the new engineering world

A national investment strategy is key to transforming nanotechnology from science fiction to an everyday engineering tool.

By M.C. Roco

It has gone largely unnoticed in the larger society, but we are now in a new era. This era is one of increased innovation for manufacturing products, of new techniques for improving human health and cognitive abilities, of integrating fundamental research and technology from the molecular and even atomic levels. In short, we are in the Nanotechnology Age for Science and Engineering, whether most people know it or not.

Because of the promise of this new era, government investments worldwide for nanotechnology research and development have increased eightfold in seven years, reaching about $4 billion in 2004. All Fortune 500 companies in materials, electronics, and pharmaceuticals have made investments in nano- technology since 2002.

This effort is led by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a long-term research and development program that coordinates 22 departments and independent agencies of the federal government, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. The total investment in fiscal year 2004 was about $1 billion.

These "trees" are made of crystalline carbide nanowires grown on dots of molten gallium.

As the program continues, NNI will not only support nanotechnology research, but also provide a base for converging new technologies. NNI is a catalyst, bringing together both researchers and society at large to create the knowledge and innovation foundation of the Nanotechnology Age.

Why have so many researchers begun exploring nanoscale science and technology? First, the research is helping us fill a major gap in our fundamental knowledge of matter. At the level of individual atoms and molecules, tools developed by conventional physics and chemistry have already shown us quite a bit. Conventional chemistry, biology, and engineering have taught us about the bulk behavior of large aggregates of molecules. But until now, we have known much less about the intermediate nanoscale, which is the natural threshold where all living and manmade systems work.

A second reason for the interest in nanotechnology is that nanoscale phenomena hold the promise of radically new applications. Possible examples include chemical manufacturing using designed molecular assemblies, processing of information using photons or electron spin, detection of chemicals or bioagents using only a few molecules, detection and treatment of chronic illnesses by subcellular interventions, regenerating tissue and nerves, enhancing learning and other cognitive processes by understanding the society of neurons, and cleaning contaminated soils with designed nanoparticles.

Using input from industry in the United States, Asia, and Europe between 1997 and 1999, we have projected that $1 trillion in products and about two million jobs worldwide will be affected by nanotechnology by 2015. Extrapolating from information technology, where for every worker another 2.5 jobs are created in related areas, nanotechnology has the potential to create seven million jobs globally in the next 10 years. Indeed, the first generation of nanostructured metals, polymers, and ceramics has already entered the commercial marketplace.

Governments around the world are pushing to develop nanotechnology as rapidly as possible. Coherent, sustained research and development programs have been announced by Japan, Korea, the European Union, Germany, China, and Taiwan. But, the first and largest such program was the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, announced in January 2000.

The groundwork for NNI, however, predated the announcement by several years. In November 1996, I organized a small group of researchers and experts from government, including Stan Williams of Hewlett-Packard, Paul Alivisatos of the University of California, Berkeley, and Jim Murday of the Naval Research Laboratory. That's when we started doing our homework in setting a long-term plan for nanotechnology.

This carpet of zinc oxide strands was grown on a sapphire backing. Researchers hope these strands will find use in ultraviolet optical devices.

NNI was prepared with the same rigor as a science project. We began by preparing supporting publications, including a report on research directions in 10 areas of relevance, despite low expectations of additional funding at that moment. We developed a long-term vision for research and development and completed an international benchmarking of nanotechnology in academia, government, and industry. At the National Science Foundation, we ran a program solicitation, "Partnership in Nanotechnology: Functional Nanostructures," and received feedback from the academic community. Other milestones included a plan for U.S. government investment, a brochure explaining nanotechnology for the public, and a report on the societal implication of nanoscience and nanotechnology. More than 150 experts, distributed almost equally among academia, industry, and government, contributed in setting the nanotechnology research directions.

Finally, at a 1999 meeting at the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, I proposed the NNI with a budget of a half-billion dollars for fiscal year 2001. While other topics were on the agenda of that meeting, nanotechnology captured the imagination of those present, and discussions reverberated for about two hours. It was the first time that a forum at this level with representatives from the major federal R&D departments reached a decision to consider exploration of nanotechnology as a national priority. Although we had the attention of Neil Lane, then the presidential science advisor, and Tom Kalil, then economic assistant to the president, few experts gave even a small chance to nanotechnology to become a national priority program.

But within nine months it was a reality. President Bill Clinton announced the NNI at the California Institute of Technology in January 2000. The presidential announcement of the initiative, with its vision and program, motivated the international community. About 40 countries have announced priority nanotechnology programs since then. It was as if nanotechnology had gone through a phase transition: What had once been perceived as blue-sky research of limited interest (or, in the view of several groups, science fiction, or even pseudoscience) was now being seen as a key technology of the 21st century.

