Nano Computers

Nanocomputers









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Nanocomputers



 1. INTRODUCTION







1.1 NANOCOMPUTERS

The computer has already gone through a dynamic revolution. Thirty years ago,

computers were the size of a room and incredibly slow. Few people probably would have

imagined supercomputers that can do over a trillion calculations per second. Today, the

average person's desktop computer is more powerful than the fastest computers were 30

years ago. The only way this can continue is if a new type of computer is developed.

This computer is known as a nano computer. It may one day replace the modern

computer due to many economic and scientific constraints that will one day halt the

modern computer’s advancement.









The constraints for computers come from the circuits that form them. The

most important component of a computer is its “brain”, commonly referred to as the

central processing unit. Computer chip manufacturers, such as Intel, spend billions of

dollars to build plants and do research that will allow these chips to shrink in size.

However, the costs of research and plants are increasing at a substantial rate. Once the

components of these chips come close to the size of atoms, the costs to build plants may

be in the trillions of dollars (Ellis). What's worse is nothing can become smaller than an

atom, so advances in computer speed will not be possible. However, two upsides do

exist. Scientists estimate the end will come around the year 2010, and scientists are

working on developing a nano computer (Markoff).



The earliest computers, built in the middle of the 20th century, used vacuum

tubes for switching. These machines were so massive and bulky, and demanded so much

electricity to operate, that they required buildings and power plants of their own. In





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addition ,they used more processing power as well as much more energy . So,Scientists

needed to shrink computers to make them more powerful.as The smaller an electronic

system can be made, the more processing power can fit into a given physical volume, the

less energy is required to run it, and the faster it can work (because distances among

components are reduced, minimizing charge-carrier transit time).

But, the technology of putting circuits on silicon, the basis of current

computer chips, is reaching the natural limits of the wafers to hold circuits, turning up the

pressure for a break through. the answer for this is nanocomputing. nanocomputing deals

with building computers whose fundamental components measure only a few nanometers.

Such computers largely known as nanocomputers have their circuitry so small that it can

only be seen through a microscope.it is a computer whose physical dimensions are

microscopic.

This field of Nanocomputing is a part of emerging field of nanotechnology . So,

first of all before going any further in this topic we should clear what nanotechnology is.



NANOTECHNOLOGY



Nanotechnology is an exciting emerging science and technological field that is

making a splash in 2002. Nanotechnology involves man’s ability to create and manipulate

molecules structures to create potentially new materials, devices, machines or objects. A

nanometre is a billionth of a metre, that is, about 1/80,000 of the diameter of a human

hair, or 10 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. . If you blew up a baseball to the size

of the earth, the atoms of the baseball would be about the size of grapes. If you could take

a ruler and measure 10 atoms side by side, you would have a nanometer. The World is on

the brink of a technological revolution beyond any human experience. It has the potential

to bring wealth, health and education to every person on the planet. And it will be able to

do this without consuming natural resources or spewing pollution into the environment.

Nanotechnology is about building things atom by atom, molecule by molecule.



The goal of nanotechnology is to build tiny devices called “nanomachines”. To

build things on such a small scale, you have to be able to manipulate atoms individually.

The challenge of nanotechnology is to place atoms precisely where you wish on a

structure.

Does this all sound like science fiction? Actually, it's based upon scientific fact.

All though we have yet to build a nanomachine, the principles nanotechnology uses are

the well established physical properties of atoms and molecules. Life itself would be

impossible without molecular machines. They are working in your body right now. For

example, consider a protein in the human body. You could think of it as a machine that

moves molecules. This is an oxygen pump used in red blood cells. The heat of other

molecules around it powers it. A channel opens periodically to the center of the protein

alloying oxygen to pass from the outside and bind with iron for transport through out the

body.







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Scientists can now construct natural proteins and even synthesize new ones with

novel properties never seen in nature. With enough understanding, we may be able to turn

proteins into microscopic tools to do the jobs we want.

Manufactured products are made from atoms. The properties of those products

depend on how those atoms are arranged. If we rearrange the atoms in coal we can make

diamond. If we rearrange the atoms in sand (and add a few other trace elements) we can

make computer chips. If we rearrange the atoms in dirt, water and air we can make

potatoes.

Today’s manufacturing methods are very crude at the molecular level. Casting,

grinding, milling and even lithography move atoms in great thundering statistical herds.

It's like trying to make things out of LEGO blocks with boxing gloves on your hands.

Yes, you can push the LEGO blocks into great heaps and pile them up, but you can't

really snap them together the way you'd like.

In the future, Nanotechnology will let us take off the boxing gloves. We'll be able

to snap together the fundamental building blocks of nature easily, inexpensively and in

most of the ways permitted by the laws of physics. This will be essential if we are to

continue the revolution in computer hardware beyond about the next decade, and will also

let us fabricate an entire new generation of products that are cleaner, stronger, lighter, and

more precise.

It's worth pointing out that the word "Nanotechnology" has become very popular

and is used to describe many types of research where the characteristic dimensions are

less than about 1,000 nanometers. For example, continued improvements in lithography

have resulted in line widths that are less than one micron: this work is often called

"Nanotechnology." Sub-micron lithography is clearly very valuable but it is equally clear

that lithography will not let us build semiconductor devices in which individual dopant

atoms are located at specific lattice sites. Many of the exponentially improving trends in

computer hardware capability have remained steady for the last 50 years. There is fairly

widespread belief that these trends are likely to continue for at least another several years,

but then lithography starts to reach its fundamental limits. If we are to continue these

trends we will have to develop a new "post-lithographic" manufacturing technology

which will let us inexpensively build computer systems with mole quantities of logic

elements that are molecular in both size and precision and are interconnected in complex

and highly idiosyncratic patterns. Nanotechnology will let us do this.

An early promoter of the industrial applications of Nanotechnology, Albert

Franks, defined it as 'that area of science and technology where dimensions and tolerances

in the range of 0.1nm to 100 nm play a critical role'. It encompasses precision engineering

as well as electronics; electromechanical systems (eg 'lab-on-a-chip' devices) as well as

mainstream biomedical applications in areas as diverse as gene therapy, drug delivery and

novel drug discovery techniques. Nanotechnology is all about manipulating and

controlling things on a small scale.









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Computers reproduce information at almost no cost. A push is well underway to

invent devices that manufacture at almost no cost, by treating atoms discretely, like

computers treat bits of information.This would allow automatic construction of consumer

goods without traditional labor, like a Xerox machine produces unlimited copies without

a human retyping the original information.

Electronics is fueled by miniaturization. Working smaller has led to the tools

capable of manipulating individual atoms like the proteins ina potato manipulate the

atoms of soil, air and water to make copies of itself.

The shotgun marriage of chemistry and engineering called "Nanotechnology" is

ushering in the era of self-replicating machinery and self-assembling consumer goods

made from cheap raw atoms Utilizing the well understood chemical properties of atoms

and molecules (how they "stick" together), Nanotechnology proposes the construction of

novel molecular devices possessing extraordinary properties. The trick is to manipulate

atoms individually and place them exactly where needed to produce the desired structure.

This ability is almost in our grasp. The anticipated payoff for mastering this technology is

far beyond any human accomplishment so far...



 Some applications of nanotechnology which one can’t imagine in their dreams :-

 Self-assembling consumer goods

 Computers billions of times faster

 Extremely novel inventions (impossible today)

 Safe and affordable space travel

 Medical Nano... virtual end to illness, aging, death

 No more pollution and automatic cleanup of already existing pollution

 Molecular food syntheses... end of famine and starvation

 Access to a superior education for every child on Earth

 Reintroduction of many extinct plants and animals

 Terra forming here and the Solar System

In a world of information, digital technologies have made copying fast, cheap ,

and perfect, quite independent of cost or complexity of the content. What if the same

were to happen in the world of matter? The production cost of a ton of terabyte RAM

chips would be about the same as the production cost of steel. Design costs would matter,

production costs wouldn't.

