Nano Structure Science and Technology

National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
Committee on Technology
The Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering and Technology (IWGN)
Nanostructure Science and Technology

A Worldwide Study
Prepared under the guidance of the IWGN, NSTC
Edited by R.W. Siegel, E. Hu, M.C. Roco
WTEC, Loyola College in Maryland

About the National Science and Technology Council
President Clinton established the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) by Executive Order on
November 23, 1993. This cabinet-level council is the principal means for the President to coordinate
science, space and technology policies across the Federal Government. NSTC acts as a "virtual" agency for
science and technology (S&T) to coordinate the diverse parts of the Federal research and development
(R&D) enterprise. The NSTC is chaired by the President. Membership consists of the Vice President,
Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Cabinet Secretaries and Agency Heads with
significant S&T responsibilities, and other White House officials.
An important objective of the NSTC is the establishment of clear national goals for Federal S&T
investments in areas ranging from information technologies and health research, to improving
transportation systems and strengthening fundamental research. The Council prepares R&D strategies that
are coordinated across Federal agencies to form an investment package that is aimed at accomplishing
multiple national goals.
To obtain additional information regarding the NSTC, contact 202-456-6102 or see the NSTC web site at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/
Interagency Working Group on Nano Science, Engineering and Technology (IWGN)
Chairman : Dr. M.C. Roco, Directorate for Engineering, NSF

White House IWGN Co-chairman: T.A. Kalil , Senior Director, National Economic Council, WH
Vice-chairman: Dr. R. Trew, Director of Research, DOD
Executive Secretary: Dr. J.S. Murday, Chemistry Division, NRL
Members:
White House: T.A. Kalil
OSTP: Dr. K. Kirkpatrick
OMB: E.L. Macris, D. Radzanowski
DOC: Dr. P. Genther-Yoshida, Dr. M.P. Casassa (NIST), Dr. R.D. Shull (NIST)
DOD: Dr. R. Trew, Dr. J.S. Murday (NRL), Dr. G.S. Pomrenke (AFOSR)
DOE: Dr. I.L. Thomas, Dr. R.Price, Dr. B.G. Volintine
DOT: Dr. R.R. John, Dr. G. Kovatch, A. Lacombe (all Volpe Center)
DoTREAS: E. Murphy
NASA: Dr. S. Venneri, G.H. Mucklow, Dr. M. Meyyappan (NASA Ames)
NIH: Dr. J. Schloss, Dr. E. Kousvelari, Dr. A. Levy
NSF: Dr. M.C. Roco, Dr. T. A. Weber, M. P. Henkart.
International Technology Research Institute, World Technology (WTEC) Division, Loyola College
R.D. Shelton, ITRI Director

G.M. Holdridge, WTEC Division Director and ITRI Series Editor
WTEC Panel on
NANOSTRUCTURE SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY
R&D Status and Trends in Nanoparticles, Nanostructured
Materials, and Nanodevices
FINAL REPORT
September 1999
Richard W. Siegel, Panel Chair

Evelyn Hu, Panel Co-Chair
Donald M. Cox
Herb Goronkin
Lynn Jelinski
Carl C. Koch
John Mendel
M. C. Roco
David T. Shaw
This document was prepared by the above authors under the guidance of the
Committee on Technology of the National Science and Technology Council,
Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering, and Technology,
with contributions from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy
and Transportation; and the National Institutes of Health, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation
of the United States government.
International Technology Research Institute

World Technology (WTEC) Division
Loyola College in Maryland
This document is available on the World Wide Web at http://itri.loyola.edu/nano/final/.

WTEC PANEL ON NANOPARTICLES, NANOSTRUCTURED
MATERIALS, AND NANODEVICES
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office
of Naval Research, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of
Health, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States Government.
Richard W. Siegel (Panel Chair) Lynn Jelinski

Materials Science and Engineering Dept. Center for Advanced Technology
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Biotechnology
110 Eighth Street 130 Biotechnology Bldg.
Troy, New York 12180-3590 Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-2703
Evelyn Hu (Panel Co-Chair)
Center for Quantized Electronic Structures Carl Koch
University of California Materials Science & Engineering Dept.
Santa Barbara, CA 93106 North Carolina State University
233 Riddick, Box 7907
Donald M. Cox Raleigh, NC 27695-7907
Exxon Research & Engineering
Clinton Township, Rt. 22E John Mendel
Annandale, NJ 08801 Eastman Kodak
1669 Lake Avenue
Herb Goronkin Rochester, N.Y. 14652-3701
Motorola EL 508
2100 East Elliott Road David T. Shaw
Tempe, AZ 85284 Electrical & Computer Eng. Dept.
330b Bonner Hall, North Campus
SUNY Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260
NSF Coordinator:
M.C. Roco
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 525
Arlington, VA 22230
INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

WTEC at Loyola College (previously known as the Japanese Technology Evaluation Center, JTEC)
provides assessments of foreign research and development in selected technologies under a cooperative
agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). Loyola’s International Technology Research
Institute (ITRI), R.D. Shelton, Director, is the umbrella organization for WTEC. Paul Herer, Senior
Advisor for Planning and Technology Evaluation at NSF’s Engineering Directorate, is NSF Program
Director for WTEC. Several other U.S. government agencies provide support for the program through
NSF.
WTEC’s mission is to inform U.S. scientists, engineers, and policymakers of global trends in science and
technology in a manner that is timely, credible, relevant, efficient, and useful. WTEC’s role is central to
the government’s effort to measure its performance in science and technology. WTEC assessments cover
basic research, advanced development, and applications. Panels of typically six technical experts conduct
WTEC assessments. Panelists are leading authorities in their field, technically active, and knowledgeable
about U.S. and foreign research programs. As part of the assessment process, panels visit and carry out
extensive discussions with foreign scientists and engineers in their labs.
The ITRI staff at Loyola College help select topics, recruit expert panelists, arrange study visits to foreign
laboratories, organize workshop presentations, and finally, edit and disseminate the final reports.
Dr. R.D. Shelton Mr. Geoff Holdridge Dr. George Gamota
ITRI Director WTEC Division Director ITRI Associate Director
Loyola College Loyola College 17 Solomon Pierce Road
Baltimore, MD 21210 Baltimore, MD 21210 Lexington, MA 02173
ABSTRACT
This report reviews the status of research and development in nanoparticles,

nanostructured materials, and nanodevices worldwide, with particular focus on comparisons
between the United States and other leading industrialized countries. Topics covered include
particle synthesis and assembly, dispersions and coatings of nanoparticles, high surface area
materials, functional nanoscale devices, bulk behavior of nanostructured materials, and
biological methods and applications. The final chapter is a review of related government
funding programs around the world. The report also includes site reports for visits conducted
by the panel to leading research laboratories in Japan and Europe. The panel held workshops
in the United States, Germany, Sweden, and Russia to gather additional information for this
report on activities in those countries. The proceedings of the U.S. and Russia workshops are
being published separately by WTEC. The panel’s conclusions include the following: (1) In
the synthesis and assembly area (Chapter 2), the U.S. appears to be ahead with Europe
following and then Japan; (2) In the area of biological approaches and applications (Chapter
7), the U.S. and Europe appear to be rather on a par with Japan following; (3) In nanoscale
dispersions and coatings (Chapter 3), the U.S. and Europe are again similar with Japan
following; (4) For high surface area materials (Chapter 4), the U.S. is clearly ahead of Europe
and then Japan; (5) In the nanodevices area (Chapter 5), Japan seems to be leading quite
strongly with Europe and the U.S. following; In the area of consolidated materials (Chapter
6), Japan is a clear leader with the U.S. and Europe following. These and other conclusions
are reviewed in detail in the panel’s executive summary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the U.S. government sponsors of this study: the National Science
Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research, the
Department of Commerce (both the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
Office of Technology Policy), the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health,
and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Ames Research Center). We are
very much indebted to our panel chair, Richard Siegel, and to our co-chair, Evelyn Hu, for
their dedication and leadership over the course of the study. All of the panelists are due great
credit for their invaluable contributions of time and intellect to the project. It was both an
honor and a pleasure to work with such an illustrious and affable group. Finally, we are
extremely grateful to all of our hosts and correspondents around the world who took the time
to share their work with us, as well as their insights and vision of the future of this exciting
field.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey M. Holdridge
WTEC Division Director and ITRI Series Editor
International Technology Research Institute (ITRI)
R.D. Shelton, Principal Investigator, ITRI Director
George Mackiw, Deputy ITRI Director
George Gamota, Associate ITRI Director
J. Brad Mooney, TTEC Division Director
Robert Margenthaler, BID Division Director

Geoffrey M. Holdridge, WTEC Division Director
Bobby A. Williams, Financial Officer
Aminah Batta, Editorial Assistant, Europe trip advance work
Catrina M. Foley, Administrative Assistant
Christopher McClintick, Head of Publications Section
Roan E. Horning, Professional Assistant, Web Administrator
Rob Capellini, Student Assistant
Jason Corso, Student Assistant
Michael Stone, Linux Systems Administrator
Rob Tamburello, Student Assistant
Xinye Zhang, Student Assistant
Cecil Uyehara, Senior Advisor for Japan Operations

Hiroshi Morishita, WTEC Japan Representative
Patricia M.H. Johnson, Editor
This document was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other
agencies of the U.S. government under NSF Cooperative Agreement ENG-9707092, awarded
to the International Technology Research Institute at Loyola College in Maryland. The U.S.
government has certain rights in this material. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the United States government, the authors’ parent institutions, or Loyola
College.
Copyright 1999 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Copyright to electronic versions

reserved by Loyola College in Maryland. This work relates to NSF Cooperative Agreement
ENG-9707092. The U.S. government retains a nonexclusive and nontransferable license to
exercise all exclusive rights provided by copyright. This copy reproduced for U.S. government
use under license. A list of available JTEC/WTEC reports and information on ordering them
is available at http://itri.loyola.edu/.
Foreword
Timely information on scientific and engineering developments

occurring in laboratories around the world provides critical input to
maintaining the economic and technological strength of the United States.
Moreover, sharing this information quickly with other countries can greatly
enhance the productivity of scientists and engineers. These are some of the
reasons why the National Science Foundation (NSF) has been involved in
funding science and technology assessments comparing the United States
and foreign countries since the early 1980s. A substantial number of these
studies have been conducted by the World Technology Evaluation Center
(WTEC) managed by Loyola College through a cooperative agreement with
NSF. The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Committee
on Technology’s Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering
and Technology (CT/IWGN) worked with WTEC to develop the scope of
this Nanostucture Science and Technology report in an effort to develop a
baseline of understanding for how to strategically make Federal nanoscale
R&D investments in the coming years.
The purpose of the NSTC/WTEC activity is to assess R&D efforts in
other countries in specific areas of technology, to compare these efforts and
their results to U.S. research in the same areas, and to identify opportunities
for international collaboration in precompetitive research.
Many U.S. organizations support substantial data gathering and analysis
efforts focusing on nations such as Japan. But often the results of these
studies are not widely available. At the same time, government and privately
sponsored studies that are in the public domain tend to be "input" studies.
They enumerate inputs to the research and development process, such as
monetary expenditures, personnel data, and facilities, but do not provide an
i
ii Foreword
assessment of the quality or quantity of the outputs obtained. Studies of the

outputs of the research and development process are more difficult to
perform because they require a subjective analysis performed by individuals
who are experts in the relevant scientific and technical fields. The NSF staff
includes professionals with expertise in a wide range of disciplines. These
individuals provide the expertise needed to assemble panels of experts who
can perform competent, unbiased reviews of research and development
activities. Specific technologies such as telecommunications, biotechnology,
and nanotechnology are selected for study by government agencies that have
an interest in obtaining the results of an assessment and are able to
contribute to its funding. A typical WTEC assessment is sponsored by
several agencies.
In the first few years of this activity, most of the studies focused on
Japan, reflecting interest in that nation’s growing economic prowess. Then,
the program was called JTEC (Japanese Technology Evaluation Center).
Beginning in 1990, we began to broaden the geographic focus of the studies.
As interest in the European Community (now the European Union) grew, we
added Europe as an area of study. With the breakup of the former Soviet
Union, we began organizing visits to previously restricted research sites
opening up there. Most recently, studies have begun to focus also on
emerging science and technology capabilities in Asian countries such as the
People’s Republic of China.
In the past several years, we also have begun to substantially expand our
efforts to disseminate information. Attendance at WTEC workshops (in
which panels present preliminary findings) has increased, especially industry
participation. Representatives of U.S. industry now routinely number 50%
or more of the total attendance, with a broad cross-section of government
and academic representatives making up the remainder. Publications by
WTEC panel members based on our studies have increased, as have the
number of presentations by panelists at professional society meetings.
The WTEC program will continue to evolve in response to changing
conditions. New global information networks and electronic information
management systems provide opportunities to improve both the content and
timeliness of WTEC reports. We are now disseminating the results of
WTEC studies via the Internet. Over 25 of the most recent WTEC final
reports are now available on the World Wide Web (http://itri.loyola.edu) or
via anonymous FTP (ftp.wtec.loyola.edu/pub/).
As we seek to refine the WTEC activity, improving the methodology and
enhancing the impact, program organizers and participants will continue to
operate from the same basic premise that has been behind the program from
its inception, i.e., improved awareness of international developments can
significantly enhance the scope and effectiveness of international
Foreword iii
collaboration and thus benefit the United States and all its international
partners in collaborative research and development efforts.
Paul J. Herer
Directorate for Engineering
Arlington, VA
iv Foreword
Contents
Foreword i
Table of Contents v
Executive Summary xiii
1. Introduction and Overview 1

RICHARD W. SIEGEL
2. Synthesis and Assembly 15

EVELYN L. HU AND DAVID T. SHAW
3. Dispersions and Coatings 35

JOHN MENDEL
4. High Surface Area Materials 49

DONALD M. COX
5. Functional Nanoscale Devices 67

HERB GORONKIN, PAUL VON ALLMEN, RAYMOND K. TSUI,
AND THEODORE X. ZHU
6. Bulk Behavior of Nanostructured Materials 93

CARL KOCH
v
vi Table of Contents
7. Biologically Related Aspects of Nanoparticles, Nanostructured

Materials, and Nanodevices 113
LYNN JELINSKI
8. Research Programs on Nanotechnology in the World 131

M.C. ROCO
Appendix A. Biographies of Panelists and Other Team Members 151
Appendix B. Site Reports—Europe 159
Appendix C. European Roundtable Discussions 221
Appendix D. Site Reports—Japan 243
Appendix E. Site Reports—Taiwan 313
Appendix F. Glossary 327

List of Figures
1.1 Organization of nanostructure science and technology and the

WTEC study. 5
2.1 Schematic of variety of nanostructure synthesis and assembly

approaches. 16
2.2 Interactive cycle of characterization, understanding and
enhanced control in the synthesis and assembly of
nanostructures. 18
2.3 TEM images of (a) the lamellar morphology, (b) the cubic
phase with Ia3d symmetry viewed along its [111] zone axis,
and (c) the hexagonal phase viewed along its [001] zone axis
of thesilica/surfactant nanostructured composites by co-
assembly (McGehee et al. 1994) (bars = 30 nm). 26
2.4 TEM image of unlinked cluster array of 3.7 nm Au clusters
encapsulated by dodecanethiol (Andres et al. 1998). 27
2.5 Array of InAs quantum dot structures grown on GaAs
substrates (Mirin et al. 1996). 27
2.6 Variation of optical transparency with diameter of chemically
synthesized CdSe nanocrystals (Alivisatos 1996). 27
2.7 A sequence of 670 nm by 670 nm AFM images taken during
the manipulation of a 50 nm Au particle into the gap between
two Au/Ti electrodes (Junno et al. 1998). 30
3.1 Transparency as a function of particle size (courtesy,

Nanophase). 42
vii
viii List of Figures
4.1 Schematic drawing of the experimental setup used in

Göteborg for studies of chemical reactivity and/or sticking
probability of various molecules with the clusters. The
production of clusters is via laser vaporization of metal
substrates and detection via photo-ionization time-of-flight
mass spectrometry. (A. Rosen, University of Göteborg,
Sweden.) 53
4.2 Effect of moisture on conversion profiles for CO oxidation
over Co3O4 and Au/Co3O4. 54
4.3 Hydrodesulfurization reaction. Selective catalysis is
controlled by either the edge or rim of MoS2. (Chianelli
1998). 56
4.4 Hydrogen absorption-desorption characteristics for mixture
of Mg and Mg2Ni prepared by mechanical alloying. 57
4.5 Typical zeolite structures together depicting the positions of
the O atoms (vertices in upper figure) and two different
zeolitic structures one (a) with a three dimensional structure
and (b) a zeolite with a two dimensional channel structure. 58
4.6 Examples of carbon nanotube structures, including
multiwalled and metal-atom-filled nanotubes. 61
5.1 Functional device scales. 68

5.2 Metal colloids, self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coatings,
polysilicon, quantum dots embedded in SiO2 (Hitachi, IBM,
RIKEN, NTT, ETL, University of Lund). 71
5.3 Sidewall extensions of MOSFET gate (Toshiba). 71
5.4 Oxidation of metal or semiconductor with scanning tunneling
microscope (STM) tip (ETL). 71
5.5 STM probe oxidation of metal on vicinal substrate steps
(ETL). 71
5.6 Double barrier tunnel diode structure (Max-Planck-Institut,
Stuttgart; NTT). 72
5.7 Gated double barrier tunnel diode structure (Max-Planck-
Institut, Stuttgart; NTT; Purdue University). 72
5.8 Depletion layer control of 2DEG area (Hitachi, University of
Glasgow, University of Tokyo). 72
5.9 Tetrahedral shaped recess, TSR (Fujitsu). 73
5.10 Double barrier metallic SET patterned by e-beam (NEC). 73
5.11 A single molecule connecting metallic contacts (Yale
University, University of South Carolina, Delft University,
Karlsruhe University). 74
List of Figures ix
5.12 Granular GMR—Co, Fe (Nagoya University, Tohoku

University, CNRS-Thomson, UCSB, UCSD). 78
5.13 Current in plane (Matsushita, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Toshiba,
Hitachi, Thomson, Philips, Siemens, IBM, Univ.
Regensburg, IMEC, Nagoya University, Tohoku University,
NIST). 78
5.14 Magnetic tunnel junction (IBM, MIT, HP, Tohoku
University). 78
5.15 Ferromagnetic/metal/ferromagnetic: 3 - 60 periods free-
standing (NRL, CNRS-Thomson, Philips, Michigan State,
Lawrence Livermore Labs); plated into pores (L’École
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Johns Hopkins
University, Université Catholique Louven). 79
5.16 Schematic of a semiconductor laser. 83
5.17 Density of electronic states as a function of structure size. 83
6.1 Ratio of the Young’s (E) and shear (G) moduli of

nanocrystalline materials to those of conventional grain size
materials as a function of grain size. The dashed and solid
curves correspond to a grain boundary thickness of 0.5 and
1 nm, respectively (Shen et al. 1995). 96
6.2 Elongation to failure in tension vs. grain size for some
nanocrystalline metals and alloys. 98
6.3 Effective permeability, µ e , vs. saturation magnetic flux
density, Bs , for soft ferromagnetic materials (after A. Inoue
1997). 105
7.1 Organization of the WTEC study; sections with large

biological content are indicated. 114
7.2 Top: a 36-mer protein polymer with the repeat sequence
(ulanine-glycine)3 – glutamic acid – glycine. Bottom:
idealized folding of this protein polymer, where the glutamic
acid sidechains (+) are on the surface of the folds. 115
7.3 Idealized truncated octahedron assembled from DNA. This
view is down the four-fold axis of the squares. Each edge of
the octahedron contains two double-helical turns of DNA. 117
7.4 An elastomeric stamp (top left) is made from an original
master (bottom left). The stamp is dipped into the biological
material (top right) and the pattern is transferred to the
substrate (bottom right). 119
7.5 Mushroom-shaped clusters formed from self-assembly of
rod-coil molecules; these clusters can undergo further
packing to form sheets. 119
x List of Figures
7.6 Novel combinations of DNA, metal ligands, DNA

templating, and proteins are being investigated for molecular
wires, inductors, and switches (photo courtesy of Shionoya
and coworkers, Inst. for Molecular Science). 123
List of Tables
ES.1 Technological Impact: Present and Potential xvi

ES.2 Comparison of Activities in Nanostructure Science and
Technology in Europe, Japan, and the United States xvii
3.1 Nanoparticle Preparation for Dispersions/Coatings 40

3.2 Particle Properties 42
3.3 Dispersions and Coatings—Nanotechnology Comparisons
Between the United States, Europe, and Japan 46
4.1 Zeolite Channel “Window” Dimension for Number of

Oxygens in Ring 59
5.1 SET Architectures 75

5.2 Quantum Dot Flash Memory 75
5.3 Giant Magnetoresistance Activities 77
5.4 Summary of Quantum Dot Laser Results 85
5.5 Nanotube Fabrication Methods 87
5.6 Electrical and Field Emission Properties of Nanotubes 88
7.1 Comparisons between Japan, Europe, and the United States

in Biologically Related Aspects of Nanotechnology 127
8.1 Support for Nanotechnology Research from U.S. Federal

Agencies in 1997 133
8.2 Government Expenditures on Nanotechnology Research in
1997, Based on the WTEC Site Interviews 147
xi
xii
Executive Summary
Richard W. Siegel 1
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Panel Chair
INTRODUCTION
Nanostructure science and technology is a broad and interdisciplinary

area of research and development activity that has been growing explosively
worldwide in the past few years. It has the potential for revolutionizing the
ways in which materials and products are created and the range and nature of
functionalities that can be accessed. It is already having a significant
commercial impact, which will assuredly increase in the future.
A worldwide study of research and development status and trends in
nanoparticles, nanostructured materials, and nanodevices (or more concisely,
nanostructure science and technology) was carried out during the period
1996-98 by an eight-person panel under the auspices of the World
Technology (WTEC) Division of Loyola College. Led by the National
Science Foundation, a wide range of U.S. government agencies
commissioned and funded this study: the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research, the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Commerce
(including the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
Technology Administration), the Department of Energy, the National
Institutes of Health, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Their support indicates the breadth of interest in and the far-reaching
potential of this burgeoning new field. The purpose of the study was to
assess the current status and future trends internationally in research and
development in the broad and rapidly growing area of nanostructure science
and technology. The goals were fourfold:
1. provide the worldwide science and engineering community with a
broadly inclusive and critical view of this field
1
Although written by the panel chair, this summary includes contributions from the full panel
and represents the consensus views of the panel as a whole.
xvii
xviii Richard W. Siegel
2. identify promising areas for future research and commercial development

3. help stimulate development of an interdisciplinary international
community of nanostructure researchers
4. encourage and identify opportunities for international collaboration
This report is the principal volume in a three-part publication of the
activities and findings of the WTEC panel; it is an overview of the panel’s
observations and conclusions regarding nanostructure science and
technology worldwide. It includes reviews of panel workshops held in
Germany and Sweden, as well as site reports of panel visits to university,
government, and industry laboratories in Europe, Japan, and Taiwan. An
earlier volume, published in January 1998, reported the proceedings of a
WTEC workshop on R&D Status and Trends in Nanoparticles,
Nanostructured Materials, and Nanodevices in the United States (Baltimore:
Loyola College, International Technology Research Institute, NTIS #PB98-
117914). A third volume to be published by WTEC reports the proceedings
of a workshop held in St. Petersburg, Russia on related work.
FINDINGS
There are two overarching findings from this WTEC study:
First, it is abundantly clear that we are now able to nanostructure
materials for novel performance. That is the essential theme of this field:
novel performance through nanostructuring. It represents the beginning of a
revolutionary new age in our ability to manipulate materials for the good of
humanity. The synthesis and control of materials in nanometer dimensions
can access new material properties and device characteristics in
unprecedented ways, and work is rapidly expanding worldwide in exploiting
the opportunities offered through nanostructuring. Each year sees an ever
increasing number of researchers from a wide variety of disciplines enter the
field, and each year sees an ever increasing breadth of novel ideas and
exciting new opportunities explode on the international nanostructure scene.
Second, there is a very wide range of disciplines contributing to the
developments in nanostructure science and technology worldwide. The
rapidly increasing level of interdisciplinary activity in nanostructuring is
exciting and growing in importance, and the intersections between the
various disciplines are where much of the novel activity resides.
The field of nanostructure science and technology has been growing very
rapidly in the past few years, since the realization that creating new materials
and devices from nanoscale building blocks could access new and improved
properties and functionalities. While many aspects of the field existed well
before nanostructure science and technology became a definable entity in the
Executive Summary xix
past decade, it has only become a coherent field of endeavor through the
confluence of three important technological streams:
1. new and improved control of the size and manipulation of nanoscale
building blocks
2. new and improved characterization (spatial resolution, chemical
sensitivity, etc.) of materials at the nanoscale
3. new and improved understanding of the relationships between
nanostructure and properties and how these can be engineered
As a result of these developments, a wide range of new opportunities for
research and applications in the field of nanotechnology now present
themselves. Table ES.1 indicates some examples of present and potential
applications with significant technological impact that were identified in the
course of this study. Considerable resources are being expended around the
world for research and development aimed at realizing these and a variety of
other promising applications. Government funding alone approached half a
billion dollars per year in FY 1997: $128 million in Western Europe;
$120 million in Japan; $116 million in the United States; and $70 million
altogether in other countries such as China, Canada, Australia, Korea,
Taiwan, Singapore, and the countries of the former Soviet Union (see
Chapter 8).
Table ES.2 presents an overall comparison of the current levels of
activity among the major regions assessed (Europe, Japan, and the United
States) in the various areas of the WTEC study. These broad areas—
synthesis and assembly, biological approaches and applications, dispersions
and coatings, high surface area materials, nanodevices, and consolidated
materials—constitute the field of nanostructure science and technology.
These are the areas around which the study was crafted.
In the synthesis and assembly area (Chapter 2), the United States appears
to be ahead, with Europe following and then Japan. In the area of biological
approaches and applications (Chapter 7), the United States and Europe
appear to be rather on a par, with Japan following. In nanoscale dispersions
and coatings (Chapter 3), the United States and Europe are again at a similar
level, with Japan following. For high surface area materials (Chapter 4), the
United States is clearly ahead of Europe, followed by Japan. On the other
hand, in the nanodevices area (Chapter 5), Japan seems to be leading quite
strongly, with Europe and the United States following. And finally, in the
area of consolidated materials (Chapter 6), Japan is a clear leader, with the
United States and Europe following. These comparisons are, of course,
integrals over rather large areas of a huge field and therefore possess all of
the inevitable faults of such an integration. At best, they represent only a
snapshot of the present, and the picture is admittedly incomplete.
xx Richard W. Siegel
TABLE ES.1. Technological Impact: Present and Potential

Technology Present Impact Potential Impact
Dispersions Thermal barriers Targeted drug delivery/gene therapy
and Coatings Optical (visible and UV) barriers Multifunctional nanocoatings
Imaging enhancement
Ink-jet materials
Coated abrasive slurries
Information-recording layers
High Surface Area Molecular sieves Molecule-specific sensors
Materials Drug delivery Large hydrocarbon or bacterial
filters
Tailored catalysts Energy storage
Absorption/desorption materials Grätzel-type solar cells
Consolidated Low-loss soft magnetic Superplastic forming of ceramics
Materials materials
High hardness, tough WC/Co Ultrahigh-strength, tough structural
cutting tools materials
Nanocomposite cements Magnetic refrigerants
Nanofilled polymer composites
Ductile cements
Nanodevices GMR read heads Terabit memory and
microprocessing
Single molecule DNA sizing and
sequencing
Biomedical sensors
Low noise, low threshold lasers
Nanotubes for high brightness
displays
Additional Biocatalysis Bioelectronics
Biological Aspects Bioinspired prostheses
Single-molecule-sensitive biosensors
Designer molecules
Executive Summary xxi
TABLE ES.2. Comparison of Activities in Nanostructure Science and Technology

in Europe, Japan, and the United States
Synthesis & Assembly U.S. Europe Japan
Biological Approaches
& Applications
U.S./Eur Japan
Dispersions and U.S./Eur

Coatings
Japan
High Surface
U.S. Europe Japan
Area Materials
Nanodevices Japan Europe U.S.
Consolidated Materials Japan U.S./Eur
Level 1 2 3
Highest
More detailed findings in each of these major areas are included in the
individual chapters of this report, along with additional general findings and
observations in Chapter 1. Chapter 8 compares the scope and funding levels
for the relevant nanostructure science and technology R&D programs around
the world. The appendices give details on the site visits and workshops of
the panel: B contains the Europe site reports, C contains notes on workshops
held in Germany and Sweden, D contains the Japan site reports, and E
contains the Taiwan site reports. Appendix A lists the professional
experience of panelists and other members of the traveling team.
CHALLENGES
We are now at the threshold of a revolution in the ways in which

materials and products are created. How this revolution will develop, how
great will be the opportunities that nanostructuring can yield, and how
rapidly we progress, will depend upon the ways in which a number of
challenges are met.
Among the challenges facing us are those concerned with making the
necessary advances in enabling technologies in order for rapid progress to
continue in this field. We must increase characterization capabilities in
visualization and chemical analysis at ever finer size scales. We must be
able to manipulate matter at ever finer size scales, and we must eventually
xxii Richard W. Siegel
use computational approaches in directing this, if we are really going to take

full advantage of the available opportunities. Experiment simply cannot do
it alone. Theory and modeling are essential. Fortunately, this is an area in
which the sizes of the building blocks and their assemblies are small enough
that one can, with the ever increasing capabilities in computational sciences,
now start doing very serious controlled modeling experiments to guide us in
the nanostructuring of matter. Hence, multiscale modeling of
nanostructuring and the resulting materials properties across the hierarchy of
length scales from atomic, to mesoscopic, to macroscopic is an absolute
necessity as we go down the road in the next decades to realizing the
tremendous potential of nanostructure science and technology.
Furthermore, we need to understand the critical roles that surfaces and
interfaces play in nanostructured materials. Nanoparticles have very high
specific surface areas, and thus in their assembled forms there are large areas
of interfaces. We need to know in detail not only the structures of these
interfaces, but also their local chemistries and the effects of segregation and
interaction between the nanoscale building blocks and their surroundings.
We need to learn more about the control of nanostructure size and size
distribution, composition, and assembly. For some applications, there are
very stringent conditions on these parameters; in other applications less so.
We must therefore understand the relationships between this stringency and
the desired material or device properties.
We also need to be concerned with the thermal, chemical, and structural
stability of nanostructured materials and the devices made therefrom, in the
face of both the temperature and changing chemistries of the environments
in which these nanostructures are asked to function. A nanostructure that is
only a nanostructure at the beginning of a process is not of much use to
anybody, unless the process is over in a very short time or the process itself
is the actual nanostructure advantage. So for many applications, stability is
an important consideration, and we must investigate whether natural stability
is sufficient or whether we must additionally stabilize against changes that
we cannot afford.
To effectively commercialize and utilize the nanostructuring of matter we
also need enhancements in statistically driven process control. Achieving
reproducibility and scalability of nanoparticle synthesis and consolidation
processes in nanostructuring are paramount if successful scale-up is to be
effected and if what we do in the laboratory is to contribute to the society
that pays for this research. Given a commercial need, the viability of
nanostructure production and utilization is wrapped up in the costs of
precursors or raw materials, processing costs, and also the costs of dealing
with effluent. It is the total integrated cost, in terms of raw materials,
synthesis of the building blocks, manufacture of parts from those building
Executive Summary xxiii
blocks, and effluent clean-up costs, that is important and that will ultimately
determine commercial viability.
Finally, in order for the field of nanostructure science and technology to
truly reach fruition, it is an absolute necessity to create a new breed of
researchers who can work across traditional disciplines and think “outside
the box.” Educating this new breed of researchers, who will either work
across disciplines or know how to work with others in the interfaces between
disciplines, is vital to the future of nanostructure science and technology.
People must start thinking in unconventional ways if we are to take full
advantage of the opportunities in this new and revolutionary field.
xxiv Richard W. Siegel
Chapter 1
Introduction and Overview
Richard W. Siegel
BACKGROUND
The field of nanostructure science and technology is a broad and

interdisciplinary area of worldwide research and development activity that
has been growing explosively in the past few years. While an understanding
of the range and nature of functionalities that can be accessed through
nanostructuring is just beginning to unfold, its tremendous potential for
revolutionizing the ways in which materials and products are created is
already clear. It is already having a significant commercial impact, and it
will very certainly have a much greater impact in the future.
During the years 1996-98, an eight-person panel under the auspices of the
World Technology Evaluation Center (WTEC) conducted a worldwide study
of the research and development status and trends in nanoparticles,
nanostructured materials, and nanodevices, or more concisely, nanostructure
science and technology. The study was commissioned and sponsored by a
wide range of U.S. government agencies led by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), which included the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research, Office of Naval Research, Department of Commerce (including
the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Technology
Administration), Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, and
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Additional participating
U.S. government agencies for the study were the Army Research Office,
Army Research Laboratory, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. The uniquely broad sponsor
1
2 Richard W. Siegel
list for this WTEC study mirrors the broadly based interests in and, in fact,
the reality of the field of nanostructure science and technology.
The panel study began in 1996, when panel co-chair Prof. Evelyn L. Hu
(University of California at Santa Barbara) and I came to Washington to
present our thoughts to WTEC and the sponsors on how the study could best
be configured and carried out, given the available resources (time, people,
and money). After an extensive discussion with sponsors and potential
sponsors of the study, we assembled a team of experts for the panel from
industry and university, including Dr. Donald M. Cox (Exxon Research and
Engineering Company), Dr. Herb Goronkin (Motorola), Prof. Lynn Jelinski
(Cornell University during most of this study, now at Louisiana State
University), Prof. Carl Koch (North Carolina State University), John Mendel
(Eastman Kodak Company), and Prof. David T. Shaw (State University of
New York at Buffalo). Two of us on the panel, Prof. Koch and I, although
presently in universities, had spent large fractions of our careers at Oak
Ridge and Argonne National Laboratories, respectively, lending national
laboratory perspectives to the study, as well. Biographical sketches of the
panel members and other study participants are included in Appendix A of
the present volume.
The purposes of this study, which the panel determined in conjunction
with its sponsors, were to assess the current status and future trends
internationally in research and development in the broad and rapidly
growing area of nanostructure science and technology. The study had the
following four goals:
1. to provide the worldwide science and engineering community with a
broadly inclusive and critical view of this field
2. to identify promising areas for future research and commercial
development
3. to help stimulate development of an interdisciplinary international
community of nanostructure researchers
4. to encourage and identify opportunities for international collaboration
Based on these goals, the panel formulated a number of questions, for
which we sought answers during our study:
• What are the scientific drivers (new properties and phenomena,
instruments, theory, and simulation methods) and advantages
(applications) to be gained from control at the nanostructure level?
• What are the critical parameters to control in nanostructured material
synthesis and device manufacturing?
• What are the likelihood of and the time scale for bringing these new
technologies to fruition?
• What are the underlying research and development and educational

concepts and directions driving nanostructure science and technology
development?
• What are the expected financial dimensions of this effort over the next
five to ten years, and are there national programs in force or planned?
• Which areas of nanostructure science and technology would be most
fruitful for international collaboration?
These questions were posed in advance to the various workshop
participants and hosts of our panel visits so that answers could be considered
and prepared. In every case, our hosts went to great lengths and
considerable efforts to prepare for our visits and to make our study both
effective and comfortable. The various activities of the WTEC panel, in
addition to considerable reading, thinking, discussing, and writing, included
the following:
• a U.S. workshop on 8-9 May 1997 with presentations by 26 invited
expert participants from universities, industry, and national laboratories,
and by 23 U.S. government agency sponsors
• visits by panel members to 42 universities, industrial companies, and
national laboratories in Europe (France, Germany, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), Japan, and
Taiwan
• three round-table workshops involving 27 additional institutions in
Germany, Sweden, and Russia
These activities represent a rather broad base of information for the study
from which the panel derived the findings and conclusions that appear in this
volume. One must emphasize, however, that even though we visited many
places, listened to many presentations, and read much material, there is no
way that this study is, or could have been with the available resources,
encyclopedic. The field of nanostructure science and technology is simply
too large, too geographically dispersed, and changing too rapidly to cover
exhaustively. What this volume presents are only examples, the best
examples the panel could find, to describe what the field encompasses, its
current breath and depth, and where it appears to be heading. The choices of
the places that we visited, and even the types of visits, were made from lists
and suggestions generated by all the panel members, with useful sponsor
input. The final priorities were made according to where we felt the most
exciting research and development activities in nanostructure science and
technology were going on, overlayed with a realistic evaluation of which
sites and how many of them could be logically visited in the time allotted.
Unfortunately, this means that panel members on our limited schedule could
not visit many interesting institutions and could not accommodate visits to
entire countries that make significant contributions to nanostructure science
4 Richard W. Siegel
and technology—Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, Israel, Italy,

