WHAT COMMENTATORS ARGUE ??

Many commentators argue that most nanotechnological applications are still a long way off and thus of no interest to the investment community. This is simply not true. Areas that are already seeing commercial application of nanotechnology, or could well do within the next five years, include: drug delivery; solar energy (photovoltaic or direct hydrogen production); batteries; display technologies and e-paper; composites containing nanotubes (multi-walled); various nanoparticle composites; catalysts (many applications); coatings (extra hard or with novel properties); alloys (e.g. steel or those used in prosthetics); implants that encourage cell growth; insulation (thermal and electrical); sensors (bio and chemical); single photon generators and detectors; new solid-state lasers; bioanalysis tools; bioseparation technologies; medical imaging technologies; filters; abrasives; glues; lubricants; paints; fuels and explosives; textiles; higher capacity hard drives; new forms of computer memory; printable electronic circuits; and various optical components. This list is by no means complete.

NANO IN ELECRONICS

In electronics the benefit of working on the nanoscale stems largely from being able to make things smaller. The value comes from the fact that the semiconductor industry, which we have come to expect to provide ever smaller circuits and ever more powerful computers, relies on a technology that is fundamentally limited by the wavelength of light (or other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as X-rays). The semiconductor industry sees itself plunging towards a fundamental size barrier using existing technologies. The ability to work at levels below these wavelengths, with nanotubes or other molecular configurations, offers us a sledgehammer to break through this barrier. Ultimately, circuit elements could consist of single molecules. Nanoscale structures such as quantum dots also offer a path to making a revolutionary new type of computer, the quantum computer, with its promise of mind-boggling computing power, at least in certain types of application, if it can be converted from theory to practice.

Some of the above technologies are already generating revenue, others are attracting venture capital, in the expectation of revenue in the near future, and some are being heavily funded by government, in recognition of the considerable longer-term potential.

NANO IN MATERIEALS

In materials, things start to behave differently at the nanoscale. The bulk materials that we have traditionally dealt with are uncontrolled and disordered at small scales. The strongest alloys are still made of crystals the size and shape of which we control only crudely. By comparison, a tiny, hollow tube of carbon atoms, called a carbon nanotube, can be perfectly formed, is remarkably strong, and has some interesting and useful electrical and thermal properties. When particles get small enough (and qualify as nanoparticles), their mechanical properties change, and the way light and other electromagnetic radiation is affected by them changes (visible light wavelengths are on the order of a few hundred nanometers). Using nanoparticles in composite materials can enhance their strength and/or reduce weight, increase chemical and heat resistance and change the interaction with light and other radiation. Coatings made from nanoparticles can be unusually tough or slippery, or exhibit unusual properties, such as changing colour when a current is applied or cleaning themselves when it rains.

NANO IN LIFE SCIENCES AND MEDICINES

In life sciences and medicine, it means we are now becoming able to measure and make things on the level at which organisms in the living world, from bacteria to plants to ourselves, do most of their work. Being able to work at this scale doesn't just empower us in our control of the biological world, but also allows us to start borrowing from that world, leveraging the extraordinary inventions that nature has produced through billions of years of evolution.

SPECIAL ABOUT NANO

What's so special about controlling matter at a smaller scale? This is where the answers get more complex and diverse. An essential point is that nanotechnology is not just about miniaturizing things. At the nanoscale different laws of physics come into play (quantum physics), properties of traditional materials change (see the discussion of nanoparticles), and the behavior of surfaces starts to dominate the behavior of bulk materials, and whole new realms open up for us. Additionally, making materials atomically exact radically changes their properties.

ABOUT << NANO>>

So why is nanotechnology going to be the making of a revolution? Simply put, because it will affect almost every aspect of our lives, from the medicines we use, to the power of our computers, the energy supplies we require, the food we eat, the cars we drive, the buildings we live in and the clothes we wear. More importantly, for every area where we can imagine an impact, there will be others no-one has thought of—new capabilities, new products, and new markets. Given the breadth of impact, in the short- and medium-term this will be, by and large, a gradual, insidious revolution, creeping into the world around us for many years to come, although in some areas there might be disruptive changes just over the horizon.

It is important to realize the diversity of nanotechnology. It is an enabling technology, allowing us to do new things in almost every conceivable technological discipline. Like other enabling technologies, such as the internet, the internal combustion engine, or electricity, its impact on society will be broad and often unanticipated (electricity was initially promoted as an alternative to gas lights, but from it we have developed telephones, computers, and the internet, and most of our lives would be impossible without it). Unlike these examples, nanotechnology is not so easy to pin down—it is a general capability that impacts on many scientific disciplines; it is multidisciplinary. This multidisciplinary nature presents a challenge for the scientific community and the R&D bodies of governments and industry but it also a reason to expect the unexpected, as scientists used to living separate lives learn to converse and work together.

NANO ========= TINY REVOLUTION

While general interest in nanotechnology is increasing rapidly, most of the recent growth of interest in nanotech comes from those with a strategic interest, such as governments, venture capitalists, large technology-oriented corporations, and scientists working in the field. These groups constitute our target audience and, as such, our focus will be on the short- and medium-term, in which their interest will largely lie. The aim of this white paper is to give an introduction to the wide variety of technologies that fall under the nanotech umbrella, and to present this in a manner that gives a sense of the areas of our world, and thus the markets, that will be impacted, and when. This will be done in later sections, after a high-level look at nanotechnology as a whole, a brief look at current funding and financing and an overview of the longer-term and more speculative visions of nanotech that have so caught the public imagination, and without which any discussion of nanotechnology would be incomplete.