By treating atoms as discrete, bit-like objects, molecular manufacturing will bring

a digital revolution to the production of material objects. Working at the resolution limit

of matter, it will enable the ultimate in miniaturization and performance. By starting with

cheap, abundant components--molecules-and processing them with small, high-

frequency, high-productivity machines, it will make products inexpensive. Design

computers that each execute more instructions per second than all of the semiconductor

CPUs in the world combined.









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Taking all of this into account, it is clear that Nanotechnology should improve our

lives in any area that would benefit from the development of better, faster, stronger,

smaller, and cheaper systems.







2. DRAWBACKS OF NANOCOMPUTERS



Proponents predict that nanotechnology will ignite the industrial revolution of the

21st century, the effects of which will have a greater impact on the world’s population

than antibiotics, integrated circuits, and human-made polymers combined. Now that

scientists have the tools and are developing the skills to manipulate nature’s building

blocks, nanotech enthusiasts tout some mind-bending scenarios.

Yet some business-world skeptics wonder when nanotechnology’s promise will

translate into practical applications-or if they will at all. With a few exceptions,

nanotechnology still resides in university laboratories and corporate and government

research facilities, where scientists are devising the technology to build structures and

substances that are smaller, lighter, faster, stronger, and more efficient than more

conventional-products.



“This is pioneering new technology. It takes time for these ideas and areas to

germinate,” says Pat Dillon, a programs director at Minnesota Project Innovation Inc., a

Minneapolis organization that helps small Minnesota companies identify and capitalize

on federal research-funding opportunities. “In the meantime, people in the commercial

world are looking at what’s happening at the university level wondering, ‘How am I

going to be able to build a business around this technology? What’s the opportunity?

What’s the product? Who’s going to buy it?’”



In other words, can nanotechnology live up to its fantastic hype?WillieHendrickson is the

head of the new nanotechnologies in Rushford.This is a promising area, but we don’t

want to over-promise, or promise in an unrealistic timeframe,” says Rick Kiehl, an

electrical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. “As with any scientific or

technological developments, if people hear too much about it too early, a sense of

disappointment inevitably builds up, and we don’t want to see that happen. The people

who expect this field to produce something tomorrow are only referring to a very small

part of it. And in my opinion, this is more of a medium- to long-range proposition.”



Unlike most technologies, which are quite specific and limited to one industry,

nanotechnology cuts across almost every imaginable industry,” Uldrich says. “My job is

to get the state focused on the future. I’m not an advocate of putting money down on one

horse and hoping it takes off; that’s like pinning the state’s hopes on picking the next

Microsoft. With nanotechnology, we’re betting on the racetrack. If we start investing in

the broad science right now, we’ll be able to position ourselves formidably in a wide







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variety of industries-the material sciences, biomedical, telecommunications, and on and

on.”

A nanocomputer is a computer whose physical dimensions are

microscopic. Several types of nanocomputers have been suggested or proposed

by researchers and futurists .









3. TYPES OF NANOCOMPUTERS



Electronic nanocomputers would operate in a manner similar to the way present-

day microcomputers work. The main difference is one of physical scale. More and more

transistors are squeezed into silicon chips with each passing year; witness the evolution of

integrated circuits (ICs) capable of ever-increasing storage capacity and processing

power. The ultimate limit to the number of transistors per unit volume is imposed by the

atomic structure of matter. Most engineers agree that technology has not yet come close

to pushing this limit. In the electronic sense, the term Nanocomputer is relative. By 1970s

standards, today's ordinary microprocessors might be called Nanodevices.

Chemical and biochemical Nanocomputers would store and process information

in terms of chemical structures and interactions. Biochemical Nanocomputers already

exist in nature; they are manifest in all living things. But these systems are largely

uncontrollable by humans. We cannot, for example, program a tree to calculate the digits

of pi or program an antibody to fight a particular disease (although medical science has

come close to this ideal in the formulation of vaccines, antibiotics, and antiviral

medications). The development of a true chemical Nanocomputer will likely proceed

along lines similar to genetic engineering. Engineers must figure out how to get

individual atoms and molecules to perform controllable calculations and data storage

tasks.

Mechanical Nanocomputers would use tiny moving components called Nanogears

to encode information. Such a machine is reminiscent of Charles Babbage's analytical

engines of the 19th century. For this reason, mechanical Nanocomputer technology has

sparked controversy; some researchers consider it unworkable. All the problems inherent

in Babbage's apparatus, according to the naysayers, are magnified a millionfold in a

mechanical Nanocomputer. Nevertheless, some futurists are optimistic about the

technology, and have even proposed the evolution of Nanorobots that could operate, or be

controlled by, mechanical Nanocomputers.

A Quantum Nanocomputer would work by storing data in the form of

atomic quantum states or spin. Technology of this kind is already under development in

the form of single-electron memory (SEM) and quantum dots. The energy state of an

electron within an atom, represented by the electron energy level or shell, can

theoretically represent one, two, four, eight, or even 16 bits of data. The main problem

with this technology is instability. Instantaneous electron energy states are difficult to





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predict and even more difficult to control. An electron can easily fall to a lower energy

state, emitting a photon conversely, a photon striking an atom can cause one of its

electrons to jump to a higher energy state.



3.1 ELECTRONIC NANOCOMPUTERS



The power, flexibility, and ease of manufacture of conventional microelectronic

two-state devices have been and continue to be at the heart of the revolution in computer

and information technology that has swept the world during the past half century. Among

the key properties of these solid-state devices has been that they have lent themselves to

the miniaturization of electronic devices, especially computers. First, in the 1950s and

1960s, solid state devices--transistors--replaced vacuum tubes and miniaturized all the

devices (e.g., radios, televisions, and electronic computers) that originally had been

invented and manufactured using tube technology. Then, starting in the mid-1960s,

successive generations of smaller transistors began replacing larger ones. This permitted

more transistors and more computing power to be packed in the same small space.In fact,

as noted by Gordon Moore, the founder of the Intel Corporation, the number of transistors

on a solid state silicon integrated circuit "chip" began doubling every 18 months. This

trend, now known as Moore's Law has continued to the present day. Very soon, however,

if computers are to continue to get smaller and more powerful at the same rate,

fundamentally new operational principles and fabrication technologies such as

Nanolithography will need to be employed for miniature electronic devices.



Nanolithography is used to create microscopic circuits. It is the art and science of

etching, writing, or printing at the microscopic level, where the dimensions of characters

are on the order of nanometers (units of 10-9 meter, or millionths of a millimeter). This

includes various methods of modifying semiconductor chips at the atom ic level for the

purpose of fabricating integrated circuits (IC).

Instruments used in Nanolithography include the Scanning Probe Microscope

(SPM) and the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The SPM allows surface viewing in

fine detail without necessarily modifying it. Either the SPM or the ATM can be used to

etch, write, or print on a surface in single-atom dimensions.





MECHANICAL COMPUTERS





Nanotechnology pioneers Eric Drexler Ralph Merkle and their

collaborators favor Nanocomputer designs that resemble miniature Babbage engines,

mechanical Nanocomputers that would calculate using moving molecular-scale rods and

rotating molecular-scale gears spinning on shafts and bearings. This idea originated in a

1959 talk entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" presented by the late Nobel-

Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman Feynman pointed out that such tiny machinery

was not prohibited by any known physical principle.





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Merkle envision that these tiny machines and computers would be

assembled by the mechanical positioning of atoms or molecular building blocks one atom

or molecule at a time, a process known as ``mechanosynthesis." Once assembled, the

mechanical Nanocomputer would operate a bit like a vastly scaled down, complex

programmable versions of the mechanical calculators that were familiar office tools in the

period 1940 through 1970, preceding the introduction of widely available, inexpensive

solid-state electronic calculators. Strong arguments can be made in favor of such an

approach. For one thing, quantum mechanics assures that the molecular-scale moving

parts should not be subject to the large frictional effects that defeated earlier attempts to

build complex macroscopic mechanical computers, such as those designed by Charles

Babbage in the 1830s and 1840s. However, there are near-term drawbacks. One such

drawback is that the fabrication of such nanomechanical devices is likely to require

"hand-made" parts assembled one atom or molecular subunit at a time using STMs in

processes that are relatively slow. While this might be done, it would be tedious work to

move even a few atoms into a specific position this way, and it would be increasingly

more difficult to manufacture reliably the many precision parts for the computer. It is

possible, though, that this problem might be alleviated, somewhat, by the perfection and

evolution of recently developed STM arrays that could build many nanoscale components

in parallel. Stereospecific chemical reactions and chemical self-assembly also might be

applied to help realize a mechanical nanocomputer.





