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Category Archives: Nanotechnology

Semicon industry told to invest in nanotechnology

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Though India had become a dominant player in the global software arena, it is a laggard in the electronics hardware industry despite resources and talent, says founder director-general of National Informatics Centre N. Seshagiri

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BANGALORE, INDIA: The fledgling Indian semiconductor industry has to invest in the research and development (R&D) of nanotechnology to face the challenge of disruptive technologies and shrinking innovative product cycles, a top expert said on Monday.

"Nanotechnology is the future of the electronics industry worldwide. With disruptive technologies and product cycles shrinking, the Indian semicon industry has to invest in nanotechnology R&D to innovate applications using nano materials and nano tubes," founder director-general of National Informatics Centre N. Seshagiri said here.

Delivering the inaugural address at the sixth Vision Summit of the Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) here, Seshagiri told about 300 delegates that though India had become a dominant player in the global software arena with about $60 billion export revenue, it is a laggard in the electronics hardware industry despite resources and talent.

"It will be a blunder to ignore the innovations taking place in nanotechnology worldwide, especially in the US, Germany and Korea and application of nano materials and nano tubes in the manufacturing of electronics products for diverse applications, especially consumer goods, including mobiles, laptops and tablets, medical equipment, energy efficiency and security," the former special secretary to the IT department and Planning Commission said.

Noting that the sunrise nanotechnology sector was a $20 billion industry worldwide with about 1,000 nano-based products rolled out by 400 firms across 25 countries, the eminent technocrat said the market size for nanotech electronics was estimated to be $1.6 trillion over the next two years.

"The absence of a chip-making (fab) facility and sound electronics manufacturing base should not deter the Indian semicon and hardware industry from using nanotechnology in developing sub-systems and electronic devices, which will account for about 30 percent of the projected $30 billion industry in 2014," Seshagiri pointed out.

Referring to the huge investments being made by global chip maker Intel and IT major IBM in developing 40 nanometre and sub-25 nanometre flash memory, the former official said the cost of producing nano materials and nano tubes had to be reduced substantially through R&D and innovation so as to bring down the overall cost of end-products.

"Presently, it costs about $400,000 to produce a kilogram of nano tubes even in the US. As nanotechnology and miniaturisation of electronic products are going to be order of this decade, the Indian electronics hardware industry had to catch up with the rest of the world to be in race for a pie of the multi-billion dollar market," Seshagiri asserted.

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Semicon industry told to invest in nanotechnology

Power Grab Trumps Nanotechnology in Putin’s Russia

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Russian President Vladimir Putins changing attitude toward two giant government-led high-tech projects sends a troubling message about his third term in office: Maintaining power is more important than modernizing the economy.

The projects, known as Rusnano and Skolkovo, were meant to propel Russias raw-material economy into the technology age. They involved multibillion-dollar government investments, the first in nanotechnology and the second in a new city that would become Russias answer to Silicon Valley. They were supposed to provide the infrastructure and stability required to attract large amounts of foreign investment.

Now, both have become targets in Putins campaign to demonstrate that hes being tough on corruption and mismanagement of government funds. As a result, their chances of succeeding are looking increasingly remote.

Putin himself ordered the establishment of Rusnano in 2007, endowing the state-owned company with $5 billion to invest in ventures that would put Russia at the forefront of the nanotechnology revolution. Headed by Anatoly Chubais, the architect of Russias early 1990s privatization, Rusnano initially had to place most of its money in bank deposits for lack of ready projects. Since then, it has managed to invest more than $3 billion.

Trouble came in April, when the Accounting Chamber, a body charged with auditing government spending, accused Rusnano of inefficient management in a report that received ample coverage on state-owned TV. It said that Rusnano had transferred about $40 million to shell companies and pointed out that a silicon factory in which Rusnano invested about $450 million was not functioning and was about to be declared insolvent. The report also highlighted the state companys 2012 losses of 2.5 billion rubles ($80 million) and the 24.4-billion-ruble (about $800 million) in reserves Rusnano had formed against potential losses from risky ventures.

