Dec. 7, 2007:
I'm pleased to report that the Technology Roadmap for
Productive Nanosystems has finally been released. This marks the
completion of the first broad, multidisciplinary effort to
explore how current laboratory techniques for atomically precise
fabrication can be extended, step by step, toward increasingly
advanced products and capabilities.
The Roadmap project was led by the Battelle Memorial Institute,
a not-for-profit corporation that manages a set of U.S. National Laboratories
that includes Pacific Northwest, Oak Ridge, and Brookhaven. These labs hosted
three of the Roadmap workshops and provided many of the
participating scientists and engineers.
I served as lead technical consultant and had the privilege of
joining forces with over 70 working group members drawn from
academia, industry, and the national labs. Built around a series of
workshops launched in 2005, project has delivered a report totaling
some 400 pages. It provides a picture of the state of the art in
atomically precise fabrication and explores directions for both
next-stage and longer-term research and applications. You can
download the PDFs from the links at the top of this page.
Developments in the last 12 months show that the Roadmap is quite
timely: As part of a study released
last December, the U.S. National Research Council reviewed the
technical analysis that I presented in Nanosystems:
Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation and
called for experimental research in support of molecular manufacturing.
Subsequently, DARPA issued a request
for proposals for developing tip-based nanofabrication at the
threshold of atomic precision, and the
U.K. government announced
grants to research teams developing nanomachines that can build
materials molecule by molecule.
The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems
describes ways to move nanotechnologies forward in directions I
have outlined in my technical publications.
It centers on today's capabilities, exploring the rewards we can
expect from incremental advances, and links these advances to
longer term objectives for atomically precise manufacturing (which,
by the way, are quite unlike the popular fictions). Perhaps of
greatest value, the Roadmap identifies broad criteria that can help
researchers and research managers select high-payoff projects that
can contribute to the emerging field of atomically precise
nanosystems engineering. An area of special promise is integrating
other nanotechnologies into complex, functional systems by
exploiting recent breakthroughs in building
self-assembling, atomically precise DNA structures.
I expect that the Roadmap will have a strong, cumulative impact on
research agendas and strategic directions in the US and
internationally. Its greatest impact may be in forward-looking
Asian countries with an appetite for change.
— Eric Drexler
Please direct inquiries regarding
the Roadmap document to TRPN@Battelle.org.
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
- Atomically Precise Fabrication
- Nanoscale Structures and Fabrication
- Motors and Movers
- Design, Modeling, and Characterization
- Applications
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Steering Committee
Paul Alivisatos
University of California at Berkeley
Pearl Chin
Foresight Nanotech Institute
K. Eric Drexler
Nanorex
Mauro Ferrari
University of Texas-Houston
Institute of Molecular Medicine
Doon Gibbs
Brookhaven National Laboratory
William Goddard III
Beckman Institute
California Institute of Technology
William Haseltine
William A. Haseltine Foundation for Medical Sciences and the
Arts
Steve Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Alex Kawczak
Battelle Memorial Institute
Charles Lieber
Harvard University
Christine Peterson
Foresight Nanotech Institute
John Randall
Zyvex Labs
James Roberto
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Nadrian Seeman
New York University
Rick Snyder
Ardesta
J. Fraser Stoddart
University of California at Los Angeles
Ted Waitt
Waitt Family Foundation
Sponsors and Hosts
Supported through grants to the Foresight Nanotech Institute by
the Waitt Family Foundation (founding sponsor) and Sun
Microsystems, with direct support from Nanorex, Zyvex Labs, and
Synchrona. Working group meetings hosted by Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory, in cooperation with Battelle
Memorial Institute.
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Workshop
and Working Group Participants
Radoslav R. Adzic, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Damian
G. Allis, Syracuse University; Ingemar André,
University of Washington; Tom Autrey, Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory; Don Baer, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory; Sandra Bishnoi, Illinois Institute of
Technology; Brett Bosley, Oak Ridge National Laboratory;
Joe Bozell, University of Tennessee; Philip Britt, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory; Paul Burrows, Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory; David Cardamone, Simon Frazer
University; Ashok Choudhury, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; Stephanie Corchnoy, Synchrona; James
Davenport, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Robert J. Davis,
The Ohio State University; Shawn Decker, South Dakota
School of Mines; Mitch Doktycz, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; Eric Drexler, Nanorex; Joel D. Elhard,
Battelle Memorial Institute; Jillian Elliot, Foresight
Nanotech Institute; Doug English, University of
Maryland; Leo S. Fifield, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory; Keith Firman, University of Portsmouth;
David Forrest, Naval Surface Warfare Center; Robert A.
Freitas Jr., Institute for Molecular Manufacturing; Glen E.
Fryxell, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Dan Gaspar,
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; David Geohegan,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Anita Goel,
Nanobiosym; J. Storrs Hall, Engineering Research
Institute, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing; Alex Harris,
Brookhaven National Laboratory; Amy Heintz, Battelle
Memorial Institute; Evelyn Hirt, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory; Linda Horton, Oak Ridge National Laboratory;
Ed Hunter, Sun Microsystems; Ilia Ivanov, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory; Neil Jacobstein, Institute for
Molecular Manufacturing; Evan Jones, Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory; Richard Jones, University of
Sheffield; John Karanicolas, University of Washington;
Alex Kawczak, Battelle Memorial Institute; David Keenan,
Nanoscience Technologies; Peter C. Kong, Idaho National
Laboratory; James Lewis, Foresight Nanotech Institute;
Alan Liby, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Kwiang Lee Lim,
Singapore Engineering Research Council; Eric Lund,
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Russ Miller, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory; Jim Misewich, Brookhaven National
Laboratory; Scott Mize, Foresight Nanotech Institute;
Lorrie-Ann Neiger, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Lee
Oesterling, Battelle Memorial Institute; Lori Peurrung,
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; John Randall,
Zyvex Labs; Fernando Reboredo, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; Mark Reeves, Oak Ridge National Laboratory;
Steven M. Risser, Battelle Memorial Institute; Sharon
Robinson, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Paul W. K.
Rothemund, California Institute of Technology; Jay Sayre,
Battelle Memorial Institute; Christian E. Schafmeister,
Temple University; Thomas Schulthess, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory; Nadrian Seeman, New York University; Ida
Shum, Idaho National Laboratory; Mark Simpson, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory; Dennis Smith, Clemson University;
Vincent Soh, Singapore Engineering Research Council ; Jeff
Soreff, IBM; Rob Tow, Sun Microsystems; Mike
Thompson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Bhima
Vijayendran, Battelle Memorial Institute; Chiming Wei,
American Academy of Nanomedicine; Chia-Woan Wong,
Singapore Engineering Research Council; Stan Wong,
Brookhaven National Laboratory
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