3.3 CHEMICAL & BIO-CHEMICAL COMPUTERS



In general terms, a chemical computer is one that processes information by

making and breaking chemical bonds, and it stores logic states or information in the

resulting chemical (i.e., molecular) structures. A chemical nanocomputer would perform

such operations selectively among molecules taken just a few at a time in volumes only a

few nanometers on a side. Proponents of a variant of chemical nanocomputers,

biochemically based computers, can point to an "existence proof" for them in the

commonplace activities of humans and other animals with multicellular nervous systems.

Nonetheless, artificial fabrication or implementation of this category of "natural,"

or biomimetic biochemically based computers seems far off because the mechanisms for

animal brains and nervous systems still are poorly understood. In the absence of this

deeper understanding, research on biochemically-based computers has proceeded in

alternative directions. One alternative direction has been to adapt naturally occurring

biochemicals for use in computing processes that do not occur in nature an important

example of this is.

A nanocomputer that uses DNA (deoxyribonucleic acids) to store information and

perform complex calculations. In 1994, University of Southern California computer

scientist Leonard Adelman suggested that DNA could be used to solve complex

mathematical problems. Adleman is often called the inventor of DNA computers. His

article in a 1994 issue of the journal Science outlined how to use DNA to solve a well-





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known mathematical problem, called the Directed Hamilton Path problem, also known

as the "traveling salesman" problem. The goal of the problem is to find the shortest route

between a number of cities, going through each city only once. As you add more cities to

the problem, the problem becomes more difficult. Adleman chose to find the shortest

route between seven citie





 Fig : Adelman's DNA-based computer









You could probably draw this problem out on paper and come to a solution faster than

Adleman did using his DNA test-tube computer. Here are the steps taken in the Adleman

DNA computer experiment:



 Strands of DNA represent the seven cities. In genes, genetic coding is represented

by the letters A, T, C and G. Some sequence of these four letters represented each city

and possible flight path.

 These molecules are then mixed in a test tube, with some of these DNA strands

sticking together. A chain of these strands represents a possible answer.

 Within a few seconds, all of the possible combinations of DNA strands, which

represent answers, are created in the test tube.

Adleman eliminates the wrong molecules through chemical reactions,which

leaves behind only the flight paths that connect all seven cities.

The success of the Adleman DNA computer proves that DNA can be used to

calculate complex mathematical problems. However, this early DNA computer is far

from challenging silicon-based computers in terms of speed. The Adleman DNA

computer created a group of possible answers very quickly, but it took days for Adleman

to narrow down the possibilities. Another drawback of his DNA computer is that it

requires human assistance. The goal of the DNA computing field is to create a device

that can work independent of human involvement.







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Three years after Adleman's experiment, researchers at the University of

Rochester developed logic gates made of DNA. Logic gates are a vital part of how your

computer carries out functions that you command it to do. These gates convert binary

code moving through the computer into a series of signals that the computer uses to

perform operations. Currently, logic gates interpret input signals from silicon transistors

and convert those signals into an output signal that allows the computer to perform

complex functions.

The Rochester team's DNA logic gates are the first step toward creating a

computer that has a structure similar to that of an electronic PC instead of using electrical

signals to perform logical operations, these DNA logic gates rely on DNA code. They

detect fragments of genetic material as input, splice together these fragments and form a

single output. For instance, a genetic gate called the "And gate" links two DNA inputs by

chemically binding them so they're locked in an end-to-end structure, similar to the way

two Legos might be fastened by a third Lego between them. The researchers believe that

these logic gates might be combined with DNA microchips to create a breakthrough in

DNA computing.

DNA computer components -- logic gates and biochips -- will take years to develop

into a practical, workable DNA computer. If such a computer is ever built, scientists say

that it will be more compact, accurate and efficient than conventional computers. In the

next section, we'll look at how DNA computers could surpass their silicon-based

predecessors, and what tasks these computers would perform.

The main benefit o using DNA computers to solve complex problems is that different

possible solutions are created all at once. This is known as parallel processing .Humans

and most electronic computers must attempt to solve the problem one process at a time

(linear processing). DNA itself provides the added benefits of being a cheap, energy-

efficient resource.

In a different perspective, more than 10 trillion DNA molecules can fit into an area no

larger than 1 cubic centimeter. With this, a DNA computer could hold 10 terabytes of

data and perform 10 trillion calculations at a time.





3.4 QUANTUM NANOCOMPUTERS



3..4.1 BASIC TERMS

1) Quantum-Computer :



A quantum computer is a machine, as-yet hypothetical, that performs calculations

based on the behavior of particles at the sub-atomic level. Such a computer will be, if it is

ever developed, capable of executing far more millions of instructions per

second (MIPS) than any previous computer.

2) Qubits :





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Engineers have coined the term qubit (pronounced KYEW-bit) to denote the

fundamental data unit in a quantum computer. A qubit is essentially a bit (binary digit)

that can take on several, or many, values simultaneously.

3) Teleportation :

Teleportation involves dematerializing an object at one point, and sending the

details of that object's precise atomic configuration to another location, where it will be

reconstructed. What this means is that time and space could be eliminated from travel --

we could be transported to any location instantly, without actually crossing a physical

distance.



4) Quantum mechanics :

As the name implies, a quantum computer involves quantum mechanics. A

quantum computer uses subatomic particles, such as electrons and protons, to solve

problems. According to quantum mechanics, electrons can be in many different places

and many different states all at the same instance in time (Carey A1). The possibility that

an electron can be anywhere or be in different states is supposed to make quantum

computers extremely fast (Carey A1). This along with other laws of quantum mechanics

present the most challenges for building quantum computers.



3.4.2 INTRODUCTION

Recently, there has been serious interest in the possibility of fabricating and

applying nanoscale quantum computers. In a quantum computer, it is proposed that

massively parallel computations can be performed through the ``natural" mechanism of

interference among the quantum waves associated with the nanoscale components of a

multicomponent, coherent quantum state. Proposed quantum computers would represent

each bit of information as a quantum state of some component of the computer, e.g., the

spin orientation of an atom. According to quantum mechanics, the state of each nanoscale

component of a system can be represented by a wave. These quantum matter waves are

analogous to light waves, except that their wavelengths tend to be much shorter, in

inverse proportion to the momentum of the quantized component. Thus, the quantum

waves can be manipulated in the space of only a few nanometers, unlike most light of

moderate, nondestructive energy, which has wavelengths of several hundred nanometers.

By carefully setting up the states for the components of the quantum system, a desired

computation is performed through the wave interference among the quantized

components. All discrete computational path would be considered at once, at the speed of

light, through the wave interference patterns--fast, intrinsic parallel computation. Given

the correct initial preparation of the entire multicomponent computational system,

constructive interference among the components' waves would emphasize those wave

patterns which correspond to correct solutions to the problem, and destructive

interference would weed out the incorrect solutions.









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The idea for a quantum computer is based upon the work of Paul Benioff in the

early 1980s and that of David Deutsch and Richard Feynman, in the mid-1980s. Although

quantum computers originally were proposed as a theoretical construct for considering

the limits of computation, some researchers have suggested that fundamentally hard and

economically important problems could be solved much more rapidly using quantum

interference and parallelism. In particular, Peter Shor has proven that a quantum

computer could factor large numbers very rapidly and thereby, perhaps, provide

cryptographers with a powerful new tool with which to crack difficult codes. Some

proposals have been made for implementing such a computer. Seth Lloyd, in particular,

has attracted much attention recently with a mechanism he has proposed for the practical

implementation of quantum computers. There have been some quantitative arguments,

though, that cast doubts upon the specifics and the ultimate utility of Lloyd's proposals.

More general reservations about proposed quantum computers include the fact that they

would have to be assembled and initialized with great and unprecedented precision.