The first four years of NNI has funded about 4,000 projects at more than 500 institutions. Already, this effort has led to significant science and engineering advances, from Sam Stupp's design of molecules for hierarchical self-assembly to Alex Zettl's construction of a motor with axles only a few nanometers in diameter. Such advances have increased the confidence that nano- technology development is one of the key technologies at the beginning of the 21st century, and has raised the challenges of responsible development.

Although the $1 billion from the NNI accounts for about 25 percent of global government investments, American researchers account for about 50 percent of highly cited papers, about 60 percent of U.S. nanotechnology patents, and about 70 percent of startup companies in nanotechnology worldwide. Small Times reported 875 U.S. nanotechnology companies in March 2004 with roughly half being small businesses; NNI investments in small business totaled about $70 million in fiscal year 2004.

NNI Modes of Support in Fiscal Years 2001-2005 The funding strategy for the National Nantechnology Initiative is based on five modes of investment. The first mode supports a balanced investment in fundamental research across the entire breadth of science and engineering, and it is led by the National Science Foundation. The second mode, collectively known as the "grand challenges," focuses on nine specific R&D areas that are more directly related to applications of nanotechnology. They also have been identified as having the potential to realize significant economic, governmental, and societal impact in about a decade. These challenges are: nanostructured materials by design; manufacturing at the nanoscale; chemical-biological-radiological-explosive detection and protection; nanoscale instrumentation and metrology; nano-electronics, nano-photonics, and nano-magnetics; health care, therapeutics, and diagnostics; efficient energy conversion and storage; microcraft and robotics; and nanoscale processes for environmental improvement. The third mode of investment supports centers of excellence that conduct research within host institutions. These centers pursue projects with broad multidisciplinary research goals that are not supported by more traditionally structured programs. These centers also promote the education of future researchers and innovators, as well as training of a skilled technical workforce for the growing nanotechnology industry. NSF, the Department of Defense, and NASA have established 16 new research centers in the last four years. The fourth mode funds the development of infrastructure, instrumentation, standards, computational capabilities, and other research tools necessary for nanoscale R&D. NSF established three research and user facility networks, and DOE has a large-scale user facility network of its own. The fifth mode recognizes and funds research on the societal implications, and addresses educational needs associated with the successful development of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Besides the graduate and postgraduate education activities, NSF supports nanoscale science and engineering programs for earlier nanotechnology education for undergraduates, high schools, and public outreach.

Furthermore, NNI has funded more than 35 new large nanotechnology research centers, networks, and user facilities. It has created partnerships with industry groups and professional societies, and has expanded nanotechnology education into high schools and colleges. In fact, more than 10,000 graduate students and teachers have been affected in 2004 alone by NNI money.

The initiative has also been mindful of the societal implications and applications of nanotechnology. About 10 percent of 2004 NNI funding addressed environmental and health, safety, and other societal and educational concerns. The National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on nanoscale science, engineering, and technology has played a leadership role and created the working group Nanomaterials Environmental and Health Issues.

As a result of NNI, the United States is acknowledged as the world leader in this area of science, technology, and economic opportunity. NNI has been recognized for creating an interdisciplinary nanotechnology community in the U.S., and it has catalyzed global activities in nanotechnology and served as a model for other programs.

One important aspect of NNI's progress has been its approach to the interaction with industry sectors. NNI has established Consultative Boards for Advancing Nanotechnology that represent various industry sectors broadly and help coordinate interactions with electronic, chemical, business, biotechnology/biomedical, and car manufacturing sectors. They are in various levels of development. The electronic industry's board was established in October 2003. Five working groups have prepared various reports, and several collaborative activities in long-term R&D planning and funding of research have been completed.

The main objectives of the boards include joint planning and support of collaborative activities in key R&D areas; the encouragement of technology transfer and industrial use; and the identification and promotion of research into areas not yet well studied, especially those with promising markets.

The process will be important over the next five to 10 years. The challenges of developing nanotechnology will increase in that period, as the effort progresses from understanding the fundamental phenomena or building single components to constructing active nanostructures, complex nanosystems, hierarchical architectures, and scalable nanoscale products. The focus will also shift to new areas of relevance, such as energy, food and agriculture, medicine, and engineering simulations from the nanoscale. With researchers building upon a growing base of breakthroughs, development is expected to accelerate in the next few years.

Fullerenes, such as balls made up of 60 carbon atoms, are one of the promising nanoscale materials.

The people involved with NNI have anticipated this phase change. A research and development transition in 2005 is reflected by the contents of the NNI strategic plan for 2006–2010 that will replace the first strategic plan for 2001–2005 now in effect. The first four years can be considered the first generation for nanotechnology products and services. Although there is some overlap from one to the next, each generation of products is marked here by creation of first commercial prototypes using systematic control of the respective phenomena and manufacturing processing.