NANO implies a TINY REVOLUTION

Nanotechnology will change the world, the pundits tell us, and people are racing to become a part of the new craze, launching web sites, special reports, companies, and products with the nano prefix. Over two billion dollars a year of government money is being pumped into nanotechnology worldwide, matched by a similar amount from private industry.

Yet, despite the plethora of research reports in recent months, few of the pundits seem to have much of a grasp of what nanotechnology encompasses or how it is going to achieve these supposed dramatic effects. Reporting, both from the popular press and respected business sources, all too often mixes up nanotechnologies that are just around the corner with those that are highly speculative or very long-term.

At the root of the confusion is an important aspect of nanotechnology that differentiates it from earlier revolutions such as the Internet. Although the Internet revolution has been enabled by a new technology, it can largely be understood and evaluated in terms of traditional markets, e.g. selling products to consumers, provision of information, etc.

With nanotechnology, however, the technology itself is fundamental. Nanotechnology is about making things, whether it is making things that are smaller, faster or stronger, making something completely new or with additional properties, or making machines that will lead to new manufacturing paradigms. To effectively evaluate the potential of the technology and its markets, a firm understanding of the nature of the technology is essential. Equally, the perspective must be global in scope since governments and corporations worldwide are investing in nanotech and research is active on several continents.

WHAT IS ......" NANO SCALE "..........

Although a meter is defined by the International Standards Organization as `the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second' and a nanometer is by definition 10^{- 9} of a meter, this does not help scientists to communicate the nanoscale to non-scientists. It is in human nature to relate sizes by reference to everyday objects, and the commonest definition of nanotechnology is in relation to the width of a human hair.

Unfortunately, human hairs are highly variable, ranging from tens to hundreds of microns in diameter (10^-6 of a meter), depending on the colour, type and the part of the body from which they are taken, so what is needed is a standard to which we can relate the nanoscale. Rather than asking anyone to imagine a millionth or a billionth of something, which few sane people can accomplish with ease, relating nanotechnology to atoms often makes the nanometer easier to imagine. While few non-scientists have a clear idea of how large an atom is, defining a nanometer as the size of 10 hydrogen, or 5 silicon atoms in a line is within the power of the human mind to grasp. The exact size of the atoms is less important than communicating the fact that nanotechnology is dealing with the smallest parts of matter that we can manipulate.

HISTORY

It often comes as a surprise to learn that the Romans and Chinese were using nanoparticles thousands of years ago. Similarly, every time you light a match, fullerenes are produced. Degusssa have been producing carbon black, the substance that makes car tyres black and improves the wear resistance of the rubber, since the 1920s. Of course they were not aware that they were using nanotechnology, and as they had no control over particle size, or even any knowledge of the nanoscale they were not using nanotechnology as currently defined.

What is new about nanotechnology is our ability to not only see, and manipulate matter on the nanoscale, but our understanding of atomic scale interactions.

ABSTRACT

In the Modern world of innovation and rapid Technical & Technological development, each and every person has an insuperable thrust for the knowledge, and to find the base to every thing, even at last to the base particles of the entire Universe like the sub-atomic particles, “electrons, protons, neutrons”. But, In the starting age of innovation the scientists and other people where precise only with in the meter range, as the development started to stretch its wings the need of the precession gradually increased and thus reducing the scale to “Millimeters”, then to “Micrometers” and now to “Nanometers”, thus initiating a new era of technological break through i.e., “NANOTECHNOLOGY”.

As a major break through in the earlier 19^th century, scientists define the term Nanotechnology as

Nanotechnology n, The ability to do things—measure, see, predict and make—on the scale of atoms and molecules and exploit the novel properties found at that scale. Traditionally, the nanotechnology realm is defined as being between 0.1 and 100 nanometers, a nanometer being one thousand of a micron (micrometer), which is, in turn, one thousand of a millimeter.

As per Newton’s phrase, this article try’s to cover-up a sand particle of the vast ocean of the Nanotechnology. The article covers the role of nanotechnology in the new frontiers of science and technology, reviling the constraints of the Tiny-Revolution it started and a brief outlook on the development of the nanotechnology initiated in the modern world, in terms of investments both by the well-developed and developing countries, thought out the world. The article also predicts and outlines the possibilities of Nanotechnology in all aspects, and illustrates some of the important Applications used in the existing fields of Science & Technology. Exploring how the modern sciences existing in the present day world fall under the Umbrella called as the “Nanotechnology”.

The article provides a brief outlook at some of the fallowing applications that utilizes the nanotechnology and its Concepts, which had brought a revolutionary break-through in their corresponding fields in the era of Modern Technology.

Ø Tools to use Nanotechnology

Ø Materials that use Nanotechnology

Ø Devices, which use Nanotechnology.

Ø Techniques for building nanoscale structures.

Ø Electronics and Information Technology.

Ø Usage in Life Sciences.

Ø Power and Processes and the Environment.

And, finally conclude with an Appendix illustrating some Milestones and References to Books, Article’s and Websites, which provide an overall view of ‘Nanotechnology’.