Nanotechnology - Carbon Nanotube Electronics

[3li3li3li]

Thank for the video. It was very educational.

I hope you will post more videos in the future.

[SSTTEEAALLTTHH]

@skimmy6

Unlikely. May bey you can somehow replace bone-tissue, but your metabolism, proteome and many other physiological aspects that are supposed to happen gradely throughout maturing., will stay behind, which will do much damage to your body. Growing is more then gaining length alone, you also need to alter muscles, tendons, sensory organs, metabolism, blood flow, etc etc

[OmnibusWhiteLion]

which is harder; carbon nanotubes or aggrogated diamond nanorods?

[StanfordNano]

@OmnibusWhiteLion I can't say I know much about diamond nanorods...so I'm afraid I can't answer this...

[deanominatorx]

Theres on-going research going on about how to manufacture carbon nanotubes in excess. Im looking for resources of any kind to help assist in this research. Do you know any new manufacturing processing or state of the art equipment that has a promising future in this research?

[StanfordNano]

@deanominatorx Many existing companies already do this. Of course, it depends on what kind of nanotubes you want - multi-walled or single-walled? long or short? ...etc. One group of researchers at Rice Univeristy is researching how to manufacture CNTs into "threads", and this work was recently featured in the May/June issue of MIT's Technology Review.

[rroge5]

but they dont say that so much power will be wasted!

[StanfordNano]

@rroge5 Using carbon nanotubes to make digital logic circuits will save power! Imagine a laptop or a LCD monitor that doesn't heat up. CNT circuits can be more power efficient, and thus require less power to do the same job.

[jpc1105]

Any info on CNT's being used for paper batteries/super capacitors? Back in December I read about professors at Berkeley having a break through with carbon nanotubes on normal copier paper!?

[StanfordNano]

@jpc1105 , Yes, there has been a lot of interest in carbon nanotube applications in batteries. Some have demonstrated flexible batteries using "paper" coated with carbon nanotubes to serve as the electrodes. If you are interested in technical papers on this, may I suggest searching for "carbon nanotube battery" in google scholar. Quite a lot turns up!

[laitela01]

So they can basically build food from atoms...

[StanfordNano]

@laitela01, I think that may be quite a leap from what we are proposing here. But nanotechnology does take us a step closer towards controlling materials at the nano / atomic level.

[StanfordNano]

@skimmy6, As of now, I can't say I know anything about that...

[StanfordNano]

@Bestdogsintheworld, Perhaps it could. I will not officially speculate on the possibility of that, however, I have heard that some people are making ships with carbon nanotubes and carbon composites. These are ships that sail in the ocean, not in space, though.

[vanbogie]

Sweet. To quote The Discovery Channel... "The World Is Just Awesome..." Such endeavors give me some much needed hope and optimism...

[lloydyz1150]

I have heard that if they ever build a space elevator this is the stuff they will us to construct it but how would in be constructed in such a great quantity?

[StanfordNano]

@lloydyz1150. As I mentioned to a previous commentor, I can't really speculate on whether this is a suitable material for a space elevator. However, I have heard much talk about this being a good potential. Now, to make carbon nanotubes in large enough quantities for such an application (as you mentioned), I think that will indeed be a big challenge! (but something very do-able if people are motivated enough)

[cassandra5322]

"please come join us"

lol i would, if it where that easy.

[Christian9872]

Can it be worn as something like a shirt? Can it shape form like some other nano technologies? If those 2 can happen that would be the best military suit. It could be very warm and shape shift into a T-Shirt or a sweatshirt. It could deflect bullets and maybe reduce Thermal. It could be used to have super strength and speed. The possibilities are endless. Sadly humans worry to much about money. If money didn't exist I think people would be far more advanced :P.

[StanfordNano]

Hi Christian9872,

Carbon nanotubes, in general, is a material and can be used in various product applications just like other nano materials. Using carbon nanotubes to strengthen metals is one such application. I have not heard of applications in which nanotubes are used to strengthen fabrics, though it may be possible; however, I have heard of applications where nanotubes are used to make conductive fabrics.

[DPat6590]

@StanfordNano Hey, can they grow carbon nano tubes? I heard that somewhere else, but I just want to know if that it's actually possible? Because if they can then it would be easy to make things with that material I would say.

