nanoREV.

Nanotechnology, Robotics and Virtual Reality

When most people think of nanotechnology the first thing to come to mind may be an image out of the movie Fantastic Voyage or of the theoretical “nanorobots” from Michael Crichton’s novel Prey. Similarly the topics of robotics and virtual reality are often first thought about in terms of images from popular science fiction movies. However, companies such as iRobot and Emotiv are beginning to demonstrate the feasibility of things once limited to science fiction. While iRobot has initially focused on niche applications such as automated vacuum cleaners, the same technology developed to navigate their automated vacuums over uneven carpet may soon find use in automated vehicular control systems offering a future of driverless cars. Similarly, Emotiv has started off with a few niche applications in video games controlled based on an array of electrodes on a players headband. The underlying technology behind such “thought-controlled” electronics can potentially create an entirely new market of electronics. 

The same potential for market creation exists for many nanomaterials based companies but an easy error to make is to initially focus on larger markets rather than the small niche markets having the potential for large growth. For example, in electronics many nanomaterials are proposed for new designs of non-volatile memory, sensors, and flat-panel displays. While nanomaterials can offer various improvements in performance in these applications, they all represent crowded markets with entrenched players. The key to success of many nanomaterial based companies (and the economy in general) will be the identification of the smaller niches within the existing markets offering a platform for expansion and the eventual creation of new markets. For example, instead of trying to create a nanomaterial based memory to replace all non-volatile memory a better strategy would be to focus on a better memory specific for FPGAarchitectures. Instead of creating nanomaterials to enhance the sensitivity of all types of existing sensors a better strategy would be to focus on finding ways of using nanomaterials for sensors in a specific application (e.g. biocompatible devices). Instead of making nanomaterials to enhance the optical properties or emission efficiency of various types of displays a better strategy would focus on what new applications of the display can be be provided by nanomaterials (e.g. wearable displays, printable displays, etc.)

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The U.S. Financial Crisis and Nanotechnology

While a bailout plan is being debated in Congress in response to the recent financial meltdown of the housing markets, it is questionable whether the short term relief provided to Wall Street will be worth the increased government control of the economy. Ultimately economic recovery is more likely to come from the creation of new industries and new markets and the research into new materials related to nanotechnology may be key to creating such new markets. Some examples include:

Lithium Ion Batteries

Nanostructured materials could bring about cheaper, more efficient batteries for hybrid vehicles. The filing of an IPO by A123 Systems could lead to additional movement in this direction and ultimately decrease reliance on a fossil fuel economy.  

Flexible Electronics

Displays, Solar Cells, and Sensors may each be formed on plastic or other pliable substrates using semiconductor nanowire deposition technologies being developed by Nanosys. This could ultimately result in displays incorporated in clothing, sheets of solar cells as cheap as wallpaper, and biocompatible implantable electronics.     

Non-volatile RAM

Nantero and Hewlett Packard are both working on implementing new non-volatile memories based on nanowire crossbars (HP) or nanotube ribbons (Nantero). This could eventually be competitive with flash memory with higher information density.  

Neuromorphic Computers

The design of conventional computer architectures separates the memory unit and the processing unit which can lead to delays required for the transferring of information between the memory and processor. However, some designs are in the works based on the memristor recently developed by HP which integrate memory and processing in the same circuit providing for a new type of computer architecture more adaptive to variations and having more capability in tasks such as pattern recognition useful to robotics and interactive video applications.

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NSF Funding for Nanotechnology Technicians

The rise of nanoelectronics over the coming decade is likely to generate numerous products fabricated from materials other than silicon. However, it is questionable whether the traditional undergraduate and graduate engineering curriculum of colleges and Universities will be able to adapt quickly enough to keep pace with changes in industry as nanomaterials become more important. In a recent move to bridge the gap the National Science Foundation is funding a partnership between Luna innovations and Danville Community College to train technicians in nanotechnology.

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Patenting Graphene

FYI - A complete article from the next issue of Nanotechnology Law & Business is now available online for free public download.

“Patenting Graphene: Opportunities and Challenges” - Andrew Baluch, Bryan Wilson, John C. Miller

From the abstract:

Graphene is emerging as a promising material for a variety of applications. Indeed, it might ultimately replace carbon nanotubes as the material of choice for certain nanotech-enabled electronic devices. In this article, patent lawyer Andrew Baluch and his co-authors provide an introduction to graphene, summarize the state of the obviousness doctrine under U.S. patent law, and explore the patentability issues associated with graphene inventions in light of the prior on carbon nanotubes and other carbon nanomaterials.

Click here for the article.

