Atomically precise manufacturing
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Atomically precise manufacturing (APM) or atomic scale manufacturing is a hyperthetical concept in nanotechnology involving precise manipulation of individual atoms or molecules.
Potential applications[edit]
Among many promises driving current efforts in APM is that the efficiency of manufacturing could be increased and waste decreased if the manufacturing process can produce exactly repeatable features.[1] It has been suggested that APM has the potential to help with the widespread implementation of renewable energy sources. For example, APM might increase the productivity of photovoltaic systems and allow them to be created from cheaper, more common materials.[1]
Proposed methods[edit]
Scanning tunneling microscope[edit]
One proposal is to use a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to move individual atoms. Typically, an STM is used to image surfaces,[citation needed] but STMs can also position specific atoms.[citation needed] One approach is to design STMs where a large group of them can fabricate goods in industrial settings.[2] A feedback-controlled microelectromechanical system (MEMS) could be implemented into the STMs that will allow them to operate independently of human supervision, which might allow the STMs to operate with anywhere from 100 to 1000 times more speed than before and with accuracy to within a nanometer.[2]
Hydrogen lithography[edit]
Hydrogen lithography is a proposed method for data storage. A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has used hydrogen lithography to store data at a density of 1.2 petabits (150,000 gigabytes) per square inch, making this form of data storage about 100 times as dense as a Blu-Ray disc.[citation needed] The technology works by using an STM to move hydrogen atoms around on a silicon substrate to store information in binary as ones and zeroes. The presence of a hydrogen atom signifies a one, and the absence a zero. The approach is stable at room temperature and at standard atmospheric pressure.[citation needed] The technology has been speculated to store information for more than half a century.[citation needed]
Hydrogen depassivation lithography[edit]
Hydrogen depassivation lithography (HDL) is a variant of electron beam lithography where a scanning tunneling microscope is used to direct electrons at a surface such as silicon covered with a film sensitive to electrons called a resist, thus etching patterns in the resist. To date HDL has be carried out in one of two forms: up to five volts of bias on the tip to create atomically precise patterns, or an 8-volt mode with a wider area. When the electrons strike the surface of hydrogen on silicon resist, the hydrogen atoms desorbed.[3] The five-volt method has the accuracy of under a nanometer but is inefficient.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Umbrello, Steven; Baum, Seth D. (June 2018). "Evaluating future nanotechnology: The net societal impacts of atomically precise manufacturing". Futures. 100: 63–73. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2018.04.007. hdl:2318/1685533. ISSN 0016-3287. S2CID 158503813.
- ^ a b Moheima, Reza. "Proposal abstract: Innovations in Scanning Tunneling Microscope Control Systems for High-throughput Atomically Precise Manufacturing 2018-2021" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
- ^ Randall, John N.; Owen, James H. G.; Lake, Joseph; Saini, Rahul; Fuchs, Ehud; Mahdavi, Mohammad; Moheimani, S. O. Reza; Schaefer, Benjamin Carrion (November 2018). "Highly parallel scanning tunneling microscope based hydrogen depassivation lithography". Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B. 36 (6): 06JL05. Bibcode:2018JVSTB..36fJL05R. doi:10.1116/1.5047939. ISSN 2166-2746.