In a recent televised call-in session, with questions carefully screened, Putin did little to support Rusnano and Chubais, who is still reviled by many for his role in the 1990s privatization program. I believe that he and a number of people who worked with him then made many mistakes, Putin said in response to a caller who asked when Chubais would finally go to jail. Putin then declared that CIA operatives had been among Chubaiss advisers.

Moving on to Rusnanos losses, Putin suggested that investing in alternative-energy projects such as solar batteries doesnt make sense in a hydrocarbon-rich country with long, dark winters. Its dark when you get up and dark when you go to bed, when would these batteries charge? he said. All he could say in Rusnanos support was that it has invested inefficiently, but this is not theft.

The company responded that its initial strategy was geared toward maximizing sales, not profit, and that it was far ahead of plan in that respect. But the objections did not get much airplay, and to a large extent the damage was done. Putins coldness and the widely publicized Accounting Chamber report offered a clear indication that the project is out of favor with the Kremlin. Thats not good for Chubaiss plan to have Rusnano fully privatized by 2020, with the first partial sell-off coming this year.

Skolkovo was a pet project of Dmitri Medvedev, the former president and now increasingly sidetracked prime minister. The plan, conceived in 2010, was to invest 85 billion rubles ($2.8 billion) in taxpayer money and offer other special incentives to attract Russian and foreign tech companies to a new city just outside Moscow. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was enlisted to set up an educational partnership called Skoltech. Billionaire Viktor Vekselberg signed on as head of the Skolkovo Foundation, receiving and administering both government and private funding. On the governments side, Vladislav Surkov, then seen as the eminence grise of Russian politics, was appointed the projects curator.

At about the same time as the Accounting Chamber published its Rusnano report, Russias Investigative Committee charged Skolkovo vice president Alexei Beltyukov, a former McKinsey consultant, with illegally paying $750,000 to parliamentary deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, ostensibly for a series of lectures and research papers. Ponomaryov, a vocal Putin opponent, responded in a lengthy LiveJournal post that the money was for a major promotional campaign aimed at attracting foreign and domestic investors.

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Power Grab Trumps Nanotechnology in Putin’s Russia

Nanotechnology pioneer Heinrich Rohrer won the Nobel Prize

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Heinrich Rohrer, who shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing a microscope that made it possible to see individual atoms and move them around, an achievement that led to vastly faster computing and greatly advanced molecular biology, died May 16 in Wollerau, Switzerland. He was 79.

His family said he had died of natural causes.

Mr. Rohrer and his colleague Gerd Binnig introduced the scanning tunnelling microscope, or STM, at an IBM laboratory in Zurich in 1981, after decades of explosive growth in microscopy. The STM enabled scientists to make accurate images of details as tiny as one-25th the diameter of a typical atom.

The advance helped give rise to the science of nanotechnology: the manipulation of matter at the atomic or molecular scale. Nanotechnology has revealed the structure of things such as viruses, improved industrial processes such as metal fabrication and the manufacture of computer components, clothing, cosmetics and paint.

Rohrer and Binnig shared the Nobel Prize with Ernst Ruska, who invented the electron microscope in 1931.

The invention of the scanning tunnelling microscope was a seminal moment in the history of science and information technology, John E. Kelly III, an IBM executive and director of research, said in a statement. This invention gave scientists the ability to image, measure and manipulate atoms for the first time, and opened new avenues for information technology that we are still pursuing today.

The Nobel committee said Mr. Rohrer and Mr. Binnig had opened up entirely new fields for the study of the structure of matter.

The pair, who had both done work in superconductivity and magnetic fields, were initially interested in studying the little-understood and complex atomic structures that make up the surfaces of minerals. It is at their surfaces that materials interact with the physical world.

But they found that electron microscopes, which investigate the internal arrangements of materials, did not help. The scientists decided they needed to develop a new type of microscope.

Their idea for the microscopes lens was an exceedingly thin wire tip the width of a single atom. Through a quantum mechanical effect called tunneling, a tiny current of electricity would flow from the tip to a surface to be scanned. The closer the probe got to a surface, the more electricity would flow. A computer would interpret the subtle changes in current to make a contour map of the hills and valleys of the atomic terrain.

