Invited Paper NM+MS-MoA2
Sustainable Nanomanufacturing

Monday, October 31, 2011, 2:20 pm, Room 207

Nanomanufacturing has been defined as an approach to design, produce, control, modify, manipulate, and assemble nanometer-scale elements or features for the purpose of realizing a product or system that exploits properties seen at the nanoscale. Nanomanufacturing R&D has as its goal enabling the mass production of reliable and economical nanoscale materials, structures, devices, and systems. The current relatively rudimentary capabilities for systematic control and manufacture at the nanoscale are envisioned to evolve faster after 2011 as we develop new models and instrumentation and enter production of nanosystems for revolutionary new products and processes. We have estimated the global market of final products that incorporate nanotechnology increases by about 25 percent per year reaching $1 trillion by 2015. This estimation made in 2000 [1] holds in 2011, after passing two thirds of the interval.

Three challenges of nanomanufacturing will be discussed: supporting innovation (beyond scaling), realizing efficiency (beyond new functions) and sustainability (of nanoscale processes and of global development). The research trends and application opportunities in nanomanufacturing will be presented by considering four generations of products by 2020 [2]. Most of what has already made it into the marketplace is in the form of “First Generation” products (passive nanostructures with steady behavior) and more recently “Second Generation” (active nanostructures, such as advanced transistors, amplifiers, targeted drugs and chemicals, sensors, actuators, and adaptive structures), while embryonic “Third Generation” (nanosystems, such as bio-assembling; networking at the nanoscale, nanoscale robotics and multiscale architectures) products are in the pipeline. Concepts for the “Fourth Generation” products, including molecular nanosystems, are only in research. Convergence with modern biology, digital revolution, cognitive sciences and other areas is expected to accelerate nanotechnology manufacturing. The role of NNI Signature Initiative on Sustainable Nanomanufacturing will be discussed.

[1] Roco, M.C. and W. Bainbridge, Eds., "Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology", NSF, Springer (former Kluwer Academic Publishers), 350 pages, Boston, 2001.