Category: Nanodot

from the World-Watch dept.
An intriguing article in the January 2002 issue of Mechanical Engineering magazine ("A bid to take the lead", by Y. Eugene Pak), a publication of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), reviews the strategic direction of South Korean plans to become a world leader in nanotechnology by 2010. Pak, a researcher in the MEMS laboratory at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in Kiheung, Korea, near Seoul, notes that "Korea has put forth an ambitious plan that will prepare itself to achieve world-class competitiveness in nanotechnology within the next 10 years." According to Pak, "A panel of experts from government, industry, and academia has drafted a strategic plan for commercialization of nano-technologies. The strategy is a three-tier plan to establish needed infrastructure and human resources by 2005, to commercialize nanotechnology from 2005 onward, and finally to become one of the world's leaders by 2010."

Pak describes many nanotechnology-related research projects in government, university, and industrial laboratories covering nanomagnetic and ferroelectric thin-film processing, carbon nanotubes for molecular electronic devices, quantum dots, quantum computing, nanolithography, single-electron transistors, scanning probe microscope-based surface physics, and nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS). He also notes the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has drafted a 10-year plan to carry out research in nanobiotechnology, including nanoscale diagnostic devices, nanoscale treatment systems, and nanobiomimetics.

The formulation of South Koreaís ambitious nanotechnology program was covered here on Nanodot on 25 May, 31 July, and 2 August 2001.

Note: If the above link to the ME article is broken, try this link to the back issues archive (this link may be inactive until the issue is archived).

The Fall (October-December) 2001 issue of Interface, a technical trade publication of the Electrochemical Society, is devoted to the theme of "Smaller is better: emerging nanoscience". [Note: all of the following links lead to Adobe Acrobat PDF files, not web pages.]

The issue is introduced by a piece by guest editor Joseph T. Hupp ("Emerging Nanoscience and Functional Artificial Nanoarchitectures"), a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University and a researcher at Northwesternís Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly. Calling nanoscience and nanotechnology vibrant areas of research and development, Hupp writes, "The excitement, and the private and public investment to back it, comes from nothing less than the promise of revolutionary advances in medicine, communications, and other areas of contemporary technology." He also notes that ìNanotechnology becomes viable, of course, only when desired nanoscale objects can be intentionally and reproducibly made,î and goes on to describe "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches to nanotech, clearly favoring the latter: ìNew materials and new architectures — devised in a bottom-up, molecular fashion — can be engines for the invention of new and better nanoscience and the development of new and better nanotechnology."

The issue contains three technical articles that describe nanostructured materials and functions:

• Assembly of Metal Nanoparticle Arrays Using Molecular Bridges, by D. Feldheim
• Functional Nanostructured Molecular Materials, by J. T. Hupp and S. T. Nguyen
• Selectively Permeable Dendrimers as Molecular Gates, by G. P. Perez and R. M. Crooks

from the Rocky-Mountain-high? dept.
An article in the Denver Business Journal ("The very small could make Colorado very big", by Lyn Berry-Helmlinger, 11 January 2002) presents a glowing report on the prospects for nanotechnology in Colorado, relying largely on upbeat comments from representatives of the NanoBusiness Alliance:

Griffith Kundahl, a NanoBusiness Alliance member and attorney with Denver-based McNamara Law Firm PC whose practice includes a focus on technology, said there's little doubt that nanotech will play a key role in Colorado. "It's emerging as we speak," he said.

"Why not Colorado?" asked Mark Modzelewski, executive director of the NanoBusiness Alliance. "Colorado does have capital and people who are used to investing in technology; it has all those skill sets and a government that's very receptive to technology businesses. If anything, I'd be stunned if Colorado wasn't a leader when all is said and done."