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Nanotechnology pioneer Heinrich Rohrer won the Nobel Prize

Swiss nanotechnology pioneer Heinrich Rohrer dies

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WOLLERAU, Switzerland, May 24 (UPI) -- Heinrich Rohrer, a Swiss nanotechnology pioneer who helped invent the scanning tunneling microscope to observe and manipulate individual atoms, has died.

An announcement Thursday from the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, where he had worked, said Rohrer died May 16 at his home in Wollerau, Switzerland, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Heinrich Rohrer and colleague Gerd Binnig invented their improved version of the original 1930s electron microscope, calling it a scanning tunneling microscope, while working at the Zurich lab and together received the 1986 Nobel Prize in physics, an award they shared with physicist Ernst Ruska, who designed the first electron microscope.

Rohrer and Binning were considered the fathers of nanotechnology -- the construction and manipulation of extremely small objects -- because their device could be used to move atoms around one at a time on a surface.

"The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope was a seminal moment in the history of science and information technology," John E. Kelly III, director of research at IBM, said in a statement. "This invention gave scientists the ability to image, measure and manipulate atoms for the first time, and opened new avenues for information technology that we are still pursuing today."

Heinrich Rohrer was born June 6, 1933, in the farming community of Buchs in Switzerland. His family moved to Zurich where Rohrer studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, receiving his doctorate in 1960.

After a brief fellowship at Rutgers University, he joined the newly formed IBM Research Laboratory where he worked until 1997.

Rohrer is survived by his wife, two daughters and two grandchildren.

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Swiss nanotechnology pioneer Heinrich Rohrer dies

Conference Scheduled June 5-7 on Safe Use of Nanotechnology in Environmental Remediation

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Newswise HAMMOND An increasing number of hazardous waste disposal sites are using nanotechnology and nanomaterials in their environmental remediation efforts, leaving open questions about the safety of such techniques.

An inaugural national workshop will be held at Southeastern Louisiana University June 5-7 to try to provide some answers to the questions and concerns on the safe use of nanomaterials in environmental remediation.

Nanomaterials are tiny engineered particles, often smaller than the width of a human air, that are being synthesized and formed to perform specific functions in medicine delivery, pharmacology, industry and environmental remediation.

While applications and results of nano-enabled strategies for environmental remediation are promising, there is still the challenge of ensuring such applications are both safe and sustainable, said conference organizer Ephraim Massawe. The federal government has established different projects coordinated by different agencies, called signature initiatives. We plan on generating information supportive of some of these federal initiatives.

The event, Nano-4_Rem_Anseers2013: Applications of Nanotechnolgoy for Safe and Sustainable Environmental Remediations, is a cooperative endeavor involving the university and agencies and institutions, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Louisiana Board of Regents is providing partial financial support.

Four keynote speakers are slated to address the three-day conference, which will be held on the Southeastern campus. Speakers and topics include: -- Patrick OShaughnessy, professor of occupational and environmental health in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Iowa, Nanosafety: Current Issues and Guidance; -- Dongye Zhao, Huff endowed professor of environmental engineering at Auburn University: Application of Stabilized Nanoparticles for in situ Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Groundwater; -- Souhail Al-Abed of the EPA Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati: Nanotechnology and the Environment: an Overview of Sustainable and Safe Applications in Site Remediation.

In addition, a representative of the National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office will speak at the workshop.

The program is intended for representatives of the environmental remediation community, nanomaterial vendors, consultants and contractors, academics, industry, health and safety regulatory agencies, and state and federal government agencies. Exhibitors will include companies showcasing instruments, equipment and new technologies used in environmental remediation and nanomaterial monitoring.

Additional details on the program and registration information can be found on the conference website: southeastern.edu/nano-5-rem-anssers.

Massawe said at least 30 EPA Superfund sites across the nation are currently using nanomaterials in remediation operations.

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Conference Scheduled June 5-7 on Safe Use of Nanotechnology in Environmental Remediation

Heinrich Rohrer: The Modest Pioneer of Nanotechnology

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By now, just about everyone with an interest in the field of nanotechnology has heard that Heinrich Rohrer, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), passed away this week at the age of 79 from natural causes.