Mexico, Spain, and the Ukraine, to name just a few.
The initial public report of the findings of the WTEC study panel was
presented in Arlington, Virginia (http://itri.loyola.edu/nano/views/top.htm)
on 10 February 1998. Full site reports from the panel’s visits in Europe,
Japan, and Taiwan are included as Appendices B to E in this volume. A
separate volume covering the U.S. workshop has already been published by
WTEC under the title R&D Status and Trends in Nanoparticles,
Nanostructured Materials, and Nanodevices in the United States (see
bibliography at the end of this chapter). WTEC will soon publish a third
volume of this study that consists of papers presented at its workshop in
St. Petersburg, Russia.
An introduction to and overview of the study and its conclusions are
presented in this chapter, including some of the technical highlights of
nanostructure science and technology that the panel observed.
The WTEC panel would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the
study participants around the world for their conscientious help and
contributions and for their generous hospitality. We would also like to
extend our thanks to Dr. Mike Roco of NSF for the wonderful support he has
given us throughout the study and for his active participation in many of the
visits that we made around the world. In addition, we would like to thank
Mr. Geoff Holdridge (WTEC Director) and his staff for their excellent
support, without which the study could not have been accomplished.
FINDINGS
There are two overarching findings from this WTEC study. First, it is
now abundantly clear that we are able to nanostructure materials for novel
performance. This is the essential theme of this field: novel performance
through nanostructuring. Nanostructuring represents the beginning of a
revolutionary new age in our ability to manipulate materials for the good of
humanity. The synthesis and control of materials in nanometer dimensions
can access new material properties and device characteristics in
unprecedented ways. Panelists had seen the tip of the iceberg or the pinnacle
of the pyramid before starting this study, but only since undertaking the
study do we fully appreciate just how broad the field really is and begin to
understand what its exciting potential and impact may really be. It is now
clear that work is rapidly expanding worldwide in exploiting the
opportunities offered through nanostructuring.
The second major finding is that there is a wide range of disciplines
contributing to the developments in nanostructure science and technology
worldwide. Each year sees an ever increasing number of researchers from

diverse disciplines enter the field and an increasing breadth of novel ideas
and exciting new opportunities explode on the international nanostructure
scene. The rapidly mounting level of interdisciplinary activity in
nanostructuring is truly exciting. The intersections between the various
disciplines are where much of the novel activity resides, and this activity is
growing in importance.
If nothing else, these are the two basic findings that you need to carry
away from this study.
“building blocks”
atoms synthesis
nanoparticles layers
assembly
nanostructures
dispersions and high surface functional consolidated

coatings area materials nanodevices materials
Figure 1.1. Organization of nanostructure science and technology and the WTEC study.
The broad field of nanostructure science and technology can be most

conveniently organized according to the chart shown in Figure 1.1, which
indicates its tremendous breadth and potential impact. The WTEC study
was organized along the same lines as Figure 1.1, as is this final report,
which has a separate chapter focused on each major area shown in the figure.
The basis of the field is any type of material (metal, ceramic, polymer,
semiconductor, glass, composite) created from nanoscale building blocks
(clusters or nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanolayers, etc.) that are themselves
synthesized from atoms and molecules. Thus, the controlled synthesis of
those building blocks and their subsequent assembly into nanostructures is
one fundamental theme of this field. This is the subject of Chapter 2 by
Evelyn Hu and David Shaw. This theme draws upon all of the materials-
related disciplines from physics to chemistry to biology and to essentially all
6 Richard W. Siegel
of the engineering disciplines as well. In fact, there is a very strong thread

from all these disciplines running throughout the fabric of this study; the
biological aspects are so pervasive that special attention is given to them in
Chapter 7 by Lynn Jelinski.
The second and most fundamentally important theme of this field is that
the nanoscale building blocks, because of their sizes below about 100 nm,
impart to the nanostructures created from them new and improved properties
and functionalities heretofore unavailable in conventional materials and
devices. The reason for this is that materials in this size range can exhibit
fundamentally new behavior when their sizes fall below the critical length
scale associated with any given property. Thus, essentially any material
property can be dramatically changed and engineered through the controlled
size-selective synthesis and assembly of nanoscale building blocks. Four
broadly defined and overlapping application areas that cover the tremendous
range of challenges and opportunities for nanostructure science and
technology are dispersions and coatings, high surface area materials,
functional nanodevices, and consolidated materials.
In the synthesis and assembly area (Chapter 2) we see that atoms,
molecules, clusters and nanoparticles can be used as building blocks for
nanostructuring. However, the useful size of these building blocks depends
upon the property to be engineered, since the critical length scales for which
one is designing these building blocks depends upon the particular property
of interest. For multifunctional applications, more than one property and one
length scale must be considered. Every property has a critical length scale,
and if a nanoscale building block is made smaller than that critical length
scale, the fundamental physics of that property starts to change. By altering
the sizes of those building blocks, controlling their internal and surface
chemistry, and controlling their assembly, it is possible to engineer
properties and functionalities in unprecedented ways.
The characteristics of the building blocks, such as their size and size
distribution, composition, composition variation, and morphology, must be
well controlled. Also, the interfaces between the building blocks and their
surroundings can be critical to performance. It is not sufficient simply to
make the building blocks; one must also worry about the structure and
chemistry of their surfaces and how they will interact one with another or
with a matrix in which they are embedded. There is a very wide range of
diverse synthesis and assembly strategies being employed in
nanostructuring, all the way from fundamental biological methods for self-
assembling molecules to sophisticated chemical precipitation methods to a
variety of physical and chemical aerosol techniques for making clusters or
nanoparticles and then dispersing them or bringing them together in
consolidated forms. All of these strategies contribute in essential ways to the
growth of this field. Each may have unique capabilities that will benefit a
particular property, application, or process. The most generally applicable of
them are likely to have significant technological impact and commercial
potential.
In the area of dispersions and coatings, covered in Chapter 3 by John
Mendel, a wide range of new and enhanced functionalities are now
becoming available by means of nanostructuring. They cover the whole set
of properties that are of interest in optical, thermal, and electrical
applications. This is the most mature area of nanoscale science and
technology. The many current commercial applications include printing,
sunscreens, photography, and pharmaceuticals. Some examples of the
present technological impact of nanostructuring are thermal and optical
barriers, imaging enhancement, ink-jet materials, coated abrasive slurries,
and information-recording layers. From our vantage point at present, there
appears to be very strong potential impact in the areas of targeted drug
delivery, gene therapy, and multifunctional coatings. Nevertheless, certain
central issues must be addressed if work in this area is going to continue to
affect society in meaningful new ways in the coming years. Successful
nanoscale dispersions require freedom from agglomeration and surface
control. Process controls are required to ensure reproducibility, reliability,
and scalability. There is also a need to develop process models that lead to
shorter cycle times in manufacturing, if commercialization is to be truly
effective.
In the area of high surface area materials, reviewed by Donald Cox in
Chapter 4, it is of primary importance to realize that nanostructured material
building blocks have inherently high surface areas unless they are
consolidated. For example, a nanoparticle 5 nm in diameter has about half
of its atoms on its surface. If the nanoparticles are then brought together in a
lightly assembled way, this surface area is available for a variety of useful
applications. In fact, there is a wide range of new applications in high
capacity uses for chemical and electrical energy storage, or in sensors and
other applications that take copious advantage of this feature. Already there
are numerous commercial applications in porous membranes or molecular
sieves, drug delivery, tailored catalysts, and absorption/desorption materials.
Clearly, what is required to optimize the impact of nanostructures to be
really useful to society in high surface area material applications is to create
materials that combine high selectivity, high product or function yield, and
high stability. Thus, the major challenges in this area are critical
dimensional control and long-term thermal and chemical stability. When
these problems are solved, considerable future technological potential is seen
in the areas of molecule-specific sensors, large hydrocarbon or bacterial
filters, energy storage, and Grätzel-type solar cells.
8 Richard W. Siegel
The area of functional nanoscale devices, covered in Chapter 5 by Herb

Goronkin and his Motorola colleagues, is largely driven by the need for ever
smaller devices, which necessitate both new device and new circuit
architectures. It is not very useful to make nanoscale devices if they cannot
be assembled in a circuit with interconnects that are themselves nanoscale.
Thus, a complete rethinking of this area is required. The major research and
development effort worldwide in functional nanoscale devices is focused on
the single electron transistor (SET) using a variety of nanostructuring
approaches. However, there is also considerable worldwide activity on
magnetic devices using giant magnetoresistance (GMR) of nanostructures
with architectures of various modulation dimensionalities. In fact, it is the
nanostructuring with various modulation dimensionalities that has created an
expanding range of different functionalities that can be engineered into these
GMR devices. There is also exciting carbon nanotube research being
actively pursued in areas of high-field-emission displays and several other
nanoscale electronic devices. This is an area still very early in its
development, since nanotubes and their derivatives are a relatively recent
discovery, but one with tremendous potential.
While there is little technological impact already present in the nanoscale
device area other than GMR read heads, several potential areas of significant
impact do appear on the horizon. These include terabit memory and
microprocessing; single molecule DNA sizing and sequencing; biomedical
sensors; low-noise, low-threshold lasers; and nanotubes for high brightness
displays. Nevertheless, a major challenge looms in the efficient
manipulation of these nanoscale building blocks and their eventual
commercial scaleup, if any of this is really going to affect society as we
know it. One shining example that indicates probable success in overcoming
such obstacles in the future is the ability to now translate SET devices made
by individual atomic manipulation into arrays of similarly functional devices
created by the biological self-assembly of large molecular arrays. Such
cross-disciplinary transfers of nanostructuring ideas and capabilities can be
expected to increasingly impact the future successful implementation of
nanostructure science and technology.
In the area of consolidated materials, reviewed by Carl Koch in
Chapter 6, we have known for about a decade that the bulk behavior of
materials can be dramatically altered when constituted of, or consolidated
from, nanoscale building blocks. This can significantly and favorably affect
the mechanical properties, magnetic properties, and optical properties of a
range of engineering materials. We already know that the hardness and
strength of nanophase metals can be greatly increased by nanostructuring,
for example. On the other hand, the ductility and superplastic forming
capabilities of nanophase ceramics have now become possible generically,
leading to new processing routes that will be more cost-effective than

present methods. Nanoparticle fillers in metal, ceramic, or polymer matrices
can yield a very wide range of nanocomposites with unique properties. This
is an area that in some cases is just beginning to be researched seriously, but
it could have huge technological impact in the future. Nanostructuring can
also uniquely create both soft and hard magnetic materials with greatly
improved performances. These materials are already having technological
impact in the areas of low-loss magnets, high-hardness and tough cutting
tools, and nanocomposite cements. Potential technological applications with
high commercial impact can be expected in the areas of superplastic forming
of ceramics, ultrahigh-strength and tough structural materials, magnetic
refrigerants, a wide range of nanoparticle-filled polymer nanocomposites
based on elastomers, thermoplastics and thermosets, and ductile cements.
In Chapter 7 Lynn Jelinski describes nanoparticles, nanostructured
materials, and nanodevices from the point of view of biological applications
and biological analogies. Current research directed toward biological
synthesis and assembly is highlighted as it pertains to the building blocks of
nanotechnology, and examples are presented of state-of-the-art research on
the biological aspects of dispersions and coatings, high surface area
materials, and functional nanostructures. A primary finding is that although
biological applications of nanostructure science and technology may not be
as well developed currently as non-biological ones, they nevertheless present
a very promising research and development frontier that is likely to have
tremendous future impact.
Funding and research programs in nanotechnology around the world are
reviewed by Mike Roco in Chapter 8. It is noteworthy that these funding
levels have been increasing very rapidly in recent years as the number of
researchers worldwide who are excited about this field have multiplied and
funding agencies have responded accordingly. The various ways in which
nanostructure science and technology research is funded in the countries the
panel surveyed had often appeared quite different from a distance, but are
actually quite similar to one another at closer view. Some countries, most
notably Japan, have tended to primarily fund their nanostructure research
through large national programs, with a rather monolithic appearance from
afar, centered at national laboratories or at major national universities. On
the other hand, with some exceptions, most of the nanostructure research
funding in the United States and Europe tends to be based upon competition
among individual research groups for smaller amounts of support. In both
types of nanostructure funding schemes, however, it seems that the
individual researchers actually dominate how the work proceeds. In most
cases, any significant interactions among researchers occur through normal
personal and professional contacts; large-scale institutionalized cooperative
10 Richard W. Siegel
research efforts in this field have often not been particularly effective. A
particularly impressive national funding effort in nanostructure science and
technology occurs in France under the auspices of the Centre National de la
Récherche Scientifique (CNRS). There, an extensive multidisciplinary
network of laboratories in universities, industries, and national laboratories,
funded partly by the CNRS and partly by industry, appear to interact
successfully. It could be a very useful model to follow.
CONCLUSIONS
Table ES.2 (p. xvii) compares the current levels of activity of the major
regions assessed in this WTEC study (Europe, Japan, and the United States),
for the broad areas of synthesis and assembly, biological approaches and
applications, dispersions and coatings, high surface area materials,
nanodevices, and consolidated materials. These comparisons are, of course,
integrals over rather large areas of a huge field and therefore possess all of
the inevitable faults of such an integration. At best, they represent only a
snapshot of the present. Nevertheless, the panel drew the following general
conclusions. In the synthesis and assembly area, the United States appears
to be somewhat ahead, with Europe and then Japan following. In the area of
biological approaches and applications, the United States and Europe appear
to be on a par, with Japan following. In nanoscale dispersions and coatings,
the United States and Europe are again at a similar level, with Japan
following. In the area of high surface area materials, the United States is
clearly ahead of Europe, which is followed by Japan. On the other hand, in
the nanodevices area, Japan seems to be leading quite strongly, with Europe
and the United States following. Finally, in the area of consolidated
nanomaterials, Japan appears to be a clear leader, with the United States and
Europe following.
Nanostructure science and technology is clearly a very broad and
interdisciplinary area of research and development activity worldwide. It
has been growing explosively in the past few years, since the realization that
creating new materials and devices from nanoscale building blocks could
access new and improved properties and functionalities. While many
aspects of the field existed well before nanostructure science and technology
became a definable entity during the past decade, it has really only become a
coherent field of endeavor through the confluence of three crucial
technological streams:
1. new and improved control of the size and manipulation of nanoscale
building blocks
2. new and improved characterization (e.g., spatial resolution, chemical

sensitivity) of materials at the nanoscale
3. new and improved understanding of the relationships between
nanostructure and properties and how these can be engineered
These developments have allowed for an accelerating rate of information
transfer across disciplinary boundaries, with the realization that
nanostructure scientists can and should borrow insights and techniques
across disciplines, and for an increased access to common enabling tools and
technologies. We are now at the threshold of a revolution in the ways in
which materials and products are created. How this revolution will develop,
and how great will be the opportunities that nanostructuring can yield in the
future, will depend upon the ways in which a number of challenges are met.
Among the challenges facing nanostructure scientists and engineers in
order for rapid progress to continue in this field are the necessary advances
that must be made in several enabling technologies. We need to increase the
capabilities in material characterization, be it in visualization or analytical
chemistry, at ever finer size scales. We also need to be able to manipulate
matter at finer and finer size scales, and we must eventually use
computational approaches in directing this. Experiment simply cannot do it
alone; theory and modeling are essential. Fortunately, this is an area in
which the sizes of the building blocks and their assemblies are small enough
that it is possible, with the ever increasing capabilities of computational
sciences, to start doing very serious controlled modeling experiments to
guide researchers in the nanostructuring of matter. Hence, multiscale
modeling, across atomic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic length scales, of
nanostructuring and the resulting hierarchical structures and material
properties is an absolute necessity as we attempt in the coming decades to
utilize the tremendous potential of nanostructure science and technology.
Another challenge is to fully understand the critical roles that surfaces
and interfaces play in nanomaterials, owing to the very high specific surface
areas of nanoparticles and the large areas of interfaces in the assembled
nanophase forms. We need to know in detail not only the structures of these
interfaces, but also their local chemistries and the effects of segregation and
interaction between the nanoscale building blocks and their surroundings.
We also need to learn more about the control parameters of nanostructure
size and size distribution, composition, and assembly. For some applications
of these building blocks, there are very stringent conditions on these
parameters; in other applications considerably less so. We must therefore
understand the relationships between the limits of this stringency and the
desired material or device properties if efficient utilization of
nanostructuring is to be achieved.
Since nanostructures are often inherently unstable owing to their small

constituent sizes and high chemical activity, a further challenge is to increase
the thermal, chemical, and structural stability of these materials and the
devices made therefrom, in the various temperatures and chemistries of the
environments in which the nanostructures are asked to function. A
nanostructure that is only a nanostructure at the beginning of a process is not
of much use unless the process is over in a very short time or unless the
process itself is the actual nanostructure advantage. So, stability is a real
concern in many applications. Researchers must determine whether natural
stability or metastability is sufficient or if we must additionally stabilize
against the changes that we cannot afford. Fortunately, it appears that many
nanostructures possess either a deeply metastable structure or they can be
readily stabilized or passivated using rather traditional strategies.
Reproducibility and scalability of nanoparticle synthesis and
consolidation processes in nanostructuring are paramount for successful
utilization of nanostructure research and development. What is
accomplished in the laboratory must eventually benefit the society that pays
the bills for the research, or the field will simply die. Also, significant
enhancements in statistically driven process controls are required if we are to
be able to effectively commercialize and utilize the nanostructuring of
matter. New thinking is needed, not only about the materials, not only about
the processing and assembly of these materials, but also about the
manufacture of products from these materials and the economic impact of
dealing with effluents. Given the commercial promise of net-shape forming
of nanoscale ceramics, for example, the viability of such nanostructure
production and utilization depends upon the total integrated costs of
precursors or raw materials, synthesis of the building blocks, manufacturing
of parts from those building blocks, and finally, disposition of the effluents.
Higher than normal up-front costs for the nanoparticles or building blocks
may be affordable if the processing steps save more than that. It is the total
integrated costs, along with societal needs, that will determine commercial
viability
Education is also of tremendous importance to the future of the field of
nanostructure science and technology. The creation of a new breed of
researchers working across traditional disciplines and thinking "outside the
box" is an absolute necessity for the field of nanostructure science and
technology to truly reach fruition and to impact society with full force. The
education of this new breed of researchers, who will either themselves work
across disciplines or know how to work with others across disciplinary lines
in the interfaces between disciplines, is necessary to make this happen in the
future. People will need to start thinking in truly unconventional ways, if we
are to take full advantage of this excitingly new and revolutionary field.
It appears that nanostructure science and technology at present resembles

only the tip of a pyramid that has recently been uncovered from the sands of
ignorance. As the new and expanding research community of nanostructure
scholars worldwide digs away at these sands and uncovers more and more of
the exciting field of nanostructure science and technology, we will
eventually learn how truly important the field will have become and how
great its impact will be on society. From our present vantage point, this
future looks very exciting.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1989
Andres, R.P., R.S. Averback, W.L. Brown, L.E. Brus, W.A. Goddard, III, A. Kaldor, S.G.
Louie, M. Moskovits, P.S. Peercy, S.J. Riley, R.W. Siegel, F. Spaepen, and Y. Wang. 1989.
Research opportunities on clusters and cluster-assembled materials, a Dept. of Energy,
Council on Materials Science, panel report. Journal of Materials Research 4:704-736.
Gleiter, H. 1989. Nanocrystalline materials. Progress in Materials Science 33: 223-315.
Kear, B.H., L.E. Cross, J.E. Keem, R.W. Siegel, F. Spaepen, K.C. Taylor, E.L. Thomas, and
K.-N. Tu. 1989. Research opportunities for materials with ultrafine microstructures.
Washington D.C.: National Academy, Vol. NMAB-454.
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Rieke, P.C., P.D. Calvert, and M. Alper, eds. 1990. Materials synthesis utilizing biological
processes. In Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 174(1990).
Stucky, G.D., and J.E. MacDougall. 1990. Quantum confinement and host/guest chemistry:
Probing a new dimension. Science 247: 669-678.
1991
Whitesides, G.M., J.P. Mathias, and C.T. Seto. 1991. Molecular self-assembly and nano-
chemistry: A chemical strategy for the synthesis of nanostructures. Science 254: 1312-1319.
1992
Dagani, R. 1992. Nanostructured materials promise to advance range of technologies.
Chemical & Engineering News (November 23): 18-24.
Heuer, A.H., D.J. Fink, V.J. Laraia, J.L. Arias, P.D. Calvert, K. Kendall, G.L. Messing, J.
Blackwell, P.C. Reike, D.H. Thompson, A.P. Wheeler, A. Veis, and A.I. Caplan. 1992.
Innovative materials processing: A biomimetic approach. Science 255:1098-1105.
1993
Siegel, R.W. 1993. Nanostructured materials—mind over matter. Nanostructured Materials
3: 1-18.
1994
Hadjipanayis, G.C., and R.W. Siegel, eds. 1994. Nanophase materials: Synthesis-properties-
applications. Dordrecht: Kluwer Press.
Siegel, R.W. 1994. Nanophase materials. In Encyclopedia of applied physics, Vol. 11,
G.L. Trigg, ed. Weinheim: VCH, pp. 1-27.
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Gleiter, H. 1995. Nanostructured materials: State of the art and perspectives.
Nanostructured Materials 6: 3-14.
1996
Edelstein, A.S., and R.C. Cammarata, eds. 1996. Nanomaterials: Synthesis, properties and
applications. Bristol: IOP.
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Siegel, R.W., E. Hu, and M. C. Roco, eds. 1998. R&D status and trends in nanoparticles,
nanostructured materials, and nanodevices in the United States. Baltimore: Loyola
College, International Technology Research Institute. NTIS #PB98-117914.
Chapter 2
Synthesis and Assembly
Evelyn L. Hu
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara
David T. Shaw
State University of New York, Buffalo
INTRODUCTION
The common theme of this WTEC study is the engineering of materials

with novel (i.e., improved) properties through the controlled synthesis and
assembly of the material at the nanoscale level. The range of applications is
extremely broad, and these will be described in further detail in subsequent
chapters in this report. The corresponding means of synthesis and assembly
are similarly wide-ranging. But however multifaceted the synthesis
approaches and the ultimate applications, there are common issues and
unique defining features of these nanostructured materials.
First, there is the recognition of critical scale lengths that define the
material structure and organization, generally in the nanometer range, and
that ultimately determine the fundamental macroscopic properties of the
material. Research in nanostructured materials is motivated by the belief
that ability to control the building blocks or nanostructure of the materials
can result in enhanced properties at the macroscale: increased hardness,
ductility, magnetic coupling, catalytic enhancement, selective absorption, or
higher efficiency electronic or optical behavior.
Synthesis and assembly strategies accommodate precursors from liquid,
solid, or gas phase; employ chemical or physical deposition approaches; and
similarly rely on either chemical reactivity or physical compaction to
integrate nanostructure building blocks within the final material structure.
The variety of techniques is shown schematically in Figure 2.1.
15
16 Evelyn L. Hu and David T. Shaw
Nanostructured Material
Assemble from 'Sculpt' from Bulk

Nano- building Blocks
• mechanical attrition
• powder/aerosol compaction (ball milling)
• chemical synthesis •lithography/etching...
Figure 2.1. Schematic of variety of nanostructure synthesis and assembly approaches.
The “bottom-up” approach first forms the nanostructured building blocks

and then assembles them into the final material. An example of this
approach is the formation of powder components through aerosol techniques
(Wu et al. 1993) and then the compaction of the components into the final
material. These techniques have been used extensively in the formation of
structural composite materials. One “top-down” approach begins with a
suitable starting material and then “sculpts” the functionality from the
material. This technique is similar to the approach used by the
semiconductor industry in forming devices out of an electronic substrate
(silicon), utilizing pattern formation (such as electron beam lithography) and
pattern transfer processes (such as reactive ion etching) that have the
requisite spatial resolution to achieve creation of structures at the nanoscale.
This particular area of nanostructure formation has tremendous scope,
warranting its own separate study, is a driving issue for the electronics
industry, and will not be a principal theme of this study. Another top-down
approach is “ball-milling,” the formation of nanostructure building blocks
through controlled, mechanical attrition of the bulk starting material (Koch
1989). Those nano building blocks are then subsequently assembled into a
new bulk material.
In fact, many current strategies for material synthesis integrate both
synthesis and assembly into a single process, such as characterizes chemical
synthesis of nanostructured materials (Murray et al. 1993; Katari et al.
1994). The degree of control required over the sizes of the nanostructure
components, and the nature of their distribution and bonding within the fully
formed material varies greatly, depending on the ultimate materials
application. Achieving selective optical absorption in a material (e.g., UV-
blocking dispersions) may allow a wide range of sizes of the component
nanostructure building blocks, while quantum dot lasers or single electron
transistors require a far tighter distribution of size of the nanostructure

components. Compaction methods may provide excellent adhesion for
nanocomposite materials of improved structural performance (e.g., ductility),
but such interfaces may be unsatisfactory for electronic materials.
The intention of this chapter of the report is not to recapitulate in detail
the various synthesis and assembly techniques that have been and are being
employed in the fabrication of nanostructured materials; that detail can be
found in succeeding chapters as well as in excellent summary descriptions
provided in the May 8-9, 1997 WTEC workshop proceedings (Siegel, Hu,
and Roco 1998). Rather, in attempting to capture the salient features of a
new impetus for and interest in a field of nanostructure science and
technology, it is more useful to identify the emerging commonalities than the
differences among synthesis and assembly approaches.
CRITICAL ISSUES FOR NANOSTRUCTURE

SYNTHESIS AND ASSEMBLY
However broad the range of synthesis approaches, the critical control

points fall into two categories:
1. control of the size and composition of the nanocluster components,
whether they are aerosol particles, powders, semiconductor quantum
dots, or other nanocomponents
2. control of the interfaces and distributions of the nanocomponents within
the fully formed materials
These two aspects of nanostructure formation are inextricably linked;
nevertheless, it is important to understand how to exercise separate control
over the nucleation of the nanostructure building blocks and the growth (for
example, minimizing coagulation or agglomeration) of those components
throughout the synthesis and assembly process. This latter issue is related to
the importance of the following:
• the chemical, thermal, and temporal stability of such formed
nanostructures
• the ability to scale-up synthesis and assembly strategies for low-cost,
large-scale production of nanostructured materials, while at the same
time maintaining control of critical feature size and quality of interfaces
(economic viability is a compelling issue for any nanostructure
technology)
All researchers in this area are addressing these issues.
COMMON ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
There has been steady technological progress in all fields of

nanostructure synthesis and assembly, in no small part because of the more
general availability of characterization tools having higher spatial, energy,
and time resolution to clearly distinguish and trace the process of
nanostructure formation. As transmission electron microscopy and X-ray
diffraction techniques helped in an earlier period to relate the improved
properties of “age-hardened” aluminum alloys to their nanostructure (Koch
1998), today’s technological advances in materials characterization are
providing new insights into the role of the nanostructure in determining
macroscopic properties. The tightly-coupled iteration between
characterizing the nanostructure, understanding the relationship between
nanostructure and macroscopic material properties (Figure 2.2), and
improved sophistication and control in determining nanostructure size and
placement have accelerated the rate of progress and helped to define the
critical components of this “new” field of nanostructure science and
technology. Tightly focused (1-2 µm), high brightness synchrotron X-ray
sources provide detailed structural information on colloids, polymers, alloys,
and other material structures, highlighting the inhomogeneities of the
material with suitable spatial resolution (Hellemans 1998).
stimulates
Improved characterization Better control of size and