Quantum computers would be very sensitive to extremely small physical distortions and

stray photons, which would cause the loss of the phase coherence in the multicomponent

quantum state. Thus, they would have to be carefully isolated from all external effects and

operated at temperatures very close to absolute zero. Even then, some errors are likely to

be an intrinsic problem, though they do not rule out the eventual application of quantum

computers to solve certain classes of difficult problems.

3.4.3 QUANTUM BASICS



For a non-scientist, understanding how quantum computing works is darn near

impossible. But the basics are worth taking a stab at.



Atoms have a natural spin or orientation, in the way a needle on a compass has an

orientation. The spin can either be up or down. That coincides nicely with digital

technology, which represents everything by a series of 1s and 0s. With an atom, a spin

pointing up can be 1; down can be 0. Flipping the spin up or down could be like flipping

the switch on and off (or between 1 and 0) on a tiny transistor.



So far so good. But here's one of the weird parts, which also is the source of

quantum computing's great power. An atom, which is not visible to the naked eye, can be

both up and down at the same time until you measure it. The act of measuring it --

whether using instruments or a powerful microscope -- forces it to choose between up or

down.



Don't ask why it works that way. It's part of quantum mechanics, which is a set of

laws -- like Einstein's theory of relativity -- that govern the universe. In this case, the laws

govern the tiniest objects in the universe. Quantum mechanics is entirely unlike anything

in the world of ordinary experiences. The laws are so bizarre they seem made up. Yet

they've been proven time and again.



Since an atom can be up and down at once -- called putting it into a superposition --





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it's not just equal to one bit, as in a traditional computer. It's something else. Scientists

call it a qubit. If you put a bunch of qubits together, they don't do calculations linearly like

today's computers. They are, in a sense, doing all possible calculations at the same time --

in a way, straddling all the possible answers. The act of measuring the qubits stops the

calculating process and forces them to settle on an answer.



Forty qubits could have the power of one of today's supercomputers. A supercomputer

trying to find one phone number in a database of all the world's phone books would take a

month, Chuang says. A quantum computer could do it in 27 minutes.









3.4.4 QUANTUM NANOCOMPUTER VERSUS CLASSICAL COMPUTER



The only similarity a quantum computer should have to an ordinary computer is

usefulness. A quantum computer will not be a machine in a box; instead it may look

like some big magnets surrounded by other stuff. A quantum computer may differ from a

modern computer in other ways also. For example, a quantum computer may not have

the permanent data storage a modern computer has with a hard drive. However, a

quantum computer will certainly need a device similar to a monitor in order to be of any

use to an average person. The composition of a quantum computer helps give it many

advantages.



Scientists are trying to develop a quantum computer due to its potential. A

quantum computer is supposed to be able to solve a problem all at once instead of in steps

(Markoff). A modern computer takes a problem and quickly solves a single step then

moves on to the next one. If there are trillions of things to search through, like every

word on the Internet, this can be extremely slow (Markoff). However, a quantum

computer would be exponentially faster than a modern computer.



 A quantum computer shows no resemblance to a modern computer.

 Perhaps an even more useful task for the quantumcomputer involves factoring

numbers.

 Modern computers have been used a lot for factoring large numbers.



"The largest number ever known to have been factorized had 129 digits. It took a

network of supercomputers working in parallel eight months to find the answer! To

factorize a 1,000-digit number would take our most powerful conventional

supercomputers more than the estimated 100 billion years the universe has left to run"

(Ellis). Factoring large numbers is known as cryptography (Ellis). It is used to secure

things over the Internet such as financial transactions and email (Ellis). However, "a

quantum computer would break the most sophisticated code in no time flat" (Ellis). This







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basically means someone could intercept someone else's email messages. A quantum

computer's potential goes beyond cryptography.

A quantum computer may prove useful in the math and physics. A

quantum computer would be fast enough for physicists to do computer

simulations of nuclear explosions and other physical processes (Powell).

A quantum computer could enable mathematicians to solve seemingly impossible

problems. While these two things might not sound great for people outside the

scientific community, a quantum computer will probably be more useful for

things that seem impossible.

One thing that scientists have deemed possible is teleportation (Hall).

However, teleportation has many problems and challenges in front of it just like

the quantum computer. Because teleportation uses quantum physics, the

development of the quantum computer may help scientists learn more to solve

problems related to teleportation. Fortunately, researchers have made some

progress developing a quantum computer.

Two physicists, Neil Gershenfield and Isaac Chuang, have built a very basic

quantum computer (Winters 94). They were able to solve two simple problems.

They used liquid alanine to solve the problem one plus one (Winters 94). They

were able to solve another problem in liquid chloroform (Markoff). This

problem was to select a correct telephone number given four different numbers

(Winters 94). The physicists hope to be able to make a more complex quantum

computer that is able to factor 15 into 5 and 3 (Winters 95). While all of these

tasks are simple for a modern computer, the process to solve the problem was

done differently than it would have been done on a modern computer. All

possible answers were checked at the same time, compared to checking each

answer until the correct one was found (Markoff).

3.4.5 QUANTUM NANO-ENCRYPTION

Quantum encryption pioneers promise to put the world's first uncrackably secure

networks online by early 2003. Based on the quantum properties of photons, quantum

encryption guarantees absolutely secure optical communications.

Three independent experiments recently have demonstrated such systems.

Geneva-based id Quantique SA encoded a secure transmission on a 70-kilometer fiber-

optic link in Europe; MajiQ Technologies Inc., here, used a 30-km link; and researchers

at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) demonstrated a 250-Mbit/second quantum

encrypted transmission over a short link.

"Our quantum random-number generator and our single-photon detector module

are available now and are in use by several customers around the world," said Gregoire

Ribordy, a manager at id Quantique. A beta version of a third product, a quantum-key

distribution system, "has been fully tested, and we are in advanced discussions with

several potential launch customers," he added.







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3.4.6 SECURING THE INTERNET

For its part, MagiQ says that its Navajo system is currently at the alpha stage and

promises real beta sites on selected campuses in the United States in the first quarter.

Both companies are also talking about secure through-the-air communications with

satellites.

Northwestern, meanwhile, vows to have a 2.5-Gbit/s quantum- technology

encryption capable of securing the Internet backbone in five years. It says that

commercial partners are working with the technology.

There is strong interest in quantum encryption because of its ability to completely

eliminate the possibility of eavesdropping. Today encryption/decryption methods are only

as good as the length of the key - a 56- to 256-bit value used to scramble the data to be

transmitted with a one-way function - that's used to encrypt a message. A common way to

create such a one-way function is to multiply two large prime numbers, a simple

operation for a computer to perform. However, going backward - that is, taking a large

number and finding its prime factors - is very difficult for computers to execute.

Other methods use some hard mathematical problem to create one-way functions,

but any scheme of that kind is vulnerable both to advances in computational power and

new breakthroughs in mathematics.



3.4.7 APPLICATIONS OF QUANTUM NANOCOMPUTING

Quantum computers might prove especially useful in the following applications :

 Breaking ciphers

 Statistical analysis

 Factoring large numbers

 Solving problems in theoretical physics

 Solving optimization problems in many variables

3.4.8 DISADVANTAGES OF QUANTUM NANOCOMPUTING

The technology needed to build a quantum computer is currently beyond our

reach. This is due to the fact that the coherent state, fundamental to a quantum computers

operation, is destroyed as soon as it is measurably affected by its environment. Attempts

at combatting this problem have had little success, but the hunt for a practical solution

continues.









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4. FUTURE SCOPE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Here's a date for your diary November 1st, 2011. According to a group of

researchers calling themselves the Nanocomputer Dream Team, that's the day they'll

unveil a revolutionary kind of computer, themost powerful ever seen. Their

nanocomputer will be made out of atoms.

First suggested by Richard Feynman in 1959, the idea of nanotechnology,

constructing at the atomic level, is now a major research topic worldwide. Theoreticians

have already come up with designs for simple mechanical structures like bearings, hinges,

gears and pumps, each made from a few collections of atoms. These currently exist only

as computer simulations, and the race is on to fabricate the designs and prove that they

can work.

