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SPM and the Nanotechnology Revolution
The engineering effort in the 1950's and 1960's that
led to device miniaturization from millimeter to micrometer
size scales was clearly a great technological achievement
but scientifically it was relatively straightforward.
However, a very different challenge arises in the new
nanometer world as we approach limits where surface and
interface effects become dominant. Nanotechnology stands
out as a likely starting point to a new technological
era because it focuses on perhaps the final engineering
scales people have yet to master.
The importance and timeliness of materials science and
engineering in the emerging fields of nanoscience and
nanotechnology, driven by the electronics and biotechnology
industries cannot be overstated. There is a big gap between
the scale of individual molecular structures and the sub-microscopic
components on microprocessors. That gap, which spans from
about one nanometer to several hundred nanometers is where
fundamental properties of materials are defined. Using
SPMs, scientists and engineers can presently "see" and
analyze the atomic and molecular landscapes of material
surfaces. SPM-based force-feedback instruments are under
development to manipulate nanostructures and "feel" and
move the atoms and molecules on a material surface. The
evolution of nanoscience and nanotechnology, resulting
in better control over the way atoms and molecules assemble
into tiny structures, will make possible in the near future
an unprecedented technological capability to develop novel
materials and advanced materials processes at the molecular
and possibly atomic scale.
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