Nanotechnology Background
Just as antibiotics, the silicon transistor, and plastics affected nearly
every aspect of society in the second half of the past century, nanoscale
science, engineering, and technology will transform the 21st century. The
Birck Nanotechnology Center (BNC) at Purdue University will be a leading-edge
national center advancing the frontiers of nanoscale research.
Widely termed nanotechnology for simplicity, nanoscale science, engineering,
and technology is the investigation, design, and manipulation of materials
on atomic and molecular scale -- from one to several hundred nanometers.
Used as a prefix, nano means one-billionth of a unit of measure. The letter
"I" printed here is about one million nanometers wide.
This size range from 1 to roughly 200 nanometers is where the properties
of a bulk material emerge, so nanoscale control of material structure can
lead to unprecedented control of electrical and thermal conductivity, melting
temperature, hardness, crack-resistance, and strength. Structures built
at the nanoscale can form micro-electro-mechanical machines and act as catalysts
for chemical reactions. The enormous potential of nanotechnology derives
from its interdisciplinary nature, in which, for example, techniques and
materials from the biological world are used to develop more compact semiconductor
structures, while techniques from semiconductor microfabrication are used
to build structures capable of analyzing biological systems at the molecular
level (the "lab-on-a-chip" concept).
Nanotechnology Research Groups
Laboratory
of Integrated Bio Medical Micro/Nanotechnology & Applications (LIBNA)
Catalyst Group
Laboratory for Chemical Nanotechnology
Cytometry Laboratories
Hillhouse Group - Nanostructured and Self-Assembled Thin Films
Center
for Laser Microfabrication
Lee Laboratory,
Chemical Engineering
LORRE:
Integrative Center for Biotechnology and Engineering
Markey Center for Structural Biology
Microfluidics
Laboratory
Purdue Center
for Nanoscale Devices
Nanoscale Physics
Purdue Nanotechnology Initiative
The
Nanotechnology Simulation Hub
Savran
Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering
Wei
Research Group
Purdue Wide Band Gap
Research
Presentation Archive
March 13, 2003
NSF
and Nanotechnology Related Program Initiatives
Dr. Rajinder P. Khosla,
Director of Electronics, Photonics and Device Technology Program (bio)
Electrical and Communications Systems
Division
National Science Foundation
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