Zyvex's Atomically Precise Manufacturing effort has $15 million in funding.
The project is part of the Atomically Precise Manufacturing Consortium led by Zyvex Labs LLC, a molecular nanotechnology company based in Richardson, Texas. The project includes a mixture of funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and cost sharing from the team members.
“Increasing the precision of manufacturing has driven both technology and science for the past couple of centuries and what we are doing is just an extension of that drive,” said John Randall, vice president of Zyvex Labs, the prime contractor for the research project. “What is revolutionary is having digital control over where we add atoms to a robust solid material. The unique expertise of Professors, Wallace, Chabal and Cho will be key to our success in this program.”
In addition to UT Dallas and Zyvex, the research team includes the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of North Texas, the University of Central Florida, the University of Texas at Austin, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, General Dynamics, Molecular Imprints Inc. and Integrated Circuit Scanning Probe Instruments.
Funded for $1.8 million over the next four-and-a-half years, the UT Dallas team also includes Yves Chabal, head of the Jonsson School’s new Materials Science and Engineering Department and holder of the Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair in Nanoelectronics, and K.J. Cho, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and physics.
The Atomically Precised Manufacturing Project currently consists of three coordinated efforts: Micro Automation, Molecularly Precise Tools, and Patterned Atomic Layer Epitaxy.
Zyvex presented their APM plan at the Productive Nanosystems: Launching the Technology Roadmap a conference held by the Society of Mechanical Engineering
Atomic layer deposition builds amorphous materials; atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) builds crystalline materials. Start with a protected (passivated) surface: every available bond has a hydrogen atom. If you deprotect the surface, removing the hydrogen, then you can deposit a layer of atoms. If you choose the right precursor gas, you add only one monolayer which is protected as it's added. Then you can deprotect and add exactly one more layer of atoms. There are a number of precursor gases available. There are literally hundreds of systems to grow things with atomic precision in one dimension.
Now, if you combine this with the ability to deprotect the surface in selected locations... With a scanning tunneling microscope, you can remove single hydrogen atoms with atomic precision. If you do this layer by layer, you can build 3D structures. Prof. Joe Lyding at University of Illinois has done repeated desorption/deposition.
Known as atomically precise manufacturing, the technique is expected to enable a wide variety of devices and products, including:
-Ultra-low-power semiconductors for cellphones and other wireless communications.
Sensors with ultra-high sensitivity.
-Data encryption orders of magnitude more secure than existing technology.
-Optical elements that enable unprecedented performance in computing and communications.
-Customized surfaces that would have an array of applications in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries.
-Nanoscale genomics arrays that would enable a person’s complete genetic sequence to be read in less than two hours.
FURTHER READING
Zyvex's research activities
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CORRECTION: The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems has finally been released. Many groups were involved in the creation of the report. It was organized and led by Battelle with:
Technical Leadership team
K. Eric Drexler, Nanorex;
Alex Kawczak, Battelle Memorial Institute;
John Randall, Zyvex Labs
Project Management Team
Alex Kawczak, Battelle Memorial Institute;
K. Eric Drexler, Nanorex;
John Randall, Zyvex Labs;
Pearl Chin, Foresight Nanotech Institute;
Jim Von Ehr, Zyvex Labs
Editors
K. Eric Drexler, Nanorex;
John Randall, Zyvex Labs;
Stephanie Corchnoy, Synchrona;
Alex Kawczak, Battelle Memorial Institute;
Michael L. Steve, Battelle Memorial Institute
I have looked over the reports. They are useful and quite comprehensive.
Some of the newer nanopatterning methods need to be included.
Nanopantography is for splitting an ion beam into one billion beams repeating the same work.
A big impact application area is quantum wells and quantum dots for thermoelectric technology.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Part 1—The Road Map
* Introduction
* Atomic Precision: What, Why, and How?