It would be hard to overstate the impact that Rohrer and his colleague at IBM Zurich, Gerd Binnig, have had on the field of nanotechnology. The STM has become a cornerstone tool for characterizing and manipulating the world on the nanoscale. Through ever more refined iterations of the device, we are peering into the atomic scale with greater and greater clarity. Even the lay-est of laypersons can appreciate the STMs feats of prowess when they're put on display in videos in which atoms are made to perform stunts as if they're children in a home movie.

For a description of how the STM came to be and how it works, IBM Zurichs reporting on Rohrers life is both thorough and poignant and I recommend you take a look at it.

All I would add are my own personal recollections of Rohrer from a one-on-one interview I had with him and from joint interviews I and other journalists had with him and Binnig back in 2011 while attending the grand opening of IBM Zurichs new nanotechnology research facility, which IBM aptly named the Binnig and Rohrer Nanotechnology Center.

In these interviews, I was struck by three things.

First, Rohrers absolute humility in his role in the development of the STM. He characterized himself as simply wanting to see if it would be possible to eliminate approximations of inhomogenities on surfaces and measure them precisely. Beyond his genius of simply asking the right question, he also had the good sense to hire a brilliant young scientistBinnigwho could help him in his quest.

Second, Rohrer was funny. Nearly everything he said during our brief time together had a wry twist of humor to it. It seemed to be humor borne of humility (not taking himself too seriously), pragmatism, and his sense that his role as a leader in a technology revolution was so unexpected that he just had to laugh at it.

Finally, I was struck by the chemistry between the two men. They expressed unflagging admiration for one another, despite being in some ways polar opposites. Rohrer was the pragmatist, while Binnig seems to have the touch of the poet. Interestingly, though, in the development of the STM those roles were reversed in that Rohrer was the idea guy and Binnig was the engineer who got the device built.

In any event, their contrasting personalities, humor, and chemistry were on clear display the day of the opening of the lab named after them.

After Binnig had carefully answered a question about their co-discovery of the STM, Rohrer quipped, "If you didn't quite understand what Gerd just told you, you are not alone."

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Heinrich Rohrer: The Modest Pioneer of Nanotechnology

Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology

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The electron microscope revolutionized biology in the 1930s by providing magnifications thousands of times higher than that of light microscopes, allowing scientists to discern the inner workings of cells for the first time.

But it was not nearly as helpful for materials scientists such as the ones constructing electronic circuits, who were more interested in surfaces. Exploring the details of those circuits required a completely new technology, the scanning tunneling microscope, which would provide images of individual atoms on surfaces.

Many scientists thought such a feat impossible. In 1979, however, physicists Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig of the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland, patented such a device and forever changed the electronics industry. For their invention, they received the 1986 Nobel Prize in physics, an award they shared with physicist Ernst Ruska, who designed the first electron microscope.

Rohrer and Binning were known as the fathers of nanotechnology the construction and manipulation of extremely small objects because their device could be used to move atoms around on a surface.

Rohrer died of natural causes May 16 at his home in Wollerau, Switzerland, according to IBM. He was 79.

"The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope was a seminal moment in the history of science and information technology," John E. Kelly III, director of research at IBM, said in a statement. "This invention gave scientists the ability to image, measure and manipulate atoms for the first time, and opened new avenues for information technology that we are still pursuing today."

The pair's invention relies on a quantum-mechanical phenomenon known as tunneling, so called because the electrons pass through a supposedly impenetrable barrier, such as a vacuum. The phenomenon is the basis of scanning tunneling microscopy.

In tunneling, the tip of an electrically charged wire, for example, emits electrons in waves that roughly resemble the shape of a fountain. When two such devices are brought closely together, the overlapping waves partially merge and electrons flow through the gap, creating a small current.

Their device uses a stylus not unlike the needle of a record player. It is much smaller, however, converging to a point only one atom in diameter. In a high vacuum, the needle is brought close to the surface to be examined and a small electric charge applied, producing a current. The strength of the current depends on the distance between the point and the surface.

As the stylus is scanned back and forth across the surface much like the electron beam of a cathode ray tube in a television the current varies with the height of the surface. A computer moves the stylus up and down to keep the current constant. The record of those movements, converted into two dimensions, provides an image of the surface. The entire process relies on the current produced by tunneling.

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Heinrich Rohrer dies at 79; a father of nanotechnology


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