MANUFACTURING NANO-OBJECTS

Image taken from "Le corral quantique" (The quantum corral) © E-spaces- Forrest Bishop

We know how to make a match from a tree, but in the future, we may be able to construct it atom by atom. This example illustrates the two complementary approaches to the development of nanotechnologies. In the downward or miniaturisation approach (top-down technique), existing objects are "cut away" or "sculpted" to reduce their size. This turns microelectronics into nanoelectronics. The opposite method, the upward approach (bottom-up technique), consists of manufacturing nanostructures by assembling fundamental building blocks (atoms or molecules), one by one. This makes electronics molecular. In either case, the laws of quantum physics apply, with specific effects on the nanometric scale. The bottom-up technique will radically transform industrial manufacturing processes.