Recognized as a key science and technology of the 21st century, nanotechnology is an ultra-microscopic technology that manipulates matter at the atomic and molecular levels, and is expected to converge with existing technologies to revolutionize industry and the economy, providing environmentally friendly and economical solutions. In the future, nanotechnology is expected to play an important role in a wide range of industries.
Along with IT (information technology) and BT (biotechnology), NT (nanotechnology) is said to be the core science and technology of the 21st century, and is necessary for the advancement of existing technologies, the development of new technologies, and the upgrading of existing products. Currently, the Korean government is actively supporting the development of nanotechnology, and the fact that cancer cell observation technology using nanoparticles and stroke treatment experiments are receiving a lot of attention shows how much attention nanotechnology is currently receiving. Nanotechnology is becoming a powerful tool that breaks down the boundaries of traditional science and technology and expands its possibilities endlessly.
In this article, we will clarify what nanotechnology is – a revolution in the control of atoms or molecules – and discuss how it has evolved to the present day and what distinguishes it from other technologies. We will also explore the importance of nanotechnology in industry and economics, and finally, the various future applications of nanotechnology.
In a nutshell, nanotechnology (NT) is “the art of characterizing and controlling the properties of matter at the nanoscale (atomic or molecular scale).” The dictionary definition of the word “nano” is as follows “Nano comes from the Greek word ‘nanos,’ meaning dwarf. A nanosecond (㎱) is one billionth of a second. A nanometer (㎚) is one billionth of a meter, which is one hundred thousandth the thickness of a human hair and roughly the size of three to four atoms.” Nanotechnology is the study of the structure and arrangement of matter at the nanoscale, the atomic and molecular level, which was unimaginable before the birth of nanotechnology, and enables the manipulation of matter to create new materials.
The history of nanotechnology begins in 1959, when Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman first discussed the possibility of manipulating matter at the atomic level in a lecture to the American Physical Society. Over the next decade or so, experimental physics results in quantum mechanics were published, and in 1981, IBM’s Zurich Research Center developed a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that utilized the tunneling effect, a quantum mechanical effect, to achieve a resolution of 1/100th the size of an atom. These technological advances demonstrated that nanotechnology is not just a theoretical possibility, but can actually manipulate matter at the atomic level.
The tunneling effect is an effect in quantum mechanics in which a nucleus stochastically crosses an energy barrier higher than its own energy, and scanning tunneling microscopy, which applies this principle, can observe ultra-fine structures by using the quantum jumps of electrons caused by the tunneling effect. The advancement of this technology soon spurred other countries to accelerate their nanotechnology research. In the 1990s, Japan began with the Nanomachinery Project and implemented the national Atom Project in 1991, while AT&T Bell Labs in the United States successfully performed experiments to separate and modify atoms using STMs, once again demonstrating the possibility of manipulation at the atomic level.
At the turn of the 21st century, in 2000, US President Bill Clinton announced the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), officially recognizing NT as a top strategic priority for the nation’s economy and security. This means that nanotechnology has emerged as an important factor that can determine a country’s economic and military competitiveness.
In Korea, the Korea National Nanotechnology Development Plan was established in December 2001. In Korea, nanotechnology development is characterized by a systematic research and development strategy led by the government. This is differentiated from other BT and IT sectors in that government policies have been established from the early stages of technology development. From a global perspective, Korea’s comprehensive nanotechnology development plan is somewhat late compared to the United States, but when compared to other scientific powerhouses, such as Japan, Germany, and France, it was established at a similar time. This is a clear indication of Korea’s intention to lead the world in the development of nanotechnology, rather than merely copying prior technologies or advancing through technology transfer.
Compared to other technologies, nanotechnology has several distinctive features. First, nanotechnology is not directly applied to industry, but rather seeks to advance technology through convergence with other sciences and technologies. If the new science and technology that we will study in the 21st century is analogized to a building, nanotechnology is the cornerstone of the 21st century science and technology building. As such, nanotechnology has a strong foundational nature and requires convergence research with existing technologies such as physics, materials, and electronics without any boundaries. Nanotechnology connects existing technologies at the ultra-microscopic level and opens up the possibility of creating new areas of technology.
Another characteristic of nanotechnology is that it requires high technology intensity in the development process. The analysis, control, and synthesis of nanostructures is a highly precise and complex process that requires innovative approaches that push the boundaries of existing technologies. Nanotechnology is also an environmentally friendly technology that can make a significant contribution to effective decontamination and prevention of pollution. This makes nanotechnology an important contributor to a sustainable future.
In addition, the economics of nanotechnology have great potential. Because nanotechnology enables products to maximize performance while minimizing energy consumption and size, it can create significant economic value in a variety of industries. For example, a recent “bendable large-capacity semiconductor” technology developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) enables ultra-fine patterns as small as 20 nanometers (nm), the highest level of semiconductor patterns that can be grown on flexible carbon substrates, and is expected to help develop high-performance flexible electronics. These advances in nanotechnology are expected to play an important role in the future, both from an environmental and economic perspective.
Nanotechnology can be categorized into two main approaches. The first is the “top-down” approach, which involves the artificial manipulation of existing bulk materials into nanometer-sized structures through processing at the nanoscale. This is a macroscopic to microscopic approach, and the key is to solve technical and economic problems. The second method is the “bottom-up” approach, which involves the creation of new macroscopic structures from the microscopic. This approach, which involves controlling atoms or molecules at the nanoscale to form the desired structure, is economically advantageous, but there are still many scientific and technological challenges.
The industrial and economic importance of nanotechnology is vital to current and future technological advancements. In the United States and other countries, nanotechnology has already become an important field of science and technology, and it will serve as a key technology to replace microtechnology in a variety of industries, including electronics, manufacturing, defense, energy, communications, and drug discovery. Nanotechnology is likely to be the closest technology to nature, and the economic benefits from it will be enormous.
Because of its fundamental nature, nanotechnology is expected to play a catalytic role in the continued development of science and technology, fusing with other core technologies to create new fields and provide fresh research topics. In the final part of this article, we will discuss the various fields in which nanotechnology can be applied. The NIT (Nano-Information Technology) convergence technology mentioned earlier is a technology that combines nanotechnology and information and communication technology and can be utilized in various fields such as semiconductors, biotechnology, environment, and information and communication. By applying NT, new breakthroughs can be made to solve problems such as miniaturization, higher speed, and lower power consumption.
Nano-Bio Technology (NBT) is a new field of technology that applies the principles and techniques of nanotechnology to biological systems so that they can be manipulated at the cellular or molecular level, or synthesizes new nanostructures by applying the principles of existing biological systems. These technologies are expected to bring about major changes in treating diseases and understanding biological phenomena. Finally, Nano-Bio-Information Technology (NBIT) convergence technology is a next-generation technology that is based on NT and applies BT and IT, as well as environmental engineering (ET), space science (ST), and cognitive science (CT).
