What is Nanoscience?

When people talk about Nanoscience, they usually describe things

Physicists and engineers point to things like new nano-carbon materials.

Graphene

Carbon Nanotube

C60 Buckminster Fullerene

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

Biologists counter that they've been studying DNA, RNA ... for much longer.

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 Chemists respond that they've been synthesizing molecules for a century!

First OLED material: tris 8-hydroxyquinoline aluminum

Commercial OLED material: Polypyrrole

Most heavily investigated molecular electronic switch: Nitro oligo phenylene ethynylene

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 These things ARE very small

Indeed, they are all about the size of a nanometer:

Nano = 10-9 = 1/ 1,000,000,000 = 1 / Billionth

A nanometer is about the size of ten atoms in a row

This leads to one commonly used definition of nanosicence:

Nanoscience is the study of nanometer size things (?)

Why the question mark? Because what is so special about a nanometer?

A micrometer is also awfully small:

Micro = 10-6 - 1/1,000,000 = 1 / Millionth

A micrometer (or "micron") is ~ the size of light's wavelength

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

And microtechnology has been rolling along for almost half a century!

Microelectronics = Integrated circuits, PC's, iPods, iPhones . . .

Intel 4004: The original "computer on a chip" - 1971 (UVA Virtual Lab)

MEMS (Micro-electro-mechanical-systems):
Air bag accelerometers, micro-mirror TVs & projectors . . .

(Source: Texas Instruments DLP demo - www.dlp.com/tech/what.aspx)

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

Indeed, micro-technology has gotten smaller every year

MOORE'S LAW: The (almost whimsical) 1965 observation by Intel co-founder

Gordon Moore that the transistor count for integrated circuits
seemed to be doubling every 18-24 months

He was really sticking his neck out: IC's had only been invented 7 years before!
(by Texas Instrument's Jack Kilby)

But his "law" has been followed for forty years:

(Source: www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/index.htm)
"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience
If microtechnology gets smaller every year,
what's so special about nanotechnology?
Isn't it just a matter of time before micro shrinks spontaneously into nano?

Isn't nano just an extrapolation of micro?

Or being really cynical, doesn't: Nano = Micro + Hype?

NO!
(Although there IS a lot of hype, smoke and mirrors ... associated with nano)

The mistake is identifying nanoscience only with THINGS

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 Science is NOT just about collecting THINGS

Scientists DO sometimes collect things,

but they do this to learn about PATTERNS

that reveal underlying PRINCIPLES and LAWS

The abstracted principles and laws make the science - not the collections!

(Nanoscience ≠ Nano-stamp collecting!)

So rephrasing the question that opened this class:

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 Is there truly such a thing as nanoscience? YES!

It involves the wavelength of an electron (where "wavelength" ~ size)

Outside nanoscience, we generally don't worry about the size of electrons:

"Well . . . they are just darned small!"

In nanoscience, electron wavelength (or size) is all important

In controls electrical, optical, mechanical and other properties

It controls bonding and nanostructure

This comes from weird science called "quantum mechanics" (or just "QM")

Newton (Sir Isaac) was oblivious to QM - just as we are in our daily lives

Microelectronics IS affected by QM, but you can often hide these effects

But in Nanoscience, QM affects everything, all the time!

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience
 Is nanotechnology similarly unique? YES
"Nanotechnology" is so young that the term is almost an oxymoron

However, we HAVE learned it will not be a mere extrapolation of microtechnology

And here it is all about the wavelength of LIGHT!

Microfabrication depends on photographic processes

These cannot be scaled down below the wavelength of light

This means nanotechnology must invent new fabrication techniques

Most of these fall into the category of:

SELF-ASSEMBLY

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

Uniqueness + Weirdness led us to subtitle this class:
"We're not in Kansas anymore!"
This was intended to recall Dorothy's chagrin when the familiar and comfortable
experiences of her native Kansas were replaced by the strangeness of Oz

This was NOT intended to disparage Kansas

(As I was compelled to explain when I received a telephone call from the office of the junior
U.S. Senator from Kansas questioning my use of this subtitle in the National Science
Foundation proposal that led to this class)

This class should induce in you disorientation similar to Dorothy's

Because, paraphrasing Neils Bohr: "Anyone who does not have a headache after
their first encounter with quantum mechanics clearly has not understood a thing!"