- higher spatial resolution placement
- higher sensitivity
s
le
te
ad
iva
s
to
t
mo
Understanding of
- structure-property link
- influence of interfaces
Figure 2.2. Interactive cycle of characterization, understanding and enhanced control in the
synthesis and assembly of nanostructures.
Another important enabling technology has been the now widely

available scanning probe technology, including scanning tunneling
microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The power of these techniques
has provided impetus for developing even higher performance scanning
probe tips, fabricated through microfabrication techniques. Development of

different tip structures in various materials has given rise to an entire family
of powerful scanning probe techniques that encompass such a wide range of
characterization capabilities that one can envision “a laboratory on a tip”
(Berger et al. 1996). The development of a tip technology also impacts the
synthesis and assembly processes themselves: scanning probe technologies
have been used as the basis of materials patterning and processing at
nanometer scales (Held et al. 1997; Snow et al. 1997; and Wilder et al. 1997)
and have provided information on the mechanical and thermal properties of
materials at the nanoscale (Nakabeppu et al. 1995; Tighe et al. 1997; and
Zhang et al. 1996).
More sophisticated in situ monitoring strategies have provided greater
understanding and control in the synthesis of nanostructured building blocks,
particularly those formed in vacuum environments. Molecular beam epitaxy
(MBE) represents a physical vapor (gas phase) deposition technique where
sub-monolayer control can be imposed on the formation of two-dimensional
and, more recently, three-dimensional nanostructured materials (Leonard et
al. 1993). A great deal of the understanding and control derives from the
ability to carry out sensitive monitoring of the growth process in situ:
reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) details the nature of the
surface and surface bonding, and oscillations of the RHEED intensity
provide information on the growth rate (Neave et al. 1983).
The improvements brought about by these advances in technology have
been substantial, but perhaps of greater importance for this nascent field of
nanostructure science and technology has been the development of strategies
and technologies that have been formed across the former disciplines. More
reliable means of controlling nanostructure size and placement, with an end
view of being able to scale up the production of such materials while
maintaining the control over the nanostructure, have given impetus to a
common search for novel synthesis and assembly strategies. In that search,
it is apparent that the naturally occurring synthesis and assembly of
biological materials can provide us with some critical insights.
NANOPARTICLE SYNTHESIS STRATEGIES
Gas Phase Synthesis and Sol-Gel Processing
Major efforts in nanoparticle synthesis can be grouped into two broad

areas: gas phase synthesis and sol-gel processing. Nanoparticles with
diameters ranging from 1 to 10 nm with consistent crystal structure, surface
derivatization, and a high degree of monodispersity have been processed by
both gas-phase and sol-gel techniques. Typical size variances are about
20%; however, for measurable enhancement of the quantum effect, this must
be reduced to less than 5% (Murray et al. 1993).
Initial development of new crystalline materials was based on
nanoparticles generated by evaporation and condensation (nucleation and
growth) in a subatmospheric inert-gas environment (Gleiter 1989; Siegel
1991, 1994). Various aerosol processing techniques have been reported to
improve the production yield of nanoparticles (Uyeda 1991, Friedlander
1998). These include synthesis by combustion flame (Zachariah 1994,
Calcote and Keil 1997, Axelbaum 1997, Pratsinis 1997); plasma (Rao et al.
1997); laser ablation (Becker et al. 1997); chemical vapor condensation
(Kear et al. 1997); spray pyrolysis (Messing et al. 1994); electrospray (de la
Mora et al. 1994); and plasma spray (Berndt et al. 1997).
Sol-gel processing is a wet chemical synthesis approach that can be used
to generate nanoparticles by gelation, precipitation, and hydrothermal
treatment (Kung and Ko 1996). Size distribution of semiconductor, metal,
and metal oxide nanoparticles can be manipulated by either dopant
introduction (Kyprianidou-Leodidou et al. 1994) or heat treatment (Wang et
al. 1997). Better size and stability control of quantum-confined
semiconductor nanoparticles can be achieved through the use of inverted
micelles (Gacoin 1997), polymer matrix architecture based on block
copolymers (Sankaran et al. 1993) or polymer blends (Yuan et al. 1992),
porous glasses (Justus et al. 1992), and ex-situ particle-capping techniques
(Majetich and Canter 1993; Olshavsky and Allcock 1997).
Other Strategies
Additional nanoparticle synthesis techniques include sonochemical

processing, cavitation processing, microemulsion processing, and high-
energy ball milling. In sonochemistry, an acoustic cavitation process can
generate a transient localized hot zone with extremely high temperature
gradient and pressure (Suslick et al. 1996). Such sudden changes in
temperature and pressure assist the destruction of the sonochemical
precursor (e.g., organometallic solution) and the formation of nanoparticles.
The technique can be used to produce a large volume of material for
industrial applications.
In hydrodynamic cavitation, nanoparticles are generated through creation
and release of gas bubbles inside the sol-gel solution (Sunstrom et al. 1996).
By rapidly pressurizing in a supercritical drying chamber and exposing to
cavitational disturbance and high temperature heating, the sol-gel solution is
mixed. The erupted hydrodynamic bubbles are responsible for nucleation,
growth, and quenching of the nanoparticles. Particle size can be controlled
by adjusting the pressure and the solution retention time in the cavitation
chamber.
Microemulsions have been used for synthesis of metallic (Kishida et al.
1995), semiconductor (Kortan et al. 1990; Pileni et al. 1992), silica
(Arriagada and Osseo-Assave 1995), barium sulfate (Hopwood and Mann
1997), magnetic, and superconductor (Pillai et al. 1995) nanoparticles. By
controlling the very low interfacial tension (~10-3 mN/m) through the
addition of a cosurfactant (e.g., an alcohol of intermediate chain length),
these microemulsions are produced spontaneously without the need for
significant mechanical agitation. The technique is useful for large-scale
production of nanoparticles using relatively simple and inexpensive
hardware (Higgins 1997).
Finally, high energy ball milling, the only top-down approach for
nanoparticle synthesis, has been used for the generation of magnetic (Leslie-
Pelecky and Reike 1996), catalytic (Ying and Sun 1997), and structural
(Koch 1989) nanoparticles. The technique, which is already a commercial
technology, has been considered dirty because of contamination problems
from ball-milling processes. However, the availability of tungsten carbide
components and the use of inert atmosphere and/or high vacuum processes
have reduced impurities to acceptable levels for many industrial
applications. Common drawbacks include the low surface area, the highly
polydisperse size distributions, and the partially amorphous state of the as-
prepared powders.
Other Synthesis Issues
Means to Achieve Monodispersity
One of the most challenging problems in synthesis is the controlled

generation of monodispersed nanoparticles with size variance so small that
size selection by centrifugal precipitation or mobility classification is not
necessary. Among all the synthesis techniques discussed above, gas-phase
synthesis is one of the best techniques with respect to size monodispersity,
typically achieved by using a combination of rigorous control of nucleation-
condensation growth and avoidance of coagulation by diffusion and
turbulence as well as by the effective collection of nanoparticles and their
handling afterwards. The stability of the collected nanoparticle powders
against agglomeration, sintering, and compositional changes can be ensured
by collecting the nanoparticles in liquid suspension. For semiconducting
particles, stabilization of the liquid suspension has been demonstrated by the
addition of polar solvent (Murray et al. 1993); surfactant molecules have
been used to stabilize the liquid suspension of metallic nanoparticles.
Alternatively, inert silica encapsulation of nanoparticles by gas-phase

reaction and by oxidation in colloidal solution has been shown to be
effective for metallic nanoparticles (Andres et al. 1998).
New approaches need to be developed for the generation of
monodisperse nanoparticles that do not require the use of a size classification
procedure. An example of this is a process developed in Japan where very
monodispersed gold colloidal nanoparticles with diameters of about 1 nm
have been prepared by reduction of metallic salt with UV irradiation in the
presence of dendrimers (Esumi et al. 1998). Poly(amidoamine) dendrimers
with surface amino groups of higher generations have spherical 3-D
structures, which may have an effective protective action for the formation
of gold nanoparticles. Although the specific role of dendrimers for the
formation of monodispersed nanoparticles has yet to be defined, good
monodispersity is thought to come from the complex reaction accompanying
the decomposition of dendrimers, which eventually leads to the conversion
of solution ions to gold nanoparticles.
Scaleup
Scaleup production is of great interest for nanoparticle synthesis. High

energy ball milling, already a commercial high-volume process, as
mentioned above, has been instrumental in generating nanoparticles for the
preparation of magnetic, structural, and catalytic materials. However, the
process produces polydispersed amorphous powder, which requires
subsequent partial recrystallization before the powder is consolidated into
nanostructured materials. Although gas-phase synthesis is generally a low
production rate process (typically in the 100 milligrams per hour range) in
research laboratories, higher rates of production (about 20 grams per hour)
are being demonstrated at Ångström Laboratory at Uppsala University in
Sweden (see Appendix C of this report). Even higher production rates
(about 1 kg per hour) are now being achieved commercially. For sol-gel
processing, the development of continuous processing techniques based on
present knowledge of batch processing has yet to be addressed for
economical scaleup production of nanoparticles. Other related sol-gel issues
concern the cost of precursors and the recycling of solvent. Overall, sol-gel
processing is attractive for commercial scale-up production.
Building Nanoparticle Chains or Wires
A recent paradigm shift envisioned for optoelectronics and computational

devices involves the assembly of molecular or quantum wires (Chidsey and
Murray 1986). Large polymeric molecules have been used as nano building
blocks for nanoporous molecular sieves, biocompatible materials, optical

switching, data processing, and other nonlinear optical components. Chain
aggregates of nanoparticles can be considered as polymer-like units with
their primary particles composed of a few hundred to a few thousand
molecules. Thus, these chain aggregates can be considered “heavy”
quantum wires. In fact, nanoparticle chain aggregates have been studied
extensively as magnetic materials (Zhang and Manthiram 1997), as
reinforced elastomers (Pu et al. 1997), and as additives in concrete (Sabir
1997). These aggregates have been shown to have chemical and mechanical
properties different from those of individual primary particles (Friedlander et
al. 1998). Depending on the particle size and its compositional material, the
bonding force responsible for holding the aggregates together varies from
weak van der Waals force for micrometer particles to strong chemical bonds
for nanometer particles to very strong magnetic dipolar bonds for nanosized
magnetic particles. The mechanical, optical, and electronic transport
properties can be varied by controlling the diameter and the monodispersity
of the primary particles, the crystalline structure and morphology, aggregate
length, interfacial properties, and material purity. These chain aggregates
can be formed by allowing agglomeration of nanoparticles generated by any
of the synthesis techniques discussed above, with the exception of high
energy ball milling, which generates particles with low surface area and high
anisotropic morphologies, both of which are detrimental for the formation of
chain aggregates. Depending on the magnetic and electric charging
properties of the nanoparticles, an external applied magnetic or electric field
can be used to control the fractal dimension of aggregates. For optical
applications of chain aggregates, lower fractal dimensions (i.e., relatively
straight chain aggregates with few branches) are desirable.
Building Nanometer Fibers or Tubes
Recent advances in the fabrication of nanometer fibers or tubes offer

another form of building blocks for nanostructured materials. An effective
way to generate nanometer fibers (or tubes) is based on the use of
membrane-template techniques (Martin 1994). Membranes, with
nanochannels generated by fission-fragment tracks or by electrochemical
etching of aluminum metal, are used as templates for either chemical or
electrochemical deposition of conductive polymers (Pathasarathy and Martin
1994), metal (van de Zande et al. 1997), semiconductor (Klein et al. 1993),
and other materials for the generation of nanofibers or tubes. Since the
nanochannels on membranes are very uniform in size, the diameter and the
aspect ratio of the nanofibers (or tubes) synthesized by the membrane-
template technique can be precisely controlled. This greatly facilitates the
interpretation of optical data and the processing of these fibers (or tubes) into
2-D nanostructured materials (de Heer et al. 1995). Single-crystal
semiconductor nanofibers can also be grown catalytically by metalorganic
vapor phase epitaxy and laser ablation vapor-liquid-solid techniques
(Hiruma et al. 1995; Morales and Lieber 1998). The synthesis of these one-
dimensional structures with diameters in the range of 3 to 15 nm holds
considerable technological promise for optoelectronic device applications,
such as the p-n junctions for light emission at Hitachi Central Research
Laboratory in Japan (see Appendix D of this report).
The advent of carbon-based nanotubes has created yet another way to
fabricate nanometer fibers and tubes. These nanotubes have been used as
templates for the fabrication of carbide and oxide nanotubes (Dai et al. 1995;
Kasuga et al. 1998). Synthesis of nanotubes based on BN, BC3 and BC2N
have also been reported (Chopra et al. 1995; Miyamoto et al. 1994). These
nanotubes potentially possess large third-order optical non-linearity and
other unusual properties (Xie and Jiang 1998). Metallic nanofibers
synthesized by carbon-nanotube-template techniques are useful in the design
of infrared absorption materials. The carbon nanotubes can now be
catalytically produced in large quantities and have been used for
reinforcement of nanostructural composite materials and concrete (Peigney
et al. 1997).
BIOGENIC STRATEGIES
The elegant complexity of biological materials represents the

achievement of structural order over many length scales, with the full
structure developed from the “nested levels of structural hierarchy” (Aksay
et al. 1992), in which self-assembled organic materials can form templates or
scaffolding for inorganic components. These notions of a multilevel
material structure with strong interactions among levels and an interplay of
perfection and imperfection forming the final material was discussed earlier
by Cyril Stanley Smith (1981). Along with characteristic length scales, there
are characteristic relaxation times of the material, bringing in the
consideration of the temporal stability of the structured materials (Zener
1948).
A more detailed discussion of the role of biological materials as both
paradigm and tool for the fabrication of nanostructured materials is given in
Chapter 7 of this report. It is interesting how many of the synthesis and
assembly approaches seek out and adapt two key features of biogenic
fabrication: that of “self-assembly,” and the use of natural nanoscaled
templates.
Self-Assembly as a Deliberate Strategy
“Self-assembly” is a term that by now figures prominently in the

literature of nanostructured materials and nanofabrication. The term
therefore carries a variety of implicit or explicit meanings, and we cite the
definition given by Kuhn and Ulman: “Self-assembly is a process in which
supermolecular hierarchical organization is established in a complex system
of interlocking components.” The mechanisms that produce the hierarchical
organization are determined by competing molecular interactions (e.g.,
interactions between hydrophobic versus hydrophilic components, van der
Waals, Coulombic, or hydrogen bonding), resulting in particular microphase
separation or surface segregation of the component materials. Thus, the use
of a hierarchy of bond strengths and/or chemical specificity can produce a
hierarchy of lengths in the final nanostructured material (Muthukumar et al.
1998; Stupp and Braun 1998).
As one example of such self-assembled or self-organized materials,
McGehee et al. (1994) have mixed silica precursors with surfactants that
have self-ordered to form various surfactant-water liquid crystals, producing
various structures built from walls of amorphous silica, organized about a
repetitive arrangement of pores up to a hundred angstroms in diameter. A
range of such structures is shown in Figure 2.3. In the “natural” formation
of inorganic nanostructures, the addition of organic molecules can strongly
influence the resulting structure of inorganic components. Such strategies
have been adopted in synthetic formation of nanostructures, such as in the
formation of networks of gold clusters (Andres et al. 1998).
Gold clusters 3.7 nm in diameter, formed in the vapor phase, are
encapsulated in organic surfactants, such as dodecanethiol, forming a
colloidal suspension. The surfactants prevent the agglomeration of the gold
clusters. Addition of small amount of dithiol precipitates out a 3-D cluster
network, which can in turn be deposited onto another solid substrate. Figure
2.4 shows a transmission electron microscope (TEM) image of a cluster
array spin-cast onto MoS2.
The methodology of self-assembly has even been extended to physical
vapor deposition processes where it would seem more difficult to control the
nucleation and growth of three-dimensional nanostructures. Utilizing the
strain inherent in the epitaxial growth of lattice-mismatched materials, and
the expected strain-induced transition from two-dimensional (layered) to
three-dimensional (islanded) growth, together with careful monitoring of the
growth process through RHEED analysis, researchers have been able to form
arrays of semiconductor quantum dots, ~ 200-300 Å in diameter, ~ 1011 cm-2
in density, and with a size variation of about ±7% (Leonard et al. 1993). An
example of such “self-assembled” semiconductor quantum dots is shown in
Figure 2.5. The achievement of arrays of several billions of quantum dots of

these dimensions with such a size variation is beyond the capability of
standard high resolution lithographic and pattern transfer processes.
Moreover, the controlled formation of critical surfaces and interfaces
without the intercession of ion-assisted processing that can introduce
potential defects into the materials has produced a rich source of optically
and electronically efficient quantum structures. A number of researchers
have already incorporated such self-assembled dots into laser structures
(Bimberg et al. 1998).
Chemical specificity may provide the most robust means of ensuring
control of size and placement of nanostructured building blocks, and recent
work in the synthesis of compound semiconductor quantum dots from
chemical precursors have provided even tighter distributions of size variation
(±5%) than those shown in the strain-induced self-assembled dots (Katari et
al. 1994; Murray et al. 1993). The size-dependent and energy-selective
optical absorption properties of such chemically synthesized quantum dots
are shown in Figure 2.6.
Figure 2.3. TEM images of (a) the lamellar morphology, (b) the cubic phase with Ia3d
symmetry viewed along its [111] zone axis, and (c) the hexagonal phase viewed along its
[001] zone axis of thesilica/surfactant nanostructured composites by co-assembly (McGehee
et al. 1994) (bars = 30 nm).
Figure 2.4. TEM image of unlinked cluster array of 3.7 nm Au clusters encapsulated by
dodecanethiol (Andres et al. 1998).
Figure 2.5. Array of InAs quantum dot structures grown on GaAs substrates (Mirin et al. 1996).
Figure 2.6. Variation of optical transparency with diameter of chemically synthesized CdSe
nanocrystals (Alivisatos 1996).
Natural Templates or “Scaffolds”
Biogenic systems employ natural templates or scaffolding in the

construction of nanoscaled materials, where the templates and scaffolding
can help set the proper, critical dimensions that are characteristic of the final
material. The templates can be formed “artificially,” through the use of
lithographically defined patterning and processing of the substrate material
in order to achieve selective nucleation and growth of the nanostructured
materials. However, there are also a host of “natural” templating materials
that researchers can avail themselves of. The zeolites have for a long time
been utilized as the basis of high surface area materials that enable catalysis.
Recent work has taken these natural cage structures and formed large cage
structures with varying pore sizes (Estermann et al. 1991; Ying and Sun
1997; Bu et al. 1998). When zeolite cages are “loaded” with various
materials, the controlled proximity enforced by the cage structure can result
in various magnetically active or nonlinear optical materials. More recently,
the C-based fullerenes and C-nanotubes have provided a tremendously rich
basis for nanostructure research; the impact of such materials is further
described in Chapters 4 and 5. The by now “easy” formation of such
structures and ready availability of such materials provide a rich source of
nanostructures with nearly immediate applications for electronic devices,
storage, and enhancement of structural materials. Further, these materials
can serve as the nanostructured precursors of nanostructure synthesis
approaches (such as the starting material for cluster or aerosol deposition), or
can provide an avenue for the synthesis of templates of varying sizes. Such
templates can be electronically “doped” and filled with other materials.
Recent work reported the synthesis of “nanorods” of GaN through confined
reactions in carbon nanotubes (Han et al. 1998).
OUTSTANDING ISSUES: OPPORTUNITIES AND

CHALLENGES
The broad explorations of this WTEC study have shown a great diversity
of impressive work on nanostructured materials. One could argue that many
aspects of the work on nanostructured materials have been long-established
efforts, with well-developed techniques that have been brought forth into the
manufacturing arena. How do we then explain the current excitement and
interest in nanostructured materials as a promising new endeavor? Part of
the answer lies in the recognition of common scientific issues and common
enabling technologies that link this group of researchers together. Ready
availability of ever more sophisticated characterization methods that allow
us to visualize and probe materials at the nanoscale has accelerated the pace
of activities in this field; at the same time, recognition of the common
critical issues of control over nanostructure size and placement motivates
sharing of solutions over the boundaries of conventional disciplines. Thus,
some of the most exciting findings of this study manifest the cross-
fertilization of techniques and ideas; for example, aerosol particles are being
integrated with more traditionally fabricated electronic nanostructures, with
placement achieved through the manipulation of STM tips, in order to
explore ideas of electronic device enhancement at the nanostructure level
(Junno et al. 1998). A sample structure is shown in Figure 2.7. The ordered
assembly of diblock copolymers define three-dimensional nanostructures,
and those structures are transferred into electronic (semiconductor)
substrates through high resolution pattern transfer processes (Möller 1998).
Recognizing the need for effective utilization of ideas across disciplines
brings the responsibility of establishing the educational infrastructure that
will adequately train young scientists to more fully develop the concepts and
applications of nanostructured materials in the future. Such an infrastructure
will require researchers and educators who are familiar with the properties of
a broad range of materials, including polymers, biomolecular materials,
metals, ceramics, and semiconductors. It will benefit from an informed
perspective on critical applications, and must provide access to a wide range
of synthesis and assembly techniques and characterization methods that
currently reside separately in the disciplines of physics, chemistry, electrical
engineering, biology, etc. Finally, a critical enabler for the future of this field
and for its educational infrastructure is further development of computational
tools that encompass the full range of atomistic calculations to macroscopic
materials properties. This will require a “systems approach” (Olson 1997)
that will span a variety of different computational models, addressing the
different critical length scales, starting with solutions of the Schrodinger and
Poisson equations, solving interatomic forces, and scaling all the way up to
simulations of macroscopic properties and behavior (Goddard 1998).
Increased appreciation of and access to the diverse means of nanoparticle
synthesis and assembly that have been developed within many different
disciplines, and a common development of enabling tools and technologies,
will enhance the pace of accomplishments in this new area of nanoscale
synthesis and assembly.
Figure 2.7. A sequence of 670 nm by 670 nm AFM images taken during the manipulation of
a 50 nm Au particle into the gap between two Au/Ti electrodes (Junno et al. 1998).
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Chapter 3
Dispersions and Coatings
John Mendel
Eastman Kodak
INTRODUCTION
The object of the controlled assembly of nanoparticulates is to make

materials with new properties and assemble them with practical applications.
A unique value of nanoparticulates is their extremely high particle surface
area; having many more sites for achieving property enhancements makes
them ideal for a wide variety of applications as dispersions and coatings.
Dispersive and coating applications of nanoparticles include optical, thermal,
and diffusion barriers. Significant work on nanoscale dispersions and coatings
is underway worldwide in the areas of ceramics, cosmetics, biosensors,
colorants, and abrasion-resistant polymers. Other applications include
imaging ink jet materials, electrophotography, pharmaceuticals, flavor
enhancers, pesticides, lubricants, and other proprietary applications specific
to industry. Still another application is in a new, post-silicon generation of
electronic devices that includes nanotubes and fullerenes as constituent units
of carbon nanoelectronic devices; here, dispersion takes on a more quantum
consideration in which the number of atoms in a cluster is compared to the
number of surface atoms to determine its dispersion function. Also in the
semiconductor industry, a monolayer or thin film coating of atoms or
molecules is deposited on foils, metal sheets, or glass to enhance storage
capacity and accelerate responses from the electronic component.
All these applications deal with dispersions or coatings of particles that
enhance specific features. Also, ability to manufacture smaller functional
systems enhances performance, cost, and efficiency. These considerations
power the drive towards miniaturization and precision finishing.
35
36 John Mendel
PROPERTY AMPLIFICATION
What’s particularly exciting in the study of nanoparticles, nanostructured

materials, and nanodevices is their ability to also add value to materials and
products through enhancement of specific properties, such as the following:
• Mechanical strength. Nanostructured powders have been produced by
plasma processing where the reactor vaporizes coarse metal particles
(Froes 1998, 105-6); by combustion synthesis where redox reactions take
place at elevated temperatures, followed by quenching; and by
mechanical alloying with gas atomization. When nanocrystalline
powders achieved by these means are compacted and applied as a
coating, they lend significant strength and ductility to a variety of
conventional materials such as ceramic, composites, and metal alloys.
• Superconductivity. Brus (1996) describes the nature of the
superconductivity effect in detail. It involves a deposition of
nanocrystals on substrates, leading to improved optical and electrical
properties.
• Covering power. Because nanostructuring increases the number of active
sites—there are many more atoms per grain boundary—the enhanced
surface area leads to a reduced material requirement, which in turn can
lower cost (Solomaon and Hawthorne 1983).
• Ability to incorporate high cost materials. Expensive materials such as
colorants and drugs may be effectively dispersed in small and controlled
quantities through nanostructuring (Schnur 1994).
• Environmental value. Improvements in environmental impact are
achieved by utilizing nanostructure particulates in coatings and thus
eliminating the requirement for toxic solvents. By eliminating hazardous
wastes, nanocoatings can both reduce a company’s disposal costs and
improve its environmental position.
Thus, nanostructured dispersions and coatings can significantly reduce
material costs and improve performance and functionality in a large variety
of applications. In all of the sites the WTEC panel visited in Europe, Russia,
and Japan, research groups were interested in achieving one or more of the
properties listed above.
ENABLERS
For nanoparticulate dispersions and coatings, certain enablers must be

present to achieve success: (1) effective particle preparation, (2) stabilization
of the dispersed phase, (3) scaleup and control of the process, and (4) the
existence of excellent analytical capabilities. The main methods or issues

for each are described below.
1. Particle preparation. Wet chemical methods such as liquid phase
precipitation or sol-gel methods are of high interest in particle preparation
(Friedlander 1993). In the area of hybrid methods, both spray pyrolysis and
flame hydrolysis are utilized. Numerous physical methods such as
mechanical size reduction are also often employed.
2. Stabilization of the dispersed phase. For stabilization of the
dispersed phase, it is necessary to understand how particles can be kept as
distinct entities. Either a charged stabilized system or a sterically stabilized
approach is required. A successful preparation for use as a dispersion should
be free from agglomeration in the liquid state so as to maintain particle
integrity. The dry-coated format of nanoparticles should also minimize any
presence of particle aggregation
3. Scaleup and control of the process. The scaleup and control of
nanoparticle processing is well described by Kear (1998). Here, the issue in
achieving a high rate of production of powder is the effective pyrolysis of
the gas stream containing the precursor. Issues such as scaling and
reproducibility from one run of nanoparticle material or dispersions to
another are all inherent in the concept of precision engineering or invariant
process control.
4. Analytical capabilities. Analytical capabilities are absolutely
essential for characterizing dispersions and coatings (Angstrom 1995).
Particle size determinations, assay analysis, and interfacial properties are all
important. Transmission electron microscopes, atomic force microscopy,
nuclear magnetic resonance, and scanning tunneling microscopy are just
some of the tools utilized in characterizing nanoparticle dispersions and
coatings, particularly at the very small end of the nanoscale.
APPLICATIONS
Below are some general examples of the vast array of applications of

nanoparticulate dispersions and coatings. There are a number of applications
in all of the categories below that are already in the public domain; however,
most are still highly proprietary, especially drug delivery applications.
Cosmetics. An area of nanoparticle technology that has incredible
commercial potential is the cosmetic industry (Crandall 1996, 251-267).
Here there is a great demonstrated demand, and the technology can be made
simple, since properties of color and light fastness are achieved by
component mixing in the cosmetic preparation. A survey in 1990 indicated a
worldwide gross volume of $14-18 billion for toiletries (Crandall 1996, 61),
38 John Mendel
i.e., traditional hygiene products such as powders, sprays, perfumes, and

deodorants. The large markets for sunscreens and skin rejuvenation
preparations promise additional revenues.
The diet industry is said to gross $33 billion annually (Crandall 1996,
61). One way that nanoparticle technology is addressing this market is
through introducing nanoparticulate taste enhancers into low-calorie
substrates.
Medicine/Pharmacology. In the area of medical applications, finely
dispersed pharmaceuticals offer rapid drug delivery and reduced dosages for
patients (POST 1995). Dispersions of strong and resilient biocompatible
materials suggest opportunities for artificial joints. These generally are
ceramic materials containing nanoparticulates.
Overall, much of the demand for nanoparticulate dispersions and coatings
comes from the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries; in particular, liquid
dispersion preparations will be widely used to apply topical coatings to the
human epidermis because they can be absorbed faster and more completely
than conventional coatings.
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Although MEMS
technologies will support the semiconductor industry in particular, there are
many other applications being explored, such as in medicine, ceramics, thin
films, metal alloys, and other proprietary applications. In the United States a
particular focus is applying sputtering coatings to achieve MEMS
technology in concert with these applications.
Printing. In the areas of image capture/image output addressed by ink jet
technology, nanoscience can help control the properties of the inks
themselves. The production and use of nanoengineered ink products
benefits from such complimentary technology as laser-assist delivery of the
ink jet droplet to maintain an accurate deposit of the ink on its target (POST
1996). Another application in this field is using nanoscale properties to
tailor the inks to achieve ideal absorption and drying times for desired color
properties and permanency.
Semiconductors. One form of “bottom up” technology that is receiving
considerable attention is thin films for the semiconductor industry (POST
1996). Here single atoms or molecules are deposited by physical vapor
deposition, which could be achieved through sputtering, molecular beam
epitaxy, or chemical vapor deposition. Sputtering is used on a large scale to
coat metal sheets, glass, polymer substrates and other receptive materials in
order to produce enhanced electronic properties for information storage and
processing speed.
Sensors. Chemical or physical sensors often use nanoparticles because
they provide high surface area for detecting the state of chemical reactions,
because the quality of detection signals is improved, and because earlier and
more accurate determination of leakage reduces waste. Some commercial

sensors and actuators composed of thin films are already used for
environmental vapor monitoring in reactors, for example.
Other likely applications of nanotechnology involving dispersions and
coatings include nanofabricated surface coatings for keeping windows and
surfaces clean (POST 1996). Here, the transparent nanocoating on a surface
prevents fog and dirt particles from depositing on the substrate. Commercial
products (achieved through gas phase condensation) also include aluminum
oxide/epoxy dispersions yielding 19 times more wear resistance than
conventional products.
ONGOING R&D / PREPARATION ISSUES
During the course of this study, the WTEC panelists were privileged to
hear of and to observe a wide variety of current work on nanostructured
dispersions and coatings in various laboratories around the world.
Descriptions follow of a number of research projects and the preparation
issues being addressed in the United States and in some of the foreign
laboratories that panelists visited. Table 3.1 outlines some of the
nanoparticle preparation techniques that are currently in use, many of which
will be discussed in the paragraphs that follow.
Work in the United States
Significant work on coatings of dispersions is underway in the United

States, as described in the proceedings of the 1997 WTEC workshop report,
R&D status and Trends in Nanoparticles, Nanostructured Materials, and
Nanodevices in the United States (Siegel et al. 1998). Some of the highlights
of that volume are summarized below. Similar work is ongoing in other
countries.
TABLE 3.1. Nanoparticle Preparation for Dispersions/Coatings
Liquid Chemical Physical Methods Elevated Temperature
Methods Methods
Sol-Gel * Size reduction by Aerosol
mechanical means
(low energy)
Chemical Precipitation Flame
Ag-X (Eastman Kodak) †
Colloidal Micelles * Vapor phase
condensation
* Wiltzius 1998; † Trivelli and Smith 1930.
40 John Mendel
I.A. Aksay describes a ceramic thin film structure that would mirror-
image a self-assembly process in many materials (Aksay et al. 1992). Here
silica precursors when mixed with surfactants yield polymerized templates
having structures similar to surfactant-water liquid crystals; what results are
highly controlled pores on the 10 to 100 Å scale. Controlling the pore
structure and synthesizing the building blocks are two technical challenges
facing future work in this area. However, Aksay has shown that he can grow
silicate films onto a wide variety of substrates. The layer structure of the
bound surfactant molecules is key. Atomic force microscopy can reveal
some details on the morphology of these films. The nanostructural patterns
obtained in processing ceramics that contain organic/inorganic composites
allow self-assembly to take place at lower temperatures.
Another example of thin films or coating is the work of Gell (1998, 124-
130), focused on improving both the physical and the mechanical properties
of materials. Nanostructured coating can lead to high diffusivity, improved
toughness and strength, and better thermal expansion coefficients, with
lower density, elastic modulus, and thermal conductivity. In comparisons of
nanostructures and conventional materials, use of nanostructured WC/cobalt
composites have resulted in as much as a two-fold increase in abrasion
resistance and hardness. Deposition is often accomplished by utilizing a
sputtering chamber where the nanomaterial is coated on substrates. This can
lead to such benefits as resistance to oxidation and cracks in addition to
resistance to wear and erosion.
An area that offers exciting possibilities in the area of dispersions is the
sol-gel process described by P. Wiltzius (1998, 119-121). Here, a
concentrated dispersion of colloids is chemically converted into a gel body.
Drying followed by sintering produces a ceramic or glass product. This
process can create nanoparticles, fibers, film, plates, or tubes. All processing
is at low temperatures. Lucent Technologies has developed a silica casting
process that is reproducible for making tubes of pure silica of one meter in
length for use in manufacturing optical fibers. Technical challenges include
obtaining pure starting materials, removing refractory particles that lead to
breakage in the fiber drawing process, and achieving very tight dimensional
tolerances. Colloidal dispersions of this type play a critical role in chemical
mechanical polishing. To obtain good yield and high quality, it is necessary
to achieve very tight process control.
R. Brotzman at Nanophase Technologies Corporation describes the gas
phase condensation process for synthesizing inorganic and metallic powders
(Brotzman 1998, 122-123). Such a process was invented by R. Siegel and
his colleagues at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York (Siegel et al.
1994). The process involves production of physical vapor from elemental or
reacted material followed by sudden condensation and reaction of the vapor
into small nanometer particles. The condensation process is rapid and

involves dilution to prevent the formation of hard agglomerates and
coalescence.
Nanophase Technologies has developed a production system where
forced convection flow controls the particle/gas stream and enhances particle
transport from the particle growth region so as to generate more metal vapor
(Parker et al. 1995). The convection flow helps in forming oxides and nitrides
from metal crystallites. This process produces commercial quantities of
nanosized inorganic powders that have a spherical shape with narrow size
distributions. Table 3.2 shows some properties of these particles, and Figure
3.1 shows their transparency as a function of particle size.
Nanophase Technologies Corporation has developed a coating process
that encapsulates nanoparticles with a surface treatment that ensures
individual integrity of the particles in subsequent coating steps. Applications
span their use in low dielectric media all the way to water and, if needed,
steric stabilizers.
Nanophase also has directed efforts in the electronics and industrial
catalyst areas. Friedlander (1998, 83-8) describes in good detail aerosol
reaction engineering where attention is paid to design of the process and the
importance of material properties and process conditions. Key process
parameters include time, temperature, and volume concentration. Most
commercially produced particles have polydispersity. Important full-scale
processes are flame reactors for preparing pigments and powdered materials
for optical fibers. Pyrolysis reactors have long been used to prepare carbon
blacks.
Kear and Skandan (1998, 102-4) have discussed two divergent
approaches toward fabrication of bulk materials. The first is a powder
processing route involving preparations by physical or chemical means
followed by condensation and sintering. Materials for cutting tools such as
tungsten carbide/cobalt powders were prepared in a controllable way to
about 50 nm. Liquid phase sintering completes the formation of the solid
dispersion phase. However, a gap in fabrication technology remains that of
controlling grain growth during liquid phase sintering.
A second approach to fabrication of bulk materials is spray forming.
This procedure avoids contamination and coarsening of the dispersion and
its particles when the process has a controlled atmosphere of inert gas at low
pressure. In this approach there is need to establish process/product co-
design where we understand cause-effect relationships between processing
parameters and properties of nanophase spray/deposited materials.
42 John Mendel
TABLE 3.2. Particle Properties
Particle Properties TiO2 ZnO Fe2O3

