Nanotechnology

In 1965, Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel Corporation, made the outstanding prediction that the number of transistors that could be fit in a given area would double every 18 months for the next ten years.

In 1959, theoretical physicist Richard Feynman held a speech in Caltech entitled There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom, he described a process by which the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules might be developed, using tools of proportionally smaller dimensions.

Nanotechnology is the creation of functional materials, devices and systems through control of matter on the nanometer length scale (1-100 nanometers). This involves microscopic structures that are no longer than the width of some cell membranes. Nano has evolved from the Greek word ‘nanos’ or the Latin word ‘nanus’ meaning dwarf.

In the early 1980s Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig developed the scanning tunneling microscope and this instrument became the first in a series of probe microscope with atomic resolution that was considered to open a window to more precise control.

In 2001, a working 16 bit memory circuit is made at UCLA, launching exciting research into applications for electronic circuitry and computers.
Nanotechnology