Manufacturing with Nano

Looking to understand what nanotechnology means for you? Interested in learning about the latest applications and trends in top-down fabrication and bottom-up assembly techniques?

Those are some questions being used to promote a conference on nanomanufacturing, coming next month to the Boston area. The event, organized by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, includes a day and a half of presentations and panels, including sessions on "Exponential Manufacturing" and on the recently announced "Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems."

NanoManufacturing Conference & Exhibits
Sheraton Framingham Hotel
Framingham, MA USA
April 22 - April 23, 2008

In addition to the main event, they're also offering an April 21 pre-conference workshop on "Understanding Nanotechnology" presented by Tihamer Toth-Fejel, a member of CRN's Global Task Force.

Here is the outline for the pre-conference workshop:

Brief History of Nanotechnology

• Top-down approaches
• Bottom-up approaches

Taxonomies and Roadmaps

• Top-down/bottom-up/bottom-to-bottom
• Assembly: directed/guided/random

Near Term: Passive Structures

• Nanoparticles

o Properties
o Nanoshells
o Dendrimers
o Carbon nanotubes

• Nanostructure manufacturing techniques

o Layer-by-layer and langmuir-blodgett films
o Self-assembly
o Atomic layer epitaxy

• Nanoimprint lithography
• Dip-pen nanolithography
• Nanoparticle synthesis techniques
• Electron beam techniques
• Focused ion beam (FIB)
• Block copolymers
• DNA origami
• Bulk nanostructured materials, coatings, and composites

Medium Term: Active Devices and Machines

• Nanodevice Design: Using Nanoengineer NanoCAD Software

o Nanofabrication of structures and devices
o Biotemplating (bone and virus)
o Rapid prototyping
o Molecular actuators

• Atomically Precise Manufacturing

o Micro automation
o Molecularly precise tools
o Patterned atomic layer epitaxy

Far Term: Productive Nanosystems

• Nanofactories
• Universal constructors
• Machine replication

Metrology

Potential Problems Associated with Nanotechnology

• Near term: nanoparticles in EHS (environment, health, and safety)
• Medium term: Bionanotechnology issues
• Far term: economic, military, and social issues

For more information, click here.

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics blog