Refractive Index 2.40 2.01 3.01
Density (gm/cc) 3.95 5.61 5.30
Molecular Weight (µ) 80 81 160
Particle Sizes (see Figure 3.1 below)
Optical Density (D) = Absorbance (A) = log 10 (lo/l = ε Cl)
C = concentration
l = optical path length
ε = molar absorption coefficient/2.303
Source: R. Brotzman, Nanophase Technologies
Figure 3.1. Transparency as a function of particle size (Nanophase).
In summary, particle preparation in the United States utilizes a wide

variety of methods—both chemical and physical, at both high and low
temperatures—all having unique considerations for scale-up and process
control. Researchers in other countries are tackling many of these same
issues.
Work in Europe and Japan
Due to time constraints, the WTEC panel was able to visit only a few
labs in Europe and Japan that deal with issues associated with dispersions
and coatings. Cited below are a visit to the Institute for New Materials at
Saarbrücken in Germany and a visit to Japan’s Industrial Research Institute
of Nagoya, both of which are exploring direct applications of nanostructured

dispersions and coatings.
Drs. Rudiger Nass and Rolf Clasen at the Institute for New Materials at
Saarbrücken make specific use of the sol-gel process in which liquid starting
materials are utilized at low temperatures for nanoscale metal, ceramic,
glass, and semiconductor nanoparticles (Clasen 1990). The advantages,
besides temperature, include the isolation of high purity powders. The
institute has focused on four basic areas for spin-off and adaptation towards
commercialization:
1. New functional surfaces with nanomers. Properties such as corrosion
protection, wettability, coloration, micropatterned surfaces, porosity, and
the ability for selective absorption of molecules produce
multifunctionality.
2. New materials for optical applications. This area combines properties of
lasers and ceramics with polymers. Such features as optical filters,
transparent conducting layers, materials for optical telecommunications,
photochromic layers, and holographic image storage are under
investigation.
3. Ceramic technologies. In this area, a simple precipitation process such as
sol-gel provides for pilot-scale production of agglomerate-free powder.
4. Glass technologies. Chemical incorporation of metal colloids with
intelligent properties into glasslike structures is clearly possible.
During the WTEC team’s site visits to the Industrial Research Institute of
Nagoya, S. Kanzaki and M. Sando described methods for preparing synergy
ceramics using nanoporous silica particles that are used to fabricate thin
films with one-dimensional throughput channels (Kanzaki et al. 1994). The
channels had 10-20 nm sizes. High temperature Fe2SiO4 oxides were
prepared as both molecular sieves and particulate fibers. Japan plans to
pursue the preparation of nanoporous materials for absorbing oil and
identified particulates.
ALTERNATIVE PREPARATION METHODS
The quest for low temperature nanoparticle preparation methods has

spanned a wide range of systems. One that has been in existence for decades
but has not been put into use in other industries is the method of preparing
silver halide particles. Eastman Kodak in France, England, and the United
States has utilized solution precipitation technology with well-controlled
mixing and nucleation control to produce a wide range of grain sizes.
“Lippmann”-type grains have a size of about 50 nm. Some of the properties
of these fine-grain systems are discussed by Trivelli and Smith (1939).
44 John Mendel
There are other methods of creating nanoparticles of organic materials

such as filter dye applications in photographic films and spectral sensitizing
dyes for use in silver halide grains. Ultrafine grinding media are used to
almost sandpaper organic crystals to nanoparticle ranges of 20-80 nm
(Czekai et al. 1994). Similar technology by Bishop has been utilized in both
pharmaceutical preparations and ink jet applications with good success
(Bishop et al. 1990).
One other exciting area is in polymer science, where dendrimer
molecules, often 10 nanometers in diameter, are prepared synthetically.
These molecules have been studied in gene therapy, as aids in helping to
detect chemical or biological agents in the air, and as a means to deliver
therapeutic genes in cancer cells (Henderson 1996). The preparation of
dendritic starburst molecules is described by Salamone (1996, 1814). One
can imagine applications for coatings in which these molecules with their
highly reactive surfaces participate in either classical (sub-nanoscopic
chemistry) or novel nanoscopic conversions.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
There are some outstanding opportunities and challenges that face the
nanoscience community. For dispersions and coatings these include four
areas:
1. The foremost area of opportunity is controlling the particle
preparation process so that size is reproducible and scaleable. This requires
creation of narrow size range particles that can be prepared by processes
mentioned in the study such as vapor phase condensation, physical size
reduction, or flame and pyrolysis aerosol generators. These same processes
must respond to good reproducibility and scaling. In most studies to date,
the size of primary particles depends on material properties and the
temperature/time history. Two processes, collision and coalescence, occur
together, and the processes need to be controlled in order to favorably
influence final particle size distribution (Wu et al. 1993).
2. The second area of opportunity is process control (Henderson 1996).
In the concept of a process control methodology, the nature of chemical
processes makes it imperative to have means of effectively monitoring and
initiating change in the process variables of interest. Accordingly, those
involved with production of nanoparticles would monitor outputs, make
decisions about how to manipulate outputs in order to obtain desired
behaviors, and then implement these decisions on the process. Control
system configuration will necessarily have a feeding process from the output
such that information can be fed back to the controller. It may also have an
opportunity to base controller decision-making on information that is being

fed forward; decisions could be made before the process is affected by
incoming disturbances. Such would apply to process parameters like
temperature, flow rate, and pressure.
In many chemical setups, product quality variables must be considered,
and such measurements often take place in the laboratory. An objective
analysis is needed of any observed deviation of a process variable from its
aim, and an objective decision must be made as to what must be done to
minimize any deviation. Here process understanding leads to well behaved
reactors in manufacturing that allow for true process verification with data
feedback and analysis. This concept of process control requires the
application of statistical methodologies for product and process
improvements. Current interest in statistical process control (SPC) is due to
several factors, in particular, interest in realizing consistent high quality so as
to sustain the business and obtain greater market share. Most manufacturing
zones are moving toward inline/online sensor technologies coupled with
process software and user-friendly computer hardware for factory operators.
The benefits of process control are many. They include achieving
reduced variability and higher quality, safety enhancement, reduction of
process upsets, and in many cases, environmental improvements due to
achieving mass balance in processes with material in/product out. Poor
process design can be inherently overcome through SPC. Reduction in
sampling and inspection costs results.
3. A third area of opportunity is the process/product relationship that
leads to continuous uniformity—that is, the specification setting by product
users that must be available to relate to process control in manufacturing.
Here, nanoparticle formulation and the process used to prepare the particles
must be linked and interactive.
4. A fourth technical opportunity is to develop process models for
various dispersions and coatings that lead to shorter cycle time in
manufacturing. Table 3.3 shows a comparison of enablers and opportunities
in Europe, Japan, and the United States.
These four areas of opportunity, then, represent what lies ahead for
advancement in nanotechnology with respect to dispersions and coatings.
Achieving implementation in the industrial market will require close
attention to resolving the challenges in the four areas summarized above. In
addition, there remains a large gap between the cost of preparing
conventional materials and the cost of preparing nanoparticles. This will
remain a challenge for the future if nanomaterials are to be competitive.
46 John Mendel
TABLE 3.3. Dispersions and Coatings—Nanotechnology Comparisons

Between the United States, Europe, and Japan
LEVEL 1 (Highest) 2 3 4
Enablers
Particle U.S./Europe Japan
Preparation
Stabilization U.S./Europe Japan
Scaleup
Characterization U.S./Europe Japan
Coating U.S./Japan/
Europe
Opportunities
Process Control U.S. Japan/Europe
Process/Product U.S.
Co-Design
Modeling U.S./Japan
REFERENCES
Aksay, I.A., et al., eds. 1992. Hierarchical structured materials. MRS Proc. 255.
Angstrom Technology Partnership. 1995. Challenging the angstrom. Tokyo.
Bishop, J. et al. 1990. Surface modified drug nanoparticles. U.S. Patent application.
Docket 61894 Filed 9/17/90.
Blackman, M. 1994. An evaluation of the Link Nanotechnology Program and the National
Initiative on Nanotechnology. Cambridge.
Brotzman, R. 1998. Nanoparticle dispersions. In R&D status and trends, ed. Siegel et al.
Brus, L.E. 1996. Theoretical metastability of semiconductor crystallites in high pressure
phases with applications to beta tin structures of silicon. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118:4834-38.
Clasen, R. 1990. Int. Journal of Glass and Science Technology 63: 291.
Crandall, B.C. and J. Lewis, (eds.). 1992. Nanotechnology: Research and perspectives.
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Czekai, D., et al. 1994. Use of smaller milling media to prepare nanoparticulate dispersions.
U.S. Patent application. Docket 69802(02) Filed 2/25/94.
Friedlander, S.K. 1993. Controlled synthesis of nanosized particles by aerosol processes.
Aerosol Sci. Technol. 19:527.
Friedlander, S.K. 1998. Synthesis of nanoparticles and their agglomerates: Aerosol reactors.
In R&D status and trends, ed. Siegel et al.
Froes, F.H. 1998. Cost-affordable nanostructured materials. In R&D status and trends, ed.
Siegel et al.
Gell, M. 1998. Nanostructured coatings. In R&D status and trends, ed. Siegel et al.
Henderson, T. 1996. Spheres of influence. Corporate Detroit (September): 23.
Kanzaki, S. et al. 1994. New and developing research on advanced ceramics. Bull Ceram.
Soc. Japan. 29: 124-30.
Kear, B., and G. Skandan. 1998. Nanostructural bulk materials: Synthesis, processing,
properties and performance. In R&D status and trends, ed. Siegel et al.
Ogunnaike, B and W. Ray. 1994. Process dynamics, modeling and control. Oxford
University Press, pp 5-21; 1033-48.
Parker, J.C., et al. 1995. U.S. Patent 5,460,701.
POST (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology). 1995. Vaccines and their future
role in public health. POST Report 66. London: Parliamentary Office of Science and
Technology.
_____. 1996. Making it in miniature. London: Parliamentary Office of Science and
Technology. October.
Rosen, A. 1996. Surface Review and Letters 3(1): 683-686.
Salamone, J.C. 1996. Polymeric Materials Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, D-E. New York: CRC Press.
Schnur, J.M. 1994. J. Controlled Release 28:3.
Siegel, R.W., et al. 1994. U.S. Patents 5,128,081 and 5,320,800.
Solomaon, D.H. and D.G. Hawthorne. 1983. Chemistry of pigments and fillers. John Wiley
and Sons.
Trivelli, A., and W.F. Smith. 1939. Photog. J. 79:330,463,609. As referred to in T.H. James.
1977. The theory of the Photographic process. New York: MacMillan (p. 100).
Williams, R.S. 1998. Functional nanostructures. In R&D status and trends, ed. Siegel et al.
Wiltzius, P. 1998. Dispersions and coatings. In R&D status and trends, ed. Siegel et al.
Wu, M., et al., 1993. Controlled syntheses of nanosized particles by aerosol processes.
Aerosol Sci. Technol. 19:527.
48 John Mendel
Chapter 4
High Surface Area Materials
Donald M. Cox
Exxon Research and Engineering
INTRODUCTION
The trend to smaller and smaller structures, that is, miniaturization, is

well known in the manufacturing and microelectronics industries, as
evidenced by the rapid increase in computing power through reduction on
chips of the area and volume needed per transistor (Roher 1993). In the
materials area this same trend towards miniaturization also is occurring, but
for different reasons. Smallness in itself is not the goal. Instead, it is the
realization, or now possibly even the expectation, that new properties
intrinsic to novel structures will enable breakthroughs in a multitude of
technologically important areas (Siegel 1991; Gleiter 1989).
Of particular interest to materials scientists is the fact that nanostructures
have higher surface areas than do conventional materials. The impact of
nanostructure on the properties of high surface area materials is an area of
increasing importance to understanding, creating, and improving materials
for diverse applications. High surface areas can be attained either by
fabricating small particles or clusters where the surface-to-volume ratio of
each particle is high, or by creating materials where the void surface area
(pores) is high compared to the amount of bulk support material. Materials
such as highly dispersed supported metal catalysts and gas phase clusters fall
into the former category, and microporous (nanometer-pored) materials such
as zeolites, high surface area inorganic oxides, porous carbons, and
amorphous silicas fall into the latter category.
49
50 Donald M. Cox
There are many areas of current academic and industrial activity where
the use of the nanostructure approach to high surface area materials may
have significant impact:
• microporous materials for energy storage and separations technologies,
including nanostructured materials for highly selective
adsorption/separation processes such as H2O, H2S, or CO2 removal; high
capacity, low volume gas storage of H2 and CH4 for fuel cell applications
and high selectivity; high permeance gas separations such as O2
enrichment; and H2 separation and recovery
• thermal barrier materials for use in high temperature engines
• understanding certain atmospheric reactions
• incorporation into construction industry materials for improved strength
or for fault diagnostics
• battery or capacitor elements for new or improved operation
• biochemical and pharmaceutical separations
• product-specific catalysts for almost every petrochemical process
In catalysis the key goal is to promote reactions that have high selectivity
with high yield. It is anticipated that this goal will be more closely
approached through tailoring a catalyst particle via nanoparticle synthesis
and assembly so that it performs only specific chemical conversions,
performs these at high yield, and does so with greater energy efficiency. In
the electronics area one may anticipate manufacture of single electron
devices on a grand scale. Manufacture of materials with greatly improved
properties in one or more areas such as strength, toughness, or ductility may
become commonplace. In separations science new materials with well
defined pore sizes and high surface areas are already being fabricated and
tested in the laboratory for potential use in energy storage and separations
technologies. In addition, many laboratories around the world are actively
pursuing the potential to create novel thermal barrier materials, highly
selective sensors, and novel construction materials whose bonding and
strength depend upon the surface area and morphology of the nanoscale
constituents. Many are also engaged in developing molecular replication
technologies for rapid scaleup and manufacturing.
The nanoscale revolution in high surface area materials comes about for
several reasons. First, since the late 1970s the scientific community has
experienced enormous progress in the synthesis, characterization, and basic
theoretical and experimental understanding of materials with nanoscale
dimensions, i.e., small particles and clusters and their very high surface-to-
volume ratios. Second, the properties of such materials have opened a third
dimension to the periodic table, that is, the number of atoms, N (for a recent
example see Rosen 1998). N now becomes a critical parameter by which the
properties for “small” systems are defined. As a simple example, for metals
we have known for decades that the atomic ionization potential (IP) is
typically about twice the value of the bulk work function (Lide 1993). It is
only relatively recently that experiments have shown that the IP (and
electron affinity) for clusters containing a specific number N of (metal)
atoms varies dramatically and non-monotonically with N for clusters
containing less than 100-200 atoms. (For examples see Taylor et al. 1992;
Rademann et al. 1987; and Rohlfing et al. 1984.) Other properties such as
chemical reactivity, magnetic moment, polarizability, and geometric
structure, where they have been investigated, are also found to exhibit a
strong dependence on N. Expectations for new materials with properties
different from the atom or the bulk material have been realized (e.g., see
Jena 1996 and reports therein). The opportunity is now open to precisely
tailor new materials through atom-by-atom control of the composition
(controlling the types as well as the numbers of atoms) in order to generate
the clusters or particles of precision design for use in their own right or as
building blocks of larger-scale materials or devices—that is, nanotechnology
and fabrication at its ultimate.
Such precision engineering or tailoring of materials is the goal of much
of the effort driving nanoscale technology. Scientists and engineers typically
have approached the synthesis and fabrication of high surface area
nanostructures from one of two directions:
1. The “bottom up” approach in which the nanostructures are built up from
individual atoms or molecules. This is the basis of most “cluster science”
as well as crystal materials synthesis, usually via chemical means. Both
high surface area particles and micro- and mesoporous crystalline
materials with high void volume (pore volume) are included in this
“bottom up” approach.
2. The “top down” approach in which nanostructures are generated from
breaking up bulk materials. This is the basis for techniques such as
mechanical milling, lithography, precision engineering, and similar
techniques that are commonly used to fabricate nanoscale materials (see
Chapter 6), which in turn can be used directly or as building blocks for
macroscopic structures.
A fundamental driving force towards efforts to exploit the nanoscale or
nanostructure is based upon two concepts or realizations: (1) that the
macroscopic bulk behavior with which we are most familiar is significantly
different from quantum behavior, and (2) that materials with some aspect of
quantum behavior can now be synthesized and studied in the laboratory.
Obviously, quantum behavior becomes increasingly important as the
controlling parameter gets smaller and smaller. There are numerous
examples of quantum behavior showing up in high surface materials: the fact
introduced above that clusters are found to exhibit novel (compared to the
52 Donald M. Cox
bulk) electronic, magnetic, chemical, and structural properties; the fact that
the diffusivity of molecules through molecular sieving materials cannot be
predicted or modeled by hard sphere molecule properties or fixed wall
apertures; and the fact that catalysts with one, two, or three spatial
dimensions in the nanometer size range exhibit unique (compared to the
bulk) catalytic or chemical activity.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CLUSTERS AND

NANOCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS1
Clusters are groups of atoms or molecules that display properties

different from both the smaller atoms or molecules and the larger bulk
materials. Many techniques have been developed to produce clusters, beams
of clusters, and clusters in a bottle (see Chapter 2) for use in many different
applications including thin film manufacture for advanced electronic or
optical devices (see Chapters 3 and 5), production of nanoporous structures
as thermal barrier coatings (Chapter 3), and fabrication of thin membranes of
nanoporous materials for filtration and separation (see Chapters 3 and 7).
Figure 4.1 depicts an apparatus developed at the University of Göteborg to
measure cluster reactivity and sticking probability as a function of the
number of metal atoms in the cluster.
The unique properties of nanoparticles make them of interest. For
example, nanocrystalline materials composed of crystallites in the 1-10 nm
size range possess very high surface to volume ratios because of the fine
grain size. These materials are characterized by a very high number of low
coordination number atoms at edge and corner sites which can provide a
large number of catalytically active sites. Such materials exhibit chemical
and physical properties characteristic of neither the isolated atoms nor of the
bulk material. One of the key issues in applying such materials to industrial
problems involves discovery of techniques to stabilize these small
crystallites in the shape and size desired. This is an area of active
fundamental research, and if successful on industrially interesting scales, is
expected to lead to materials with novel properties, specific to the size or
number of atoms in the crystallite.
1
For examples see conference proceedings such as: ISSPIC 1, J. Phys. 38 (1977); ISSPIC 2,
Surf. Sci. 106 (1981); ISSPIC 3, Surf. Sci. 156, (1985); ISSPIC 4, Z. Phys. D. 12,
(1989); ISSPIC 5, Z. Phys. D, 19, (1991); ISSPIC 6, Z. Phys. D 26, (1993): ISSPIC 7,
Surf. Rev. and Lett. 3, (1996); ISSPIC 8, Z. Phys. D., (1997). For background
information, see Prigogine and Rice 1998; Averback et al. 1991; Jena et al. 1996; and
Chapter 2 of this report.
Figure 4.1. Schematic drawing of the experimental setup used in Göteborg for studies of
chemical reactivity and/or sticking probability of various molecules with the clusters. The
production of clusters is via laser vaporization of metal substrates and detection via photo-
ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (A. Rosen, University of Göteborg, Sweden).
A typical objective of nanoscale catalyst research is to produce a material

with exceedingly high selectivity at high yield in the reaction product or
product state, i.e., chemicals by design, with the option of altering the
product or product state simply by changing the surface functionality,
elemental composition, or number of atoms in the catalyst particle. For
instance, new catalysts with increasing specificity are now being fabricated
in which the stoichiometry may be altered due to size restrictions or in which
only one or two spatial dimensions are of nanometer size.
Five recent examples where nanocrystalline metallic and ceramic
materials have been successfully investigated for catalytic applications are
discussed below (Trudeau and Ying 1996).
54 Donald M. Cox
Novel Catalytic Properties of Nanostructured Gold Catalysts
In the study of transition metal catalytic reactions the group at Osaka

National Research Institute has discovered that nanoscale gold particles
display novel catalytic properties (Haruta 1997). Highly selective low
temperature catalytic activity is observed to switch on for gold particles
smaller than about 3-5 nanometers in diameter. Accompanying this turn on
in catalytic activity is the discovery that these nanoscale gold particles
(crystals) also have icosahedral structure and not the bulk fcc structure, again
a nanoscale phenomena not available with bulk samples.
In fabricating these novel catalytic materials several issues appear to be
crucial. For instance, the Osaka group has shown that (a) the preparation
method plays a crucial role for generating materials with high catalytic
activity and selectivity; that (b) the catalytic activity, selectivity and
temperature of operation is critically dependent on the choice of catalyst
support, and that (c) water (moisture) even in parts per million (ppm) levels
dramatically alters the catalytic properties. Figure 4.2 shows the effect of
moisture on the conversion profiles for CO oxidation for nanoscale gold
catalysts supported on cobalt oxide.
Examples of novel catalytic behavior of nanoscale gold particles include
the following:
• CO oxidation at temperatures as low as -70°C, as illustrated in Figure 4.2
• very high selectivity in partial oxidation reactions, such as 100%
selectivity at 50°C for oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide as well
as near room temperature reduction of nitric oxide with H2 using
alumina-supported gold nanoparticles
Figure 4.2. Effect of moisture on conversion profiles for CO oxidation over Co3O4 and
Au/Co3O4.
The fundamental work on gold catalysts has led to “odor eaters” for the
bathroom, based on nanoscale gold catalysts supported on a-Fe2O3, a recent
commercialization from Osaka National Research Institute in Japan.
Demonstration of the Importance of Controlling at Least

One Dimension in the Nanoscale Size Range for the
Industrially Important HDS Reaction 2
For catalysts based on the layered compound MoS2, maximum

hydrodesulfurization (HDS) activity is obtained only on well-crystallized
nanosized materials, while HDS selectivity is determined by the number of
layers or “stack height” of the nanocrystalline MoS2. In the
hydrodesulfurization reaction, illustrated in Figure 4.3, cyclohexylbenzene
occurs only on the MoS2 “rim sites,” or those around the edges of the stack,
whereas the pathway to biphenyl requires both “rim” and “edge” sites. Thus,
the reaction selectivity can be controlled by controlling the aspect ratio of
the nanoparticles of MoS2. Such control of one- and two-dimensional
nanostructures for selective chemical advantage is an exciting new area of
research. Of course, a major industrial challenge will be to fabricate such
nanocrystals in a commercializable form (Chianelli 1998).
Generation of Nanocrystalline, Non-Stoichiometric CeO2-X

by Controlled Post-Oxidation of Cerium Nanoclusters
Produced Via Inert Gas Condensation Synthesis 3
The cerium oxide (CeO2-x) materials have been found to possess a

significant concentration of Ce3+ and oxygen vacancies, even after high
temperature (500°C) calcination. Such nanoclusters give rise to a substantial
reduction in the temperature of selective SO2 reduction by CO and exhibit
excellent poisoning resistance against H2O and CO2 in the feed stream
compared to that for conventional high surface area cerium oxide.
Electrochemical Reduction of Metal Salts 4
Electrochemical reduction of metal salts is yet another option available to

control the size of nanoscale catalyst particles. This has been successfully
used to prepare highly dispersed metal colloids and fix the metal clusters to
the substrate. Control of the current density during the electrochemical
2
Chianelli et al. 1994
3
Tschope and Ying 1994; Tschope et al. 1995
4
Reetz et al. 1995
56 Donald M. Cox
rim
edge n layers
basal
k BP
k k H4DBT
DBT
k CHB
Figure 4.3. Hydrodesulfurization reaction. Selective catalysis is controlled by either the edge
or rim of MoS2 (Chianelli 1998).
synthesis process allows one to control the size of nanoscale transition metal
particles. A combination of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and
high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has allowed
surfactant molecules to be visualized on nanostructured palladium clusters.
Energy Storage Enhanced by Catalytic Dissociation of H2

Materials with higher hydrogen storage per unit volume and weight are
considered by many to be an enabling technology for vehicular fuel cell
applications. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratories have
developed an approach that enables materials such as Mg to be used for
hydrogen storage (Schwartz 1998). Magnesium is of interest because it can
store about 7.7 wt % hydrogen, but its adsorption/desorption kinetics are
slow, i.e., the rate of charge (hydrogen dissociation and hydride formation) is
much slower than in metal hydrides. At Los Alamos, high surface area
mixtures of nanoscale Mg and Mg2Ni particles are produced by mechanical
means, ball milling. The addition of Mg2Ni catalyzes the H2 dissociation
such that the rate of hydrogen adsorption increases to a rate comparable to

that of LaNi5. Once a hydride is formed, the hydrogen “spillover” leads to
magnesium hydride formation.
Figure 4.4 illustrates the hydrogen adsorption/desorption characteristics
of the mixture of Mg with 23 atomic % Ni. As can be seen, a low pressure
plateau at about 1500 torr is obtained for this particular sample.
Experiments show that the pressure plateau can be tailored through such
alloying. Studies with other nanoscale materials, including other catalysts
such as FeTi and LaNi5, are presently ongoing to further improve both the
capacity and the rate of hydrogen storage.
OPPORTUNITIES IN SELF-ASSEMBLY
In self-assembly large molecular structures are obtained from the
organization of a large number of molecules or atoms into a given shape,
typically through specific interactions of the molecules among themselves
and with a template. The interaction of the different bonding mechanisms is
an area of strong fundamental research interest. Only two areas will be
highlighted here: zeolites and carbon materials. Both of these materials
exhibit characteristics of self-assembly, namely novel and reproducible
structures that can be fabricated in industrially significant quantities.
10000
o
8000 Mg - 23 at.% Ni, tested at 300 C
ABSORPTION
PRESSURE (Torr)
6000 DESORPTION
4000
2000
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

grams H / grams alloy
Figure 4.4. Hydrogen absorption-desorption characteristics for mixture of Mg and Mg2Ni

prepared by mechanical alloying.
58 Donald M. Cox
Zeolitic Materials
Aluminosilicates (e.g., zeolites) are crystalline porous nanostructures
with long range crystalline order with pore sizes which can be varied from
about 4 Å to 15 Å in conventional zeolites. Figure 4.5 shows a
3-dimensional (e.g., MFI) zeolite cage structure together with a depiction of
the straight and ziz-zag channels and a 2-dimensional zeolite with channels
only in 2 directions. The vertices in the stick drawing denote position of the
O atoms in the crystalline lattice. This particular zeolite has 10 atoms in the
zeolite “window.” The size of the window is determined by the number of
oxygens in the ring. Table 4.1 gives approximate window dimensions for
zeolites as a function of the number of oxygens in the ring.
Figure 4.5. Typical zeolite structures together depicting the positions of the O atoms (vertices
in upper figure) and two different zeolitic structures one (lower left) with a three dimensional
structure and (lower right) a zeolite with a two dimensional channel structure.
TABLE 4.1. Zeolite Channel “Window” Dimension for Number of Oxygens in Ring
Number of Oxygens in Ring Ring Diameter (Å)
4 1.2
5 2.0
6 2.8
8 4.5
10 6.3
12 8.0
As can be seen by examination of Table 4.1, molecules can pass through

or be blocked from transport through or into the zeolite depending on the
zeolite. For example normal hexane with a kinetic molecular diameter of
about 5.1 Å can pass through a 10 ring or larger, whereas cyclohexane with a
kinetic molecular diameter of 6.9 Å would be hard pressed to pass through a
10 ring. Thus all other things being equal, a 10-ring zeolite could be used to
separate mixtures of normal hexane and cyclohexane. It is this property
together with the ability to chemically modify the acidity of zeolitic
materials that makes them extremely valuable as selective sorbants, as
membranes and for use in selective catalytic reactions.
In 1992, a new family of aluminosilicates (M41S) with pores sizes
between 20 and 100 Å in diameter were reported by Mobil researchers (Beck
et al. 1992; Kresge et al. 1992). One of particular interest is MCM-41,
which consists of hexagonal arrays of uniform 2 to 10 nanometer-sized
cylindrical pores. Not only can such materials be synthesized, but novel
structures such as “tubules-within-a-tubule” have been fabricated as
mesoporous molecular sieves in MCM-41 (Lin and Mou 1996). Of
particular interest is the possibility of expanding the so-called “liquid crystal
templating” mechanism (Chen et al. 1993) to non-aluminum dopants within
the silicate MCM-41 framework (Tanev et al. 1994) and to derive non-
siliceous MCM-41 type of materials (Braun et al. 1996).
Another approach to synthesizing large pore and large single crystals of
zeolytic materials is being pioneered by Geoffrey Ozin and his group at the
University of Toronto, who have demonstrated that crystals as large as 5 mm
can be synthesized (Kupperman et al. 1993). The ability to synthesize such
large crystals has important implications for discovery of new sensors
(selective chemical adsorbants) and membrane devices (selective transport
of molecular species), since large single crystals can now be available to the
laboratory researcher to carry out fundamental studies of adsorption and
diffusion properties with such materials. These materials are expected to
create new opportunities for applications in the fields of separations science,
for use directly as molecular sieves or as new molecular sieving sorbant
materials; in catalysis, as heterogeneous catalysts; and as supports for other
60 Donald M. Cox
catalytic materials as well as other novel applications (Bowes et al. 1996;

Brinker 1996; Sayari 1996). The ability to synthesize zeolitic materials of
precise pore size in the range between 4 and 100 Å continues to expand the
possibilities for research and technological innovation in the catalytic,
separations, and sorption technologies (Ruthven et al. 1994; Karger and
Ruthven 1992).
Carbon Materials
The carbon-based materials of interest from a molecular self-assembly
point of view include fullerenes and their relatives, including endohedral
fullerenes and metal-coated fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, carbon
nanoparticles, and porous carbons. Since 1990 with the discovery of
techniques to produce soluble carbon in a bottle (for examples, see
Krätschmer et al. 1990 and references therein), research on and with carbon
materials has skyrocketed (Dresselhaus et al. 1996; Dresselhaus and
Dresselhaus 1995). Not only can the molecular forms of carbon (the
fullerenes and their derivatives) be synthesized, characterized, and studied
for applications, but many other new carbon materials such as multi- and
single-walled carbon nanotubes can now be produced in macroscopic
quantities. Figure 4.6 illustrates the broad variety of carbon nanotube
structures whose properties are now being examined both theoretically and
experimentally. A rich literature on these new carbon materials now exists.
This report will only attempt to highlight a few important recent examples in
the area of high surface area materials.
Of particular interest for future catalytic applications is the recent report
that not only can C60 be coated with metal atoms, but that the metal coating
can consist of a precise number of metal atoms. For example, C60Li12 and
C60Ca32 have been identified mass spectroscopically (Martin, Malinowski, et
al. 1993; Martin, Naher, et al. 1993; Zimmerman et al. 1995). C60 has been
coated with a variety of different metals, including Li, Ca, Sr, Ba, V, Ta and
other transition metals. Interestingly, addition of more than 3 Ta atoms to
C60 breaks the C60 cage. Replacement of one carbon atom in C60 by a
transition metal atom such as Co or Ir is being studied for possible catalytic
applications. The future technological challenge will be to discover
techniques to fabricate large quantities of such materials, so that such
catalyst materials can be put in a bottle and not just in molecular beams.
Figure 4.6. Examples of carbon nanotube structures, including multiwalled and metal-atom-
filled nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes have the interesting property that they are predicted to
be either semiconducting or conducting (metallic), depending on the
chirality and diameter of the nanotube. Such materials are being studied as
conductive additives to plastics and for use in electrochemical applications
where the uniformity of the nanotube diameter and length is not overly
critical (Dresselhaus 1998). Another approach is to use the carbon nanotube
as a template for a nanotube of an inorganic oxide. Hollow nanotubes of
zirconia and yttria-stablilized zirconia have been prepared by coating treated
carbon nanotubes with a zirconium compound and then burning out the
carbon template (Rao et al. 1997). Finally, large scale production of single-
walled nanotubes has recently been demonstrated, so one may anticipate a
strong upsurge in the characterization and potential usage of single-walled
carbon nanotubes in the future (Jounet et al. 1997).
Porous carbons are of interest as molecular sieve materials, both as
sorbants and as membranes, or as nanostraws for filtration. One of the major
research objectives is to develop materials or structures with exceedingly
high storage capacity per unit volume and weight for gases such as H2 or
CH4. H2 or CH4 could become an economic source of combustion fuel or a
62 Donald M. Cox
means to power fuel cells for ultralow-emission vehicles or for electric

power generation. Microporous hollow carbon fibers have exhibited high
permeance and high selectivity as hydrogen selective membranes, and
development is now underway to scale up these membranes to commercial
levels (Soffer et al. 1987; Jones and Koros 1994; Rao and Sircar 1993).
Carbon fiber materials produced via catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbon
vapors have also recently been reported to exhibit exceptionally high
hydrogen adsorption capacity (Baker 1998). More mundane uses of
nanotubes are as nanometer reinforcing rods in polymers or even in concrete.
Incorporation of conducting carbon nanotubes in construction materials such
as concrete or structural plastics opens opportunities for real time monitoring
of material integrity and quality.
Microporous and Dense Ultrathin Films