[StanfordNano]

@DPat6590 , indeed, the nanotubes we show in this video are Carbon Nanotubes. We grow them on a regular basis for our research.

[moniker127]

Well, they are just using nanotubes for small, very efficient wires in this video, but nanotubes are actually one of the strongest martials known to man, harder than even diamond- so if the millitary used them, it would likely be for very effective armor.

[StanfordNano]

@moniker127, Yup, that is correct. We use nanotubes in nano- to micro-sized semiconductor applications. This includes wires as well as transistors.

[SinkingPennyBLee]

@Christian9872

Well, as you state with your last sentence about money, I must disagree. Even if capitalism isn't a great thing for many people, in the R&D field, it induces competition amongst companies which would therefore induce faster production.

However, if humans were able to work optimally, in somewhat of a communistic environment, then of course faster progress would be made by working in collaboration. This is impossible at the moment given the diverse morality nature of humans.

[futurettt]

@Christian9872 very true, but, people need boundaries. Without boundaries people would go mad. They would kill, steal, etc. Money is what keeps humanity sane, even if that is what keeps us from advancing in some fields.

[slowmanrunning2]

@Christian9872

I think if people didn't worry about money, they would have to make their own food, and wouldn't have time to research things like this.

[brettjacobs101]

@Christian9872 Hey thos was some good questions! They would be awsome for the military! I think they already have a Full body suit, they can make u super strong and Fast! ijust for get the name its Called! ...

[StanfordNano]

Hi futuramark and moonbeamxxchainsaw,

Both of the applications you mentioned are (I believe) currently being considered by various researchers in the field. Some think nanotubes would be a great material for the cable in a space elevator; others are also looking into using nanotubes to strength metals used in buildings and blades.

[bighands69]

good presentation.

may I ask if the gold being used in the process is recycled.

[StanfordNano]

The gold is not currently being recycled, though it certainly could. The gold, being so thin, actually does not represent a large cost in the process (I think there was a related comment/question before somewhere; let me know if you can't find it.)

[futuramark]

rockets are too expensive to go in space..an foldable elevator to a space station is less costly hehe

[moonbeamxxchainsaw]

will these nanotubes find their way onto knives and blades someday? it would be glorious to have a switchblade that was impeccably sharp wouldnt it.....<3

[Shark142]

It's too hard to get in stanford sry can't come join u

[ScreamoDrummer4life]

and one more ( i couldn't fit it into the other comment box)

3. Could some solution be mixed into tar, or the blacktop used in roads to make ice and rain "not" stick to it?? therefore eliminating some of the worst driving conditions there are, and as a result less crashes and related deaths occuring.

[ScreamoDrummer4life]

okay, i have some questions..

(im not too familiar with nanotechnology and what its puposes are, or what the possibilities are.. but here we go)

1. could N.T. be incorperated into armor, along with liquid glass, to somehow further increase the protection and flexibility??

2. as with what other people said.. Could it be used as some sort of medical "healer" to speed up the process of tissue regeneration?( it sounds sci-fi ish but idk, haha)

[StanfordNano]

General questions are very welcome.

My personal opinions to your questions (the future is always hard to predict, so I can only offer you my opinion):

1. Search "Super-thin nanotube body armor promises to stop and deflect bullets". It is an article on nanotubes for body armor applications. While I may not agree with the entire article, I do think that nanotubes have plenty of applications besides electronics.

[StanfordNano]

Thus, it is not unreasonable to speculate that nanotubes could be used in body armor to provide better protection due to the nanotube's great mechanical properties (I don't know about "deflect" though).

2. Nanotubes current have no known "healing" effects that I am aware of. Thus, I personally find it unlikely that nanotubes will be used as a medical "healer". However, nanotube may one day be used as electrical components (circuits/batteries/sensors) in medical devices,

[StanfordNano]

which may help the body heal (though the nanotube itself does not do the healing directly).

3. This is an interesting idea and perhaps something along these lines can be investigated. While it there are already anti-stick nano coatings today (e.g. teflon in your pots/pans, specially treated windshields...), I do not think they will be used on roads. The main reason is that if rain and water don't stick to the road, it's likely your car's tires won't either, which is very bad.

