Scanning tunnelling engineering

Abstract

It is difficult to suppress one's enthusiasm for the development of a viable molecular technological base when one recognizes the possible scientific, industrial and economic spin-off opportunities.-Forrest L . Carter, 1981[Consider] the final questions as to whether, ultimately . . . we can arrange the atoms the way we want, the vety atoms, all the way down!. . . Ultimately, we can do chemical synthesis. . . . [If] your machine is only 100 a t m high, you only have to have it correct to one-half of one per cent to make sure the other machine is exactly the same size-namely, 100 atoms high! . . . We can use, not just circuits, but some system involving the quantized energy levels, or the interactions of quantized spins, etc.. . .In the year 2000, when they look back at this age, they will wonder why it was not until the year 1960 that anybody began seriously to move in this direction.-Richard P . Feynman, 1959 SUMMARYThe great potential for building molecular scale machines and other structures was first noted by Richard Feynman (1960). He also proposed the development of tools to construct nanoscale mechanisms and devices. The range of technology that he proposed is now called nanotechnology, a term coined by Taniguchi (1974). Emergence of STM and related technology should greatly facilitate the development of nanotechnology in the decades to come. Franks' (1987b) review of nanotechnology notes the tremendous potential of STM-derived tools for what he terms 'scanningtunnelingengineen'ng'. However, STM technology can also augment the 'bottom up' approaches to nanotechnology, exemplified for example by Forrest Carter's ( 1979, Editors' comment: It will be recogruzed by readers of this paper that neither does its structure nor its approach follow that of papers normally published in the Journal. We felt however that it is undeniably interesting and include it in the issues associated with the STM meeting as, if not a preview, certainly an alternative view. 585

Robotic Self-Replication

“…Richard Feynman is often credited with originating the vision of nanotechnology in his 1959 lecture "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" (51). Interestingly, while some nanotechnology researchers acknowledge that they drew inspiration from Feynman's lecture (60,61), many apparently were unaware or uninfluenced by his ideas (50,62), including Drexler himself, who conceived his own vision of nanotechnology prior to learning of Feynman's lecture (63).…”