Research and development of microporous thin films for use as
molecular sieving membranes using inorganic crystalline materials such as
zeolites or porous silica is another area of active research around the world.
For molecular sieving membranes, one critical challenge rests on
discovering ways to create large scale, thin, nearly defect-free membranes.
One recent example is the fabrication of mesoporous conducting thin films
grown from liquid crystal mixtures (Attard et al. 1997). Transmission
electron microscopy (TEM) reveals an ordered array of 2.5 nm diameter
cylindrical holes in a 300 nm thick Pt film. The hole diameter can be varied
either by changing the chain length of the surfactant molecule or by adding
an alkane to the plating solution. It is interesting that this technique
produces a continuous thin film with nanoscale porosity in an electrically
conducting material.
Dense ultrathin films such as single monolayer films would be of
significant importance in the semiconductor industry (see Chapter 3). Thin
films of specialized coatings for corrosion, thermal, and/or chemical stability
should be valuable for the chemical and aerospace industries. Novel
chemical sensors may be anticipated through use of ultrathin films composed
of specialized clusters. Typical techniques for production of thin films are
physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, and Langmuir-
Blodgett processes.
OPPORTUNITIES IN CHARACTERIZATION AND

MANIPULATION AT THE NANOSCALE
Over the last two decades, the development and improvement of new
techniques to fabricate and characterize nanoscale materials have fueled
much of the enormous growth in nanoscale science and technology, not only
by making nanoscale materials relatively easily available for scientific study
and characterization, but also in some instances, opening the door for large
scale industrial use. For example, atomic force microscopy and scanning
tunneling microscopy are two techniques that have become major
workhorses for characterization of nanoscale materials. The strong upsurge
in interest and funding in nanoscale materials must to some (large) degree be
credited to the recent development of these two techniques. Combining X-
ray structure, high resolution TEM and low energy, high resolution scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), researchers now have the means to physically
characterize even the smallest structures in ways impossible just a few years
ago. Not only can a nanostructure be precisely examined, but its electronic
character can also be mapped out.
Using the scanning probe devices, scientists can both image individual
atoms and molecules and also manipulate and arrange them one at a time.
This atomic manipulation to build structures is just in its infancy, but it does
allow one to imagine a route to the ultimate goal of atomically tailored
materials, built up atom-by-atom by a robotic synthesizer. The “abacus” of
C60 molecules produced at the IBM laboratories in 1997 is an excellent
example of possibilities that may lie ahead for manipulation at the atomic
scale. The Atom Technology project in Japan is now in its second five-year
program to push the frontiers of atom manipulation closer to the commercial
sector (see NAIR site report in Appendix D).
Of all fundamental properties controlling the stability of atoms, clusters,
and particles on a surface or support, knowledge of the adsorption and
adhesive energies of the metal atom or particle on the solid metal or oxide
surface is critical to fundamental understanding of the stability of high
surface area materials for materials applications that include oxide-supported
metal catalysts, bimetallic catalysts, and metal-ceramic interfaces used in
microelectronics. Knowledge of such parameters allows researchers to
predict the relative strengths of the metal-metal and metal atom-support
interaction energies, and to infer relative stabilities as a function of the
composition and size of the metal cluster. Recently it has become possible
to experimentally measure the metal atom-surface bond strength on a per-
atom basis using adsorption micro-calorimetry on ultrathin single crystal
metal or metal oxide surfaces (Stuckless et al. 1997). The direct calorimetric
measurement of metal adsorption energies developed at the University of
Washington is based in part on earlier work first developed by D.A. King
and colleagues at Cambridge University (Yeo et al. 1995). A technique such
as this capable of probing interactions on an atom-by-atom or molecule-by-
molecule basis can be thought of as another “atomic probe” that can be
expected to substantially advance our database and understanding at the
ultimate nanoscale for materials, that is, single atom binding energies to
surfaces.
64 Donald M. Cox
Similarly, new techniques are being developed to allow chemical and

catalytic reactions to be followed in situ in real time. As an example, an
infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic technique is being
developed at the Max Planck Institute in Mülheim (see the MPI Mülheim
site report in Appendix B) to monitor kinetics of CO adsorption on 1-3 nm
diameter metal colloid particles (typically Pt, Rh, or Pd) in liquids and to
follow in real time the way CO organizes itself on the particles while in
liquid suspension. Such techniques will allow one to begin to understand the
metal particle properties in solution and thus infer what might occur in real
reaction mixtures. Extension of such techniques to real catalytic reactions in
solution for catalyst particles of various sizes and composition is likely in the
not too distant future.
SUMMARY
The areas where nanoscale high surface area materials may have the
greatest future impact are difficult to predict, but some signs point to the
possibility of substantial advancement in the areas of adsorption/separations,
particularly in gas sorption and separations and in novel chemical catalysis
using nanoscale catalyst particles.
At least two major challenges must be faced before utilization and
generation of high surface area nanoscale materials becomes a commonplace
reality. First is critical dimensional control of the nanoscale structure over
long times and varying conditions. In nanoscale catalyst materials the
critical chemical selectivity is likely to be intimately associated with the
local environment around what is termed the “active” site. This suggests
that the size, type, and geometry of the atoms making up the active site will
play a critical role in defining the conditions under which this active site will
be able to carry out its designed function. Ability to fabricate materials with
“exactly” the same structure and composition at each active site has been and
will continue to be a major challenge to materials and catalytic scientists.
A second challenge involves thermal and chemical stability control of the
fabricated nanostructure. It is generally accepted that the smaller the
nanostructure (active site) the more likely it is that the structure may move,
aggregate, be poisoned, decompose, or change its shape, composition or
morphology upon exposure to thermal and/or chemical cycling. Identifying
windows of stable operation in which the specific structure or material will
be able to retain the desired (and designed) behavior is critical for
commercial applications. On the other hand, the driving force is the fact that
nanostructured materials typically exhibit unique properties that are expected
to open windows of opportunity previously inaccessible with existing
materials.
It is important to recognize that nanoscale science and technology is not a

“stand alone” field of endeavor, but rather is more of a “generic” area that is
expected to have a critical impact and overlap in many areas of science and
technology. The breadth of issues covered in this report can be taken as
proof of this principle. The fields that fall under the “nanoscale” umbrella
are many and diverse, illustrating that nanoscale science and technology is a
collection of many different disciplines and areas of expertise. Such science
and technology offers both an opportunity and a challenge to the scientific
and technological community. Researchers in some areas of science
included under the broad umbrella of nanoscale science and technology in
this report do not normally consider (or in some cases, want) their scientific
efforts to be labeled as “nanoscale.” For this chapter, nanoscale science and
technology broadly encompasses the science and technology that falls
between that involving individual atoms or molecules at the one extreme and
that involving “bulk” materials at the other extreme.
In summary, it is important to recognize that the use of nanostructuring
or nanostructures to generate, fabricate or assemble high surface area
materials is at an embryonic stage. The effect of the nanostructure and our
ability to measure it will be increasingly important for future progress and
development of materials for the marketplace. That said, it is apparent that
so-called “mature” technologies such as catalysis, coatings, separations, etc.,
are already being impacted. Thus, one may eagerly anticipate exciting new
advances in many diverse technological areas growing from our increasing
understanding of nanostructuring and nanostructured materials.
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Chapter 5
Functional Nanoscale Devices
Herb Goronkin, Paul von Allmen, Raymond K. Tsui, and Theodore X. Zhu
Motorola
INTRODUCTION
The recent emergence of fabrication tools and techniques capable of
constructing structures with dimensions ranging from 0.1 to 50 nm (see
Fig. 5.1) has opened up numerous possibilities for investigating new devices
in a size domain heretofore inaccessible to experimental researchers. The
WTEC nanotechnology panel reviewed research in the United States, Japan,
Taiwan, and Europe to find that there is considerable nanoscience and
technology activity in university, industrial, and government laboratories
around the world. The insight gained from this survey suggests areas of
strength and areas of possible improvement in the field.
There is intense study around the world to determine the exact point in
dimensional scaling where it becomes either physically unfeasible or
financially impractical to continue the trend towards reducing the size while
increasing the complexity of silicon chips. In some of the same laboratories
where research activities on Si are decreasing, research activities on single-
electron devices (SEDs) are increasing. Although there are myriad questions
involving electrical contacts, interconnections, reliability, and the like, one
of the fundamental issues in the miniaturization/complexity debate concerns
the Si MOSFET itself when the gate length is reduced to less than 50 nm.
Does it behave like a long gate device or does the output conductance
increase to impractical levels due to short-channel effects? Based on the
WTEC panel’s survey, most of the activities examining these questions are
taking place in Japanese industrial laboratories.
67
68 Herb Goronkin, Paul von Allmen, Raymond K. Tsui, and Theodore X. Zhu
Nanoscale Microscale
SETs
GMR layers
field emitters
quantum dots
nanotubes
in lasers
atoms transistors
molecules
0.1 1.0 10 100 1000 10,000

Nanometers
Figure 5.1. Functional device scales.
While the signature current-voltage (I-V) characteristics provide a

common basis for comparison of device performance, there are significant
variations in the fabrication methods and device structures being considered
by the different labs in the countries the panel surveyed that have significant
SED activity. The range of research in the surveyed laboratories spans
electrical measurements from millikelvin to room temperature and from
discrete electronic elements to integrated single-electron transistors (SETs).
Materials that are used to form the active single-electron element range from
charge clusters that are shaped by electric fields in a two-dimensional
electron gas to metallic colloids to single oligomers. Progress in the field is
hindered by architectures based on conventional circuit approaches that fail
to take sufficient advantage of the unique properties of single-charge
electronics to achieve significant impact in future high density applications.
Most research in SED technology is fundamental and is distributed among
universities funded by government agencies. A smaller body of application-
directed research exists in industrial laboratories; these are mostly in Japan.
The field of magnetics has experienced increasing attention since giant
magnetoresistance (GMR) in multilayered structures was discovered in
1988. In these structures ferromagnetic layers are quantum mechanically
coupled across a 1-3 nm nonmagnetic metallic layer. GMR structures are
under intense study for applications in hard disk heads, random access
memory (RAM), and sensors. Several laboratories are investigating the
physics of the transition of these layers, which are quantum mechanically
confined in one dimension, to layered filaments in which there are one- and
two-dimensional confinements. There are numerous experimental process
approaches under consideration in fabricating GMR structures, including the
following:
• magnetron or ion beam sputter deposition

• epitaxy for layered structures
• rubber stamping of nanoscale wire-like patterns
• electroplating into nanoscale pores in polymer membranes
In RAM applications, a high ratio of magnetoresistance combined with a
small coercive switching field is key to density, speed, and low power.
These features are also achieved in magnetic tunnel junctions in which the
ferromagnetic layers are quantum mechanically coupled through a thin
dielectric layer. Although research in nanoscale magnetics is underway
internationally, most of the activities on the practical applications mentioned
above are in the United States.
Optical devices have already benefited from incorporation of
nanostructured materials: commercially available semiconductor lasers
incorporate active regions comprised of quantum wells, the presence of
which modifies the electronic density of states and the localization of
electrons and holes, resulting in more efficient laser operation.
Extrapolating from those results, even greater improvements are predicted
for lasers utilizing either quantum wire or quantum dot active layers. Recent
advances in the “self-assembled” formation of quantum dot structures have
stimulated progress in the fabrication and characterization of quantum dot
lasers in Japan, Europe, and the United States.
In late 1991, the first synthesis and characterization of carbon nanotubes
were reported. The novel material contained a wide variety of multiwalled
nanotubes (MWNT) containing 2 to 50 concentric cylindrical graphene
sheets with a diameter of a few nm and a length of up to 1 µm. The material
was produced at the negative electrode of an arc discharge and appeared to
be mixed with a large amount of other forms of carbon. This initial work led
many groups throughout the world to produce and purify nanotubes. The
theoretical study of their electronic structure followed in the next year. Soon
it became clear that nanotubes have unique electronic and mechanical
properties that are expected to lead to ground-breaking industrial
applications. Some of the progress made in this respect over recent years is
summarized later in this chapter.
SINGLE-CHARGE ELECTRONICS
Even though the study of single-electron charging effects with granular
metallic systems dates back to the 1950s, it was the research of Likharev and
coworkers almost 10 years ago that laid much of the groundwork for
understanding single-charge transport in nanoscale tunnel junctions
(Likharev 1988; Averin and Likharev 1991, Chap. 6). The concept was
developed of a Coulomb gap that can be exploited to control the transfer of
single charges. Since then, many research groups have made use of the
Coulomb blockade effect to develop SED technology. Figures 5.2 through
5.11 show some of the myriad approaches to developing SEDs and
representative laboratories pursuing the various SED concepts. Some of the
more recent results are discussed below.
The group at Hitachi Europe uses a side-gated constriction in a delta-
doped GaAs structure to fabricate a magnetic tunnel junction device in
which a series of small islands separated by tunnel barriers are formed
(Nakazato et al. 1992) (see, for example, Fig. 5.2). At ~ 2 K, the Coulomb
gap voltage oscillates as a function of the side-gate voltage. Using the MTJ
device as a building block, both memory and logic (inverter, NOR) functions
have been demonstrated (Nakazato 1996, 65). The fabrication procedure
makes use of standard semiconductor processing techniques and does not
rely on lithography to define the nanoscale islands, since these are created by
disorder in the delta-doped layer.
Other groups have utilized fine-line lithography to fabricate SEDs. At
IBM, a flash memory SED was demonstrated by fabricating a sub-50 nm Si
quantum dot (QD) on top of a MOSFET channel using a silicon-on-insulator
(SOI) substrate, with the QD acting as a floating gate (Wesler et al. 1997).
Single-electron charging was observed up to 90 K, while large threshold
voltage shifts of up to 0.75 V were measured at 290 K. The University of
Minnesota and Fujitsu have also reported similar structures (Guo et al. 1977;
Nakajima et al. 1997). To overcome the lithography limitation on the QD
size, the Toshiba group used a Si edge quantum wire approach (Ohata and
Toriumi 1996). An inversion layer was formed at the 15 nm high Si sidewall
of a SOI structure by growing a gate oxide and depositing a poly-Si gate
there. Conductance oscillations were clearly seen at 4.2 K in this edge-
channel MOSFET (Fig. 5.3). More recently, the Toshiba group has reverted
back to a more planar device configuration, with a 50 nm wide Si quantum
wire defined by e-beam lithography and oxidation of the surrounding SiO2
(Koga et al. 1997, 79).
One method to form semiconductor QDs without depending on fine-line
lithography is to make use of the self-organizing nature inherent in the
Stranski-Krastanow thin film growth mode. In the initial stages of the
heteroepitaxial growth of lattice-mismatched materials, strain-induced
coherent relaxation occurs and dislocation-free islands are formed that are in
the tens of nanometers range in size. There has been considerable research
in these self-organized quantum dots (SOQDs) in the past few years, though
much of the work has been of a fundamental nature (see, for example,
Petroff and Demmester 1995; Nötzel 1996). More recently, the University
of Tokyo has proposed the embedding of InAs SOQDs in AlGaAs/GaAs
heterojunction field effect transistors (HFETs) to form a flash-memory SED
(Sakaki et al. 1995).
side gate
Figure 5.2. Metal colloids, self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coatings, polysilicon, quantum
dots embedded in SiO2 (Hitachi, IBM, RIKEN, NTT, ETL, University of Lund).
Figure 5.3. Sidewall extensions of MOSFET gate (Toshiba).
TiO2
back gate
Figure 5.4. Oxidation of metal or semiconductor with scanning tunneling microscope (STM)
tip (ETL).
Figure 5.5. STM probe oxidation of metal on vicinal substrate steps (ETL).
Surface
Depletion
Layer
Figure 5.6. Double barrier tunnel diode structure (Max-Planck-Institut, Stuttgart; NTT).
Gate
Figure 5.7. Gated double barrier tunnel diode structure (Max-Planck-Institut, Stuttgart; NTT;
Purdue University).
Figure 5.8. Depletion layer control of 2DEG area (Hitachi, University of Glasgow,
University of Tokyo).
This concept was further demonstrated by the Sony group, which

reported observing threshold voltage shifts at 300 K (Taira et al. 1997, 53).
Fujitsu has also proposed the use of InGaAs QDs in a similar manner
(Futatsugi et al. 1997, 46). The one difference in this case is that the QDs are
formed at the bottom of tetrahedral-shaped recesses formed by substrate
patterning. Since SOQDs form in a somewhat random manner on a planar
surface, this approach provides positioning control.
2DEG
Figure 5.9. Tetrahedral shaped recess, TSR (Fujitsu).
Al2O3
Figure 5.10. Double barrier metallic SET patterned by e-beam (NEC).
Of course, QDs can be formed with materials other than semiconductors.

In fact, some of the earliest work in single-electron charging was done with
metallic tunnel junctions. With modern fabrication tools and techniques,
some groups have investigated the formation of nanoscale Au particles
between metallic contacts. The University of Cambridge group used focused
ion beam deposition to place Au dots between electrodes spaced 30 - 40 nm
apart (Woodham and Ahmed 1997, 73). At Lund University in Sweden,
atomic force microscopy (AFM) is utilized to move a 50 nm Au particle in
between contacts formed by e-beam lithography (Carlsson et al. 1997, 128).
Researchers observed conductance plateaus stable for several minutes at
300 K. The group at Cambridge University/Hitachi Europe used a colloidal
process to form a chain of insulated Au particles between source, drain, and
gate electrodes (Tsukagoshi et al. 1997, 67). At 4.2 K, the chain exhibited a
Coulomb staircase and periodic conduction oscillations in I-V measurements.
For a very different approach, a molecular embodiment of a QD-based
system can be realized by connecting a single molecule between metallic
contacts. At Yale University a single molecule of benzene-1,4-dithiol was
self-assembled from solution onto two electrodes of a mechanically
controllable break junction (Fig. 5.11, left) (Reed et al. 1997). The spacing
between the electrodes is ~ 0.8 nm, and I-V measurements at room
temperature showed a gap ~ 0.7 V wide, which is attributed to a Coulomb
gap. The Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands is also working
on transport through oligomers (Fig. 5.11, right).
Benzene-1,4 dithiol
Oligomer
“Break-junction”
Figure 5.11. A single molecule connecting metallic contacts (Yale University, University of
South Carolina, Delft University, Karlsruhe University).
Concerning the architecture in which SEDs are utilized, a number of

approaches have been proposed. One of the more novel ideas is that of
quantum cellular automata (QCA), based on some earlier work at Texas
Instruments and developed at the University of Notre Dame (Lent et al.
1993; Tougaw and Lent 1994). The basic QCA cell is made up of a group of
capacitively coupled QDs. Each cell holds two electrons, resulting in two
polarization configurations that can represent the logic “0” and “1” states,
and each cell interacts via Coulombic forces with neighboring cells. An
array of cells can then be used to transmit binary information, which
eliminates the need for physical interconnects between devices and repre-
sents a paradigm shift for ultralarge-scale integration (ULSI). Basic Boolean
operations (AND, OR, etc.) can be implemented using QCA, and more
complex functions have been simulated. Most recently, the Notre Dame
group has demonstrated a nonlinear, bistable response of a QCA cell, albeit
at a very low temperature of less than 20 mK (Snider et al. 1997, 233).
The QCA approach is not without its challenges (and critics). Circuit
fabrication will be difficult because stringent control in QD positioning is
required. Others have pointed out that bistability is only a necessary but not
sufficient condition for the operation of Boolean logic circuits, because
isolation is needed between the input and output, while background charge
fluctuations will hamper logic implementation (Roychowdhury et al. 1966;
Barker et al. 1997, 233). Thus, there is also considerable research in the use
of SEDs with more conventional architectures. The group at Hitachi Europe
uses its MTJ devices in binary decision diagram logic that is commonly used
in large-scale integrated (LSI) circuits (Tsukagoshi et al. 1997, 67). The
Toshiba group is combining its SED with a MOSFET to compensate for the
lack of gain in the former, as are, presumably, other groups working on QD-
based flash memory SEDs (Koga et al. 1997, 79). Tables 5.1 and 5.2
summarize some of these approaches.
TABLE 5.1. SET Architectures

Flash Digital Logic Cellular Automata Neural Networks
Memory
Hitachi Hitachi (binary Notre Dame Delft U. Technology
decision diagram Hitachi
logic)
IBM Hokkaido
University
Toshiba
TABLE 5.2. Quantum Dot Flash Memory

Hitachi Minnesota Fujitsu IBM Sony
Material Poly-Si SOI SOI SOI GaAs
QD Poly-Si Poly-Si Poly-Si Poly-Si InAs
Material
QD Fab E-beam / E-beam / E-beam / etch E-beam / etch Epitaxial
Method etch etch self-assembly
QD Size 10 7x7x2h 30 x 20 x 25 h 30 x 20 x 8 h 25 x 4 h
(nm) (estim.)
2Vth (V) 0.5 - 1.0 0.055 0.1 0.75 0.45
Write/ 15 V / >4V 4V 3V >1V
Erase 10 V
Retention 1 - 24 h 10 sec. > 1 wk 10 sec.
Circuits 128 Mb
LSI
In summary, while significant progress has been made in nanofabrication

techniques, the field of single-charge electronics is still limited in scope by
the lack of a suitable architecture that fully utilizes the unique aspects of
single-electron charging. Current approaches require many SED elements to
achieve conventional functions such as adders, exclusive NORs, etc.
Simulations of such circuits predict slow operating speed. The field seems
to be stuck on applying conventional electronics to SEDs. Either a new
architecture will be discovered or SEDs may find a niche home in those
applications where measurements of single charges are needed.
For the fabrication of nanoscale electronic devices, the self-organizing
technique appears to be the most promising. The field of self-organized
semiconductor QDs is quite active, but aside from optical emitters, very few
practical electronic functions have been proposed. Of those, the single-
electron flash memory is attracting attention, but there has been no serious
proposal as to how the device could operate under normal integrated circuit
performance conditions and reliability specifications. Using the SED as a
floating gate to a MOSFET has the same kinds of problems as applying
conventional approaches to SED architectures; until someone comes up with
a better idea, the future of these approaches remains to be determined.
NANOMAGNETICS
The discovery in 1988 of GMR in structures of alternating magnetic and
nonmagnetic thin layers (Baibich et al. 1988) was the accumulation of
several decades of intensive research in thin film magnetism (Shinjo and
Takada 1987) and improvements in epitaxial growth techniques developed
mainly in semiconductor materials. Not surprisingly, the first GMR
structure was fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy (Baibich et al. 1988).
The high quality magnetic and nonmagnetic metallic films provide electrons
with a mean free path exceeding 100 Å; on the other hand, the epitaxial
growth allows for each constituent layer of the structure to be as thin as a
few atomic layers. The greatly enhanced spin-dependent scattering in these
multilayered structures provides magnetoresistance changes as high as 50%.
Table 5.3 shows some of the institutions involved in GMR research and
development, based on various publications, patents, and WTEC visits.
Two subsequent major developments from IBM enabled the application
of GMR materials to hard disk heads, RAM, and sensors. The first
development was the demonstration of equally good or better GMR
materials using high throughput and production-worthy magnetron
sputtering systems (Parkin et al. 1990). The other development was the
invention of magnetically soft spin-valve structures, which allow low field
and low power operation (Dieny et al. 1991a; Dieny et al. 1991b).
TABLE 5.3. Giant Magnetoresistance Activities
Memory: MRAM HD Heads Structures / Physics / Materials

• Fujitsu • IMEC
• Hitachi • L’Ecole Polytechnique
• Honeywell Lausanne
• IBM • IBM Zurich
• Motorola • Tohoku University
• Matsushita • Nagoya University
• Mitsubishi • NIST
• Philips • UC Santa Barbara
• Samsung • UC San Diego
• Toshiba • Carnegie Mellon
• Seagate • Princeton
• Siemens
• Sony *Based on publications, patents or visits
Industrial R&D efforts on GMR materials initially focused on high

density read heads. The major U.S. players are IBM, Seagate, Quantum,
ReadRite, and Applied Magnetics. In Japan, all the semiconductor
companies are involved, in addition to strong magnetic media powerhouses
such as TDK and Yamaha. Korea’s Samsung is also actively involved in the
GMR race. In Europe, Thomson CSF, Philips, and Siemens seem to have
fallen behind. All in all, IBM is in a commanding position to reap the
benefits of the GMR phenomenon. In November 1997, it announced the
volume production of the first generation of GMR read heads.
In 1995, a different class of high magnetoresistive materials was
discovered in which the nonmagnetic layer separating the two ferromagnetic
layers is made with an ultrathin insulating material, such as an aluminum
oxide layer < 20 Å thick (Miyazaki and Tezuka 1995; Moodera et al. 1995).
With the switching of magnetization of the two magnetic layers between
parallel and antiparallel states, the differences in the tunneling coefficient of
the junction and thus the magnetoresistance ratio have been demonstrated to
be more than 25%. A distinctive feature of this MTJ class of materials is its
high impedance (> 100 kΩ-µm2), which allows for large signal outputs.
The gradual improvement of GMR and MTJ materials have made them
attractive for nonvolatile magnetic random access memory (MRAM)
applications. The potential to make MRAM a high density, high speed, and
low power, general purpose memory prompted the Defense Advanced
Reseat Projects Agency to fund three MRAM consortia beginning in 1995,
led by IBM, Motorola, and Honeywell, respectively. Other companies
engaged in MRAM research are Hewlett-Packard, Matsushita, NEC, Fujitsu,
Toshiba, Hitachi, and Siemens.
The key for a competitive MRAM technology is the fabrication of deep

submicron-dimension magnetic cells. The further development of
lithography tools utilizing e-beam and deep ultraviolet radiation is essential.
Magnetic storage elements as small as 0.25 µm have been demonstrated by
both Motorola and IBM (Tehrani et al. 1996; Chen et al. 1997; Gallagher et
al. 1997). Among the steps of MRAM fabrication that are not yet
compatible with semiconductor processing is the ion milling of the magnetic
cells. The possibility of dry etching the magnetic materials has,
nevertheless, been demonstrated (Jung et al. 1997). Figures 5.12 through
5.15 summarize the major directions in memory R&D. Arrows denote
ferromagnetic layers.
Fe - 1.5 nm
Figure 5.12. Granular GMR—Co, Fe (Nagoya University, Tohoku University, CNRS-

Thomson, UCSB, UCSD).
Conductor
Figure 5.13. Current in plane (Matsushita, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Hitachi, Thomson,
Philips, Siemens, IBM, Univ. Regensburg, IMEC, Nagoya University, Tohoku University,
NIST).
Insulator
Figure 5.14. Magnetic tunnel junction (IBM, MIT, HP, Tohoku University).
Figure 5.15. Ferromagnetic/metal/ferromagnetic: 3 - 60 periods free-standing (NRL, CNRS-

Thomson, Philips, Michigan State, Lawrence Livermore Labs); plated into pores (L’École
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Johns Hopkins University, Université Catholique Louven).
The ability to fabricate submicron magnetic elements has opened a very

rich and fascinating area of micromagnetics research. Characterization
techniques having nanoscale resolution have been utilized and improved to
measure and image the complex magnetization patterns in order to
understand the magnetization switching characteristics. Examples of such
techniques include the following:
• superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry
(Zhu et al. 1997)
• magnetic force microscopy (MFM) (Ohkubo et al. 1991)
• scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis (SEMPA)
(Scheinfein et al. 1990)
• magnetic near-field microscopy (Betzig and Trautmann 1992)
• electron holography (Mankos et al. 1995)
Another essential tool is micromagnetics modeling, which is used to
predict complex magnetic domain configurations in patterned magnetic
elements and to generate transient pictures that demonstrate the process of
forming complex domain configurations (Zheng and Zhu 1997).
By combining MFM, SQUID magnetometry, SEMPA, and
micromagnetics modeling, researchers at Motorola have conducted a
systematic study of the switching characteristics of single-layer and
multilayer submicron magnetic structures. Three different phases of the
magnetization phase diagram have been identified with regards to material
composition, dimension, shape, thickness, and other structural parameters:
(1) the quasi-single domain phase can be well described by the coherent
rotation model (Sakaki et al. 1995); (2) the end-domain phase is dominated
by the nonuniform regions of magnetization at the two ends of the element—
the magnetization switching process can either be rotational or through
domain wall nucleation and propagation (Shi et al. 1998); and (3) the trapped
magnetization vortice (TMV) phase, which is characterized by the presence
of magnetization vortices. Nucleation from TMV sites requires lower

reversal fields than coherent rotation, but a high field is needed to drive out
TMVs in the element. When the driving field is not high enough, TMVs can
cause unusually large fluctuations in the switching field (Shi et al. n.d.).
As the size of magnetic elements scales below 20 nm, a
superparamagnetic phase emerges in which the room temperature thermal
energy overcomes the magnetostatic energy well of the element, resulting in
zero hysteresis (Hylton 1993). In other words, although the element itself is
a single-domain ferromagnet, the ability of an individual magnetic “dot” to
store magnetization orientation information is lost when its dimension is
below a threshold. On the other hand, suitably prepared alloys of immiscible
ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic metals that contain single-domain
ferromagnetic grains in a nonmagnetic matrix have been shown to exhibit
GMR characteristics. The moments of the magnetic grains are aligned at
high fields and random at the coercive field, leading to GMR characteristics.
In such “granular” metals, GMR has been reported for sputtered alloy films
of CoCu (Berkowitz et al. 1992; Xiao et al. 1992), FeCu (Xiao et al. 1992),
NiFe/Ag (Jiang et al. 1992), and CoAg (Carey et al. 1992; Tsoukatos et al.
1992). GMR values as high as 55% at 4.2 K and 20% at room temperature
have been observed. The granular films require magnetic fields of the order
of 10 kOe to achieve such a change in electrical resistance.
A very exciting consequence of ultrascaled magnetic particles is quantum
tunneling of the magnetization direction of a collection of spins. There is no
simple Schrödinger equation that describes this process, since it is not an
elementary particle that is tunneling but a collective coordinate. Below its
“blocking temperature,” at which thermally assisted hopping between
magnetic orientations becomes frozen out, magnetic particles of TbCeFe at
sizes around 15 nm have been observed to behave independent of
temperature and with no freeze-out magnetic relaxation (Barbara et al.
1993). Because of the coherent tunneling of the magnetization orientation
between the symmetric double-well potential, a resonance line in the
magnetic susceptibility and noise spectra has been observed at temperatures
below 200 mK in zero applied magnetic field (Awschalom et al. 1992). This
work has stimulated a number of theoretical investigations into the effects of
dissipation and the feasibility of producing quantum effects in larger
magnetic structures (Prokofev and Stamp 1993; Gaarg 1994; Braun and Loss
1994).
Another interesting type of nanomagnetic structure is nanometer
ferromagnetic wires fabricated using conventional nanolithography
(Adeyeye et al. 1997; Chou 1997), nanoimprint lithography (Chou et al.
1995), AFM/MFM direct writing (Kong et al. 1997), groove deposition
(Hong and Giordano 1995), and electrodeposition into pores of template
polymer membranes (Piraux et al. 1994; Blondel et al. 1994). Such
nanowires of either single layer or multilayers may provide new approaches
to very small magnetoresistive sensors, ultrahigh-density hard disks (Chou et

al. 1994), and other extensions of conventional applications. Another
intriguing possibility is the suggestion to use heterostructure nanowires to
investigate single electron tunneling (Cavicchi and Silsbee 1984; Kumzerov
and Poborchii 1994).
Recently, molecular magnetism has received much attention with the
development of a variety of synthesis techniques largely adapted from
biology and chemistry (Kahn 1993). Natural and artificial ferritin proteins
are examples of systems obtained using these methods (Gatteschi et al.
1994). The ability to add one magnetic ion at a time has resulted in
nanoscale magnets precisely defined by atomic weight. Ferritin consists of a
segmented protein shell in the shape of a hollow sphere, with an outer
diameter of 12.5 nm and an inner diameter of 7.5 nm. In vivo, the inner
space is normally filled with a crystal of an iron oxide that is
antiferromagnetic below 240 K. The empty protein shells can also serve as
vessels for the synthesis of ferrimagnetic magnetite and maghemite. Thus,
there exists a system in which its size as well as the nature of its magnetic
interactions can be varied.
Another example of molecular magnetism is a cobalt-iron-cyanide-based
Prussian blue analog (Sato et al. 1996a). In the ground state the Fe+2 and
Co+3 ions are low-spin and diamagnetic, and there is no interaction between
them. Red light excitation transfers one electron from an iron site to a cobalt
site, resulting in high-spin Fe+3 and Co+2 ions and magnetic interactions
between them. The application of a blue light causes a transition back to the
initial state and switches off the Fe+3-Co+2 interactions. In addition to this
kind of photochemically controllable magnets, electrochemically
controllable magnets have also been reported (Sato et al. 1996b).
QUANTUM DOT LASERS