[StanfordNano]

Instead, an alternative may be to add something on the road and car tires which help them stick to each other, despite rain/snow. Or, to add something to the road which causes water to have a suppressed freezing point when it's wetting the road. This will lead to less ice and black ice, which could help improve road conditions. However, all this is just a possibility, and may or may not materialize.

[cohen0502]

carbon nanotube tech is the key to the construction of earths first orbital elevator

[StanfordNano]

Thank you for your opinion. While I will not speculate on this possibility, allow me to provide some related facts:

-nanotubes are one of the strongest materials known, if you normalize to it's nano size (tensile strength is more than steel & diamonds)

-however, nanotubes in bulk, may or may not be super-strong, depending on how it is woven (or not) into a form of fiber

[StanfordNano]

-nanotubes are indeed light-weight given its strength

-nanotubes, mixed in with various materials, have been shown to improve the mechanical properties of those various materials

[fooshfoosh]

yay science!!

[n1bigdaddy]

Great video.

Lately i have been reading quite a lot about nanotechnology and I was pleasantly shocked when i realized just how fast this technology is growing.

What i also noticed is that people act like its still science fiction.

I also read some of Ray Kurzweil's articles and plan to read his books. Could you, as a scientist, tell me if the scientific community agrees with his timescale till singularity or whatever you guys call it.

[StanfordNano]

Hi n1bigdaddy,

Thank you!

This technology is indeed fairly fast growing, and I expect it to continue to grow at a fairly accelerated rate.

With regards to Ray Kurzweil, I am not familiar with his work, so I cannot comment on it.

[n1bigdaddy]

How fast exactly?

I am particularly interested in medical nano technology

Do you think that for instance we can expect nanobots curing diseases in our body with 3 or 4 decades?

You should look Kurzweil up.

He says we will have nanobots replacing red blood cells in our body and a whole lot of other stuff by 2029. Would you agree with that or do you think it might take a lot longer?

Sorry for these kinda weird questions. Its just that i never had a chance to talk to a scientist on youtube. :)

[StanfordNano]

Carbon nanotube technology (in terms of electronics) has progressed over the past few years to achieve very well aligned nanotubes and even small/medium scale electronic circuits. However, this is in an academic setting; how fast such technology will reach the market depends heavily on economic factors and forces. For example, whether consumers and even the industry embraces a technology will affect how fast that technology matures and reaches commercialization.

[StanfordNano]

Furthermore, for medical equipment in the US, the law requires a very thorough FDA review process before the product can reach consumers/market. So I must admit it will be very hard to accurately predict the future roadmap for nanotechnology. However, I will say that I personally believe that nanotechnology will make its way into our lives in some form or another within the next decade. It may first take form as nanomaterials coatings.

[StanfordNano]

And then perhaps some form of nano circuitry in computers/electronics and electro-mechanical systems for use in gyros and accelerometers. Of course, most of these will be improvements upon existing technologies, rather than explosive new disruptive changes; and that is partly because such improvements are more easily embraced but the market. Now, specifically regarding nanobots in our blood, I cannot speculate on if or when that may happen.

[StanfordNano]

But, personally , I think it will be tough to do it by 2029, considering FDA approval will likely take 7+ years. Nevertheless, nanobots aside, there are plenty of other applications of nanotechnology that may and likely will reach us within the near future.

[Jenfucius]

@StanfordNano

I wonder how nanobots would "see" within the human body. I dont think any research project is being made on how nanobots would be able to see.

[StanfordNano]

If nanobots were to exist one day, they would not likely "see" in the traditional meaning. That is, they will not have "eyes" that use visible light to see their surroundings. Instead, they will "see" via sensors that sense their environments, such as the pH level, or glucose level in blood...etc, or sense things in very close proximity, e.g. whether they are touching/attached to a red blood cell, white blood cell, or other cell types. In this regard (sensing as "seeing"), there is a lot

[StanfordNano]

of research going on. While they may not be specific to nanotubes, they do pertain to nanotechnology. One example uses nanotechnology circuits and nano-materials to build a sensor to sense pH levels in biological systems.

[stratdude83]

this is cool stuff...im an electrical engineer and i work at a nuclear plant...if i wasn't doing that i'd definitely be going into this field...its the wave of the future!

[1888junkteam]

excellent work!

[RebirthWoWGuild]

very good vid answered alot of questions

[WhiteRaBblt]

Very nice video!