Moving individual atoms around at will sounds like fantasy, but it's already been

demonstrated in the lab. In 1989, scientists at IBM used an electron microscope to shuffle

35 xenon atoms into the shape of their company's logo. Since then a team at IBM's Zurich

labs has achieved the incredible feat of creating a working abacus on the atomic scale.









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Each bead is a single molecule of buckminsterfullerene (a buckyball), comprising

60 atoms of carbon linked into a football shape. The beads slide up and down a copper

plate, nudged by the tip of an electron microscope.

The Nanocomputer Dream Team wants to use these techniques to build an atomic

computer. Such a computer, they say can then be used to control simple molecular

construction machines, which can then build more complex molecular devices, ultimately

giving complete control of the molecular world.

The driving force behind the Dream Team is Bill Spence, publisher of

Nanotechnology magazine. Spence is convinced that the technology can be made to work,

and has enlisted the help of over 300 enthusiasts with diverse backgrounds - engineers,

physicists, chemists, programmers and artificial intelligence researchers. The whole team

has never met, and probably never will. They communicate by email and pool their ideas

on the Web. There's only one problem. Nobody is quite sure how to build a digital

nanocomputer.

The most promising idea is rod logic, invented by nanotechnology pioneer Eric

Drexler, now chairman of the leading nano think tank The Foresight Institute. Rod logic

uses stiff rods made from short chains of carbon atoms. Around each rod sits a knob

made of a ring of atoms. The rods are fitted into an interlocking lattice, where each rod

can slide between two positions, and be reset by a spring made of another few atoms.

Drexler has shown how to use such an arrangement to achieve the effect of a

conventional electronic transistor, where the flow of current in one wire is switched on

and off by current in a different wire. Once you have transistors, you can build a NAND

gate. From NAND gates you can construct every other logic elements a computer needs.









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Apart from the immensely difficult problem of physically piecing together these

molecular structures, massive calculations are required to determine if particular

molecular configurations are even possible. The Dream Team will perform these

molecular simulation calculations using metacomputing where each person's PC performs

a tiny part of the overall calculation, and the results are collated on the Web. There are

already prototype tools for experimenting with molecular configurations, such as

NanoCAD, a freeware nano design system including Java source code.

This may all sound like pie in the sky, but there's serious research and

development money being spent on nanotechnology. A recent survey counted over 200

companies and university research groups working in the field. And April 1997 saw the

foundation of Zyvex, the world's first nanotechnology manufacturing company. Zyvex's

goal is to build an assembler, the basic element required for nanotechnology. The

assembler will itself be a machine made from molecules, fitted with atom sized tools for

manipulating other molecules to build other machines. It will also be capable of

replicating itself from the materials around it.

While they may lack any actual working prototypes of their technology,

nanotechnologists are certainly not short of ideas. Once you have the ability to make

molecular machines, the possibilities are amazing and often bizarre. One idea is utility

fog, where billions of submicroscopic molecular robots each containing a nanocomputer

are linked together to form a solid mass. Controlled by a master nanocomputer, the robots

could alter their configurations to create any object you like.









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Nanotechnology does come with one tiny drawback, however. What happens if a

molecular machine goes haywire, and instead of building, starts demolishing the

molecules around it? The world would quite literally fall apart.

Nanocomputers, if they ever appear, will be extraordinary things. But if, like most

computer systems, they have bugs, they could also be very nasty indeed.









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5. APPLICATIONS OF NANOCOMPUTERS

5.1 NANOSPACE

Space science as long played a role in the research and development of advancing

technologies. Spacecraft are being launched, with hulls that are composed of carbon

fibers, a light weight high strength material. Combine that with smaller on board

computers that perform hundreds of times faster than computers used on spacecraft just a

decade ago and one can see the why of incredible advances in space exploration in just

the past few years. The advancements in material science and computer science have

allowed the building, launching and deploying of space exploration systems that

continually do more and more as they become smaller and lighter.

Some of the latest avenues being explored, that are more in the nano realm, in

space science, include smart materials for the hulls of spacecraft. These would be

materials primarily composed of nanotube fibers with nano sized computers integrated

into them. These materials along with being even lighter will also be far stronger too. One

idea is to create a surface that will help transfer the aerodynamic forces working on a

spacecraft during launch. When the craft is launched the nano computers will flex the

crafts hull to offset pressure differences in the hull caused by the crafts acceleration

through the atmosphere. Then the same nano computer network in the hull would go to

work heating the shaded side of the craft and cooling the sun exposed side and to even

create heat shielding for reentry. To equalize the surface temperature now, a spacecraft

must be kept rotating and although a slight spin is good in maintaining the attitude of a

craft somtimes it interferes with the mission plan, like when a spacecraft is taking

photographs or is in the process of docking with another craft, also now upon reentry

spacecraft have to be oriented just right. With a smart material hull ablationing materials

could be gathered in real time obviating any crucial departures in mission landing plans.

Another avenue being investicated is a concept of nano robotics called

"Swarms". Swarms are nano robots that act in unison like bees. They theoretically, will

act as a flexible cloth like material and being composed of what's called Bucky tubes, this

cloth will be as strong as diamond. Add to this cloth of nano machines nano computers

and you have smart cloth. This smart cloth could be used to keep astronauts from

bouncing around inside their spacecraft while they sleep, a problem that arises when the

auto pilot computer fires the course correction rockets. The cloth like material will be

able to offset the sudden movements and slowly move the sleeping astronaut back into

position. Still another application for the nano robot swarms, being considered, is that the

smart cloth could be used in the astronauts space suits. This material will not only be

capable of repairing itself quickly or controlling the environment inside the suit but it will

be able to communicate with it's wearer what it is doing and what's going on outside the

suit. On the planet Mars for example a suit made of smart cloth could extract oxygen

from the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for the wearer. The same suit could extract

solar energy to power the suit.







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This suit would also literally be a life saver on Earth. Imagine a fire fighter

wearing a suit that could extract Oxygen from the environment he is in. "Foam Swarms"

not even as a suit but sprayed from a container about like the average sized hand held fire

extinguisher could be used to extract and store dangerous toxins and flamables. The smart

foam under the control of a fire fighter would act as a portable environment that would

engulf any victims found, protecting them from heat and toxic gas, and supply them with

oxygen. The Smart foam would be able to shape some of itself into a suit for the victim

and begin to monitor the victims vitals and even be able to report to an on site, or by

wireless satellite communication, off site medic or doctor the condition of the victim

including broken bones etc. The smart suit could even upon sensing a broken bone begin

to reinforce and create on the spot a cast, a cast that would be able to act on the damaged

bone so the victim could walk out on a broken leg. The smart foam would also be able to

utilize different stratagies to dissipate heat, for example, it could shape itself into a

radiator so as to dump heat away from the fire fighters and victims.



A space suit is nothing more nor less than an incredible space ship itself so this same

smart cloth could be the super structure of a deep space probe replete with an on board

A.I computer capable of creating the science experiments needed enroute to its

destination and capable of not only making changes in mission plans but creating even

new experiments as they are needed or wanted. The same super explorer could even

create its own solar energy gathering panels if appropriate or utilizing R.T.G technology

with plutonium also it will be able to repair itself. And while all of the above is going on

the craft could even expand it's own computing capabilities if need be.

Another application of nano robots would be in carrying out construction projects in

hostile environments, for example with just a handfull, of self replicating robots, utilizing

local materials, and local energy it's conceivable that space habitats can be completely

constructed by remote control so that the inhabitants need only show up with their

suitcases. Colonization of space begins to make economic sense then, since it would only

take one saturn type rocket to create a complete space colony on mars, for example. An

engineer or a team of engineers could check up on the construction of the habitat via

telepresents utilizing cameras and sensors created on the surface of Mars by the nano bots

all from the comfortable confines of Earth. Then once the habitat is complete humans can

show up to orchestrate the expansion of the exploration. Venus could be explored with

nano robots too. Super Hulls could be fashioned by nano robots to withstand the intense

pressures and corrosive gases of the venusian atmosphere, to safely house nano robot

built sensors and equiptment. The potential in all of this is getting a lot more space

exploraton accomplished with less investment of resources and a lot less danger to human

explorers.









