BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : NOVEMBER 27, 2000 ISSUE
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Like Child's Play With the nanoManipulator system at the University of North Carolina, experiments in nano land are almost child's play. Holding a pencil-like device, researchers can nudge molecules, like the carbon nanotubes projected onto the table, into different arrangements. A computer tracks every motion, reduces it a millionfold, and steers the tip of an atomic-force microscope, or AFM. AFM tips are so pointy they can trace the outlines of individual atoms. The whisker on the tip at left is a carbon nanotube that improves the resolution of images. For physically manipulating molecules, clean-shaven tips are used. Here, an AFM tip touches and bends a carbon nano-tube. Because it would be incredibly tedious to create electronic circuits by nudging millions of nanotubes into place, researchers are working on techniques that will cause nanotubes to self-assemble into desired shapes and patterns. As an alternative, conductive polymers can be coaxed into specific patterns. The Z-shaped structure here is formed by a conductive polymer with a tongue-twisting name: naphthalene-tetracarboxylic-dianhydride. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS It's a Nano World TABLE: Just Like Child's Play The Ultimate Library Rainbow's End Mix and Meld Atomic Skyscrapers From a Volcano to Your Washing Machine--and Beyond INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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