon chips, enabling them to operate in extremely hot environments without the need for bulky heat sinks or coolers. According to the National Nanotech Initiative, nanotechnology is projected to yield annual production of about $300 billion for the semiconductor industry, and a few times more than that for global integrated circuits sales within 10 to 15 years.

A key advance in the semiconductor industry -- Intel's 90-nanometer chip manufacturing process -- uses "nanoengineered silicon," and the company is doing long-term research on carbon nanotubes and silicon nanowires. Other companies are exploring similar initiatives including IBM, where the creation of nanotube transistors has proven to carry current faster than any other nanotubes so far. IBM says their nanotube transistors substantially outperform the most advanced models of silicon transistors, opening the door for a new successor technology to silicon chips when conventional miniaturization methods eventually reach their limits. This could deliver processing capability a hundred-billion times more advanced than today's fastest microprocessors.

Carbon nanotubes, one of the basic building blocks of nanotechnology, are hollow cylinders of carbon molecules that have a diameter about 100,000 times thinner than human hair. Nanotubes can function as semiconductors -- a characteristic that makes them intriguing candidates for the next generation of electronic devices. One estimate places the market for nanotube composites at $260 million by 2007.

Advances in Multiple Industries

In addition to the peripheral impact of this funding on the semiconductor market, it will also affect countless other industries that present viable applications for nanotechnology including the broader electronics industry and the automotive, medical and retail industries. For instance, automotive researchers have leveraged this technology to advance cars by applying a layer of molecules between two layers of glass to make windshields anti-reflective or to protect against the sun overheating the interior of a parked car, and by using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to monitor tire pressure as well as to help deploy airbags.

Additionally, there are exciting potential uses for nanotechnology in the medical field. Researchers are exploring the role nanotech-derived drugs can play in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer through tumor-specific, molecular agents that can detect and treat the disease. Because such medications would be targeted more specifically, their dose could be smaller and less toxic than chemotherapy treatments used today. Nanotechnology has also touched the retail industry with companies using the technology to produce stain-, water- and wrinkle-resistant fibers for clothing, as well as new ingredients to improve sunscreen and vinyl flooring.

Propelling us into the Future

Nanotechnology is quite possibly the most promising development in science of the 21st century. Nanotech will transform society as dramatically as transistors and computers have over the past 40 years. This technology promises to be the focus of fantastic innovations, such as shoes that allow their wearers to jump 20 feet in the air and drugs able to locate and destroy cholesterol and cancer cells on command -- not to mention moving computing and information technology to new plateaus.

With the promising applications and increased funding opportunities for research and development, nanotechnology innovators will succeed in revolutionizing a myriad of industries. We can look forward to significantly more powerful computers and semiconductor chips, incredible medical advances, and a multitude of stronger, more innovative materials that will be used to develop the next generation of products that will inevitably launch humanity into a whole new world.