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5.2 CANCEL CANCER



1)

Provide a brief history of the science that led to the development of the

technical application the team has selected. Explain the problem your

team has selected.



Nanotechnology was first proposed on December 29th 1959 by Richard Feynman in

his speech, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom." He gave this speech at the annual

meeting of the American Physical Society at the California Institute of Technology. In his

speech he stated " I am not afraid to consider the final question as to whether,

ultimately-in the great future-we can arrange the atoms the way we want; the very

atoms, all the waydown!" Feynman stated that the laws of physics do not prevent us

from manipulating individual atoms or molecules. The only limitation they had was no

appropriate method to do so. He also predicted that at some point in time, the methods for

atomic manipulation would be available. Feynman declared that we should use the

bottom-up approach instead of the top-down approach. The top-down approach would

modify the shape and size of materials to meet specific needs for assembly of these

materials. The bottom-up approach would produce components made of single molecules

held together by covalent bonds, which are much stronger than the forces that hold

together macro-components. By using the bottom-up approach, the amount of

information that can be stored in devices would be incredible.

However, it wasn’t until 1974 that Norio Taniguchi created the term

“Nanotechnology” at the University of Tokyo. Taniguchi distinguished engineering at the

micrometer scale from a new, sub-micrometer level, which he called "nano-technology."

In 1981, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer invented the Scanning Tunneling

Microscope (STM) at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory and later created the Atomic

Force Microscope in 1986. With the discovery of these two inventions they could not

only photograph individual atoms, but could actually move the atom around. In addition,

John Foster of IBM Almaden labs was able to spell “IBM” with 35 xenon atoms on a

nickel using Scanning Tunneling Microscope to control the atoms.

The investigation of nanotechnology expanded in 1985 when Professor Richard

Smalley, Robert Curl, Jr., and Harold Kroto discovered a new form of carbon, which was

a molecule of sixty carbon atoms. This supercarbon has become one of a growing number

of building blocks for a new class of nano-sized products. Then, eleven years later, they

won the Nobel Prize.

In 1986, Eric Drexler wrote Engines of Creation. It dealt with the concept of

molecular manufacturing and included a full-length examination of the possibilities of





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nanotechnology. He proposed the idea of universal assemblers, robotic type machines,

which form the basis of molecular manufacturing. Therefore, it will allow us to build

anything atom-by-atom, molecule by molecule, using an “assembler” that is controlled

by a computer to move the atoms where you desire. As he began to explain this theory, he

stated “In biology, enzymes stick molecules together in new patterns all the time. In

every cell, there are programmable, numerically controlled machine tools that

manufacture protein molecules according to genetic instructions. If you can build

one molecular machine, then you can use it to build an even better molecular

machine.”



In the spring of 1988, Eric Drexler taught the first formal course in

nanotechnology while visiting Stanford University. He suggested the possibility of nano-

sized objects that are self- duplicating robots or nanomachines that would roam around in

the body killing cancer cells.

Drexler received a doctorate degree in the field of nanotechnology from MIT in

1991. In 1992, he published another book called Nanosystems to provide a graduate level

introduction to the physical and engineering standards of the field.

The publication of an issue of Scientific American that focused on

nanotechnology in September 2001 is considered a milestone. The June 15 and July 1

issues of Red Herring were also considered milestones.

There were many scientific advances that led to the concept of nanotechnology.

Many contributors helped with the theory, such as Feyman giving his speech or Drexler

teaching a course. Nanotechnology will have many more improvements in the future and

will benefit our society



2)

Identify two scientists or engineers that have made major contributions

to this technical application.

Shuming Nie has made a very major contribution to the field where medicine and

nanotechnology meet. Nie’s work has shown that Nano particles can be used to detect

cancer at its early stages. The use of his latest technology on molecules that are linked

with cancer may be the key to improved cancer detection, which in turn will save

thousands of lives.

Nie’s latest technology involves the use of quantum dots. He work, in a way,

color-codes biological molecules, such as genes and proteins, allowing doctors or

physicians to see and identify the exact location of selected molecules in the cells and

tissues of a living person. This technology works through several steps and series. The

fluorescent quantum dots that conduct little electricity are implanted inside micron-sized

polystyrene beads. The different colors are produced because of the varying sizes and

quantities of the dots that are embedded into the beads. Shuming Nie then attaches these

beads to biological molecules such as antibodies or proteins and then applies them to







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cells and tissue samples in the laboratory. These antibodies attached to the beads will then

hold on or stick to specific molecules. This makes identifying the location and figuring

out the number of these molecules that are present easier. This technique, when targeted

at cancer cells, allows us to see whether or not cancer cells are present.

However, Drexler cannot be given all the credit, for he learned from the best,

Richard Feyman. Drexler was a one-time student of Feyman. Drexler is considered to be

the founding father of nanotechnology, as we know it today because he had many ideas

concerning molecular engineering and manufacturing. The ideas of molecular

engineering brought up by Drexler are mentioned in a paper of his named “Engines of

Creation.” It is in this paper that Drexler laid down the possible foundations of

nanotechnology.

Linking every-day objects to atoms and molecules on a molecular level may help

us to understand Drexler’s concepts better. One can visualize an atom to be a physical

object, such as a marble. A molecule which is quite complex is a clump of atoms that are

joined together or linked. This fairly complex molecule can be considered as a group of

marble joining to be the size of a fist. According to the different chemical properties of

the various atoms, their bonds will “snap” and “unsnap.” The molecule’s shape is formed

similarly to how children build toys with things like Erector Sets. The molecule’s

functions and shape will be familiar things such as levers, gears, motors, and pulleys.

Drexler proposed the supposition that a submicroscopic device could be created

from some type of atoms. This device would have a robotic limb controlled by a

computer, that would be able to move around atoms and position them exactly and

precisely where the robot wanted them to be. This type of robotic limb is called an

“assembler”. These “assemblers” are similar to enzymes in biology that adhere molecules

together in new patterns all the time. If one of these molecular devices could be built,

then that device could be used to build even better ones.

These molecular machines are made so precisely, down to the most minuscule

details. Because their parts are so much smaller than the everyday things that we are used

to, they are a million times faster than the moving parts that we are familiar with. Even

though a single nanomachine would be incredibly fast and precise, they could not be able

to change anything for something large like the human, due to the fact that nanomachines

are so small. This is why many of these little nanomachines would be needed at the same

time in order to do something for a human being. The way we would get so many of these

machines is by programming the machines how to reproduce or replicate themselves.

One molecular machine alone can replicate itself in an expedient manner by with

simply fuels and some other raw materials which can be found in the first machine itself.

The new molecular machi robot wanted them to be. This type of robotic limb is called an

“assembler”. These “assemblers” are similar to enzymes in biology that adhere

molecules together in new patterns all the time. If one of these molecular devices could

be built, then that device could be used to build even better ones.









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These molecular machines are made so precisely, down to the most minuscule

details. Because their parts are so much smaller than the everyday things that we are used

to, they are a million times faster than the moving parts that we are familiar with. Even

though a single nanomachine would be incredibly fast and precise, they could not be able

to change anything for something large like the human, due to the fact that nanomachines

are so small. This is why many of these little nanomachines would be needed at the same

time in order to do something for a human being. The way we would get so many of these

machines is by programming the machines how to reproduce or replicate themselves.

One molecular machine alone can replicate itself in an expedient manner by with

simply fuels and some other raw materials which can be found in the first machine itself.

The new molecular machine would then be able to replicate itself too. With each new

nanomachine replicating itself, there would be a whole group of nanomachines that can

then carry out complex procedures. These procedures include making anything

imaginable. These nanomachines can make almost anything as long as they have enough

fuels and raw materials with energy costs that are minimized.

Drexler also came up with an idea on building nanocomputers. His

nanocomputers would not work electrically, but it would have several mechanical parts in

motion. These computers would be reasonably quicker working than the computers of

today. It will be faster due to the fact that the information inside the computer only has to

move such tiny spaces. Therefore, these nanocomputers will be able to understand one

billion instructions a second. Drexler says, “Eventually the whole integrated circuit

technology base is going to be replaced.”