(EDIT - Alternate link for the article)

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Know Graphene’s maker

Since 1999, MIT’s very own publication — Technology Review — has highlighted a list of top innovators under the age of 35 aptly named TR35. While the list may be biased, containing only works that the editors find “exciting”, the just released “TR35″ for 2008 includes a familiar name–Dr. Kostya Novoselov.

As mentioned in a previous post here on nanoREV, researchers (including Novoselov) at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Professor Andre Geim were able to show that the intrinsic mobility of graphene may potentially have a value of about 200,000 cm2/V-s. In fact, as highlighted in the TR35 list, Dr. Novoselov discovered the simple method for isolating single, carbon atom-thick sheets of graphene back in 2004 (watch a video of the siple process here) . His discovery has even paved the way to the first graphene based transistor.

While it may prove in the long run that single-graphene based transistors may be impractical–prone to electronic interactions with the substrate — configurational work-arounds have shown promising results. For his work, which has been highlighted in prestigious academic publications such as Nature Materials, Science and even newsstand publication Scientific American, Dr. Novoselov has made a name for himself in the realm of next-generation electronics. We’ll go ahead and file this one next to Sumio Iijima and Richard Smalley.

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Nano-Net 2008

On Sept. 14-16 Nano-Net 2008, the third international conference based on the intersection of nanotechnology and network/communication theory, takes place in Boston, Massachusetts. Topics range from approaches for communications among biological nanomachines to optical networking using swarm microrobots and the potential for memristors in signal processing.

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Samsung/Unidym extend joint development of carbon nanotube display

Many of the proposals for carbon nanotubes implementation in display applications have taken advantage of nanotubes capability to act as electron emitting materials for field emission displays. An alternative use of carbon nanotubes for displays is as a replacement for the transparent electrode materials such as ITO used in liquid crystal display manufacturing. A collaboration between Samsung and Unidym, both of which are industry leaders in carbon nanotube manufacturing and applications, seems to be directed in this second direction.  The use of carbon nanotubes as transparent electrodes may be a strong step toward the development of flexible displays useful for E-paper under development by companies such as E-Ink and Sipix Imaging.

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Government prize for nanotechnology innovations

Recently congressmen Dan Lipinski and Todd Akin introduced H.R. 6661 to establish an award program for innovations in nanotechnology. While government investment in nanotechnology is nothing new in the form of grants, this type of award seems more result-oriented as opposed to an investment in basic research and is similar to Senator John McCain’s call for an award for a leapfrog improvement in battery technology. According to the bill the areas of focus include nanotechnology applications involving:

(1) Improvement of the environment, consistent with the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry of the Environmental Protection Agency.

(2) Development of alternative energy that has the potential to lessen the dependence of the United States on fossil fuels.

(3) Improvement of human health, consistent with regulations promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services.

(4) Development of consumer products.

(5) Advancement in the field of nanoelectronics.

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Nano-Proprietary (Applied Nanotech) v. Canon Update

Carbon nanotubes and related carbon-based nanostructures/thin films are of particular interest as electron emission materials for flat panel display devices and have been the focal point for some litigation. In this article the litigation between Nano-Proprietary and Canon concerning the licensing of surface emission display technology is reviewed. In a recent decision by the U.S. Appeals Court for the 5th Circuit the court determined that due to the “irrevocable and perpetual” non-exclusive licences granted by Nano-Proprietary to Canon the license agreement stands despite earlier shenanigans between Canon and Toshiba. The decision also provides Canon’s restructured subsidiary SED with use of the licensed patents. Applied Nanotech Holdings (formerly Nano-Proprietary) has downplayed the importance of the decision in a press release. 

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Suspended Graphene Shows Ballistic Promise

In a recent article posted as an Advance Online Publication of Nature Nanotechnology, researchers from Rutgers provide even more support of graphene’s promise in future nano devices.  The researchers compared electronic properties of suspended graphene (SG) –that is, graphene held between two electrodes and not physically in contact with a substrate–against that of nonsuspended graphene (NSG) in which the devices are formed using conventional layered etching techniques.  The reason for “suspending” graphene over, and not in physical contact with the substrate was to eliminate electronic traps normally found in an oxide or at the interface between graphene and the gate-oxide.  By reducing the trapped-charge density, the researchers increased the free-charge density–and hence sought to increase the carrier mobility.   Hence, they could then study the intrinsic transport properties near the Dirac point, which tends to be a difficult range to measure since charge carrier density virtually disappears (i.e. if there’s normally not enough carriers to measure, how do you measure them?).

The researchers concluded that the experiments provide strong evidence of near ballistic transport (i.e., mainly non-scattered transport), which is a step in the right direction for the use of graphene in future, advanced electronics.

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