Although “thin-film vapor deposition” may not sound terribly exciting it is one of the most important ways of making integrated circuits, and is also on its way to becoming one of the building blocks of nanotechnology. Basically, it involves applying a thin coating to another surface, usually by coaxing the coating material from a vaporous or dissolved state using electricity, high heat, chemical reactions, evaporation, or other techniques. <br />
One of the most common (and oldest) types of thin-film deposition is electroplating. Here, the target object (such as a piece of jewelry) is immersed in a chemical bath that contains dissolved metal atoms (such as gold). An electric current applied between the target and the bath causes the atoms to deposit onto the target. Electroplating has been very widely used since the early 19th century to make plated silverware, chrome automobile bumpers, and thousands of other objects.
Another type of thin-film vapor deposition or electroplating is “sputtering.” Sputtering uses an electrode, usually heated to a temperature high enough to cause it to fling off hot atoms, which find their way to the “target” surface and form layers. Known since at least the early 1850s, Thomas Edison was apparently one of the first to use this process for a commercial product when he used it to apply a thin layer of metal to the outside of his wax phonograph recordings in 1904, in order to make metal molds of the recordings for mass-duplication. An important variation of sputtering is called “anodizing,” which is used to give aluminum automobile wheels and trim items a uniform, shiny surface. It’s also widely used on cookware to make it resistant to food sticking.
Beginning in the 1960s, researchers at Bell Telephone Laboratories used a new type of thin-film deposition (which they called molecular beam epitaxy) to “grow” thin layers of a certain type of semiconductor material onto another type of semiconductor base, in order to create a sort of sandwich that could then be further processed to make transistors. In a special chamber, the coating material is heated to high heat, and then as atoms “boil” off, they are guided to the coated surface, where they form an extremely thin, crystalline layer.
Today, thin-film deposition technology is capable of depositing layers of metals and other materials that are extremely thin and measured in mere nanometers. Both IBM and Hitachi, for example, use a process called chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to put magnetic coatings on computer hard discs. Most versions of the CVD process use hot gasses, often under pressure, and containing molecules or atoms of the coating material. This material is then deposited onto a surface through a chemical interaction between the gas and the surface. In the case of computer hard drives, CVD layers allow very large amounts of information to be stored on a small disc. Other researchers are using CVD to grow carbon nanotubes, as an alternative to other ways of making them. CVD manufacture is less costly than other methods, and many engineers anticipate that the reduction in cost in the first decade of the 21st century will make it economically viable to produce many more nanotube-based products. Because they are capable of producing nano-scale layers just a few atoms thick, CVD and similar techniques are sometimes called “nanotechology,” although some argue that the layer thickness alone does not constitute a true nanotechnology. However, it is true that thin-film manufacturing techniques are contributing to the first generation of true nanotechnologies, just as they have contributed to cutting-edge technology for over a century.
IEE Global History Network. “Thin Film Deposition Technologies.” 29 Dec. 2009
Watch the video related to nanotube
The Stanford Nanoelectronics Group presents “Nanotechnology – Carbon Nanotube Electronics”, a short educaitonal video on nanotechnology and carbon nanotubes (this video made possible by the National Science Foundation). buy products with payday advance service
no he has a point, i hate asbestos. its a good concern. More research needs to be done. They should do more stem cell research so I can replace my lungs.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/nsf-tlc051007.php says that in may the longest tube was about 2cm long. And to quote the same article:
"The fibers–which have the potential to be longer, stronger and better conductors of electricity than copper and many other materials–could ultimately find use in smart fabrics, sensors and a host of other applications."
One of the big hopes for nanotubes is that they will eventually be long enough to help build a space elevator
Spider silk is as strong as steel, but obviously weighs far less. In fact, one strand of spider silk long enough to encircle the Earth would weigh less than 16 ounces.
So even though carbon fiber is the strongest, except for the carbon nanotubes which are even far stronger, but that you ruled out for this question, pound for pound, spider silk is the strongest and thinnest out there.
yes we will
with nanotechnology aging can be halted
probably within 3 decades
Probably not ever.
A fullerence is a spherical molecule composed entirely of C atoms. They have been found to form naturally in smoke from carbon-based fuels. There are several kinds, all named after Buckminster Fuller, who first expounded that basic structure (the geodesic dome) as the be-all and end-all of constructions.
I'm not at all knowledgeable about conversions of fullerenes to nanotubes, which are essentially hollow cylindrical tubes constructed entirely of carbon atoms.
something strong and extremely tiny is not a good combination for our lungs, look at asbestos… long, lightweight and stronger then steel, they imbed themselves in your lungs and can cause permanent damage, this may very well be the next asbestos, because its starting just how asbestos did, construct now, test later when people are getting sick
MAXIMUM STRENGTH
I’m going to laugh when a huge lock cutter breaks when trying to cut something one thousandth the diameter of a piece of hair.
I want electric car made from nanotubes
The big next step from carbon fiber.
No, The Mass of the Iceberg is too large. And the effect would hold no difference. If the iceberg was in warm tropical waters somehow then it would help because of the Radical temperature difference. But it would still melt.
The momenta you are talking about are probably pretty small compared with the Fermi momentum, so I think it might be tough to resolve. But if you have access to the apparatus, why not give it a shot?
they are long as hell now
I can’t wait until they find a way to manufacture graphene sheets. I want a computer that uses graphenes conductivity in it’s circuit boards.
Fullerenes are a family of carbon allotropes, molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, tube, or plane .
Wikipedia.
The present invention is a method for the synthesis of fullerenes and/or nanotubes from precursor soot without the formation of carbonaceous soot. The method comprises the pyrolysis of a hydrocarbon fuel source by heating the fuel source at a sufficient temperature to transform the fuel source to a condensed hydrocarbon. The condensed hydrocarbon is a reaction medium comprising precursor soot wherein hydrogen exchange occurs within the reaction medium to form reactive radicals which cause continuous rearrangement of the carbon skeletal structure of the condensed hydrocarbon. Then, inducing dehydrogenation of the precursor soot to form fullerenes and/or nanotubes free from the formation of carbonaceous soot by continued heating at the sufficient temperature and by regulating the carbon to hydrogen ratio within the reaction medium. The dehydrogenation process produces hydrogen gas as a by-product. The method of the present invention in another embodiment is also a continuous synthesis process having a continuous supply of the fuel source. The method of the present invention can also be a continuous cyclic synthesis process wherein the reaction medium is fed back into the system as a fuel source after extraction of the fullerenes and/or nanotube products. The method of the present invention is also a method for producing precursor soot in bulk quantity, then forming fullerenes and/or nanotubes from the precursor bulk.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7192567.html – 85k
There is no sentence here. What are you asking? Yes, you can do that, but why do that instead of just using a windmill?
I don't think I have ever heard the term helicity applied to carbon nanotubes, but I would guess that it is the same concept as the chirality of carbon nanotubes. This is the amount of rotation that the tube has, and is closely related to the tube's physical properties, like diameter and electronic character.