This document discusses applications of nanotechnology in electronics and mechanical engineering. It outlines several key areas where nanotechnology can have impact, such as semiconductors, passive components, display materials, and packaging/interconnection. For semiconductors, it describes potential applications like doping carbon nanotubes and creating quantum dots. It also discusses using nanoparticles to fabricate nanowire structures for uses like sensors. For packaging, it notes nanotubes and diamond films can improve thermal performance. The document concludes that over the next five years, significant new nanomaterials and processes will address important industry issues, and longer-term nanotechnology will extend or replace technologies to meet customer needs.
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
Accepted Paper at CBIT-ECE conference
1. National Congress on Communications and Computer Aided Electronic Systems (CCAES 2012)
Real Life Applications Of Nanotechnology In Electronics and Mechanical
Engineering
Dr.N.V.Srinivasulu , Dr. P.Giridhar Reddy, Dr. P.Narahari Sastry
Associate professors, chaitanya Baharathi Institute of Technology,Gandipet, Hyderabad-500075.AP.India.
Email: vaastusrinivas@gmail.com
Abstract - Nanotechnology is like a toolkit for the
electronics and mechanical industries. It gives us tools that
allow us to make nanomaterials with special properties
modified by ultra-fine particle size, crystallinity, structure or
surfaces. These will become commercially important when
they give a cost and performance advantage over existing
products or allow us to create new products.
Nanotechnology is receiving a lot of attention from
companies, universities and governments. This paper will
outline areas in Nanotechnology with specific impact on
semiconductors, passive components, display materials,
packaging and interconnection. The collection of synthesis
techniques collectively known as Nanotechnology presents
many opportunities to reshape the electronics industry from
top to bottom. Nanotechnology can offer us: • Uniform
particles : metal, oxide, ceramics, composite ; Unusual
optical, thermal and electronic properties: phosphors, heat
pipes, Nano-structured materials:tubes, balls, hooks,
surfaces. Some of the most revolutionary applications in
nanotechnology are in the semiconductor areas. As the
semiconductor roadmaps look out towards 2015 and below
20 nm features, the need for different structures is becoming
apparent...once we move to ultraviolet and then Xray
lithography, there is nowhere to go (in a practical sense) to
image ultra small features. Imagine doping a Carbon or
Silicon nanotube, coating it with differently doped
materials, assembling it (preferably self-assembling it) in an
array. Imagine creating quantum dots that can store a single
electron charge. Imagine trapping atoms inside a nanotube
and using the electron spin to create a quantum computing
device.
I. Introduction
Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional
systems at the molecular scale. This covers both
current work and concepts that are more advanced. In
its original sense, 'nanotechnology' refers to the
projected ability to construct items from the bottom
up, using techniques and tools being developed today
to make complete, high performance products.
Nanotechnology is the engineering of tiny machines
— the projected ability to build things from the bottom
up inside personal nanofactories (PNs), using
techniques and tools being developed today to make
complete, highly advanced products. Ultimately,
nanotechnology will enable control of matter at the
nanometer scale, using mechanochemistry. Shortly
after this envisioned molecular machinery is created, it
will result in a manufacturing revolution, probably
causing severe disruption. It also has serious
economic, social, environmental, and military
implications. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter,
roughly the width of three or four atoms. The average
human hair is about 25,000 nanometers wide.
II. Nanotechnology application areas:
Semiconductors
Some of the most revolutionary applications in
nanotechnology are in the semiconductor areas. As the
semiconductor roadmaps look out towards 2015 and below
20 nm features, the need for different structures is becoming
apparent...once we move to ultraviolet and then Xray
lithography, there is nowhere to go (in a practical sense) to
image ultra small features. Imagine doping a Carbon or
Silicon
nanotube, coating it with differently doped materials,
assembling it (preferably self-assembling it) in an array.
Imagine creating quantum dots that can store a single
electron charge. Imagine trapping atoms inside a nanotube
and using the electron spin to create a quantum computing
device. There is a large number of potential routes to new
computing, storage and optical devices. The devices we are
making now are quite clumsy compared with established
semiconductor technology. But they will surely improve!
One example of a semiconductor technology that is
generating great interest is the atomic cluster deposition
technology pioneered by Nano Cluster Devices (NCD) of
Christchurch, New Zealand. The technology revolves
around and ability to fabricate nanoscale wirelike structures
by the assembly of conducting nanoparticles.
The attractions of this approach are:
• Electrically conducting nanowires can be formed using
only simple and straightforward techniques,
i.e. cluster deposition and relatively low resolution
lithography;
• The resulting nanowires are automatically connected to
electrical contacts;
• Electrical current can be passed along the nanowires from
the moment of their formation;
• No manipulation of the clusters is required to form the
nanowire because the wire is “self assembled” using one of
two techniques described below;
• The width of the nanowire can be controlled by the size of
the cluster that is chosen.
One of the merits of the technique is that it is extremely
simple: nanoscale particles, formed by inert gas aggregation,
are deposited from a molecular beam onto prefabricated
2. Real Life Applications Of Nanotechnology In Electronics and Mechanical Engineering
lithographically defined nanocontacts. The cluster
deposition is random but is managed via a novel templated
surface strategy or within percolation theory. In the
templating approach surface structures guide the particles to
the „correct‟ positions so as to form a wire. In the
percolation approach, a deep understanding of the theory,
and sophisticated computer simulations, have been used to
design device geometries that ensure a single wire-like path
is formed between the contacts near the percolation
threshold. In either case, an electrically conducting
nanowire, which is automatically connected to electrical
contacts, is therefore formed with no need to manipulate
particles individually or use complex fabrication techniques.
