DEVICES

MEMS. Making machines in the micro realm is something that is already well established. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are generally constructed using the same photolithographic techniques as silicon chips and have been made with elements that perform the functions of most fundamental macro scale device elements - levers, sensors, pumps, rotors, etc. MEMS already represent a $4 billion industry, which is projected to grow to $11 billion by 2005.

NEMS. Moving to the nanoscale will present a host of new issues. For this reason, and possibly a lack of economic drivers for making machines smaller in general (smaller isn’t necessarily better), we shouldn't expect a vast array of products to flow out of MEMS and the nano version, NEMS, in the near future. However, there is sure to be a significant but modest evolution, especially in such areas as lab-on-a-chip type technologies, and NEMS devices have potential in the telecoms industry.

Tiny Medical Devices. MEMS and NEMS hold promise in the medical field, as little devices controlling the release of a drug, for instance, or even in the control functions of prosthetics, such as artificial hearts. However, it should be noted that where a passive system can perform the same function as an active one, the passive one would normally be less expensive and more reliable. Sometimes, however, an active device makes sense—recently a MEMS device was created that can grip and release individual blood cells without harming them. One can imagine such a device being used in a system to inject genes or other substances into cells. The use of nanotubes as syringes has even been suggested.

Advanced Lasers. Lasers constitute an area that is likely to be commercially affected by nanotechnology in the near future. Quantum dots and nanoporous silicon both offer the potential of producing tunable lasers—ones where we can choose the wavelength of the emitted light. Classic lasers, including solid-state ones, are dependent upon the physical and chemical properties of their components and are thus not tunable. Given the market for solid-state lasers, developments in this area are likely to be commercially significant.