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 Weird science + myriad assembly techniques →
Nanoscience includes HUGE range of scientific disciplines

Doubt that ANYONE has mastery of the whole field!

Means nanoscientists always have something new and exciting to learn

So to recap, where are we?

Nanoscience IS fundamentally different

But this depends upon some craziness about the wavelength of

electrons which has not been explained

Nanotechnology IS also fundamentally different

But the difference is connected with the wavelength of light

which has also not been fully explained

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 And so where are we going in this class?
A common theme is wavelength, so:

1) In the next class we will start by studying waves

Of ALL types - including nice friendly water waves and light waves

2) We'll then tackle our squirreliest topic: Electron waves & quantum mechanics

But we'll do this mostly based on what we learn about waves and some
history of why scientists became convinced electrons were truly wavelike

3) We'll then learn a bit about microfabrication & microelectronics

And why, despite MOORE'S LAW, they cannot be extrapolated to nano sizes

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

We'll then discuss Microfabrication's replacement: Nanoscale Self-Assembly

4) We'll explain the need for self-assembly by showing how many nano
techniques that work in the lab are hopelessly impractical on the
production line.

5) This will lead to descriptions of the earliest forms of self-assembly that

man tamed (such as crystal growth and associated phenomena).

And progress to the master of self-assembly: Mother Nature

Or what a billion years of random experimentation produced, including:

6) A peek at organic chemistry and the incredible things that can happen
in a beaker (or in the campfires of cavemen)

7) A description of DNA and the incredible things that can happen within
a cell (or within a gene synthesizer)

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

In parallel with these classes, in the lab you will be learning a lot about the
instrumentation used in nanoscience.

But to gain a wider view:

8) We'll take at least one class to discuss how you see and measure at
the nanoscale

9) To be followed by a couple of classes describing and demonstrating

nanoscience research here at the University of Virginia
(i.e. what is going on in our basements that you probably don't know about but
should know about - and could get involved with!)

10) And a couple of classes where YOU will report on nanoscience and
technology (present day or predicted) that has caught your attention

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

And finally to put nanoscience and nanotechnology in perspective we'll discuss:

11) The science fiction of nanoscience and nanotechnology, versus:

12) The legitimate fears and ethical challenges raised by nanoscience

and nanotechnology

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 What about the labs and homework?
This is a work in progress (subject to change) but tentative plans include:

LABS ON:

- Waves ("slinky" and "snakey" springs)

- An introduction to the scanning tunneling microscope (STM)

- Using STM to see individual atoms on the surface of graphite

- An introduction to the atomic force microscope (AFM)

- Using the AFM to measure micro samples such as CDs and DVDs

- AFM of near-nanoscale integrated circuit test chips for Micron Technologies

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 (Labs, continued)

- AFM or STM of X, where X = Nanotubes

C60 Buckminster Fullerene

Atomic steps on the surface of gold

Islands of Ge on Si

Ridges created by crystalline flaws in Ge on Si

Etched and fractured surfaces of crystals

And (if we can make sure it will work - within a couple of hours):

- Seeded growth of nanotubes on Si followed by AFM or STM analysis

- Au Q-dots: AFM analysis of size vs. spectrographic color

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

Supported by homework assignments including:

- Do-it-yourself models of graphene, nanotubes and Buckyballs

- Do-it-yourself models of DNA

- Study of "UVA Virtual Lab" virtual reality recreations of our

Scanning electron microscope

Scanning tunneling microscope

Atomic force microscope

- Nano science fiction including Michael Crichton's novel "Prey"

- Newspapers and magazine articles on concerns raised about nanotechnology

- Readings you identify on favorite topics / concerns

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience

 Credits / Acknowledgements
Funding for this class was obtained from the National Science Foundation (under their
Nanoscience Undergraduate Education program) and from the University of Virginia.

At the University of Virginia, the class development team is led by John C. Bean and Keith
Williams (who serve as principal class instructors in alternating semesters), with input from
Lloyd Harriott, Avik Ghosh and Nathan Swami.

This set of notes was authored by John C. Bean who also created all figures not explicitly
credited above.

Many of those figures (and much of the material to be used for this class) are drawn from
the "UVA Virtual Lab" (www.virlab.virginia.edu) website developed under earlier NSF grants.

Copyright John C. Bean (2007)

(However, permission is granted for use by individual instructors in non-profit academic institutions)

"We're not in Kansas Anymore!" - A Hands-on Introduction to Nanoscience