An overview of nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing
The basic points below describe the topic, its importance, and how it relates to current scientific knowledge and laboratory capabilities. The systems overview describes the components and organization of molecular manufacturing systems and shows why they can be extraordinarily productive.
Basic points:
The term “nanotechnology” has two very different meanings.
Molecular manufacturing will use nanomachines to build large products with atomic precision
Molecular manufacturing can be clean, efficient, and inexpensive
Molecular manufacturing does not require self-replicating machines
Research worldwide is advancing along multiple paths toward molecular manufacturing
Systems overview:
Mechanosynthetic operations on molecules can transfer single atoms
Physical scaling laws enable small machines to be highly productive
Molecular mills can perform repetitive assembly steps using simple, efficient mechanisms
Convergent assembly can quickly build large products from nanoscale parts
Images:
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2004
, revised: