Nanotechnology, Molecular Manufacturing, and Productive Nanosystems

Nanotechnology, Molecular Manufacturing,
and Productive Nanosystems

Released December, 2007:
Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems

The first broad-based, multidisciplinary exploration of the road to molecular manufacturing, the Roadmap addresses how current lab techniques for atomically precise fabrication can be extended, step by step, toward increasingly advanced products and capabilities.

Overview

Downloads:

Roadmap [2.4 MB]

Working Group Proceedings [14.5 MB]

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U.S. National Academies Report
Examines Molecular Manufacturing
— First Federal study and call for research —

The National Research Council of the NAS has released its long-awaited report on molecular manufacturing as part of the Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The report cites the physics-based, technical analysis in my book, Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation, and calls for the NNI to initiate support for experimental research in this area. They recommend both demonstrations of the fundamental principles of “site-specific chemistry for large-scale manufacturing” and exploration of alternative development paths toward that objective. The concluding sentences of the 200 page report state that

“...the optimum research paths that might lead to systems which greatly exceed the thermodynamic efficiencies and other capabilities of biological systems cannot be reliably predicted at this time. Research funding that is based on the ability of investigators to produce experimental demonstrations that link to abstract models and guide long-term vision is most appropriate to achieve this goal.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

The report, prepared in response to a congressional request, represents the first open, national-level, science-based evaluation of the concept of molecular manufacturing in the U.S. Both its open evaluation and positive recommendations represent sharp departures from the past.

NAS Review: full report [pdf, 4 MB]; concluding section [pdf, 200 KB].

Site map

About this web site:

This site focuses on the science behind productive nanosystems, a nanotechnology for molecular manufacturing. It includes tutorial material, new results, annotated bibliographies and links to external web resources. A secondary topic is secure, distributed computing, which will be (must be) central to the future of informational technology. In both these areas, several widespread assumptions are wrong. A better understanding can benefit both technical leaders seeking productive directions for research and policy makers aiming to make better decisions.

The best brief, general description of productive nanosystems is “Revolutionizing the Future of Technology” in the “In Context, Nanotechnology” section of the AAAS EurekAlert website. The best brief, technical description is “Productive Nanosystems: the physics of molecular fabrication” [pdf, 0.6 MB], in the IOP journal Physics Education. For a detailed technical analysis of the principles and potential implementations of advanced molecular manufacturing systems, see Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation.

NEW: Interview in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists regarding molecular manufacturing, weapons, security issues, the role of scientists, and what I would say to elementary school students. (Behind a pay wall: a problem for those students.)

NEW EDITION: Engines of Creation 2.0 (a WOWIO e-book). This 20th anniversary edition combines the original text of Engines of Creation with a collection of background readings and a new Letter from the Author. (The publisher is exploring a business model that makes copyrighted books available for download with registration, but free of charge.)

“Productive Nanosystems: From molecules to superproducts” [video, 94 MB]:

Now from YouTube:

The nanofactory video, “Productive Nanosystems: From molecules to superproducts”, is now available both from YouTube and in the high-resolution version linked above.

Starting at the human scale, the viewpoint zooms in through a scale factor of a billion to follow molecules as they are sorted, bound, transformed, and joined to form larger and larger parts of a billion-processor laptop computer — and all without even one dancing “nanobot”! The production and much of the design were done by John Burch of LizardFire Studios. I advised John, did just a bit of the artwork, and worked with Damian Allis to do the design and quantum chemistry analysis of the molecular transformations shown in the first scene.

Now available exclusively on this site:

Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation. Sample chapters, glossary, and extended Table of Contents from the physics-based text on molecular manufacturing.

RECENT TRANSLATIONS: Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, now in html with links to Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Italian, French, and Chinese translations (in print and on the web).

FREQUENTLY UPDATED: NanoEngineer-1 Gallery

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Early-generation productive nanosystems

Biology provides an existence proof for productive nanosystems, showing that they can produce an enormous tonnage of atomically precise products cleanly and at low cost. Early generation productive nanosystems, enabled by current research in nanotechnologies and the molecular sciences, may follow the biological model, building small machines from self-assembled polymeric components. Design and analysis, however, show that longer-term capabilities can grow far beyond this biological model. The history of technology revolves around the use of tools to build better tools; early-generation productive nanosystems will open the door to advanced systems.

Advanced productive nanosystems

Advanced productive nanosystems (that is, molecular manufacturing systems) will enable the fabrication of large, complex products cleanly, efficiently, and at low cost. Among the feasible products of advanced productive nanosystems will be:

Advanced systems provide a long-term objective, but even early-generation systems will have great practical and scientific value. Developing early-generation productive nanosystems is a practical objective today.

Today’s growing technology base

The last decade of progress in nanotechnologies and the molecular sciences provides a platform for developing productive nanosystems. Recent advances include techniques for error-free synthesis of long DNA strands [PDF, 240 KB], for design and synthesis of intricate, self-assembling DNA structures, for routine design and production of atomically precise, nanometer-scale polymeric objects, and for synthesis of a host of atomically precise nanoscale particles and fibers. Together, these form a basis for engineering self-assembled composite structures in which biopolymers provide atomically precise “glue” for other components.

The United States wakes

In the United States, misunderstandings and funding-related politics have delayed progress toward molecular manufacturing, but these obstacles are crumbling. A National Research Council study (see news above) has evaluated molecular manufacturing systems as an objective and called for defining and funding a research program: both the evaluation and the call for funding are firsts within the U.S. federal government. Meanwhile, the Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems, led by the Battelle Memorial Institute with participation by researchers from its 5 U.S. National Labs, has garnered widespread support from academia and industry groups. The Roadmap, launched in 2005, has now been released.

Those who have been following the history of molecular manufacturing concepts will recognize these developments as marking as a profound change, the first national-level recognition of molecular manufacturing as an appropriate objective for research and development.