In addition, Drexler foresaw the great things that nanotechnology can help

accomplish in the field of medicine. The highly intelligent nanocomputers that were

before mentioned can enact a most important role in many areas of medicine. Software

composed of artificial intelligence would allow surgical procedures to be incredibly

precise on a molecular level. However, the most interesting thing is that Drexler himself

said that the simplest use of nanotechnology in medicine would be the destruction of

selective cells or other things in the body, which is akin to the project our team has

selected. We are using nanotechnology to destroy only cancerous cells and not healthy

ones.



3)

Describe in detail how the technical application the team selected

impacts the problem outlined in Component One.

The use of Cancel Cancer will dramatically decrease the death rate of people all

over the world. It will save many lives and raise the hopes of infected patient’s families

and friends. Cancel Cancer will replace chemotherapy and other means of treating cancer.

Some benefits of using Cancel Cancer compared to chemotherapy are that it won’t leave

the patient with a weakened immune system or extremely exhausted. Also, it will only

kill cancerous cells and not harm the healthy cells. However, by simply drinking a

solution containing nano devices, the side-effects of chemotherapy will be diminished.







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4)

Identify the limitations and benefits of using the technical application

the team has selected to solve the problem.

The nano device that we plan to build will bring many benefits to not just

medicine, but to millions of people living on this Earth. First of all, just the hope of early

cancer detection and better ways of treatment can brighten the spirits of the many cancer

patients and their close ones. However, this device is not only going to lift people’s

hopes, but it will enhance cancer treatment greatly.

Since our device will allow doctors to single out only cancerous cells, it will not

destroy the healthy ones. This will be a big progression in the treatment of cancer because

one of the most popular treatments for cancer was chemotherapy. In chemotherapy,

radiation was would kill the cancerous cells in the body, but the healthy ones would also

be destroyed. This would leave patients tired and extremely weak. It would also leave the

patient with a weakened immune system, when their immune system was very weak due

to cancer in the first place. However, with the precise destruction of only cancerous cells,

this could be prevented or at least greatly decreased. Also, in chemotherapy, some people

would have the side-affects with no benefits. They would be incredibly exhausted and

there would be no improvements in their cancer. Our project will dispose of these

troubles and cancer will no longer be an incurable disease, but will become more like an

extinct disease.

For chemotherapy, a patient is required to visit a clinic everyday, which is very

expensive. Our project will remove these hassles. Once you’ve been treated, you’re

completely cured and there is no need to go back and forth.

Although there are many benefits to curing cancer with nanotechnology, there are

also many limitations. More than 1700 people die from cancer every day in the United

States and Canada. With our new invention, many more people will be cured from cancer,

leaving the population to dramatically increase. When the population rises, there will be

overcrowding in a world that is already overcrowded. There won’t be enough food, water,

or resources for humans to survive.

In addition, there are thousands of chemotherapists who help with the curing of

cancer. These chemotherapists will most likely lose their job with the making of our

invention. Many companies will go out of business due to the fact that our invention will

be an improved and better way to treat cancer.

There is also the possibility that our machine will malfunction and even cause

harm to the patient. This will cause enormous dilemmas because it is placing the patient’s

life in grave danger. If the patient is injured or dies, the tragedy will most definitely affect

the patient’s family and friends.





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5.3 BIO-NANOTECHNOLOGY



Implications for Designing More Effective Tissue Engineering Materials



Nanotechnology can be defined as using materials and systems whose structures

and components exhibit novel and significantly changed properties by gaining control of

structures at the atomic, molecular, and supramolecular levels. Although many advanced

properties for materials with constituent fiber, grain, or particle sizes less than 100 nm

have been observed for traditional science and engineering applications (such as in

catalytic, optical, mechanical, magnetic, and electrical applications), few advantages for

the use of these materials in tissue-engineering applications have been explored.

However, nanophase materials may give researchers control over interactions with

biological entities (such as proteins and cells) in ways previously unimaginable with

conventional materials. This is because organs of the body are nanostructures and, thus,

cells in the body are accustomed to interacting with materials that have nanostructured

features. Despite this fact, implants currently being investigated as the next-generation of

tissue-engineering scaffolds have micron-structured features. In this light, it is not

surprising why the optimal tissue-engineering material has not been found to date.



Over the past two years, Purdue has provided significant evidence to the research

community that nanophase materials can be designed to control interactions with proteins

and subsequently mammalian cells for more efficient tissue regeneration. This has been

demonstrated for a wide range of nanophase material chemistries including ceramics,

polymers, and more recently metals. Such investigations are leading to the design of a

number of more successful tissue-engineering materials for orthopedic/dental, vascular,

neural, bladder, and cartilage applications. In all applications, compared to conventional

materials, the fundamental design parameter necessary to increase tissue regeneration is a

surface with a large degree of biologically-inspired nanostructured roughness. In this

manner, results from the present collection of studies have added increased tissue-

regeneration as another novel property of nanophase materials.







5.4 NANOMETROLOGY

Nanometrology involves high precision measurement techniques combined with

nano-positioning systems to measure:



Capabilities and applications in nanometrology are based on Differential Capacitance

Micrometry.Current applications in Nanometrology are :



Precision Deformation Measurement







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 Tectonics



 Mining







Precision Displacement Measurement



 Gravity Gradiometer



The Capacitance Micrometry technology was originally developed in the mid

seventies and uses relative position measurement within a locally defined reference

standard. It can be configured to allow picometre resolution over a one hundred micron

range or used at lower resolution over larger dynamic range.



The current measurement systems feature are :



Ratiometric resolution to approximately 1 in 108 of the selected range reference length



 Worst case non linearity against laser reference is < 10-5 over 0.4 of reference

range



 Large dynamic range e.g. 10mm-100µm



 Long term stability - high repeatability



 Allows active feedback for positioning



 No high vacuum requirement







5.5 EARTH STRAIN MEASUREMENT

A Nanometrics Instrumentation Application



 To apply short and long term monitoring of mining induced strain variations at

selected points at underground or opencut mining operations.



 To use the strain measurements to predict rockmass response to mining, eg

( pit slope stability, subsidence).



The Earth Strain Measurement Group provides precision strain monitoring systems

for long term monitoring of mining induced strain variations at selected points on the

mineplan. Instruments allow continuous monitoring of tensor plane strain within the

range of 10-3 to 10-9. The technology was originally developed for earthquake strain

monitoring applications requiring extremely high sensitivity, stability and dynamic range,

but is now used in minescale monitoring environments.



This technique will be used to measure loads induced in highwall mining or in the

walls of deep open pit mining operations. Key advantages include the ability to measure





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the mine scale engineering induced strain response of large structures from significant

distances, that loads induced by slow creep processes over large areas can be monitored,

that long term slow deformations can be monitored with high reliability, and that elastic

failure processes can be monitored. The operations can be performed remotely without

any disturbance to mining processes. Direct estimates of the effects of blasts on wall

loading can be measured, as can the subsequent creep and slump processes. For mining

applications strain monitoring complements microseismic monitoring which more than

adequately documents (location and amplitude) the elastic failure and stress concentration

processes.





5.6 AIRBORNE GRAVITY MEASUREMENT



Geophysical methods capable of measuring the acceleration due to the Earth's

gravitational field are amongst the earliest applications of the geophysical sciences.

Gravity surveying is one of the important techniques in modern exploration for nearly all

mineral and petroleum commodities. The significance of this method has increased in

recent times and will continue to do so in the future as major advances in satellite

positioning technology provide cost effective access to surface surveys over much larger

regions than previously possible.



The exploration industry has recently renewed interest in large scale gravity

surveys and has developed a greater appreciation of the contribution of these data sets.

The need for acquisition of large gravity data sets at high speed over highly prospective

areas is renewing demand for airborne gravity facilities capable of achieving

measurements at an accuracy suitable for detection of small and lenticular mineral

orebodies. Gravity gradiometry provides the best opportunity to achieve this accuracy and

can be performed at sampling rates necessary for targets of industry interest, on the order

of a few hundreds of metres.