Semiconductor lasers are key components in a host of widely used
technological products, including compact disk players and laser printers,
and they will play critical roles in optical communication schemes. The
basis of laser operation depends on the creation of nonequilibrium
populations of electrons and holes, and coupling of electrons and holes to an
optical field, which will stimulate radiative emission. Calculations carried
out in the early 1970s by C. Henry (Dingle and Henry 1976) predicted the
advantages of using quantum wells as the active layer in such lasers: the
carrier confinement and nature of the electronic density of states should
result in more efficient devices operating at lower threshold currents than
lasers with “bulk” active layers. In addition, the use of a quantum well, with
discrete transition energy levels dependent on the quantum well dimensions
(thickness), provides a means of “tuning” the resulting wavelength of the

material. The critical feature size—in this case, the thickness of the quantum
well—depends on the desired spacing between energy levels. For energy
levels of greater than a few tens of millielectron volts (meV, to be compared
with room temperature thermal energy of 25 meV), the critical dimension is
approximately a few hundred angstroms. Although the first quantum well
laser, demonstrated in 1975, was many times less efficient than a
conventional laser (van der Ziel et al. 1975), the situation was reversed by
1981 through the use of new materials growth capabilities (molecular beam
epitaxy), and optimization of the heterostructure laser design (Tsang 1982).
Even greater benefits have been predicted for lasers with quantum dot
active layers. Arakawa and Sakaki (1982) predicted in the early 1980s that
quantum dot lasers should exhibit performance that is less temperature-
dependent than existing semiconductor lasers, and that will in particular not
degrade at elevated temperatures. Other benefits of quantum dot active
layers include further reduction in threshold currents and an increase in
differential gain—that is, more efficient laser operation (Asada et al. 1986).
Figures 5.16 and 5.17 illustrate some of the key concepts in the laser
operation. Stimulated recombination of electron-hole pairs takes place in the
GaAs quantum well region, where the confinement of carriers and of the
optical mode enhance the interaction between carriers and radiation (Fig.
5.16). In particular, note the change in the electronic density of states, as a
function of the “dimensionality” of the active layer, shown in Figure 5.17.
The population inversion (creation of electrons and holes) necessary for
lasing occurs more efficiently as the active layer material is scaled down
from bulk (3-dimensional) to quantum dots (0-dimensional). However, the
advantages in operation depend not only on the absolute size of the
nanostructures in the active region, but also on the uniformity of size. A
broad distribution of sizes “smears” the density of states, producing behavior
similar to that of bulk material.
Thus, the challenge in realizing quantum dot lasers with operation
superior to that shown by quantum well lasers is that of forming high
quality, uniform quantum dots in the active layer. Initially, the most widely
followed approach to forming quantum dots was through electron beam
lithography of suitably small featured patterns (~300 Å) and subsequent dry-
etch transfer of dots into the substrate material. The problem that plagued
these quantum dot arrays was their exceedingly low optical efficiency: high
surface-to-volume ratios of these nanostructures and associated high surface
recombination rates, together with damage introduced during the fabrication
itself, precluded the successful formation of a quantum dot laser.
p-type
e e e AlGaAs
e e e
conduction band
photon of light
h h h
valence band
n-type h h h
AlGaAs undoped
GaAs
Figure 5.16. Schematic of a semiconductor laser.
3D
Bulk Semiconductor
2D
Quantum Well
N(E)
1D
Quantum Wire
0D
Quantum Dot
Figure 5.17. Density of electronic states as a function of structure size.
With the demonstration of the high optical efficiency self-assembled

formation of quantum dots (see Chapter 2), formed without need of external
processing and having the natural overgrowth of cladding material (which
addressed issues of surface recombination), there ensued a marked increase
in quantum dot laser research. The first demonstration of a quantum dot

laser with high threshold density was reported by Ledentsov and colleagues
in 1994. Bimberg et al. (1996) achieved improved operation by increasing
the density of the quantum dot structures, stacking successive, strain-aligned
rows of quantum dots and therefore achieving vertical as well as lateral
coupling of the quantum dots. In addition to utilizing their quantum size
effects in edge-emitting lasers, self-assembled quantum dots have also been
incorporated within vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers. Table 5.4 gives a
partial summary of the work and achievements in quantum dot lasers.
As with the demonstration of the advantages of the quantum well laser
that preceded it, the full promise of the quantum dot laser must await
advances in the understanding of the materials growth and optimization of
the laser structure. Although the self-assembled dots have provided an
enormous stimulus to work in this field, there remain a number of critical
issues involving their growth and formation: greater uniformity of size,
controllable achievement of higher quantum dot density, and closer dot-to-
dot interaction range will further improve laser performance. Better
understanding of carrier confinement dynamics and capture times, and better
evaluation of loss mechanisms, will further improve device characteristics.
It should be noted that the spatial localization of carriers brought about by
the quantum dot confinement may play a role in the “anomalous” optical
efficiency of the GaN-based materials, which is exceptional in light of the
high concentration of threading dislocations (~ 108 - 1010 cm-2) that currently
plague this material system. The localization imposed by the perhaps natural
nanostructure of the GaN materials may make the dislocation largely
irrelevant to the purely optical (but not to the electrical) behavior of the
material.
CARBON NANOTUBES
The first synthesis and characterization of carbon nanotubes were
reported by Iijima from NEC in late 1991. The initial theoretical study of
their electronic structure was soon followed with the work by Dresselhaus
and coworkers at MIT (Dresselhaus et al. 1992; Saito et al. 1992a; Saito et
al. 1992b). Since then, the fabrication of nanotubes has been improved by
several groups, and methods other than arc discharge have been explored.
The main issues are to separate the nanotubes from other forms of carbon
also produced in the fabrication process and to increase the yield of single-
walled nanotubes (SWNT) for potential applications. Following Iijima’s
work, macroscopic quantities of MWNT were produced with an improved
arc discharge method by Ebbesen and coworkers at NEC (Tsukuba)
(Ebbesen and Ajayan 1992).
TABLE 5.4. Summary of Quantum Dot Laser Results

Year QD composition Threshold Operating Wavelength Reference
& size (kA/cm2) T (K) (µm)
1994 InAs 1 300 0.9 (Kirstaedter et al.
7 nm 0.1 77 0.95 1994)
Europe/Russia
1994 InGaAs 7.6 77 1.26 (Hirayama et al.
30 nm 1994)
Japan
1995 In0.5Ga0.5As 0.8 85 0.92 (Shoji et al.
20 nm 1995)
Japan
1996 InP 25 300 0.7 (Moritz et al.
25 nm 1996)
Europe
1996 In0.3Ga0.7As 0.5 300 1.2 (Mirin et al.
1.2 1 1996)
United States
1996 In0.4Ga0.6As 0.65 300 1 (Kamath et al.
12 nm 1996)
United States
1996 In0.5Ga0.5As 0.06 300 1 (Ledentsov et al.
10 layers 1996)
Russia/Europe
Source: Bimberg et al. 1997
It was not until 1995 that Smalley and colleagues at Rice University
showed that SWNT can be efficiently produced by laser ablation of a
graphite rod (Guo et al. 1995). In the following year, that same group
produced what is considered to be among the best SWNT material generated
so far; over 70% of the volume of material was nanotubes bundled together
into crystalline ropes of metallic character (Thess et al. 1996). Also in 1996,
a group from the Chinese Academy of Science used chemical vapor
deposition to produce a 50 mm thick film of nanotubes that were highly
aligned perpendicular to the surface (Li et al. 1996). Progress in recent years
leads one to predict that it will indeed be possible to produce high quality
carbon nanotubes in macroscopic quantities needed for many of the
applications outlined below.
Nanotube bundles form a low density material and are expected to have
high stiffness and axial strength as a result of their seamless cylindrical
graphitic structure. It is therefore predicted that they can be used to fabricate
a material with better mechanical properties than the present carbon fiber
materials. Information about the mechanical properties of nanotubes has
been gathered recently by a study of the thermal vibrations of a single
SWNT attached to a substrate (Treacy et al. 1996). Ebbesen’s group at the

Princeton NEC Research Institute found that nanotubes have an
exceptionally high Young’s modulus (~ 2 x 109 Pa) (Treacy et al. 1996). In
order to reach a better understanding of the mechanical properties and
intrinsic limitations of nanotubes, Bernholc’s group from North Carolina
State University theoretically studied the behavior of nanotubes beyond the
linear Hooke’s law and the nature of the defects leading to dislocations and
fractures (Yakobson et al. 1996; Nardelli et al. 1998).
Nanotubes are highly polarizable nanoscale straws, a property that
confers on them the capacity to ingest inorganic elements by nanocapillarity
(Pederson and Broughton 1992). As a result, it has been conjectured that
they could be used as minute molds to shape nanometer-sized quantum wires
and as miniature test tubes. Ajayan and coworkers at NEC (Tsukuba) have
first shown that lead can be introduced into carbon nanotubes (Ajayan and
Iijima 1993). The efficiency of their process is low, and prior removal of the
caps from the ends of the nanotubes is expected to improve the situation
(Tsang et al. 1993). More information about the mechanism of NT filling
was obtained by Pascard and coworkers from the École Polytechnique in
France by studying the propensity to form nanowires for 15 encapsulated
metal elements (Guerret-Plécourt et al. 1994). Finally, external decoration
of nanotubes with metal atoms has been demonstrated and is predicted to
have applications in catalysis (Satishkumar et al. 1996). Table 5.5
summarizes the primary methods of nanotube fabrication and the institutions
engaged in specific methods of nanotube fabrication.
Early theoretical studies already showed that the electronic properties of
nanotubes strongly depend on their diameter and their chirality leading to
metallic or semiconducting structures (Saito et al. 1992c). It was
conjectured that these properties can be used to construct nanoscale
electronic devices. While theoretical studies were promptly published, it
was only in 1996 that Ebbesen and coworkers (1996) at the Princeton NEC
Research Institute presented reliable four-point probe conductivity
measurements on MWNT, confirming the theoretical predictions. In 1997,
two groups, one at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Bockrath et al.
1997) and the second at Delft University (Tans et al. 1997) in the
Netherlands showed that conductivity through nanotubes is controlled by
low dimensional effects such as resonant tunneling and single-electron
charging effects. Hall effect measurements at the École Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have shown that hole transport
is predominant in electronic conductance (Baumgartner et al. 1997). Despite
these and other very recent and encouraging efforts such as those studying
the mean free path of carriers in nanotubes, the conduction mechanism is
still only partially understood (Petit et al. 1997).
TABLE 5.5. Nanotube Fabrication Methods

Method Institution
Laser ablation – SWNT Rice University
Arc discharge – SWNT University of Montpellier
University of Kentucky
Arc discharge - MWNT NEC
Chemical vapor deposition Beijing
- aligned MWNT
Metallic nanotubes are strongly polarizable in an electric field and

thereby lead to field enhancement at their extremity, the strength of which
depends on the ratio of the diameter to the length and can be extremely large
for routinely produced nanotubes. For this reason and possibly others
related to quantum confinement effects, nanotubes are expected to form
outstanding field-emitting materials. In 1995, the Rice University group
showed that nanotubes emit electrons very efficiently when immersed in an
electric field and irradiated by a laser to remove their cap (Rinzler et al.
1995). They attribute their observation to the unraveling of an atomic wire
of carbon atoms. Efficient field emission was also obtained from carefully
aligned nanotubes by de Heer and coworkers (1995) at EPFL, whereas
Collins and coworkers from the University of California at Berkeley (Collins
and Zettl 1996, 1997), have used randomly oriented nanotubes with similar
results. Efficient field-emitting material is highly desirable for the
production of field-emission displays and microwave tubes.
Recently, a group from Mie University in Japan has built a cathode ray
tube (CRT) using nanotube field emitters (Saito et al. n.d.). In this work, the
layers of nanotubes were cut out from the soot produced in an arc discharge
chamber. This fabrication method is presently not compatible with industrial
production requirements, and more progress must be made before this effort
can be translated into an industrial product. Table 5.6 summarizes the
electrical and field emission properties of nanotubes, with the representative
institutions pursuing these studies.
In summary, macroscopic amounts of good quality nanotubes can
presently be fabricated by several groups around the world, and the
theoretical understanding of the electronic structure and related properties of
nanotubes has reached a very good level. However, despite the fact that
many potential applications are mentioned in the literature over and over
again, only the outstanding field emission properties of nanotubes have
achieved realization in practical devices. One of the main obstacles simply
remains the controlled manipulation of nanoscale objects. In this respect it
seems that the generation of self-aligned structures is a path to explore
further, especially after the encouraging successes reported in the literature
in 1997-98.
TABLE 5.6. Electrical and Field Emission Properties of Nanotubes

Results Institution
Theory and experiment: nanotubes can be metallic or MIT, NEC
semiconducting
Conductivity shows low dimensional signature LBNL
Delft University
Field emission from unraveled carbon chains at the end of Rice University
nanotubes
Field emission from aligned nanotubes attached to scanning EPFL
probe tip
CRTs fabricated with nanotubes as field emitters Mie University
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Chapter 6
Bulk Behavior of Nanostructured Materials
Carl Koch
North Carolina State University
INTRODUCTION
Bulk nanostructured materials are defined as bulk solids with nanoscale
or partly nanoscale microstructures. This category of nanostructured
materials has historical roots going back many decades but has a relatively
recent focus due to new discoveries of unique properties of some nanoscale
materials.
Early in the century, when “microstructures” were revealed primarily
with the optical microscope, it was recognized that refined microstructures,
for example, small grain sizes, often provided attractive properties such as
increased strength and toughness in structural materials. A classic example
of property enhancement due to a refined microstructure—with features too
small to resolve with the optical microscope—was age hardening of
aluminum alloys. The phenomenon, discovered by Alfred Wilm in 1906,
was essentially explained by Merica, Waltenberg, and Scott in 1919 (Mehl
and Cahn 1983, 18), and the microstructural features responsible were first
inferred by the X-ray studies of Guinier and Preston in 1938. With the
advent of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and sophisticated X-ray
diffraction methods it is now known that the fine precipitates responsible for
age hardening, in Al-4% Cu alloys, for example, are clusters of Cu atoms—
Guinier-Preston (GP) zones—and the metastable partially coherent θ'
precipitate (Silcock et al. 1953-54; Cohen 1992). Maximum hardness is
observed with a mixture of GPII (or θ") (coarsened GP zones) and θ' with
the dimensions of the θ' plates, typically about 10 nm in thickness by 100 nm
in diameter. Therefore, the important microstructural feature of age-
93
94 Carl Koch
hardened aluminum alloys is nanoscale. There are a number of other

examples of nanoscale microstructures providing optimized properties. The
critical current density JC of commercial superconducting Nb3Sn is
controlled by grain size and is inversely proportional to grain size, with grain
sizes of 50-80 nm providing high values of JC (Scanlan et al. 1975).
The field of nanocrystalline (or nanostructured, or nanophase) materials
as a major identifiable activity in modern materials science results to a large
degree from the work in the 1980s of Gleiter and coworkers (Gleiter 1990),
who synthesized ultrafine-grained materials by the in situ consolidation of
nanoscale atomic clusters. The ultrasmall size (< 100 nm) of the grains in
these nanocrystalline materials can result in dramatically improved—or
different—properties from conventional grain-size (> 1 µm) polycrystalline
or single crystal materials of the same chemical composition. This is the
stimulus for the tremendous appeal of these materials.
While there are a number of bulk properties that may be dramatically
changed when the microstructure is nanoscale, this chapter focuses on those
for which the recent work with nanostructured materials has been most
extensive. These are (1) the mechanical properties of nanostructured
materials for a variety of potential structural applications, and (2)
ferromagnetic materials with nanoscale microstructures for potential
applications as soft magnetic materials and permanent magnet materials, and
for other special applications such as information storage, magnetoresistance
spin valves, and magnetic nanocomposite refrigerants. Other bulk
applications such as hydrogen storage are discussed briefly.
MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR: STRUCTURAL

NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS
The great interest in the mechanical behavior of nanostructured materials
originates from the unique mechanical properties first observed and/or
predicted for the materials prepared by the gas condensation method.
Among these early observations/predictions were the following:
• lower elastic moduli than for conventional grain size materials—by as
much as 30 - 50%
• very high hardness and strength—hardness values for nanocrystalline
pure metals (~ 10 nm grain size) are 2 to 7 times higher than those of
larger grained (>1 µm) metals
• a negative Hall-Petch slope, i.e., decreasing hardness with decreasing
grain size in the nanoscale grain size regime
• ductility—perhaps superplastic behavior—at low homologous
temperatures in brittle ceramics or intermetallics with nanoscale grain
sizes, believed due to diffusional deformation mechanisms
While some of these early observations have been verified by subsequent

studies, some have been found to be due to high porosity in the early bulk
samples or to other artifacts introduced by the processing procedures. The
following summarizes the author’s understanding of the state of the art of the
mechanical behavior of nanostructured materials, as determined from the
literature, presentations at the U.S. workshop (Siegel et al. 1998), and the
WTEC panel’s site visits in Japan and Europe.
Elastic Properties
Early measurements of the elastic constants on nanocrystalline (nc)
materials prepared by the inert gas condensation method gave values, for
example for Young’s Modulus, E, that were significantly lower than values
for conventional grain size materials. While various reasons were given for
the lower values of E, it was suggested by Krstic and coworkers (1993) that
the presence of extrinsic defects—pores and cracks, for example—was
responsible for the low values of E in nc materials compacted from powders.
This conclusion was based on the observation that nc NiP produced by
electroplating with negligible porosity levels had an E value comparable to
fully dense conventional grain size Ni (Wong et al. 1994, 85). Subsequent
work on porosity-free materials has supported these conclusions, and it is
now believed that the intrinsic elastic moduli of nanostructured materials are
essentially the same as those for conventional grain size materials until the
grain size becomes very small, e.g., < 5 nm, such that the number of atoms
associated with the grain boundaries and triple junctions becomes very large.
This is illustrated in Figure 6.1 for nanocrystalline Fe prepared by
mechanical attrition and measured by a nano-indentation technique. Thus,
for most nanostructured materials (grain size > 10 nm), the elastic moduli are
not unique properties and not a “negative.”
Hardness and Strength

Hardness and strength of conventional grain size materials (grain
diameter, d > 1 µm) is a function of grain size. For ductile polycrystalline
materials the empirical Hall-Petch equation has been found to express the
grain-size dependence of flow stress at any plastic strain out to ductile
fracture. In terms of yield stress, this expression is σο = σi + kd-1/2, where σο
= yield stress, σi = friction stress opposing dislocation motion, k = constant,
and d = grain diameter. Similar results are obtained for hardness, with
Hο = Hi + kd-1/2. To explain these empirical observations, several models
have been proposed, which involve either dislocation pileups at grain
boundaries or grain boundary dislocation networks as dislocation sources. In
96 Carl Koch
all cases the Hall-Petch effect is due to dislocation motion/generation in

materials that exhibit plastic deformation.
Figure 6.1. Ratio of the Young’s (E) and shear (G) moduli of nanocrystalline materials to
those of conventional grain size materials as a function of grain size. The dashed and solid
curves correspond to a grain boundary thickness of 0.5 and 1 nm, respectively (Shen et al.
1995).
Most of the mechanical property data on nc materials have pertained to

hardness, although some tensile test data are becoming available. Several
recent reviews have summarized the mechanical behavior of these materials
(Siegel and Fougere 1994, 233–261; Siegel 1997; Morris and Morris 1997;
Weertman and Averback 1996, 323–345). It is clear that as grain size is
reduced through the nanoscale regime (< 100 nm), hardness typically
increases with decreasing grain size and can be factors of 2 to 7 times harder
for pure nc metals (10 nm grain size) than for large-grained (> 1 µm) metals.
The experimental results of hardness measurements, summarized
previously, show different behavior for dependence on grain size at the
smallest nc grains (< 20 nm), including (a) a positive slope (“normal”
Hall-Petch behavior), (b) essentially no dependence (~ zero slope), and (c) in
some cases, a negative slope (Siegel and Fougere 1994, 233–261; Siegel
1997; Morris and Morris 1997; Weertman and Averback 1996, 323–345).
Most data that exhibit the negative Hall-Petch effect at the smallest grain
sizes have resulted from nc samples that have been annealed to increase their
grain size. It is suggested that thermally treating nanophase samples in the

as-produced condition may result in such changes in structure as
densification, stress relief, phase transformations, or grain boundary
structure, all of which may lead to the observed negative Hall-Petch
behavior (Siegel and Fougere 1994, 233–261). Only a few cases of negative
Hall-Petch behavior have been reported for as-produced nanocrystalline
samples with a range of grain sizes. These include electrodeposited nc
alloys and devitrified nc alloys (Erb et al 1996, 93-110; Alves et al. 1996).
Nanocrystalline thin films with grain sizes ≤ 6 nm are also observed to
exhibit a negative Hall-Petch effect (Veprek 1998). While it seems likely
that in many cases the observed negative Hall-Petch slopes are due to
artifacts of the specimen preparation methods, it is also likely that
conventional dislocation-based deformation is not operable in
nanocrystalline materials at the smallest grain sizes (< ~30 nm). At these
grain sizes, theoretically, mobile dislocations are unlikely to occur; nor have
they been observed in in situ TEM deformation experiments (Siegel and
Fougere 1994, 233–261; Milligan et al 1993; Ke et al. 1995). Thus, the
hardness, strength, and deformation behavior of nanocrystalline materials is
unique and not yet well understood.
Ductility and Toughness

It is well known that grain size has a strong effect on the ductility and
toughness of conventional grain size (> 1 µm) materials. For example, the
ductile/brittle transition temperature in mild steel can be lowered about 40°C
by reducing the grain size by a factor of 5. On a very basic level,
mechanical failure, which limits ductility, is an interplay or competition
between dislocations and cracks (Thomson 1996, 2208–2291). Nucleation
and propagation of cracks can be used as the explanation for the fracture
stress dependence on grain size (Nagpal and Baker 1990). Grain size
refinement can make crack propagation more difficult and therefore, in
conventional grain size materials, increase the apparent fracture toughness.
However, the large increases in yield stress (hardness) observed in nc
materials suggest that fracture stress can be lower than yield stress and
therefore result in reduced ductility. The results of ductility measurements
on nc metals are mixed and are sensitive to flaws and porosity, surface
finish, and method of testing (e.g., tension or compression testing). In
tension, for grain sizes < 30 nm, essentially brittle behavior has been
observed for pure nanocrystalline metals that exhibit significant ductility
when the grain size is conventional. This is illustrated in Figure 6.2.
98 Carl Koch
Key to Sources
a. Gunther et al. 1990 e. Gertsman et al. 1994
b. Nieman et al. 1991a f. Eastman et al. 1997, 173-182
c. Nieman et al. 1991b g. Morris and Morris 1991
d. Sanders et al. 1996, 379-386 h. Liang et al. 1996
Figure 6.2. Elongation to failure in tension vs. grain size for some nanocrystalline metals and
alloys.
In some metals, Cu for example, ductile behavior is observed in

compression, along with yield strengths about twice those observed in
tension. While it is likely that the flaws and porosity present in many nc
samples seriously affect the results of mechanical tests and may be partly
responsible for the asymmetry of results in compression compared to tension
tests, the nature of the deformation process in terms of shear banding (see
below) may also be important. The above behavior is presumably due to the
inability of usual dislocation generation and motion to occur at these
smallest nc grain sizes.
An intriguing suggestion based on early observations of ductile behavior
of brittle nc ceramics at low temperatures is that brittle ceramics or
intermetallics might exhibit ductility with nc grain structures (Karch et al.
1987; Bohn et al. 1991). Karch and colleagues (1987) observed apparent
plastic behavior in compression in nc CaF2 at 80°C and nc TiO2 at 180°C.

These observations were attributed to enhanced diffusional creep providing
the plasticity at these temperatures, where conventional grain-size materials
would fail in the elastic regime. It was assumed that diffusional creep was
responsible for the plasticity; observations were rationalized, with boundary
diffusion dominating the behavior such that the strain (creep) rate is defined
as
dε BσΩ∆D b
= (Equation 1)
dt d3 kT
where σ is the applied stress, Ω the atomic volume, d the grain size, k the
Boltzmann constant, T the temperature, B a constant, and Db the grain
boundary diffusion coefficients. Going from a grain size of 1 µm to 10 nm
should increase dε/dt by 106 or more if Db is significantly larger for nc
materials. However, these results on nc CaF2 and nc TiO2 have not been
reproduced, and it is believed that the porous nature of these samples was
responsible for the apparent ductile behavior. In addition, the idea of
unusually high creep rates at low temperatures has been refuted. Recent
creep measurements of nc Cu, Pd, and Al-Zr at moderate temperatures by
Sanders et al. (1997) find creep rates comparable to or lower than
corresponding coarse-grain rates. The creep curves at low and moderate
homologous temperatures (.24 – .48 TM) could be fit by the equation for
exhaustion (logarithmic) creep. One explanation is that the observed low
creep rates are caused by the high fraction of low energy grain boundaries in
conjunction with the limitation on dislocation activity by the small grain
sizes.
In sum, the predicted ductility due to diffusional creep in nc brittle
ceramics or intermetallics at temperatures significantly less than 0.5 TM has
not been realized.
Superplastic Behavior
Superplasticity is the capability of some polycrystalline materials to
exhibit very large tensile deformations without necking or fracture.
Typically, elongations of 100% to > 1000% are considered the defining
features of this phenomenon. As grain size is decreased it is found that the
temperature is lowered at which superplasticity occurs, and the strain rate for
its occurrence is increased. As discussed previously, Equation 1 suggests
that creep rates might be enhanced by many orders of magnitude and
superplastic behavior might be observed in nc materials at temperatures
much lower than 0.5 TM. As mentioned above, actual creep experiments
have not borne out this prediction, but instead have shown creep rates
100 Carl Koch
comparable to or lower than those in coarse-grained samples of the same

material. This is presumably why little enhancement in ductility or
superplastic behavior has been observed for nc materials at temperatures
< 0.5 TM. However, there is evidence of enhancement of superplastic
behavior in nc materials at temperatures > 0.5 TM. Superplasticity has been
observed at somewhat lower temperatures and at higher strain rates in nc
materials. The evidence for tensile superplasticity is limited and observed
typically at temperatures greater than 0.5 TM and in materials that exhibit
superplasticity in coarser grain sizes (1–10 µm). For example, Mishra et al.
(1997) observed superplastic behavior in nc Pb-62%Sn at 0.64 TM and nc
Zn–22%Al at 0.52 to 0.60 TM. However, Salishekev et al (1994) observed
superplastic behavior in submicron—200 nm—Ti and several Ti and Ni base
alloys. Here, superplasticity (190% elongation, m = 0.32) was observed in
Ti at 0.42 TM. This was at a temperature 50°C lower than for 10 µm grain
size Ti. The flow stress for the 200 nm Ti at 550°C was 90 MPa, compared
to 120 MPa for 10 µm Ti at 600°C.
Very recently, Mishra and Mukherjee (1997) have observed superplastic
behavior in Ni3Al with a 50 nm grain size at temperatures of 0.56 to 0.60 TM
to strains of 300 - 600%, but with unusual stress-strain behavior and
significant apparent strain-hardening. These new results suggest very
different mechanisms may be causing superplastic behavior in these nc
materials.
Unique Mechanical Properties of Nanocrystalline Materials

While there are still only limited data on the mechanical behavior—
especially tensile properties—of nc materials, some generalizations may be
made regarding the deformation mechanisms. It is likely that for the larger
end of the nanoscale grain sizes, about 50 - 100 nm, dislocation activity
dominates for test temperatures < 0.5 TM. As grain size decreases,
dislocation activity apparently decreases. The essential lack of dislocations
at grain sizes below 50 nm is presumably the result of the image forces that
act on dislocations near surfaces or interfaces. The lack of dislocations in
small, confined spaces such as single-crystal whiskers has been known for
many years (Darken 1961). Creation of new dislocations is also made
difficult as the grain size reaches the lower end of the nanoscale (< 10 nm).
Stresses needed to activate dislocation sources, such as the Frank-Read
source, are inversely proportional to the distance between dislocation
pinning points. Since nanoscale grains will limit the distance between such
pinning points, the stresses to activate dislocation sources can reach the
theoretical shear stress of a dislocation-free crystal at the smallest grain sizes
(~ 2 nm). Thus, at the smallest grain sizes we may have new phenomena
controlling deformation behavior. It has been suggested that such
phenomena may involve grain boundary sliding and/or grain rotation

accompanied by short-range diffusion-assisted healing events (Siegel 1997).
Several examples of deformation by shear banding have been reported
for nc materials. Carsley et al (1997, 183-192) have studied nc Fe–10% Cu
alloys with grain sizes ranging from 45 to 1,680 nm. In all cases,
deformation in compression proceeds by intense localized shear banding.
The stress-strain curves exhibited essentially elastic, perfectly plastic
behavior; that is, no measurable strain hardening was observed. Shear
banding is also the deformation mode observed in amorphous metallic alloys
and amorphous polymers. The deformation shear banding in nc Fe–10% Cu
was compared to that for metallic glasses, amorphous polymers, and coarse-
grained polycrystalline metals after significant plasticity and work hardening
had taken place. While this suggests a close similarity between deformation
in nc materials and amorphous materials, not all tensile data on nc materials
exhibit a lack of strain hardening. The Fe–10% Cu samples of Carsley et al.
(1997, 183-192) showed shear bands even in their larger grained specimens
(i.e., about 1,000 nm).
Theoretical Needs
Central to all of the above discussion is the lack of understanding of the
microscopic deformation and fracture mechanisms in nc materials. Clearly,
a stronger theoretical effort is needed to guide critical experiments and point
the direction for optimizing properties. There has been limited work in this
area, especially in Russia, in applying disclination theory to grain rotation
(Romanov and Vladimirov 1992, 191), for example. However, a much
larger theoretical effort is required. Another alternate deformation
mechanism that may be important in nc materials is mechanical twinning
(Huang et al. 1996). Little theoretical work has been carried out to address
this possibility. Another important potential approach to understanding the
deformation mechanisms in nc materials is to explore the rich older literature
on shear banding—mechanical instabilities that have been observed in, for
example, mild steels as grain size decreases; the approach to very low strain
hardening (perfectly plastic behavior) is observed. Amorphous materials
exhibit many of the phenomenological characteristics of deformation in nc
materials, that is, shear banding, asymmetry between tensile and
compressive behavior, and perfectly plastic behavior. However, deformation
mechanisms are not well understood in amorphous materials either. Recent
work on bulk metallic glasses may help clarify this.
102 Carl Koch
Applications
Of the present or near-term applications for nc materials, the hard
material WC/Co is an example of several important trends. Nanostructured
WC/Co composites have been prepared that can have the following
characteristics:
• nanoscale grain sizes after consolidation of powder
• hardness values about twice that of conventional micrograined WC/Co
• enhanced wear resistance and cutting performance
While this material has increased hardness and strength, preliminary
reports from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, and the Royal
Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, point to similar or increased
fracture toughness values for nanostructured WC/Co. As noted earlier,
single-phase nanostructured materials studied to date have exhibited high
strength and hardness but brittle behavior at low homologous temperatures
(< 0.5 TM). The results of these studies of WC/Co two-phase nanostructured
materials suggest that the combination of high hardness/strength and
toughness/ductility may be possible in multiphase nanostructured materials.
Other examples that point to this possibility come from the work of
Professor A. Inoue at Tohoku University in Japan, whose lab the WTEC
panel visited (see Appendix D). Inoue and coworkers have synthesized a
variety of multiphase Al, Mg, and Ni-base alloys with nanoscale
microstructures. Many of these alloys consist of nanocrystallites in an
amorphous matrix. Some Al-rich alloys contain nanoscale quasi-crystalline
particles surrounded by crystalline face-centered cubic Al. The fascinating
properties of these multiphase nanostructured alloys include extremely high
strength coupled with some ductility. Ductility is high in compression, but
uniform elongation in tension is limited. Again, this behavior is analogous
to that exhibited by ductile amorphous alloys. These results again suggest
the possibility for development of nanostructured multiphase composites that
combine extremely high hardness and strength with toughness and ductility.
Such materials could have many applications as unique structural materials.
Multiphase ceramic nanocomposites are the focus of several efforts. One
significant effort is underway at the Research Center for Intermaterials of the
Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University in Japan
(see site report, Appendix D). Professor Koichi Niihara has a large effort
studying micro-nano composites such as Al2O3/SiC that have enhanced
toughness and also a variety of hard matrix/soft dispersion or soft
matrix/hard dispersion nanocomposites. The enhanced toughness in some
ceramic nanocomposites observed by Prof. Niihara has been verified by
parallel studies of Dr. Steve Roberts at University of Oxford in England (see
site report, Appendix B).
While “low temperature” superplasticity has not been realized in

nanostructured materials, enhanced superplastic behavior has been observed
at elevated temperatures in terms of a somewhat lower temperature range for
superplasticity and, perhaps more significant, a higher strain rate regime.
While much needs to be understood about superplastic behavior of
nanostructured materials, the possibility for using more conventional strain
rates for forming has major industrial implications. This is of particular
interest for near net shape forming of ceramics.
Outstanding Issues: Opportunities and Challenges
Perhaps the overriding issue for defining the mechanical behavior of

nanostructured materials is the lack of understanding of the mechanisms for
plastic deformation and fracture in these materials. An extensive
experimental and theoretical research effort should be applied to solve these
questions. Only with such understanding can the intelligent design of
nanostructured materials with optimum mechanical properties be realized.
Since many of the synthesis routes for nanostructured materials involve
using powder or particulate products, compaction of such powders is needed
to form bulk parts without coarsening the nanoscale microstructure. While
there has been ongoing work on compaction and the thermal stability of
nanocrystalline microstructures, more basic work is needed in this critical
area. If some unique properties are limited to the finest grain sizes, methods
must be found to stabilize the grain size while attaining theoretical density
and complete particulate bonding. Furthermore, conventional processing
methods are desirable if realistic scaleup and economy are to be realized.
Near-term opportunities for structural applications of nanostructured
materials are in the form of coatings prepared by, for example, thermal spray
deposition or electrodeposition. There is a significant effort in the United
States on thermal spray deposition of nc materials. Several groups in
Canada lead in deposition of nc materials by electrodeposition methods. A
spin-off company, Nanometals, formed under the auspices of Parteq
Research and Development Innovations, has adopted a commercial
electrodeposition method to produce nanostructured metals.
Structural applications of nanostructured materials may be viewed as a
focused approach to a long standing, well known design of materials with
optimum mechanical properties. Use of nanoscale precipitates or dispersoids
has been known for decades to improve mechanical behavior. The “new”
emphasis on using nanostructured materials comes from 2 significant factors:
1. the special processing methods to push microstructures to the limits of
the nanoscale
2. the unique properties and phenomena—as yet not well understood—
when this limit is approached
104 Carl Koch
FERROMAGNETIC NANOSTRUCTURED MATERIALS

