Tiny Technologies• The Speculative Possibilities• Work at MIT• The Money• Business Implications• Further Sources

Overview by Joost Bonsen * jpbonsen@alum.mit.edu

Tiny = ?• Micro through Nano in size / length scale• MEMS, NEMS, PEMS, Molectronics,

Spintronics, Photonics, optoelectronics…• Nano + tubes, wires, crystals, balls, logic,

rods, gears, engines…• Molecular Engineering, Biological

Engineering…

http://cjmems.seas.ucla.edu/ http://www.foresight.org/

Feynman’s Vision

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html

http://www.photosynthesis.com/RICHARD_F.html

There’s Plenty of Room

at the Bottom!

Dec 1959 Talk at APS / CalTech

Drexler’s Engine’s of Creationhttp://www.foresight.org/EOC/

1985 Book while at MITDismissed often as “Pure SF”

Drawing Inspiration & More from Biology

• Ribosomes• Flagellar

Motors• Muscles• …

http://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/biophysics/Intro.html

http://www.rae.org/revev6.htmlhttp://www.rcsb.org/pdb/molecules/pdb10_1.html

http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/tk/ce/flagella-s.gif

http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/bio/bio181/BIOBK/BioBookAnimalTS.html

http://www.kapili.com/f/art/filament1.gif

Simple molecules<1nm

IBM PowerPC 750TM Microprocessor

7.56mm×8.799mm6.35×106 transistors

semiconductor nanocrystal (CdSe)5nm

10-10 10-510-9 10-7 10-610-8 10-4 10-3 10-2

m

Circuit designCopper wiringwidth 0.2m

red blood cell~5 m (SEM)DNA

proteins nm

bacteria1 m

Nanometer memory element(Lieber)1012 bits/cm2 (1Tbit/cm2)

Dimensions in Silicon and in Biology

SOI transistorwidth 0.12m

Source: Molecular Machines (Jacobson) Group

diatom30 m

Tiny Tech @ MIT

• Research Centers• Unifying Projects• Faculty & Principal Investigators

Tiny Research Centers

• MTL• MPC• CBE• SNL• CBA• ISN

…several others

Microsystems Technology Labshttp://www-mtl.mit.edu/mtlhome/

Schmidt

• MEMS• CAD• Materials• Fabrication

MicroTurbine Project

•

                                      

                      

http://www.economist.com/

Materials Processing Centerhttp://web.mit.edu/mpc/www/

Kimmerling

• Advanced materials

• Processes• Properties• Fabrication

Center for Biomedical Engineering

Grodzinsky

http://web.mit.edu/cbe/www/

• Molecular Engineering

• Cell & Tissue Engineering

• Physiological Systems Engineering

Space Nanotechnology Labhttp://snl.mit.edu/

Schattenburg• Space Imaging

• High-Performance

http://cba.mit.edu/

Gershenfeld

http://cba.mit.edu/docs/01.04.cbaproposal.pdf

Nanofab, Biofab, Macrofab

from atomic nucleito global networks

Institute for Soldier

Nanotechnology

Thomas

• Protective Suits

• Human Augmentation

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2002/isn.html

http://www.horizoncomics.com/radix/ “It sounds a lot likeScience Fiction!”

-- MIT Student & Comic Book Fan

Tiny Faculty

• Slocum• Hunter• Subresh• Ortiz• Jacobson• Manalis• Ippen

• Smith• Knight• Sasisekharan• Endy• Hammond• Lauffenberger

…many more

(a Sampling)