[babes0098]

much smaller, much faster. isnt it good to have a laptop a size of a pocket notebook or smaller?:D so? why is it that nano is risky? i dont quite get that part.

[StanfordNano]

Hi babes0098,

Smaller and fast is indeed good. I don't recall saying nano is risky, so I'm not sure which part you're referring to...

However, as with any decision, there will always be risks. Let's talk about investment risk. The financial risk of nanotechnology is that companies such as Intel will have to build new fab lines just to produce or investigate nanotechnology. Considering that a new fab using today's technology costs about $1Billion, this is no cheap investment.

[StanfordNano]

So there's an inherent risk when investing money for future technology. That's part of the reason why the industry is still waiting for academia to prove the viability and benefits of nanotechnology, before they fully invest in it. However, I must also say that industry is already investing a lot in various different nanotechnologies, in particular, those that are more mature and ready for commercialization.

[babes0098]

got a point there bud, my bad im not referring to this video, i recall watching another video regarding nano tech, and its risk as mankind's extinction or something.

[StanfordNano]

Hi babes0908,

I'm not familiar with the video you are talking about. However, I personally do not see any risk in carbon nanotube nanotechnology in terms of "extinction of mankind."

Rather, I see carbon nanotube nanotechnology (or nanotechnology in general) as the next great leap mankind will make. Nanotechnology will propel us forward like never before, as did the invention of computers (integrated circuits) and advancements in space exploration back in the day.

[StanfordNano]

We anticipate that the variable cost to be very very small. That is, aside from the fixed costs of say building a fab line and equipment to manufacture these, the material costs and process costs for making such aligned CNTs on quartz is relatively cheap. In other words, if electronics in the future were made out of CNTs instead of silicon, we would expect consumers to have to pay less. However, the future is always hard to predict. =)

[gsmestad]

How much are these materials expected to cost?

[SefoKaya]

Hi, I'm just a guy who can't wait for this technology to be developed.

I have a question.

Would it be theoretically possible to use biological mechanisms like DNA/RNA coding to produce CNT?

Organisms are carbon-based creatures afterall...

Thank you.

[StanfordNano]

Hi SefoKaya,

Indeed, organisms are carbon-based creatures. However, that may not necessarily imply that CNTs can be readily formed by biological mechanisms.

To the extent of my knowledge, creating CNTs from DNA/RNA biological mechanisms is unlikely. This is because typical biological processes occur at the temperature range around 30degrees C (body temp). CNT formation is a bit like diamond formation (also from carbon) in that it requires high temperatures.

[StanfordNano]

Thus, I would more likely lean towards saying CNTs via biological processes are not likely. However, I could be wrong.

CNTs, though, can be synthesized at much much lower temperatures than diamonds. Currently, researchers are continuing to explore how to reduce the temperature requirements of synthesis, while preserving good CNT quality. Thus, it may perhaps be possible that one day we can have biological proteins aid in the synthesis of CNTs.

[jacoman1234567]

Hi, I'm starting with my master's education on nanomaterials in a year from now and i can't wait to start. One question, which technique do you use to monitor the carbon nanotubes, some form of Electron Microscopy ?

[StanfordNano]

Hi jacoman1234567,

I'm glad to hear that you are working in the field of nanotechnology/nanomaterials! The technique in which we use to visually inspect nanotubes is indeed scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Specifically, we find that using a low energy yields the best constrast when viewing nanotubes on quartz, and minimizes any potential damage from the electron beam.

[podtech115]

Hi StanfordNano,

One site says we will have a CPU core that can do 1,000GHz, but another said that the transistor will be able to do 1,000GHz.

Which one is right?

[StanfordNano]

Hi podtech115,

The exact benefits of carbon nanotubes is still remains to be experimentally demonstrated. However, theory suggests that carbon nanotube transistors, and CPUs built from carbon nanotube transistors, have the potential to operate at significantly higher speeds than today's CPUs. That is, today's CPUs operate around 3GHz; carbon nanotube transistors and CPUs may potentially operate at the 30GHz to 3000GHz range. Of course, much of this is still just projections...

[podtech115]

Thank you for the answer.

But I have one more question: What happen to the gold? Can you recover it after it has been used?