Soft Magnetic Nanocrystalline Alloys
The discovery of nanocrystalline Fe-based soft magnetic materials is less
than ten years old. The first class of such materials was the melt-spun
Fe-Si-B alloys containing small amounts of Nb and Cu (Yoshizawa et al.
1988). The Fe-Si-B-Nb-Cu amorphous phase transforms to a body-centered
cubic (bcc) Fe-Si solid solution with grain sizes of about 10 nm during
annealing at temperatures above the crystallization temperature. The
presence of small amounts of Cu helps increase the nucleation rate of the bcc
phase while Nb retards the grain growth. These “Finemet” alloys provide
low core losses (even lower than amorphous soft magnetic alloys such as
Co-Fe-Si-B), exhibit saturation induction of about 1.2 T, and exhibit very
good properties at high frequencies, comparable to the best Co-based
amorphous alloys. These were first developed in Japan and have stimulated
a large amount of research and development worldwide to optimize the
magnetic properties. There has been relatively little work in the United
States in this area, however.
While many of the soft magnetic properties of Finemet-type
nanocrystalline alloys are superior, they exhibit lower saturation inductions
than Fe-metalloid amorphous alloys, mainly because of the lower Fe content
to attain amorphization and because of the addition of Nb and Cu (or other
elements to control the nucleation and growth kinetics). In order to remedy
this problem, another class of Fe-based nanocrystalline alloys was developed
by Inoue and coworkers at Tohoku University (Makino et al. 1997), which is
commercialized by Alps Electric Co., Ltd., of Nagaoka, Japan (see also the
Tohoku University site report, Appendix D). These “Nanoperm” alloys are
based on the Fe-Zr-B system; they contain larger concentrations of Fe
(83-89 at.%) compared to the Finemet alloys (~ 74 at.% Fe) and have higher
values of saturation induction (~ 1.6-1.7 T). The Nanoperm nc alloys have
very low energy losses at power frequencies (60 Hz), making them
potentially interesting for electrical power distribution transformers. The
issues of composition modification, processing, and the brittle mechanical
behavior of these nanocrystalline/amorphous alloys are discussed by V.R.
Ramanan in the first volume of this WTEC study, the proceedings of the
May 8-9, 1997 panel workshop on the status of nanostructure science and
technology in the United States (Ramanan 1998, 113-116). Figure 6.3
compares the soft magnetic properties of Finemet, Nanoperm, and other
materials.
Figure 6.3. Effective permeability, µ e , vs. saturation magnetic flux density, Bs , for soft
ferromagnetic materials (after A. Inoue 1997).
While there has been extensive research on these alloys, particularly in

Japan and Europe, most of the development has been carried out in Japan.
The Finemet family of alloys is marketed by Hitachi Special Metals.
Vacuumschmelze GmbH (Germany) and Impky (France) also market similar
alloys. The Nanoperm alloys are being commercialized by Alps Electric Co.
(Japan). No extensive research nor any commercialization of these materials
has been carried out in the United States.
The small single-domain nanocrystalline Fe particles in the amorphous
matrix gives these alloys their unique magnetic behavior, the most dramatic
being the lowest energy losses (narrowest B/H hysteresis loop) of any known
materials, along with very high permeabilities. These alloys can also exhibit
nearly or exactly zero magnetostriction. To date, these materials have been
made by crystallization of rapidly solidified amorphous ribbons. Other
methods that might provide geometrically desirable products should be
explored or developed. Electrodeposition is one such method that requires
further work. Electrodeposited nc Fe-Ni soft magnetic alloys are being
developed in Canada.
The brittle nature of these materials is a problem for scaleup and
transformer manufacture. The brittleness problem must be solved by finding
less brittle materials or applying the handling and processing knowledge that
exists for embrittled (after annealing) metallic glasses.
106 Carl Koch
Permanent Magnet Materials

The first attempts to produce nanoscale microstructures to enhance the
magnetic properties of the Nb-Fe-B permanent magnetic materials used
mechanical alloying of blended elemental powders followed by heat
treatment (Schultz et al. 1987). Since the grain structure so obtained does
not exhibit any crystallographic texture—and limits the energy product—
special processing methods such as die-upsetting were used by Schultz and
coworkers (1989) to provide the crystallographic anisotropy. While the
coercivities of these nanocrystalline alloys are high, the remanent
magnetization is decreased.
Recent approaches to increasing the magnetic induction have utilized
exchange coupling in magnetically hard and soft phases. The Fe-rich
compositions (e.g., Fe90Nd7B3) result in a mixture of the hard Fe14Nd2B
phase and soft αFe phase. The nanoscale two-phase mixtures of a hard
magnetic phase and a soft magnetic phase can exhibit values of remanent
magnetization, Mr, significantly greater than the isotropic value of 0.5 Ms.
This “remanence enhancement” is associated with exchange coupling
between the hard and soft phases, which forces the magnetization vector of
the soft phase to be rotated to that of the hard phase (Smith et al. 1996).
Two important requirements for alloys to exhibit remanence enhancement
are a nanocrystalline grain size and a degree of coherence across interphase
boundaries sufficient to enable adjacent phases to be exchange-coupled. The
significant feature of the exchange coupling is that it allows
crystallographically isotropic materials to exhibit remanence values
approaching those achieved after full alignment. Such two-phase nanoscale
ferromagnetic alloys have been prepared by nonequilibrium methods such as
melt-spinning, mechanical alloying, and sputter deposition. Besides the high
reduced remanence, the material cost is reduced by reduction in the content
of the expensive hard rare earth-containing magnetic phase.
The theoretical understanding of remanence enhancement appears to be
developed to a degree enabling prediction of magnet performance; however,
this performance, while a significant improvement over single-phase
isotropic magnets, does not reach predicted values. Work is required on
optimizing the orientation relationships between the hard and soft phases and
the interphase properties (coherency) between them.
Research on nanocrystalline hard magnetic alloys has received attention
worldwide. The U.S. efforts are summarized in the article by G.C.
Hadjipanayis (1998, 107-112). While less research seems to be carried out
in the world on these materials compared to the nanocrystalline soft
magnetic alloys, some efforts exist in most countries. Notable programs are
those of L. Schultz and coworkers at the Institut für Festköper und
Werkstofforschung (IFW) in Dresden (see site report in Appendix B) and
P.G. McCormick and coworkers at the University of Western Australia.
While the very low losses of the nc soft magnetic materials (Finemet or
Nanoperm) are dependent on grain size for their properties, the hard
magnetic nc alloys with remanence enhancement provide flexibility in
processing, especially with powder materials. These remanence-enhanced
nc hard magnetic alloys may find many applications as permanent magnet
components.
Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR)

The phenomenon of giant magnetoresistance (GMR)—the decrease of
electrical resistance of materials when exposed to a magnetic field—was
first reported in a number of multilayer ferromagnetic/nonferromagnetic thin
film systems (Baibich et al. 1988). More recently, GMR was observed in
equiaxed granular nanocrystalline materials (Berkowitz et al. 1992). In
particular, GMR systems with low saturation fields offer a wide area for
application in magnetoresistive devices. GMR sensors have a higher output
than conventional anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors or Hall effect
sensors. They can operate at higher magnetic fields than conventional
magnetoresistive sensors. In multilayer systems the antiferromagnetic
alignment of the ferromagnetic layers in zero field becomes ferromagnetic as
the field is applied and causes a decrease in resistance. Granular materials
that show GMR consist of small ferromagnetic single-domain particles with
randomly oriented magnetic axes in a nonmagnetic matrix. An external field
rotates the magnetic axes of all magnetic particles. The rotation towards
complete alignment of all magnetic axes again reduces the resistance in a
similar way as for multilayers. The GMR in granular systems is isotropic.
The explanation for the GMR is spin-dependent scattering of the conduction
electrons at the ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic interfaces and, to a lesser extent,
within the magnetic grains. The GMR scales inversely with the average
particle diameter.
There is worldwide research on the GMR effect. U.S. programs are
reviewed by R. Shull and G.C. Hadjipanayis in the proceedings of the
WTEC U.S. nanotechnologies workshop (Shull 1998, 43-58; Hadjipanayis
1998, 107-112). The NIST work described by Shull has provided material
with the largest GMR values for the smallest switching fields. Japanese
research on GMR includes studies in Prof. Fujimori’s group at Tohoku
University (see site report in Appendix D).
While the theory for GMR of spin-dependent scattering referred to above
has been used as an explanation, other explanations taking into account
interaction between magnetic regions have been proposed (El-Hilo et al.
1994). Combined theoretical and experimental studies should help to clarify
the mechanism for this effect.
108 Carl Koch
Other Ferromagnetic Nanocrystalline Materials

Magnetic nanocomposite refrigerants, which have four times the
magnetocaloric effects of the best low temperature magnetic refrigerant,
were developed by NIST and described by R. Shull (1998, 43-58). The
entropy change at a given (low) temperature for a system of magnetic spins
is enhanced when the isolated spins are clustered. Shull et al. (1993) have
shown that the nanocomposite Gd3Ga5–xFexO12 gives superior
magnetocaloric effects, which increase with x up to x = 2.5 and can be
extended to higher temperatures than conventional materials.
Magnetostrictive materials such as Terfonol-D (Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe2) have been
of scientific and technological interest in recent years. It is suggested by
G.C. Hadjipanayis (1998, 107-112) that nanostructured magnetostrictive
materials can have improved properties, such as lower saturation fields, with
reduced anisotropy and in multilayers with alternate layers of
magnetostrictive and soft magnetic materials that are exchange-coupled.
Hadjipanayis states that most of the research in this area is carried out in
Japan and Europe.
Opportunities and Challenges

Nanocrystalline magnetic materials offer perhaps the nearest-term
prospect of significant applications of bulk nanostructured materials. The
remanence enhancement in two-phase hard/soft magnetic materials can
result in excellent energy products—comparable to those from rapid
solidification processing routes—in powder composites. The flexibility in
manufacturing this allows should provide many possible permanent magnet
applications.
Nanocrystalline soft magnetic materials have the lowest energy losses of
any material. While problems such as mechanical brittleness remain, these
materials promise to replace existing transformer core materials for power
applications. The U.S. research and industrial effort in these materials lags
the efforts in Japan.
OTHER BULK APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURED

MATERIALS
Nanocrystalline Hydrogen Storage Materials
R.B. Schwarz (1998, 93-95) has pointed out that nanostructured materials
offer several potential advantages for hydrogen storage materials. Rapid
kinetics of absorption/desorption can be aided by refining the microstructure
to the nanoscale. For example, nanoscale inclusions of Mg2Ni in Mg

catalyze the decomposition of the molecular hydrogen, increasing the
hydrogen absorption/desorption kinetics. Another advantage of the
nanoscale microstructure is that the alloy powder does not comminute on
repeated charging/discharging with hydrogen. This is not strictly a bulk
material, since powder agglomerates or green compacts can be used, thus
obviating the need for compaction to theoretical density.
Nanocrystalline Corrosion-Resistant Materials

The limited work to date on corrosion resistance of nanocrystalline
materials indicates that no generalizations can be made. Superior localized
corrosion resistance in HCl was observed for nanocrystalline 304 stainless
steel (Fe–18%Cr–8%Ni) prepared by sputter deposition (Inturi and
Szklavska-Smialowska 1991 and 1992). This was attributed to the fine grain
size and homogeneity of the nc material. However, the average dissolution
rate of nc Ni was found to be higher than that for coarse-grained material
(Rofagha et al. 1991).
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112 Carl Koch
Chapter 7
Biologically Related Aspects of Nanoparticles,

Nanostructured Materials, and Nanodevices
Lynn Jelinski
Louisiana State University
INTRODUCTION
Biological molecules and systems have a number of attributes that make
them highly suitable for nanotechnology applications. For example, proteins
fold into precisely defined three-dimensional shapes, and nucleic acids
assemble according to well-understood rules. Antibodies are highly specific
in recognizing and binding their ligands, and biological assemblies such as
molecular motors can perform transport operations. Because of these and
other favorable properties, biomolecules, biophysics, and biology are themes
that run through all of the topics of this report.
Although very promising, the bio-related aspects of nanoparticles,
nanostructured materials, and nanodevices, are, for the most part, not as well
developed as the nonbiological ones. However, a number of recent workshops
(e.g., the U.S./EC Workshop on Nanobiotechnology), symposia (e.g., the
Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology, and the Symposium on Bio-Nano
Electronics), and books (e.g., Nanofabrication and Biosystem,s Hoch et al.
1996) attest to the fact that many of the novel developments in this field are
poised for rapid expansion.
This chapter is organized along the lines of the main report (Figure 7.1).
It first puts into perspective current research directed toward biological
synthesis and assembly as it pertains to the building blocks of nano-
technology. It then focuses on the current state of the art in biological
aspects of dispersions and coatings, high surface area materials, and functional
113
114 Lynn Jelinski
“building blocks”
atoms synthesis
nanoparticles layers
assembly
large biological
component
nanostructures
less of a biological
component
dispersions and high surface functional consolidated

coatings area materials nanostructures materials
Figure 7.1. Organization of the WTEC study; sections with large biological content are
indicated.
nanostructures. Finally, it ends with a section on the challenges and

opportunities for the biological aspects of nanotechnology.
NANOTECHNOLOGY BUILDING BLOCKS
Synthesis
Although it seems at first that Nature has provided a limited number of

basic building blocks—amino acids, lipids, and nucleic acids—the chemical
diversity of these molecules and the different ways they can be polymerized
or assembled provide an enormous range of possible structures.
Furthermore, advances in chemical synthesis and biotechnology enable one
to combine these building blocks, almost at will, to produce new materials
and structures that have not yet been made in Nature. These self-assembled
materials often have enhanced properties as well as unique applications.
The selected examples below show ways in which clever synthetic
methodologies are being harnessed to provide novel biological building
blocks for nanotechnology.
The protein polymers produced by Tirrell and coworkers (1994) are
examples of this new methodology. In one set of experiments, proteins were
7. Biologically Related Aspects of Nanoparticles, Nanostructured 115
-((AG)3EG)-36
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
Figure 7.2. Top: a 36-mer protein polymer with the repeat sequence (ulanine-glycine)3 –
glutamic acid – glycine. Bottom: idealized folding of this protein polymer, where the
glutamic acid sidechains (+) are on the surface of the folds.
designed from first principles to have folds in specific locations and surface-
reactive groups in other places (Figure 7.2) (Krejchi et al. 1994; 1997). One
of the target sequences was -((AG)3EG)- 36. The hypothesis was that the AG
regions would form hydrogen-bonded networks of beta sheets and that the
glutamic acid would provide a functional group for surface modification.
Synthetic DNAs coding for these proteins were produced, inserted into an E.
coli expression system, and the desired proteins were produced and
harvested. These biopolymers formed chain-folded lamellar crystals with
the anticipated folds. In addition to serving as a source of totally new
materials, this type of research also enables us to test our understanding of
amino acid interactions and our ability to predict chain folding.
Biopolymers produced via biotechnology are monodisperse; that is, they
have precisely defined and controlled chain lengths; on the other hand, it is
virtually impossible to produce a monodisperse synthetic polymer. It has
recently been shown that polymers with well-defined chain lengths can have
unusual liquid crystalline properties. For example, Yu et al. (1997) have
shown that bacterial methods for polymer synthesis can be used to produce
poly(gamma-benzyl alpha L-glutamate) that exhibits smectic ordering in
solution and in films. The distribution in chain length normally found for
synthetic polymers makes it unusual to find them in smectic phases. This
work is important in that it suggests that we now have a route to new smectic
phases whose layer spacings can be controlled on the scale of tens of
nanometers.
The biotechnology-based synthetic approaches described above generally
require that the final product be made from the natural, or L-amino acids.
Progress is now being made so that biological machinery (e.g., E. coli), can
be co-opted to incorporate non-natural amino acids such as β-alanine or
116 Lynn Jelinski
dehydroproline or fluorotyrosine, or ones with alkene or alkyne functionality

(Deming et al. 1997). Research along these lines opens new avenues for
producing controlled-length polymers with controllable surface properties,
as well as biosynthetic polymers that demonstrate electrical phenomena like
conductivity. Such molecules could be used in nanotechnology applications.
Novel chemical synthesis methods are also being developed to produce
“chimeric” molecules that contain organic turn units and hydrogen-bonding
networks of amino acids (Winningham and Sogah 1997). Another approach
includes incorporating all tools of chemistry into the synthesis of proteins,
making it possible to produce, for example, mirror-image proteins. These
proteins, by virtue of their D-amino acid composition, resist biodegradation
and could have important pharmaceutical applications (Muir et al. 1997).
Arnold and coworkers are using a totally different approach to produce
proteins with enhanced properties such as catalytic activity or binding
affinity. Called “directed evolution,” this method uses random mutagenesis
and multiple generations to produce new proteins with enhanced properties.
Directed evolution, which involves DNA shuffling, has been used to obtain
esterases with five- to six-fold enhanced activity against p-nitrobenzyl esters
(Moore et al. 1997).
Assembly
The ability of biological molecules to undergo highly controlled and

hierarchical assembly makes them ideal for applications in nanotechnology.
The self-assembly hierarchy of biological materials begins with monomer
molecules (e.g., nucleotides and nucleosides, amino acids, lipids), which
form polymers (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins, polysaccharides), then
assemblies (e.g., membranes, organelles), and finally cells, organs,
organisms, and even populations (Rousseau and Jelinski 1991, 571-608).
Consequently, biological materials assembly on a very broad range of
organizational length scales, and in both hierarchical and nested manners
(Aksay et al. 1996; Aksay 1998). Research frontiers that exploit the capacity
of biomolecules and cellular systems to undergo self-assembly have been
identified in two recent National Research Council reports (NRC 1994 and
1996). Examples of self-assembled systems include monolayers and
multilayers, biocompatible layers, decorated membranes, organized
structures such as microtubules and biomineralization, and the intracellular
assembly of CdSe semiconductors and chains of magnetite.
A number of researchers have been exploiting the predictable base-
pairing of DNA to build molecular-sized, complex, three-dimensional
objects. For example, Seeman and coworkers (Seeman 1998) have been
investigating these properties of DNA molecules with the goal of forming
complex 2-D and 3-D periodic structures with defined topologies. DNA is
ideal for building molecular nanotechnology objects, as it offers synthetic

control, predictability of interactions, and well-controlled “sticky ends” that
assemble in highly specific fashion. Furthermore, the existence of stable
branched DNA molecules permits complex and interlocking shapes to be
formed. Using such technology, a number of topologies have been prepared,
including cubes (Chen and Seeman 1991), truncated octahedra (Figure 7.3)
(Zhang and Seeman 1994), and Borromean rings (Mao et al. 1997).
Other researchers are using the capacity of DNA to self-organize to
develop photonic array devices and other molecular photonic components
(Sosnowski et al. 1997). This approach uses DNA-derived structures and a
microelectronic template device that produces controlled electric fields. The
electric fields regulate transport, hybridization, and denaturation of
oligonucleotides. Because these electric fields direct the assembly and
transport of the devices on the template surface, this method offers a
versatile way to control assembly.
There is a large body of literature on the self-assembly on monolayers of
lipid and lipid-like molecules (Allara 1996, 97-102; Bishop and Nuzzo 1996).
Devices using self-assembled monolayers are now available for analyzing
the binding of biological molecules, as well as for spatially tailoring the
Figure 7.3. Idealized truncated octahedron assembled from DNA. This view is down the
four-fold axis of the squares. Each edge of the octahedron contains two double-helical turns
of DNA.
118 Lynn Jelinski
surface activity. The technology to make self-assembled monolayers

(SAMs) is now so well developed that it should be possible to use them for
complex electronic structures and molecular-scale devices.
Research stemming from the study of SAMs (e.g., alkylthiols and other
biomembrane mimics on gold) led to the discovery of “stamping”
(Figure 7.4) (Kumar and Whitesides 1993). This method, in which an
elastomeric stamp is used for rapid pattern transfer, has now been driven to
< 50 nanometer scales and extended to nonflat surfaces. It is also called
“soft lithography” and offers exciting possibilities for producing devices
with unusual shapes or geometries.
Self-assembled organic materials such as proteins and/or lipids can be
used to form the scaffolding for the deposition of inorganic material to form
ceramics such as hydroxyapatite, calcium carbonate, silicon dioxide, and
iron oxide. Although the formation of special ceramics is bio-inspired, the
organic material need not be of biological origin. An example is production
of template-assisted nanostructured ceramic thin films (Aksay et al. 1996).
A particularly interesting example of bio-inspired self-assembly has been
described in a recent article by Stupp and coworkers (Stupp et al. 1997).
This work, in which organic “rod-coil” molecules were induced to self-
assemble, is significant in that the molecules orient themselves and self-
assemble over a wide range of length scales, including mushroom-shaped
clusters (Figure 7.5); sheets of the clusters packed side-by-side; and thick
films, where the sheets pack in a head-to-tail fashion. The interplay between
hydrophobic and hydrophilic forces is thought to be partially responsible for
the controlled assembly.
DISPERSIONS AND COATINGS

Drug Delivery Systems
Nanoparticles and nanospheres have considerable utility as controlled

drug delivery systems (Hanes et al. 1997). When suitably encapsulated, a
pharmaceutical can be delivered to the appropriate site, its concentration can
be maintained at proper levels for long periods of time, and it can be
prevented from undergoing premature degradation (see Chapter 3).
Nanoparticles (as opposed to micron-sized particles) have the advantage that
they are small enough that they can be injected into the circulatory system.
Highly porous materials are also ideal candidates for controlled drug
delivery (Schnur et al. 1994) and for tissue engineering (Hubbell and Langer
1995). An example of a controlled drug delivery system comes from the
area of microtubules. Phospholipid bilayers can self-assemble into long
cylindrical tubes with diameters usually below a micron and lengths up to
hundreds of microns (Schnur 1993). During synthesis, drugs can be entrained
elastomeric stamp elastomeric stamp
original patterned silicon substrate
Figure 7.4. An elastomeric stamp (top left) is made from an original master (bottom left).
The stamp is dipped into the biological material (top right) and the pattern is transferred to the
substrate (bottom right).
Adapted from
Stupp et al.,
1997
Figure 7.5. Mushroom-shaped clusters formed from self-assembly of rod-coil molecules;

these clusters can undergo further packing to form sheets.
in these nanotubes, and the final product can be used as a controlled delivery
system. Tubules prepared from phospholipid bilayers are ideal for such
applications because they are biocompatible.
Dendrimers can be prepared so they are of discrete size and contain
specific functional groups (Karak and Maiti 1997). They can be
functionalized and used in biomedicine. Examples include gene transfer
agents for gene therapy, made to carry and control the relaxivity of
paramagnetic MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) contrast agents (Toth et al.
1996), and to deliver drugs on a controlled release basis.
120 Lynn Jelinski
Role of Nanoparticles in Health and Pollution

Although beyond the scope of this review, it is important to keep in mind
the potential role of atmospheric nanoparticles in photocatalytic and thermal
production of atmospheric pollutants. Atmospheric aerosols in heavily
polluted areas have the potential to accelerate ozone formation reactions.
Furthermore, because they are respirable, they could represent a health
hazard. Two controversial studies (the Harvard University six-city study and
the American Cancer Society study) have linked the presence of fine
particular matter to premature mortality (Chemical and Engineering News
1997).
Atmospheric aerosols generally contain two major components: one is
composed of amorphous carbon that has fullerene-like particles dispersed in
it; the second is inorganic and consists of oxides and sulfides supported on
clay minerals. In particular, the iron oxide, manganese oxide, and iron
sulfide nanoparticles have band-gaps that could enhance the photocatalytic
adsorption of solar radiation. In addition, these materials are acidic and may
be coated with water, which would enhance their catalytic ability to crack
hydrocarbons and create free radicals (Chianelli 1998). At present this is an
underexplored area of research that bears scrutiny.
It is interesting to note that some microorganisms produce and sequester
CdSe and CdS nanoparticles in response to high levels of toxic Cd++ in their
environment (Brus 1996). A large number of organisms also have the ability
to precipitate ferrimagnetic minerals Fe3O4 and Fe3S4 (see Consolidated
Materials, below).
HIGH SURFACE AREA MATERIALS
Membranes for Biological Separations

Supported polymeric membranes can be used to remove low molecular
weight organics from aqueous solution (Ho et al. 1996). They work by
filling the pores of microfiltration or ultrafiltration membranes with
functional, polymeric, or oligomeric liquids that have an affinity for the
compound of interest. These ideas can be extended to microemulsions and
used for separations of large biological molecules. For example, non-ionic
microemulsions (i.e., oil-water systems) have been used for hemoglobin
extraction. These results augur well for the separation of other biological
materials (Qutubuddin et al. 1994). Molecular imprinting can also be used
to produce high surface area adsorbents that are enantioselective for amino
acids and other biological molecules (Vidyasankar et al. 1997).
Bacterial Cell Surface Layers as Patterning Elements

Crystalline bacterial cell surface layers (S-layers) are composed of
repeating protein units. These layers self-assemble and have a high binding
capacity. They have been explored as patterning elements for molecular
nanotechnology. For example, they have been used to pattern cadmium
sulfide superlattices (Shenton et al. 1997).
FUNCTIONAL NANOSTRUCTURES
Molecular Computation
The smallest possible computer would ideally be able to perform
computations on a molecular scale. Even though the computation may be
carried out on that scale, the issue becomes one of having enough molecules
to obtain sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to read out the answer.
Consequently, at least at present, these computations must be carried out in
bulk or with extremes in temperature. There has been a recent development
along this line. Adleman (1994) has shown how the rules of DNA self-
assembly, coupled with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of
DNA, can lead to a molecular computer of sorts. The system was used to
solve the Hamiltonian path problem, a classic and difficult (NP complete)
mathematical problem that involves finding a path between vertices of a
graph. The starting and ending vertices of each edge of the graph were
encoded as the first and second halves of a strand of DNA. A solution to the
problem (what is the path between two specific vertices?) was obtained by
using PCR primers for the two vertices. Others have extended these ideas
and shown that it is possible to make DNA add (Guarnieri et al. 1996).
Although these are exciting demonstrations, at present this technology has a
number of drawbacks, including the labor and time it takes to analyze the
results of the computation, and the uncertainties associated with wet
chemistry.
Optoelectronic Devices
Biological molecules and assemblies, such as the photochemical reaction
center, are capable of capturing light with good quantum efficiency and
transforming it into chemical energy. If properly exploited, such assemblies
have potential applications as biomolecule information processing units.
Bacteriorhodopsin, from the purple membrane bacterium Halobacterium
halobium, is one such system that has been studied extensively and has been
122 Lynn Jelinski
commercialized into optical holographic memories (Birge 1995). In the

bacterium, the protein bacteriorhodopsin self-assembles into ordered lipid
patches. The protein absorbs light and undergoes a cycle involving a
complex series of intermediates, resulting in a proton being pumped across
the membrane. It was information developed from understanding the basic
science behind the way that bacteriorhodopsin works that led to the use of
bacteriorhodopsin as a biomolecule information processing unit. To be used
for information storage, the protein is placed under nonbiological conditions.
It is dispersed and immobilized into a matrix (e.g., collagen or another
polymeric substance) and held at liquid nitrogen temperatures. At this low
temperature, the protein acts as an optically-driven bistable switch. One
form, the light-adapted form of bacteriorhodopsin, absorbs light at 570 nm.
When irradiated with green light at 77 K, it switches to a different stable
form that absorbs at 630 nm. Using light of different colors enables one to
read and write images onto these memories. By subtracting one memory
from the other, these memories are especially useful for realtime, rapid
comparison of images.
Molecular Motors
The molecular motors found in biology provide for bacterial locomotion,
as well as for the active transport and delivery of molecules. For example,
the bacterial flagellar motor is about 20 nm in diameter, and is comprised of
a complex assembly of more than 10 different proteins (Imae and Atsumi
1989). The role of the motor is to rotate the helical flagella of the bacterium
so that it is able to swim. Chemical energy (in this case protons or sodium)
is transduced into mechanical energy.
Other examples of molecular motors include RNA polymerase (Yin et al.
1995), F1-ATPase (Noji et al. 1997), myosin, and kinesin (Seventh
Biophysical Discussions 1995). The fuel that powers these motors is ATP
(adenosine triphosphate). A number of researchers have proposed schemes
by which such motors could be used to deliver molecules, one at a time, for
the purpose of the ground-up assembly of nanoscale devices (NRC 1996). It
is envisioned that the highways could be actin or tubulin, which would need
to be immobilized onto a surface. Myosin or kinesin, which naturally travel
along these highways, could be used to deliver molecular “packages” to a
specific assembly site.
Other Forms of Biological Transport Using Nanoparticles

In the human body, the function of the high density lipoproteins is to
transport cholesterol. The ~ 7.5 nm discoidal lipoprotein assemblies are
sandwiched between discs of phospholipids and stacked, poker-chip style.
The lipoproteins stabilize the cholesterol particles and assist in their

transport. Current research involves manipulating and fusing the assemblies
and particles with an atomic force microscope (ATM) tip (Sligar 1998).
Bioelectronics
There has been considerable research activity in molecular electronics
and bioelectronics, particularly in Japan (Aizawa 1994). Although this area
of nanotechnology is still not as well developed as others in this report, it
bears watching. For example, Shionoya and coworkers at the Institute for
Molecular Science of the Okazaki National Research Institutes in Japan (see
site report, Appendix D) have proposed that novel combinations of DNA,
metal ligands, DNA templating, and proteins could produce molecular wires;
molecular hoops through which DNA could be threaded; and double-
stranded peptides whose helix pitch could be controlled by an entrained
metal (Figure 7.6). The active site containing the metal could be induced to
go from Cu(I)tetrahedral to CU(II)square planar, perhaps by electrons delivered by a
scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip.
CONSOLIDATED MATERIALS
Ceramics
Biomolecule/inorganic interactions can be used to produce ceramics with

increased toughness. Fundamental studies of biomineralization, in which an
organic substance (usually protein or peptide or lipid) interacts with an
inorganic phase (e.g., calcium carbonate or hydroxyapatite) have led to the
bioinspired synthesis of composite materials.
Figure 7.6. Novel combinations of DNA, metal ligands, DNA templating, and proteins are
being investigated for molecular wires, inductors, and switches (photo courtesy of Shionoya
and coworkers, Inst. for Molecular Science).
124 Lynn Jelinski
The structure and porosity of the inorganic phase can be controlled by

templating with an organic surfactant, vesicular arrays, or liquid crystalline
materials. Micelle-templated synthesis can produce ceramics with 20-100 Å
pore dimensions (Ying 1998). These tailored pores can be used as catalysts
and absorbents, and for gas/liquid separations and thermal and acoustic
insulation. Their selectivity makes them very useful for biochemical and
pharmaceutical separations. Bioceramics can also be made that are more
compatible with teeth and bone.
An interesting example of an organic/inorganic composite is the new
packaging material that has been developed to replace the polystyrene
“clam-shell” for fast food products. Composed of potato starch and calcium
carbonate, this foam combines the advantages of good thermal insulation
properties and light weight with biodegradability (Stucky 1978).
Biological Bar Magnets