The November/December issue of Micro Magazine, a trade for the semiconductor manufacturing community, has an article on nanotechnology ("When Micro Meets Nano: Small things considered", by John Conroy). Not surprisingly, the article focuses more on short-term possibilities for molecular-scale transistors, carbon nanotubes, and atomic layer deposition of interest to the microelectronics and semiconductor industry. It also presents some mildly pessimistic comments on the possibility for more advanced nanorobotics from Susan Sinnott, a researcher in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Unviersity of Florida and co-chair of the Ninth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology in November 2001.

from the World-Watch dept.
An article on the Small Times website ("French megaproject for microtech hopes to cultivate new companies", by Genevieve Oger, 14 January 2002) provides a useful overview of the purpose and activities of Minatec, a new micro- and nano-technology education, research and business incubation center being developed in Grenoble, France. According to the article, when the facility is completed some time in 2003, the Minatec center "will be $160.3 million worth of buildings and clean rooms to house up to 3,500 researchers, entrepreneurs and students working on micro and nano projects. The site will hold two engineering schools, joint laboratories for still-developing startups and research and development teams from large companies. . . . Its supporters hope that in time it will turn the region into a European "Silicon Valley" for micro and nano." As the article also notes, "Right now, Minatec is mostly about microtechnology, rather than nanotechnology. The center wants to attract more nanotech activity, but has yet to generate the same kind of interest and momentum it has spawned in microtechnology circles."

The initiative to create Minatec was previously covered here on Nanodot on 28 November and 1 August 2001.

In its 4 January 2002 issue, Business Week magazine profiles a number of "Gurus of Tomorrowís Tech". The researchers profiled include Kaushik Bhattacharya at CalTech ("Materials Made to Order"), a specialist in active materials, some of which employ nanoscale components; and Len Adleman at USC ("Tapping DNA Power for Computers"), who is a leading researcher in the use of DNA molecules for computing.

The Fall 2001 issue of Research Review magazine, a publication from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), is devoted to the theme "The Coming of the Nano-Age: Shaping the World Atom by Atom". Along with a general introductory piece, the issue features a half-dozen articles that focus primarily on instrumentation, tools, and materials with interesting nanoscale properties.

from the World-Watch dept.
An article in the Jerusalem Post ("Hebrew University to invest $40m. in new nanotech center", by Tania Hershman, 6 January 2002) describes the inauguration of activities of a new Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Hebrew University. The event marks the culmination of a months-long fundraising effort that began last June, and will lead to the construction of a new building to house the center later. According to the article, what is being launched now is the official cross-disciplinary activity that will involve Hebrew University scientists from the physics, chemistry, engineering and life sciences faculties. In October 2002, the university will begin offering undergraduate courses in the field.
"The physical building will take a couple of years. We are in the process of designing it now," Hebrew University president, professor Menachem Magidor told The Jerusalem Post. "Today is the organizational inauguration. In six months we will inaugurate one [physical] component, the Center for Microcharacterization and Electron Microscopy."

Additonal background on the HU Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology can be found in this article from June 2001 from the Small Times website.

from the World-Watch dept.
An article in the Taipei Times ("Taiwan hoping for giant steps in a minute world", by Chiu Yu-tzu, 5 January 2002) provides useful background on the efforts of the Taiwan government, through its National Science Council (NSC) to coordinate nanotech-related research and development. The efforts include a new Nanotechnology Research Center in the city of Hsinchu, operated by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), which will be formally opened on 16 January 2002, and the formulation of a coordinated nanotechnology program to be finalized by the end of the year. The proposed budget for the program is about NT$19.1 billion (about US$547 million) over the next five years (until 2007), of which NT$1.5 billion (US$40 million) has been allocated for this year. The article also briefly reviews various nanotech research activities in Taiwan.

Update: Additional coverage can be found in another article from the Taipei Times ("Funding for nanotech to aid industry", by Dan Nystedt, 8 January 2002) which focuses on comments by Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian: "Nanotechnology is the new century's rising star and will bring about a massive shift in the development of new materials, information-technology products and biomedicine," Chen said during an inspection tour of the Nanotechnology Research Center in Hsinchu.

from the World-Watch dept.
According to a report in the Korea Herald (7 January 2002) the South Korean governmentís Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) is planning to carry out special inspections of government funding in the nanotechnology, as well as the information technology and biotechnology sectors because "up till now no comprehensive examination of how funds were spent were made." This may be necessary because, according to another report from the Asia Pulse news service (21 December 2001), the S. Korean government has decided to spend 13 trillion won (US$10.2 billion) to support the development of 77 technologies in six fields including nanotechnology as well as information technology and biotechnology. The funding is part of the 35 trillion won the government will spend on research and development over the next five years.