[StanfordNano]

Hi podtech115,

The gold is dissolved away in one of the intermediate steps. It is possible to recover the gold from the solution, however, we currently do not recover the gold. The gold film is very thin (~100nm) so there is actually very little gold (only about 61mg per wafer, which is about $2 worth of gold).

[meloveanna]

By your estimates, how long until CNT CPUs are commercially viable?

[StanfordNano]

Hi meloveanna,

That's a really tough question to answer. The commercialization of CNTs in CPUs depends just as much on the market and industry choices as it does on the technology itself. So let me answer it like this: CNT technology is already commercially available for things like chemical / gas sensors. CNTs in circuits and CPUs may be technologically feasible within 10 years (depending on how hard scientists and researchers work and on research funding!). Now, when and if CNTs ever get

[StanfordNano]

...commercialized, that will depend on the industry. If the industry decides, for whatever reason, whether justified or not, it doesn't want to manufacture such products as soon as it's feasible, then CNT CPUs may not come about until much later. (Much like touchscreens...the technology has been around for a long time, but it hasn't seen widespread commercialization until recently, in cash registers and the iPhone).

[techfixer16888]

Hi ! Thank you StanfordNano for the video. Having seen the material on which they are grown and the gold which helps to shape the end product.

I still don't understand how the tubes are grown. I assume they are not grown from nothing, there must be a "seed" or a virus like material to start from. Can you please elaborate on this point ? Thank you for your time

[StanfordNano]

Hi techfixer16888,

The carbon nanotubes are growth with the help of catalyst nanoparticles of iron. However, please note that this catalyst does not grow to become a carbon nanotube (like a plant seed or a cell), it just facilitates the formation of carbon nanotubes on the surface. Thus I would avoid the terms "seed" and "virus" since it behaves quite differently.

[StanfordNano]

The carbon nanotube is made out of carbon only; so during the growth process, gases containing carbon (e.g. methane) react and the carbon forms carbon nanotubes at the catalyst sites. Throughout the growth process, the catalyst is never consumed, so it continues to facilitate carbon nanotube growth and makes the carbon nanotube longer and longer. So in summary, carbon nanotube growth is a chemical reaction, and nothing biological which "growth" might seem to imply.

[techfixer16888]

Thank you StanfordNano, I still don't understand, if it is only as simple as adding some particles of iron on a carbon surface, and heat it up, why have we not discovered CNT before by accident ? There must to more to it then that ? is it sensitive information ?

[StanfordNano]

Hi techfixer,

Let me first clarify carbon nanotube growth: We grow carbon nanotubes by depositing iron nanoparticles on a quartz wafer/surface, then flow carbon-containing gases (not carbon surface). The rest is chemistry. The details of the growth is not sensitive information, and details can be found in various publications, including online (e.g. at our website).

[StanfordNano]

As for why CNTs haven't been discovered before by accident... well, they have...sorta. CNTs were first discovered a while back; and most attribute its discovery to Iijima in 1991; and some say that CNTs were actually first discovered back in 1952. In any case, it is likely that CNTs were created accidentally before, but just never noticed. CNTs are nanometers in diameter, and not visible to the naked eye.

[StanfordNano]

It was only fairly recently, with the invention of high power microscopes such as the Transmission Electron Microscope and the Scanning Electron Microscope that we can now see things in the nanometer scale. So, that answers half of the "why now?" question - with high power microscopes, we could actually see the nanotubes and verify its existence. Other theoretical work then speculated that single-wall CNTs would have amazing conduction/electrical properties.

[StanfordNano]

And in today's high-tech era, this actually is of tremendous importance in terms of impact to the future of the semiconductor industry (chips, computers, & personal electronics). Hence, CNTs have only fairly recently become a hot topic of research. ...and so this answers the other half of the "why now?" question. I hope this clarifies things for you.

[StanfordNano]

(Also, I tried posting our website, but youtube won't let me. We are the Stanford Nanoelectronics Group, at Stanford University. I think you can find the website by Google-ing it.)

[techfixer16888]

Thank you very mch for the video, I am suprised how fast this excellent video was developed. keep p the good work !

[MarcAzzopardi]

4) Judging from the pictures, you don't seem to be using tubes to interconnect the tube transistors. The problem with this is that conventional interconnection stuctures are still too big. So unless you can use the tubes for doing everything you're pretty much stuck at a comparatively low tube fill-factor. How do you plan to solve this?