This project will develop an airborne gravity gradiometer which will be capable of

providing measurements from low flying aircraft at a rate and sensitivity suitable for the

detection of buried orebodies down to a scale of approximately 300 m at burial depths of

200 m. The measurements will be integrated into other geophysical measurements from

the same or other airborne platforms to enhance exploration capability.

The project has a planned duration of five years with a budget of $15 million

dollars. The project involves high risk research with great potential impact in the industry.

The project aims at detection of geophysically significant subsurface anomalies

potentially associated with ore bodies or hydrocarbon deposits by rapid vehicle mounted

surface or airborne regional gravitational studies. The existence of gravitational

anomalies depends directly on the presence of a mass excess or deficit associated with the

deposit.









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The magnitude of a typical anomaly relative to the unperturbed gravity field is

proportional to the total mass excess (or deficit), and is inversely proportional to the

square of the distance from its effective centre and the point of observation.

It is not possible in principle to distinguish between the accelerations acting on a body

due to gravitational effects from those due to kinematic effects associated with changes of

the body's velocity. Thus most gravity measurement is performed from stationary

platforms fixed to the earth surface, and its precision is limited by vibration noise sources

common in the earth. The gravitational anomaly of an ore body of density contrast 300 kg

m-3 and of dimension say 200 m buried below a depth of say 100 m of overburden is

typically 2x10-6ms-2, which is 0.00002% of the normal Earth gravity field. This relatively

small effect is normally measured in units of micro gals ( mGal ), and would represent

approximately 200 mGal.

To this time most resource significant measurements have been made using

instruments of the LaCoste/Romberg type which are essentially ultrasensitive spring

balances detecting the small difference in weight caused by the gravity anomaly. The

measurements are subject to a wide variety of environmental influences, and

measurements must be performed relative to a standard point that is used regularly during

the survey as a fixed reference for the removal of drifts in the instrument. With great care,

measurements over reasonable areas can be achieved to about 5 mGals, making this

technology appropriate for mapping regions of known potential. The procedure is slow,

and requires extensive information on local topography and geology by reason of the fact

that the normal variation of gravity with height is approximately 300 mGal per metre.

This type of relative gravity instrument has in fact been used with great difficulty from

moving platforms and in particular from aircraft where altitude control using for example

precision radar altimeters and pressure sensors to achieve vertical position to as little as

one metre still imposes limitations of the order of a few hundred mGals on the gravity

data.

For this reason emphasis for large scale geophysical prospecting has moved

towards gradiometry. In principle, measurement of the gradient of the gravity field over a

known baseline allows one to cancel out the accelerations due to the motion of the

platform itself. Gradient measurements also have some advantages in detection of

boundaries of anomalies.

The vertical component of the gradient above the orebody discussed above and

measured from an aircraft at approximately 300m is approximately 1x10-9 ms-2 per metre,

which is 1 Eotvos. Thus the Eotvos is a unit of gravity gradient, and 1 Eotvos corresponds

to 10-9 s-2. The gradient would be eight times larger at the earth's surface. For a

gradiometer, the vertical dependence of the gradient is smaller than for a gravimeter, so

that precise control of aircraft altitude is not a critical issue.

Useful gravity gradient data for exploration will require measurements below the

1 Eotvos level. This will certainly require active stabilisation of the instrument platform

for displacements at a level of about 0.01ms-2Hz-1/2 vertical, and rotations better than 10-5

rad s-1Hz-1/2. This is certainly possible on a quality stabilised platform.







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Many major laboratories have been involved in gradiometer research over the last

fifteen years. One major direction of this work has been towards superconducting

gravimeters (relative and gradiometric) utilising many somewhat exotic but benign

characteristics of materials obtainable at liquid helium temperatures. The instruments are

essentially superconducting versions of the spring or differential spring gravimeters

where the mechanical springs have been replaced by magnetic field levitation. Stability is

obtained by the inherent stability of persistent currents which support the superconducting

proof mass. Commercial versions of the gravimeter with excellent long term stability (5

mGal per year) and sensitivity better than a mGal are available but cannot be used from

moving platforms.

Another direction of research has produced instruments similar to the Bell

Aerospace Rotating Gravity Gradiometer. Generically these instruments consist of

precisely matched accelerometer pairs which are rotated about an axis to produce outputs

which are modulated at harmonics of the rotation frequency by the gradient being

measured. These outputs are effectively differenced to produce a gradient. The US Air

Force GGSS (Gravity Gradiometer Survey System) used two orthogonal pairs of

accelerometers to produce two gradients. Three such systems mounted in mutually

orthogonal configuration provided six gradients, which is sufficient to fully determine the

gradient tensor. The system of three gradiometers was inertially stabilised by three

gymbals controlled by two 2-degrees-of-freedom gyroscopes and three orthogonal

accelerometers. When in use air-borne in a specially equipped C-130 transport,

navigation was performed by the autopilot using the inertial outputs of the measurement

platform. Gradients have been measured to a few tens of Eotvos units under ideal

conditions.

Initially the CSIRO system proposed will measure only the vertical gravity

gradient. The work is proceeding with eight full time staff, and the project will be

performed in four stages over four years, for completion in 2005.









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6. CONCLUSION

The correct scientific answer is I don't know.



Having said that, it is worth pointing out that the trends in the development of computer

hardware have been remarkably steady for the last 50 years. Plotted on semilog paper as a

function of year, such parameters as



 the number of atoms required to store one bit



 the number of dopant atoms in a transistor



 the energy dissipated by a single logic operation



 the resolution of the finest machining technology



 many others

have all declined with remarkable regularity, even as the underlying technology base has

changed dramatically. From relays to vacuum tubes to transistors to integrated circuits to

Very Large Scale Integrated circuits (VLSI) we have seen steady declines in the size and

cost of logic elements and steady increases in their performance.

If we extrapolate these trends we find they reach interesting values in the 2010 to

2020 time frame. The number of atoms required to store one bit in a mass memory device

reaches 1. The number of dopant atoms in a transistor reaches 1, (while fundamental

device physics might force us to use more than one dopant atom, it's clear that some not-

too-large integer number should suffice). The energy dissipated by a single logic

operation reaches kT for T=300 kelvins; this is roughly the energy of a single air molecule

bouncing around at room temperature. The finest machining technologies reach a

resolution of roughly an atomic diameter.



Such performance seems to require a manufacturing technology that can arrange

individual atoms in the precise structures required for molecular logic elements, connect

those logic elements in the complex patterns required for a computer, and do so

inexpensively for billions of billions of gates. In short, if we're to keep the computer

hardware revolution on schedule then it seems we'll have to develop nanotechnology in

the 2010 to 2020 time frame.





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Of course, extrapolating straight lines on semilog paper is a philosophically

debatable method of technology forecasting. While we can confidently state that no

fundamental law of nature prevents us from developing nanotechnology on this schedule

(or even faster), there is equally no law of nature that says the trends of the past must

continue unchanged into the future, or that this schedule will not slip. For example, while

Babbage proposed the stored program computer in the 1830's, it was about a century

before anyone actually built one.



In 1993 the author, as co-chair of the Third Foresight Conference on Molecular

Nanotechnology, asked the assembled attendees how long they thought it would take to

develop nanotechnology, as defined here. By show of hands, answers in the range from

2010 to 2040 predominated (about two thirds of the audience).



Regardless of what extrapolation of trends or polls might suggest, we should keep

firmly in mind that how long it takes depends on what we do (or don't do). A focused

effort with resources appropriate to the magnitude of the task would speed development.

If we do little, or focus resources on short term goals, fundamental developments might

be much delayed (just as Babbage's computer was delayed by a century). To quote Alan

Kay:



"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."









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7. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES



7.1 REFERENCES



 A true myth – NanoComputers Std. IEEE Author. James Peterson

 Simple guide to Nanocomputing pub. Delhi Author Robert Wullmon

 Basics of Quantum computing Std. IEEE Author George Killjt

 Applied Quantum + Nano Author Rafter James



7.2 RELATED WEBSITES



 How Stuff Works.com

 IEEE standards.com

 Nanospace.com

 Google.co.in

 Nanoimages.com









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