The first generation, for instance, is "passive nanostructures" and is typically used to tailor macroscale properties and functions. Examples of this are nanostructured coatings, dispersion of nanoparticles, and bulk materials—nanostructured metals, polymers, and ceramics.

The next generation, which is just beginning, will see products possessing "active nanostructures" for mechanical, electronic, magnetic, photonic, biological, and other effects. They typically will be integrated into microscale devices and systems. New transistors, components of nanoelectronics beyond CMOS, amplifiers, targeted drugs and chemicals, actuators, artificial muscles, and adaptive structures illustrate this concept.

Around 2010, we should see a third generation of products. These will be systems of nanosystems, extending in three dimensions. Such products will use various synthesis and assembling techniques such as bio-assembly, robotics with emerging behavior, and evolutionary approaches to design.

Between now and then, researchers need to perfect how to network at the nanoscale and within hierarchical architectures. And the research focus will shift toward heterogeneous nanostructures and supramolecular system engineering—directed multiscale self-assembling, artificial tissues and sensorial systems, quantum interactions within nanoscale systems, and assemblies of nanoscale electromechanical systems, or NEMS.

I expect to see by 2015 the emergence of the fourth generation of nanotechnology products, one that will make the ones we wonder at today seem quaint. There will be heterogeneous molecular nanosystems, where each molecule in the nanosystem has a specific structure and plays a different role. Individual molecules will be used as devices, and from their engineered structures and architectures fundamentally new functions will emerge. Designing new atomic and molecular assemblies is expected to increase in importance. We'll see macromolecules by design, nanoscale machines, and directed and multiscale self-assembling, exploiting quantum control, nanosystem biology for health care, human-machine interface at the tissue and nervous system level, and convergence of nano-bio-info cognitive domains.

What will this mean for citizens, the ones who have yet to notice nanotechnology in their everyday lives? It is important to remember that while expectations from nanotechnology may be overestimated in the short term, the long-term implications on health care, productivity, and the environment appear to be underestimated. Nanotechnology holds the promise to increase the efficiency in traditional industries and bring radically new applications through emerging technologies.

By 2015—just 10 years time—I expect at least half of the newly designed advanced materials and manufacturing processes will be built using control at the nanoscale in at least one of the key components. This will mark a milestone toward the new industrial revolution. Silicon transistors will reach dimensions smaller than 10 nm and will be integrated with molecular or other kinds of nanoscale systems. Alternative technologies for replacing the electronic charge as information carrier with electron spin, phase, polarization, magnetic flux quanta, and/or dipole orientation will be under consideration.

Technologies will be developed for directed self-assembly into non-regular, hierarchically organized, device-oriented structures and the creation of functional, nanoscale building blocks. Lighter composite nanostructured materials, nanoparticle-laden, more reactive and less pollutant fuels, and automated systems enabled by nanoelectronics will dominate the automotive, aircraft, and aerospace industries.

Converging science and engineering from the nanoscale will establish a mainstream pattern for applying and integrating nanotechnology with biology, electronics, medicine, learning, and other fields. Science and engineering of nanobiosystems will become essential to human health care and biotechnology. Lifecycle sustainability and biocompatibility will be pursued in the development of new products. In fact, I believe we will see that suffering from chronic illnesses will be sharply reduced. It is conceivable that by 2015, nanoscale tools will augment our ability to detect and treat tumors in their first year of occurrence and might greatly mitigate suffering and death from cancer.

This model of a silicon nanocrystal may help researchers better understand the properties of materials made of just a few dozen atoms.

Ten years from now, knowledge development and education will originate at the nanoscale instead of the microscale. A new education paradigm—one not based on disciplines, but on unity of nature and the integration of research and teaching—will be tested for K-16. Likewise, nanotechnology businesses and organizations will restructure toward integration with other technologies, distributed production, continuing education, and forming consortia of complementary activities. Traditional and emerging technologies will be equally affected. An important development will be the creation of nanotechnology R&D platforms to serve various areas of applications with the same investigative and productive tools. An example is the nanotechnology platform created at a newly built laboratory by General Electric.

Today, yes, one can survey people in a shopping mall and find that no one there knows that we live in the Nanotechnology Age for Science and Engineering. In little more than a decade, though, the fruits of nanoscale research and technology will be inescapable. Looking back, it will be easy to see when the new era began. In our 2015 hindsight, we all will know that in 2005, it had already started.

Editor's Note: This article is based on the author's experience in coordinating NNI. Opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on nanoscale science, engineering, and technology, or of NSF.

M.C. Roco is a senior advisor at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. He is also the chair of the U.S. National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on nanoscale science, engineering, and technology.



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