[StanfordNano]

4) You are correct (though I do not see how you can tell this from the video). In this video, we do not show nanotube devices with nanotube interconnect. However, even using conventional interconnect, we can still expect high performance and lower power from nanotube transistors. It's not always about packing more or a higher fill-factor; often, it's about performance, which we expect nanotube transistors to deliver.

[StanfordNano]

In addition, we do have students in our group working on nanotube interconnect. We do expect to see full integration of nanotube interconnect and transistors in the future. So we are indeed working on that as well.

[MarcAzzopardi]

Well it was only an assumption (drawn from frame 6:01), hence my question. But excellent work... Hope the whole thing pulls through! Good luck and many thanks for all your answers.

[MarcAzzopardi]

3) Last time I used the robust design techniques you mention, there was a huge problem with overheads: In the sense that you end up using so many more transistors (than you strictly need for equivalent functionality and statistically acceptable robustness) that it nearly defeats the whole objective of fitting more functionality in the same space. What you gain with the tube transistors you lose is these oveheads.

[StanfordNano]

3) You are in error on this point. Our robust design technique *does not require* any additional transistors. It merely requires clever layout rules. Also note that without the robust technique, your device/functionality would simple not work. So it's not just about packing more functionality into the same space, it's also about making sure what you're packing actually works in the end.

[MarcAzzopardi]

Interesting... So you are adopting layout based techniques... fair enough, although again I wonder what's the area penalty.

For a moment I thought they where circuit based diversity methods like the ones we use for proportional degradation for radiation hardening and micro-meteorite impact survival.

[StanfordNano]

Thanks to all who commented. We certainly hope you liked the video, and learned something from it.

[MarcAzzopardi]

Interesting... But here are a few questions:

1) Why use gold for CNT transfer and not something else? What is guiding your choice of materials?

2) Wouldn't it be easier, cheaper and less defect prone if you could grow the tubes directly where you need them ie: on the silicon wafer itself?

[StanfordNano]

Hi Marc,

That's quite a bit of technical questions you got there. Let me try to answer them in brief here... for more in depth discussion, please visit our website and do not hesitate to contact us.

1) Gold is soft/malleable, which is useful for the peeling technique; it is also easy to chemical etch and remove, which is also essential to our method. And indeed, it may be possible to use other materials, but exploring those possibilities are not the focus of our research.

[StanfordNano]

2) Yes and no. It would be easier and cheaper to grow directly on the fabrication substrate. But:

-We can fabricate on quartz as well, and we do. So in that sense we do grow directly on the final substrate.

-*IF*, however, you need or prefer to fabricate on silicon (e.g. to integrate with existing CMOS), we offer you this transfer technique to do so.

[StanfordNano]

-You cannot grow directly on silicon because it gives very poor alignment (the nanotubes become squiggly). There is a mountain of literature that shows this.

-Also, transferring nanotubes allows you to de-couple the growth substrate from the device fabrication substrate, which is very important. The growth substrate undergoes 900+ degrees Celcius conditions; your fabrication substrate may not be able to take that (e.g. Si-CMOS, plastics, organic substrates...etc).

[abrahamyea]

keep going guys ur the one who makes the future

[Psykkon]

Gold is gone.

[phaedrabohm]

What makes gold wafers better for making carbone nano tubes, over quartz wafers? and what metal might be better than gold, platinum maybe?

[StanfordNano]

Hi Phaedrabohm,

Psykkon is right.

Actually, the gold is not a wafer. The Quartz is the wafer. Quartz is good because it gives great alignment when we grow carbon nanotubes (they are very straight and long). The gold is just used to transfer the carbon nanotubes to our processing substrate (Silicon) in this case. The gold is indeed removed/gone at the end of the process, so it does not play any role beyond facilitating the transfer process.

[kakkoister]

Can't wait. This will be the next best thing before we finally have quantum computers.

[sinjinnsinjinn]

reminds me of school

[EyeOnTheTV]

i love science

[shotysniper117]

wow i never new that colleges are going to such large strides to further technological advances

[defm1]

Very cool stuff!

[crawdaddy500]

I love carbone. Carbon fiber, carbone nano tubes... I think were just at the tip of the iceberg with this technology.

[StanfordNano]

Indeed, there is much to be learned and engineered in this field.

[lordzid667]

very nice video