The width of the wire can be controlled by the size of the
deposited particles. Applications include:
• Chemical sensors, including Hydrogen and glucose
sensors;
• Read heads for hard disk drives;
• Transistors, interconnects and integrated circuits
(semiconducting and conducting wires);
• Photosensors; • Deposition control systems, a spin off
technology for high precision control of particle deposition
in the sub-monolayer regime. Products are under
development with several companies .
Packaging IC and MEMS devices:
Packaging of advanced devices is going to continue to be
problematic since temperature is the enemy of ultra fine
features which can be easily destroyed by thermal diffusion
or differential expansion. In the shorter term, improved
fillers for mold compounds (which are already ~90% filler)
and underfills can lead to better thermal and electrical
performance combined with easier flow properties. The use
of high thermal conductivity Carbon nanotubes and
diamondlike films with thermal conductivity over twice that
of Copper will provide worthwhile solutions as will CTE
matched fillers with conductive and dielectric properties.
Board / substrate
In the last three years the board business has changed from a
commodity business to a specialty business with materials
optimised for thermal, high frequency and environmental
reasons. Boards still
need improvement in areas such as CTE and flatness and the
embedding of passive components needs a low cost self-
assembly type process in order to lower the costs to make it
truly competitive.
Improved ceramic substrates are possible but in fact many
ceramic operations already use the principles of
Nanotechnology in developing precursor particles with high
reactivity and uniformity. There are options to improve
conductor and embedded passive technology and to
strengthen the substrates as average substrate size is
increasing due to the greater use of modules.
Passive components
There are many uses of interconnection materials within
passive components. Monosize materials
hold promise in Tantalum capacitors and ceramic capacitors,
where improved termination materials
and electrode materials promise a further reduction in size
and cost. In particular, reducing the electrode thickness in
base metal ceramic capacitors promises a significant
improvement
in volumetric efficiency. Advanced nano Copper and Nickel
powders available in 2005 offer the
following advantages :
• Controllable particle size; • Virtually monosize particle
size distribution.
Nanoelectronics increase the capabilities of electronics
devices by reducing their weight and also power
consumption. Some of the nanoelectronics areas under
development are as follows
1. Improving display screens on electronics devices. This
involves reducing power consumption while decreasing the
weight and thickness of the screens.
2. Increasing the density of memory chips. Researchers are
developing a type of memory chip with a projected density
of one terabyte of memory per square inch or greater.
3.Reducing the size of transistors used in integrated circuits.
It may be possible to "put the power of all of today's present
computers in the palm of your hand".
III. Nanoelectronics: Applications under
Development
Building transistors from carbon nanotubes to
enable minimum transistor dimensions of a few
nanometers and developing techniques to
manufacture integrated circuits built with nanotube
transistors.
Using electrodes made from nanowires that would
enable flat panel displays to be flexible as well as
thinner than current flat panel displays.
Using MEMS techniques to control an array of
probes whose tips have a radius of a few
nanometers. These probes are used to write and
read data onto a polymer film, with the aim of
producing memory chips with a density of one
terabyte per square inch or greater.
Transistors built in single atom thick graphene film
to enable very high speed transistors.
Combining gold nanoparticles with organic
molecules to create a transistor known as a
NOMFET (Nanoparticle Organic Memory Field-
Effect Transistor).
Using carbon nanotubes to direct electrons to
illuminate pixels, resulting in a lightweight,
millimeter thick "nanoemmissive" display panel.
Using quantum dots to replace the fluorescent dots
used in current displays. Displays using quantum
dots should be simpler to make than current
displays as well as use less power.
Making integrated circuits with features that can be
measured in nanometers (nm), such as the process
that allows the production of integrated circuits
with 22 nm wide transistor gates.
Using nanosized magnetic rings to make
Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory
(MRAM) which research has indicated may allow
memory density of 400 GB per square inch.
Developing molecular-sized transistors which may
allow us to shrink the width of transistor gates to
approximately one nm which will significantly
increase transistor density in integrated circuits.
Using self-aligning nanostructures to manufacture
3. National Congress on Communications and Computer Aided Electronic Systems (CCAES 2012)
nanoscale integrated circuits.
Using nanowires to build transistors without p-n
junctions.
Using magnetic quantum dots in spintronic
semiconductor devices. Spintronic devices are
expected to be significantly higher density and
lower power consumption because they measure
the spin of electronics to determine a 1 or 0, rather
than measuring groups of electronics as done in
current semiconductor devices.
Using nanowires made of an alloy of iron and
nickel to create dense memory devices. By
applying a current magnetized sections along the
length of the wire. As the magnetized sections
move along the wire, the data is read by a
stationary sensor. This method is called race track
memory.
IV. Conclusion
Over the next five years there will be significant
introduction of nanomaterials and novel production
processes based on Nanotechnology which will address key
issues of importance to the electronics industry. Longer term
the use of Nanotechnology will allow us to meet customer
requirements by extending existing technologies or
replacing them with new ones.
References
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and B. David Naidu (Hardcover - Jul 2009)
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A. Schwarz, Sergey Edward Lyshevski, Karol Putyera and
Cristian
3. Nanotechnology and the Environment: Applications and
Implications by Barbara Karn, Tina Masciangioli, Wei-xian
Zhang and Vicki Colvin
4.Nanotechnology in Undergraduate Education by Kimberly
A. O. Pacheco, Richard W. Schwenz and Wayne E. Jones