* Atomically Precise Manufacturing
* Atomically Precise Components and Systems
* Modeling, Design, and Characterization
* Applications
* Agenda for Research and Call to Action
Part 2—Topics in Detail
* Components and Devices
* Systems and Frameworks
* Fabrication and Synthesis Methods
* Modeling, Design, and Characterization
Part 3—Working Group Proceedings [14.5 MB]
* Atomically Precise Fabrication
* Nanoscale Structures and Fabrication
* Motors and Movers
* Design, Modeling, and Characterization
* Applications
Technical reports are
Atomically Precise Fabrication
01 Atomically Precise Manufacturing Processes
02 Mechanosynthesis
03 Patterned ALE Path Phases
04 Numerically Controlled Molecular Epitaxy
05 Scanning Probe Diamondoid Mechanosynthesis [not Atomistic Modeling of Nanoscale Systems, this correction is from the author Robert Freitas]
06 Limitations of Bottom-Up Assembly
07 Nucleic Acid Engineering
08 DNA as an Aid to Self-Assembly
09 Self-Assembly
10 Protein Bioengineering Overview
11 Synthetic Chemistry
12 A Path to a Second Generation Nanotechnology
13 Atomically Precise Ceramic Structures
14 Enabling Nanoscience for Atomically-Precise Manufacturing of Functional Nanomaterials
Nanoscale Structures and Fabrication
15 Lithography and Applications of New Nanotechnology
16 Scaling Up to Large Production of Nanostructured Materials
17 Carbon Nanotubes
18 Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
19 Oligomer with Cavity for Carbon Nanotube Separation
20 Nanoparticle Synthesis
21 Metal Oxide Nanoparticles
Motors and Movers
22 Biological Molecular Motors for Nanodevices
23 Molecular Motors, Actuators, and Mechanical Devices
24 Chemotactic Machines
Design, Modeling, and Characterization
25 Atomistic Modeling of Nanoscale Systems
26 Productive Nanosystems: Multi-Scale Modeling and Simulation
27 Thoughts on Prospects for New Characterization Tools
28 Characterization/Instrumentation Capabilities for Nanostructured Materials
Applications
29 Nanomedicine Roadmap: New Technology and Clinical Applications
30 Applications for Positionally Controlled Atomically Precise Manufacturing Capability
31 Piezoelectrics and Piezo Applications
32 Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis: Challenges and Opportunities
33 Atomic Precision Materials Development in PEM Fuel Cells
34 Hydrogen Storage
35 The Potential of Atomically Precise Manufacturing in Solid State Lighting
36 Towards Gaining Control of Nanoscale Components and Organization of Organic
Photovoltaic Cells
37 Impact of Atomically Precise Manufacturing on Transparent Electrodes
38 Atomically Precise Fabrication for Photonics: Waveguides, Microcavities
39 Impact of Atomically Precise Manufacturing on Waveguide Applications
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Chris Phoenix, CRN, is live blogging the event. John Randall, Zyvex: A completely different approach. Zyvex was founded to create atomically precise manufacturing on the way to productive nanosystems. In other words, building precise structures using big machines rather than nanoscale tools.
Atomic layer deposition builds amorphous materials; atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) builds crystalline materials. Start with a protected (passivated) surface: every available bond has a hydrogen atom. If you deprotect the surface, removing the hydrogen, then you can deposit a layer of atoms. If you choose the right precursor gas, you add only one monolayer which is protected as it's added. Then you can deprotect and add exactly one more layer of atoms. There are a number of precursor gases available. There are literally hundreds of systems to grow things with atomic precision in one dimension.
if you combine this with the ability to deprotect the surface in selected locations... With a scanning tunneling microscope, you can remove single hydrogen atoms with atomic precision. Several groups have demonstrated this. This is "the limit of a thin resist" - a monolayer of hydrogen.
Differences from mechanosynthesis:
1) Building blocks don't have to be captured by the tool tip.
2) The tool tip can be used to inspect both deprotection and assembly.
3) You can do large areas (fast) or atomic resolution, depending on mode.
4) This is a very general technique.
5) All you need is an atomic-resolution STM tip - don't need anything else with atomic resolution.
You need an atomically precise, invariant tip. ALIS has built such a tip. A reproducible atomic structure at the end of a tungsten wire.
They're trying to develop a dual-material process, silicon and germanium, so that you can make releasable structures. (They think they can deal with lattice mismatch.)
One possible product is a nano-imprint template. They expect atomically precise tools to be the most valuable product. They expect to enable productive nanosystem factories.
Question: Hydrogen migrates at normal temperatures. Is that compatible with the deposition technologies? A: We believe (after careful study) that the hydrogen is stable on a silicon surface, up to 200-300 degrees C. We think we can get epitaxy to work in that window. Cryogenic temperatures are not necessary. You do get motion on a single dimer, but no long-range motion.
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