Precision Engineering

Slocum Group

http://www-me.mit.edu/people/personal/slocum.htm

http://pergatory.mit.edu/

Flextesters

Bioinstrumentation / Nanorobotics

http://biorobotics.mit.edu/

Hunter Group

Cellular Solids Research

http://web.mit.edu/dmse/csg/Research.htm

Gibson Group

NanoMechanical Testing

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2002/nanolab.html

Subresh Group

http://web.mit.edu/nanolab/

Nanomechanics

Ortiz Grouphttp://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/

Molecular Machinery

Jacobson Group

http://www.media.mit.edu/molecular/

RF Biology

Printed Electronics

Nanoscale Sensing / Silicon Biology

Manalis Group

http://www.media.mit.edu/nanoscale/

Molecular Self-Assembly

http://web.mit.edu/lms/www/index.shtml

http://web.mit.edu/edgerton/felice/

Zhang Group

Functional Glycomics

http://functionalglycomics.mit.edu/cgi-bin/functional_glycomics/homepage.cgi

Sasisekharan Group

http://web.mit.edu/tox/sasisekharan/

Lithographed Nanostructures

Smith Group

http://rleweb.mit.edu/rlestaff/p-hsmith.htm http://nanoweb.mit.edu/

Femtosecond Optics

Ippen Group

http://web.mit.edu/mphotonics/www/index.shtml

“pulses … sufficiently short duration to capture the motion of particles in the atomic and subatomic regime”

http://rleweb.mit.edu/Publications/webfeatures/Ippen_Killian.htm

http://rleweb.mit.edu/Publications/currents/cur11-2/11-2optics.htm

Microbial Engineering / Cellular Robotics / Synthetic Biology

Knight Group

http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/tk/ce/microbial-engineering.html

Systems Biology

Endy Lab

http://web.mit.edu/biology/www/facultyareas/facresearch/endy.shtml

MacroMolecular Synthesis

Hammond Group

http://web.mit.edu/hammond/lab/index.html

Biological Engineering / Bioengineering

http://web.mit.edu/beh/whatisbeh.htm

Lauffenberger

Tiny Money

• Billions in research– NNI $600M in 2002, vs $420M in 2001

• http://www.infocastinc.com/Nanotech/home.htm • http://nano.gov/ • http://nano.gov/2003budget.html

• Millions in VC– Polaris, DFJ– Corporate Venturing

• Still early days

Tiny Business Implications

• Profitable Product Lines in MEMS• Startups in Nano

Successful MEMS Products

• TI’s Digital Mirror Device• ADI’s Accelerometer

TI’s Digital Mirror Devicehttp://www.vxm.com/TI4.jpg

ADI’s Crash Bag Accelerometer

http://www.sandia.gov/mems/micromachine/analog_snl.htmlhttp://www.citizen.org/fireweb/airbag.jpg

Selected MEMS Startups

• Iridigm• MicroCHIPS• E-Ink• Flexics• Memgen• Plastilogic• Rolltronics

Selected Nano Startups

• OmniGuide• SurfaceLogix• Nanosys• EngeneOS• Calmec• Molecular Electronics• Zyvex• Nanopto• Nanotechtonics

Big Business Investments

• Xerox – e.g. Eink competitor• IBM – deep investments• Big Pharma • Medical Devices – e.g. J&J +

Medtronics• HP spinoff Agilent – Nano LabChip

Dangers of Over-Hype

• Like AI in 80’s• Some things are fundamentally hard• Progress is rather bursty

MIT SourcesMIT’s David Ward has a Nanotech pointer site, very good:http://web.mit.edu/dwward/www/nanotechnology/nanotechnology.htm

The MIT Alum Association openDOOR February edition was on Tiny Technologies, very nice, very comprehensive:http://alumweb.mit.edu/opendoor/200202/

MIT’s Technology Review does a stellar job of covering ever smaller-scaleEngineering:http://www.techreview.com/articles/nannan.asp

Commercial Sources

• Nanotech Planet– http://www.nanotech-planet.com/

• Zyvex has a comprehensive Nano site– http://www.zyvex.com/nano/

• ACRS NanoTech– http://cr.org/

Other Sources

• Foresight Institute– http://www.foresight.org/

• Nanotech Opportunity Report– http://www.foresight.org/NanoRev/NOR.html

• Sandia’s MEMS movies!– http://www.sandia.gov/mems/micromachine/movie

s.html

• NanoSIG.org

3D thru Cross-Eye

http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/visuals.html