It has been well documented that a very large number of organisms have
the ability to precipitate ferrimagnetic minerals such as Fe3O4 and Fe3S4. In
addition, linear chains of membrane-bound crystals of magnetite, called
magnetosomes, have been found in microorganisms and fish (Kirschvink et
al. 1992). For example, the Fe3O4 domain size in the organism A.
magnetotactum is about 500 Å, and a chain of 22 of those domains has a
magnetic moment of 1.3 x 10-15. It is not immediately clear how these
particles could be exploited for nonbiological applications.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

This section of the review describes current limits on the biological
aspects of nanotechnology. It outlines selected broad areas of research
opportunity, and it sets forth challenges for the intermediate and long-term
future.
Enabling Technologies
We owe much of the recent progress in the biological aspects of
nanotechnology and nanoparticles to important enabling technologies. Many
of these enabling technologies are described in other parts of this report.
Those that have had a significant impact on biological measurements include
techniques and instrumentation such as optical traps, laser tweezers, and
“nano-pokers” to measure femtoNewton forces (Svoboda and Block 1994),
and AFM and STM (Wildoer et al. 1998).
There is also a need to move detection away from the ensemble, to the
single molecule scale. This includes driving instrumentation toward single-
molecule spectroscopy; single-spin detection (Rugar et al. 1994); chemical
analysis of nanoliter volumes (Hietpas et al. 1996, 139-158); nuclear
magnetic resonance microcoils; nanoscale electrode arrays and chemical
sensing and detecting technology (McConnell 1996, 97-102); separations
technology; chemical analysis of single cells (Hietpas et al. 1996); new
biological transformations; and chemical probes of nanostructures.
Enhanced computational infrastructure, both hardware and algorithm
development, will also be required to investigate supramolecular assemblies
and to understand interactions that occur over a wide variety of time and
length scales. At present, we are fairly well equipped to handle quantum
mechanical calculations. At the next level of computational complexity, the
molecular dynamics force fields and atomic charges can presently handle up
to about a million particles and still retain their accuracy. The next scale of
complexity, mesoscale modeling, currently requires the use of pseudo atoms.
Much more research is required to improve the accuracy of finite element
calculations and the modeling of materials applications (Goddard 1998).
Surface Interactions and the Interface Between Biomolecules

and Substrates
Much of the progress in the biological aspects of nanotechnology has

come from research on surface interactions. It will be important to continue
to develop a better understanding of the interface between biomolecules and
surfaces. Of particular interest are questions about whether surfaces cause
biomolecules to denature, the optimum length of linker groups, and ways to
communicate from the biomolecule, through the linker, to the substrate.
Another challenge is to produce nanometer ultrathin films that have stable
order (Jaworek et al. 1998).
Robustness of Biomolecules and Their Interactions in

Aqueous Solution
Although much progress has been made on ways to confer additional

robustness on biomolecules, it will be necessary to continue to improve the
stability and reliability of biomolecular assemblies. Such research may be
along the lines of understanding the thermal stability of biomolecules,
perhaps by examining extremophiles and molecules produced by directed
evolution. It will also be necessary to produce molecules that can work in
the absence of water, or to devise ways in which aqueous solutions can be
used reliably.
126 Lynn Jelinski
Assemblers or Templating
The hierarchical self-assembly of biomolecules is often touted as one of
their key attributes for nanotechnology applications. However, there
remains much to be learned about how to make periodic arrays of
biomolecular assemblies, how to use biological templating in an efficient
manner, how to mimic biological self-assembly with nonbiological
molecules, and how to exploit differences between biological and
nonbiological self-assembly.
Combinatorial Approaches to Nanotechnology

Combinatorial chemistry has had an enormous impact on drug discovery
and development in the past several years. Ability to develop molecularly
sensitive screening techniques is one of the limiting factors of combinatorial
chemistry. It would be intriguing to discover screening methods that are
particularly sensitive for picking up new phenomena exhibited by biological
nanoparticles.
Biomimetics and Polymer-Biopolymer Chimeras

The largest impact of biological sciences on nanotechnology may prove
to be through the lessons one can learn from biology, rather than from
directly employing the biological molecules themselves. To this end, it is
important to support research on various aspects of biomimetics, including
activities in which synthetic and biologically-based molecules are combined
in chimeric fashion.
TECHNOLOGICAL COMPARISONS
Table 7.1 makes subjective comparisons, weighted by level of effort,
impact of research, etc., between the state of biology-related nanotechnology
work in Japan, Europe, and the United States.
TABLE 7.1. Comparisons Between Japan, Europe, and the United States
in Biologically Related Aspects of Nanotechnology
Synthesis US/Eur/Japan
Assembly US/Eur Japan
Dispersions and US Eur Japan

Coatings
High Surface Area Eur/Japan US
Materials
Functional US/Japan Eur
Nanostructures
Bio-electronics Japan US/Eur
Level 1 2 3 4
Highest
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Chapter 8
Research Programs on Nanotechnology in the World

(Americas, Asia/Pacific, and Europe)
M.C. Roco1
INTRODUCTION
Scientific breakthroughs combined with recent research programs in the

United States, Japan, and Europe, and various initiatives in Australia,
Canada, China, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan highlight the international
interest in nanoscale science and technology. Definitions of nanotechnology
vary somewhat from country to country. Nanotechnology as defined for the
projects reviewed in this chapter arises from the exploitation of the novel
and improved physical, chemical, mechanical, and biological properties,
phenomena, and processes of systems that are intermediate in size between
isolated atoms/molecules and bulk materials, where phenomena length and
time scales become comparable to those of the structure. It implies the
ability to generate and utilize structures, components, and devices with a size
range from about 0.1 nm (atomic and molecular scale) to about 100 nm (or
larger in some situations) by control at atomic, molecular, and
macromolecular levels. Novel properties occur compared to bulk behavior
because of the small structure size and short time scale of various processes.
Nanotechnology’s size range and particularly its new phenomena set it apart
from the technologies referred to as microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) in the United States or microsystems technologies (MST) in
Europe.
1
Opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of
the National Science Foundation.
131
132 M.C. Roco
It is estimated that nanotechnology is presently at a level of development

similar to that of computer/information technology in the 1950s. As
indicated in the preceding chapters and as evidenced by the WTEC panel’s
research and observations during the course of this study, the development
of nanoscale science and technology is expected by most scientists working
in the field to have a broad and fundamental effect on many other
technologies. This helps to explain the phenomenal levels of R&D activity
worldwide. This chapter presents an overview of most of the significant
nanotechnology research programs in the world. Where possible, a general
picture is given of the funding levels of the programs, based on site
interviews and publications.
AMERICAS
Aspects of nanoscience are taught and researched in the physics,

chemistry, and biology departments of research universities throughout the
American continents. However, significant activities in nanotechnology,
including production and application of nanostructures, have been limited
essentially to the United States and Canada.
The United States 2
Various U.S. public and private funding agencies; large companies in

chemical, computer, pharmaceutical, and other areas; as well as small and
medium-size enterprises provide support for precompetitive research
programs on nanotechnology. Most of the supported programs are evolving
out of disciplinary research programs, and only some are identified as
primarily dealing with nanotechnology. U.S. government agencies
sponsored basic research in this area at a level estimated at about
$116 million in 1997 (Siegel et al. 1998), as shown in Table 8.1. The
National Science Foundation (NSF) has the largest share of the U.S.
government investment, with an expenditure of about $65 million per year,
or about 2.4% of its overall research investment in 1997. In 1998 it
expanded its research support to functional nanostructures with an initiative
in excess of $13 million.
2
For a more in-depth look at the state of nanoscale science and engineering R&D in the
United States, see Siegel et al. 1998.
TABLE 8.1. Support for Nanotechnology Research from U.S. Federal Agencies in 1997
Agency Nanotechnology Research ($M)
National Science Foundation (NSF) 65
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 10
Army Research Office (ARO) 15
Office of Naval Research (ONR) 3
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) 4
Department of Energy (DOE) 7
National Institutes of Health (NIH) 5
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 4
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 3
Total 116
NSF activities in nanotechnology include research supported by the

Advanced Materials and Processing Program; the Ultrafine Particle
Engineering initiative dedicated to new concepts and fundamental research
to generate nanoparticles at high rates; the National Nanofabrication User
Network (NNUN); and Instrument Development for Nano-Science and
Engineering (NANO-95) to advance atomic-scale measurements of
molecules, clusters, nanoparticles, and nanostructured materials. A current
activity is the initiative, Synthesis, Processing, and Utilization of Functional
Nanostructures (NSF 98-20 1997).
In the United States, a number of large multinational corporations, small
enterprises, and consortia are pursuing nanotechnology-related research and
development activities. Dow, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett-Packard
(HP), Hughes Electronics, Lucent, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Xerox, and
other multinationals have established specialized groups in their long-term
research laboratories, where the total research expenditure for
nanotechnology research is estimated to be comparable to the U.S.
government funding. Computer and electronics companies allocate up to
half of their long-term research resources to nanotechnology programs. HP
spends 50% of long-term (over 5 years) research on nanotechnology
(Williams 1998). Small business enterprises, such as Aerochem Research
Laboratory, Nanodyne, Michigan Molecular Institute, and Particle
Technology, Inc., have generated an innovative competitive environment in
various technological areas, including dispersions, coatings, structural
materials, filtration, nanoparticle manufacturing processes, and functional
nanostructures (sensors, electronic devices, etc.). Small niches in the market
as well as support from several U.S. government agencies through the Small
Business for Innovative Research (SBIR) program have provided the nuclei
134 M.C. Roco
for high-tech enterprises. The university-small business technology transfer

(STTR) program at NSF is dedicated to nanotechnology in fiscal year 1999.
Two semiconductor processing consortia, the Semiconductor Manufacturing
and Technology Institute (Sematech) and the Semiconductor Research
Corporation (SRC), are developing significant research activities on
functional nanostructures on inorganic surfaces.
A series of interdisciplinary centers with nanotechnology activities has
been established in the last few years at many U.S. universities, creating a
growing public research and education infrastructure for this field.
Examples of such centers are
• Brown University, Material Research Science and Engineering Center
• Rice University, Richard Smalley’s Center for Nanoscale Science and
Technology (CNST)
• University of California–Berkeley, nanoelectronics facilities
• University of Illinois at Urbana, the Engineering Research Center on
Microelectronics in collaboration with the Beckman Institute, a private
foundation
• University of North Carolina
• University of Texas–Austin
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• University of Washington (focus on nanobiotechnology)
• University of Wisconsin at Madison (focus on nanostructured materials)
NNUN, mentioned above, is an interuniversity effort supported by NSF
at five universities: Cornell, Stanford, University of California–Santa
Barbara (UCSB), Penn State, and Howard. It has focused on
nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, electromechanical systems, and
biotechnology. The Center for Quantized Electronic Structures (QUEST) at
UCSB is a national facility developing expertise on underlying physics and
chemistry aspects. Hundreds of graduate students have completed their
education in connection with these centers in the last few years.
Current interest in nanotechnology in the United States is broad-based
and generally spread into small groups. The research themes receiving the
most attention include
1. metallic and ceramic nanostructured materials with engineered properties
2. molecular manipulation of polymeric macromolecules
3. chemistry self-assembling techniques of “soft” nanostructures
4. thermal spray processing and chemistry-based techniques for
nanostructured coatings
5. nanofabrication of electronic products and sensors
6. nanostructured materials for energy-related processes such as catalysts
and soft magnets
7. nanomachining
8. miniaturization of spacecraft systems
In addition, neural communication and chip technologies are being
investigated for biochemical applications; metrology has been developed for
thermal and mechanical properties, magnetism, micromagnetic modeling,
and thermodynamics of nanostructures; modeling at the atomistic level has
been established as a computational tool; and nanoprobes have been
constructed to study material structures and devices with nanometer length
scale accuracy and picosecond time resolution. While generation of
nanostructures under controlled conditions by building up from atoms and
molecules is the most promising approach, materials restructuring and
scaling-down approaches will continue. Exploratory research includes tools
of quantum control and atom manipulation, computer design of
hierarchically structured materials (e.g., Olson 1997), artificially structured
molecules, combination of organic and inorganic nanostructures,
biomimetics, nanoscale robotics, encoding and utilization of information by
biological structures, DNA computing, interacting textiles, and chemical and
bioagent detectors.
Commercially viable technologies are already in place in the United
States for some ceramic, metallic, and polymeric nanoparticles,
nanostructured alloys, colorants and cosmetics, electronic components such
as those for media recording, and hard-disk reading, to name a few. The
time interval from discovery to technological application varies greatly. For
instance, it took several years from the basic research discovery of the giant
magnetoresistance (GMR) phenomenon in nanocrystalline materials
(Berkowitz et al. 1992) to industry domination by the corresponding
technology by 1997. GMR technology has now completely replaced the old
technologies for computer disk heads, the critical components in hard disk
drives, for which there is a $20+ billion market (Williams 1998). All disk
heads currently manufactured by IBM and HP are based on this discovery.
In another example, nanolayers with selective optical barriers are used at
Kodak in more than 90% of graphics black and white film (Mendel 1997)
and for various optical and infrared filters, which constitute a multibillion-
dollar business. Other current applications of nanotechnology are hard
coatings, chemical and biodetectors, drug delivery systems via nanoparticles,
chemical-mechanical polishing with nanoparticle slurries in the electronics
industry, and advanced laser technology. Several nanoparticle synthesis
processes developed their scientific bases decades ago, but most processes
are still developing their scientific bases (Roco 1998). Most of the
technology base development for nanoparticle work is in an embryonic
phase, and industry alone cannot sustain the research effort required for
establishing the scientific and technological infrastructure. This is the role
136 M.C. Roco
of government (e.g., NSF and NIH) and private agency (e.g., Beckman
Institute) support for fundamental research.
Nanotechnology research in the United States has been developed in
open competition with other research topics within various disciplines. This
is one of the reasons that the U.S. research efforts in nanotechnology are
relatively fragmented and partially overlapping among disciplines, areas of
relevance, and sources of funding. This situation has advantages in
establishing competitive paths in the emerging nanotechnology field and in
promoting innovative ideas; it also has some disadvantages for developing
system applications. An interagency coordinating “Group on
Nanotechnology” targets some improvement of the current situation. The
group was established in 1997 with participants from twelve government
funding/research agencies to enhance communication and develop
partnerships among practicing nanoscience professionals.
Canada
Canada’s National Research Council supports nanotechnology through

the Institute for Microstructural Science, which has the mission to interact
with industry and universities to develop the infrastructure for information
technology. The main project, the Semiconductor Nanostructure Project,
was initiated in 1990. It provides support for fundamental research at a
series of universities, including Queen’s, Carleton, and Ottawa Universities.
ASIA/PACIFIC
There are significant research programs on nanotechnology in Japan, as

well as in China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore.
Japan
The term “nanotechnology” is frequently used in Japan specifically to

describe the construction of nanostructures on semiconductors/inorganic
substrates for future electronic and computer technologies, and to describe
the development of equipment for measurement at nanometer level (Sienko
1998). There are, however, Japanese programs in a number of other areas
related to nanotechnology in the broader definition used in this report.
Government agencies and large corporations are the main sources of
funding for nanotechnology in Japan; small and medium-size companies
play only a minor role. Research activities are generally grouped in
relatively large industrial, government, and academic laboratories. The three
main government organizations sponsoring nanotechnology in Japan are the

Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the Science and
Technology Agency (STA), and Monbusho (the Ministry of Education,
Science, Sports, and Culture). Funding for nanotechnology research should
be viewed in the context of an overall increased level of support for basic
research in Japan since 1995 as a result of Japan’s Science and Technology
Basic Law No. 130 (effective November 15, 1995), even if the law has not
been fully implemented. The data presented below are based on information
received from Japanese colleagues during the WTEC visit in July 1997 (see
site reports in Appendix D). All budgets are for the fiscal year 1996 (1 April
1996 to 31 March 1997) and assume an exchange rate of ¥115 = $1, unless
otherwise stated. The first five-year program on ultrafine particles started in
1981 under the Exploratory Research for Advanced Technologies (ERATO)
program; an overview of the results of that program was published in 1991
(Uyeda 1991).
It is estimated that the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology
(AIST) within MITI had a budget of approximately $60 million per year for
nanotechnology in 1996/97 (roughly 2.2% of the AIST budget). The
National Institute for Advancement of Interdisciplinary Research (NAIR)
hosts three AIST projects:
1. Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT), with a ten-year
budget of about $220 million for 1992-2001 ($25 million per year in
1996)
2. Research on Cluster Science program, with about $10 million for the
interval 1992-1997
3. Research on Bionic Design program, with $10 million for 1992-1997,
about half on nanotechnology
Other efforts supported to various degrees by MITI include the
following:
• the Electrotechnical Laboratory in Tsukuba, which allocates about 17%
(or $17 million per year) of its efforts on advanced nanotechnology
projects
• the Quantum Functional Devices Program, funded at about $64 million
for 1991-2001 (about $6.4 million in 1996)
• the Osaka National Research Institute and the National Industrial
Research Institute of Nagoya, which each spend in the range of
$2.5-3 million per year for nanotechnology
• the Association of Super-Advanced Electronics Technologies (ASET), a
relatively new MITI-sponsored consortium with partial interest in
nanotechnology; it has similarities with the U.S. Ultra Electronics
program of DARPA
138 M.C. Roco
It is estimated that STA investment in nanotechnology research was

about $35 million in 1996, mainly within five organizations:
1. Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), where
nanotechnology is included in the Frontier Materials Research initiative
2. National Research Institute for Metals (NRIM)
3. National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials (NIRIM)
4. Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST—formerly called
JRDC), which manages the ERATO program, including four
nanotechnology-related projects, each with total budgets of $13-18
million for five years:
– Quantum Wave Project (1988-1993)
– Atomcraft Project (1989-1994)
– Electron Wavefront Project (1989-1994)
– Quantum Fluctuation Project (1993-1998)
Monbusho supports nanotechnology programs at universities and
national research institutes, as well as via the Japan Society for Promotion of
Science (JSPS). The most active programs are those at Tokyo University,
Kyoto University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tohoku University, and
Osaka University (see Appendix D). The Institute of Molecular Science and
the Exploratory Research on Novel Artificial Materials and Substances
program promote new research ideas for next-generation industries (5-year
university-industry research projects). The “Research for the Future”
initiative sponsored by JSPS has a program on “nanostructurally controlled
spin-dependent quantum effects” (1996-2001) at Tohoku University.
Monbusho’s funding contribution to nanotechnology programs is estimated
at ~ $25 million.
In total, MITI, STA, and Monbusho allocated ~ $120 million for
nanotechnology in 1996.
Large companies also drive nanotechnology research in Japan. Important
research efforts are at six institutions: Hitachi (Central R&D Laboratories,
where nanotechnology is ~ 25% of long-term research)—Hitachi has
~ $70 billion per year in sales (see site report in Appendix D); NEC
(Fundamental Research Laboratories, where nanotechnology is estimated to
be ~ 50% of the precompetitive research)—NEC has ~ $40 billion per year
in sales (see site report in Appendix D); NTT (Atsugi Lab); Fujitsu
(Quantum Electron Devices Lab); Sony; and Fuji Photo Film Co.
An allocation of 10% of sales for research and development is customary
in these companies, with ~ 10% of this for long-term research. Some
Japanese nanostructured products already have considerable market impact.
Nihon Shinku Gijutsu (ULVAC) produces over $4 million per year in sales
of particles for electronics, optics, and arts. Also, there are in Japan, as in
the United States, private consortia making an increased contribution to

nanotechnology R&D:
• The Semiconductor Industry Research Institute of Japan (SIRI),
established in 1994, focuses on long-term research with partial
government funding
• Semiconductor Leading Edge Technologies, Inc. (SELETE), established
by ten large Japanese semiconductor companies in 1996, focuses on
applied research and development with an estimated budget of
$60 million in 1997
• Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center (STARC)
promotes industry-university interactions
Strengthening of the nanotechnology research infrastructure in the last
years has been fueled by both the overall increase of government funding for
basic research and by larger numbers of academic and industry researchers
choosing nanotechnology as their primary field of research. Potential
industrial applications provide a strong stimulus. A systems approach has
been adopted in most laboratory projects, including multiple characterization
methods and processing techniques. A special Japanese research strength is
instrumentation development. The university-industry interaction is
stimulated by the new MITI projects awarded to universities in the last few
years that encourage temporary hiring of research personnel from industry.
Other issues currently being addressed are more extensive use of peer
review, promoting personnel mobility and intellectual independence,
rewarding researchers for patents, promoting interdisciplinary and
international interactions, and better use of the physical infrastructure.
China
Nanoscience and nanotechnology have received increased attention in

China since the mid-1980s. Approximately 3,000 researchers there now
contribute to this field (Bai 1996). The ten-year “Climbing Project on
Nanometer Science” (1990-1999) and a series of advanced materials
research projects are the core activities. The Chinese Academy of Sciences
sponsors relatively large groups, while the China National Science
Foundation (CNSF) provides support mainly for individual research projects.
Areas of strength are development of nanoprobes and manufacturing
processes using nanotubes. The Chinese Physics Society and the Chinese
Society of Particuology are societies involved in the dissemination of
nanotechnology research.
140 M.C. Roco
India
India’s main research activities are on nanostructured materials and

electronic devices (Sikka 1995). These involve a combination of research
institutions (the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute in Pilani,
the Space Application Center in Ahmedabad, and others), funding
organizations (the Centre for Development of Materials in Pune, the Indian
Institute of Science in Bangalore, and others), and industry.
Taiwan
Taiwan’s major nanotechnology research effort is conducted in the area

of miniaturization of electronic circuits. The research is conducted in
academic institutions and at the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Government funds for fundamental research are channeled via the National
Science Council. (See site reports in Appendix E.)
South Korea
A national research focus on nanotechnology was established in Korea in

1995. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
in Taejon, Korea’s science city, targets advanced technologies for
information and computer infrastructures, with a focus on nanotechnology
(ATIP 1998). The emphasis is on nanoscale semiconductor devices and
particularly on semiconductor quantum nanostructures and device
applications (lasers, modulators, switches and logical devices, resonant
tunneling devices, self-assembled nanosize dots, single-electron transistors,
and quantum wires).
Singapore
Nanotechnology research received a considerable boost in Singapore by

the initiation of a national program in this area in 1995.
Australia
The National Research Council (NRC) of Australia has sponsored R&D

in nanotechnology since 1993 (ASTC 1993). Research groups work on
synthesis of nanoparticles for membranes and catalysts (University of New
South Wales), nanofiltration (UNESCO Center for Membrane Science and
Technology), and use of nanoparticles in processing minerals for special
products (the Advanced Mineral Products Research Center at the University
of Melbourne). AWA Electronics in Homebush has the largest industrial

research facility for nanoelectronics in Australia.
EUROPE
European Community (EC)
The term “nanotechnology” is frequently defined in Europe as “the direct

control of atoms and molecules” for materials and devices. A more specific
definition from H. Rohrer (1997) is a “one-to-one relationship between a
nano-object or nano-part of an object and another nano-, micro- or bulk
object.” The nanotechnology field as defined in this WTEC report includes
these aspects, with the clarification that only the specific, distinctive
properties and phenomena manifesting at length scales between individual
atoms/molecules and bulk behavior are considered.
There are a combination of national programs, collaborative European
(mostly EC) networks, and large corporations that fund nanotechnology
research in Europe. Multinational European programs include the following:
1. The ESPRIT Advanced Research Initiative in Microelectronics and the
BRITE/EURAM projects on materials science in the EC are partially
dedicated to nanotechnology.
2. The PHANTOMS (Physics and Technology of Mesoscale Systems)
program is a network created in 1992 with about 40 members to stimulate
nanoelectronics, nanofabrication, optoelectronics, and electronic
switching. Its coordinating center is at the IMEC Center for
Microelectronics in Leuven, Belgium (see site report in Appendix B).
3. The European Science Foundation has sponsored a network since 1995
for Vapor-phase Synthesis and Processing of Nanoparticle Materials
(NANO) in order to promote bridges between the aerosol and materials
science communities working on nanoparticles. The NANO network
includes 18 research centers and is codirected by Duisburg University
and Delft University of Technology.
4. The European Consortium on NanoMaterials (ECNM) was formed in
1996, with its coordinating center in Lausanne, Switzerland. This group
aims at fundamental research to solve technological problems for
nanomaterials and at improved communication between researchers and
industry.
5. NEOME (Network for Excellence on Organic Materials for Electronics)
has had some programs related to nanotechnology since 1992.
142 M.C. Roco
6. The European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology

(EUSPEN) was designed in 1997 with participation from industry and
universities from six EC countries.
7. The Joint Research Center Nanostructured Materials Network,
established in 1996, has its center in Ispra, Italy.
It is expected that the European Framework V will introduce additional
programs on nanotechnology, particularly by adding a new dimension in
nanobiology in the next four-year plan.
Germany
The Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology

(BMBF) in Germany provides substantial national support for
nanotechnology. The Fraunhofer Institutes, Max Planck Institutes, and
several universities have formed centers of excellence in the field. It is
estimated that in 1997 BMBF supported programs on nanotechnology with a
budget of approximately $50 million per year. Two of the largest upcoming
projects are “CESAR,” a $50 million science center in Bonn equally
sponsored by the state and federal governments with about one-third of its
research dedicated to nanoscience, and a new institute for carbon-reinforced
materials near Karlsruhe ($4 million over 3 years, 1998-2001). BMBF is
establishing five “centers of competence in nanotechnology” in Germany
starting in 1998, with topics ranging from molecular architecture to
ultraprecision manufacturing.
U.K.
A network program (LINK Nanotechnology Programme) was launched

in the United Kingdom in 1988 with an annual budget of about $2 million
per year. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC) is funding materials science projects related to nanotechnology
with a total value of about $7 million for a five-year interval (1994-1999).
About $1 million is specifically earmarked for nanoparticle research. The
National Physical Laboratory established a forum called the National
Initiative on Nanotechnology (NION) for promoting nanotechnology in
universities, industry, and government laboratories.
France
The Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique (CNRS) has developed

research programs on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials at about
40 physics laboratories and 20 chemistry laboratories in France. Synthesis
methods include molecular beam and cluster deposition, lithography,

electrochemistry, soft chemistry, and biosynthesis. Nanotechnology activity
has grown within a wide variety of research groups, including ones focused
on molecular electronics, large gap semiconductors and nanomagnetism,
catalysts, nanofilters, therapy problems, agrochemistry, and even cements
for ductile nanoconcretes. It is estimated that CNRS spends about 2% of its
budget and dedicates 500 researchers in 60 laboratories (or about $40 million
per year) on projects related to nanoscience and nanotechnology.
Companies collaborating to research and produce nanomaterials include
Thompson, St. Gobain, Rhône Poulenc, Air Liquide, and IEMN. Also, there
is the “French Club Nanotechnologie,” aimed at promoting interactions in
this field in France.
Sweden
The estimated total expenditure for research on nanotechnology in

Sweden is ~ $10 million per year. There are four materials research
consortia involved in this field:
1. Ångström Consortium in Uppsala, with a budget of ~ $0.8 million per
year in 1998 for surface nanocoatings
2. Nanometer Structures Consortium in Lund with a budget of ~ $3.5 million
per year partially supported by ESPRIT (~ $1 million per year)
3. Cluster-based and Ultrafine Particle Materials in the University of
Uppsala and Royal Institute of Technology with a budget of
~ $0.4 million per year in 1998
4. Brinell Center at the Royal Institute of Technology
Switzerland
There is a Swiss national program on nanotechnology with a special

strength in instrumentation. The most advanced research centers are focused
on nanoprobes and molecule manipulation on surfaces (IBM Research
Laboratory in Zürich), devices and sensors (Paul Scherrer Institute),
nanoelectronics (ETH Zürich), and self-assembling on surfaces in patterns
determined by the substrate or template (L’École Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne). See the site reports on all of these institutions in Appendix B.
The Netherlands
The most active research centers in the Netherlands are the DIMES
institute at Delft University of Technology, which receives one-third support
from industry, and the Philips Research Institute in Eindhoven, which
144 M.C. Roco
researches self-assembling monolayers and patterning on metallic and

silicon surfaces. The SST Netherlands Study Center for Technology Trends
is completing a study on nanotechnology and aims at promoting increased
funding and research networking in the Netherlands (ten Wolte 1997).
Finland
The Academy of Finland and the Finnish Technology Development

Center began a three-year nanotechnology program in 1997. The program
involves sixteen projects with funding of $9 million for a three-year period
(1997-1999) for nanobiology, functional nanostructures, nanoelectronics,
and other areas. Research on actuators and sensors is the Finnish area of
strength.
Belgium and Spain
Since about 1993 both Belgium and Spain have established

nanotechnology programs, centers of excellence, and university-industry
interactions.
Multinational Efforts
Large multinational companies with significant nanotechnology research

activities in Europe include IBM (Zürich), Philips, Siemens, Bayer, and
Hitachi. Degussa Co., with headquarters in Germany, is a commercial
supplier since 1940 of microparticles and, now, nanoparticles.
Western Europe has a variety of approaches to funding research on
nanotechnology. These are discussed in detail in other studies. IPTS (the
Science and Technology Forecast Institute) has conducted a study on
nanotechnology research in the EC (Malsh 1997). Other European studies
published recently include those by VDI (1996), UNIDO (1997), the U.K.
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (1997), and NANO
network (Fissan and Schoonman 1997). The overall expenditure for
nanotechnology research within the EC was estimated in 1997 to be over
$128 million per year.
RUSSIA AND OTHER FSU COUNTRIES
Support for generation of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials has

a tradition in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU)
dating back to the mid-1970s; before 1990 an important part of this support
was connected to defense research. The first public paper concerning the
special properties of nanostructures was published in Russia in 1976. In
1979 the Council of the Academy of Sciences created a section on “Ultra-
Dispersed Systems.” Research strengths are in the areas of preparation
processes of nanostructured materials and in several basic scientific aspects.
Metallurgical research for special metals, including those with
nanocrystalline structures, has received particular attention; research for
nanodevices has been relatively less developed. Due to funding limitations,
characterization and utilization of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials
requiring costly equipment are less advanced than processing.
Russian government funds are allocated mainly for research personnel
and less for infrastructure (Chem. Eng. News 1997). Funding for
nanotechnology is channeled via the Ministry of Science and Technology,
the Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research, the Academy of
Sciences, the Ministry of Higher Education, and other ministries with
specific targets. The Ministry of Higher Education has relatively little
research funding. Overall, 2.8% of the civilian budget in Russia in 1997 was
planned for allocation to science. There is no centralized program on
nanotechnology; however, there are components in specific institutional
programs. Currently, about 20% of science research in Russia is funded via
international organizations. The significant level of interest in the FSU can
be identified by the relatively large participation at a series of Russian
conferences on nanotechnology, the first in 1984 (First USSR Conference on
Physics and Chemistry of Ultradispersed Systems), a second in 1989, and a
third in 1993.
The Ministry of Science and Technology contributes to nanotechnology
through several of its specific programs related to solid-state physics, surface
science, fullerenes and nanostructures, and particularly “electronic and
optical properties of nanostructures.” This last program involves a network
of scientific centers: the Ioffe Institute in St. Petersburg, Lebedev Institute in
Moscow, Moscow State University, Novgograd Institute of Microstructures,
Novosibirsk Institute of Semiconductor Physics, and others. This research
network has an annual meeting on nanostructures, physics, and technology,
and has developed interactions with the PHANTOMS network in the EC.
The U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation has provided
research funds in the FSU for several projects related to nanotechnology,
including “Highly Non-Equilibrium States and Processes in Nanomaterials”
at the Ioffe Institute (1996-1998).
Russian government and international organizations are the primary
research sponsors for nanotechnology in Russia. However, laboratories and
companies privatized in the last few years, such as the Delta Research
Institute in Moscow, are under development. With a relatively lower base in
146 M.C. Roco
characterization and advanced computing, the research focus is on advanced

processing and continuum modeling. Research strengths are in the fields of
physico-chemistry, nanostructured materials, nanoparticle generation and
processing methods, and applications for hard materials, purification, and the
oil industry, and biologically active systems (Siegel et al. n.d.).
There are related programs in Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia, mostly
under the direction of the respective academies of sciences in these
countries, that are dedicated to crystalline nanostructures and advanced
structural and nanoelectronic materials. Several innovative processes, such
as diamond powder production by detonation synthesis at SINTA in Belarus,
are not well known abroad.
CLOSING REMARKS
Nanotechnology in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe is

making progress in developing a suitable research infrastructure. The
promise of nanotechnology is being realized through the confluence of
advances in two fields: (1) scientific discovery that has enabled the atomic,
molecular, and supramolecular control of material building blocks, and
(2) manufacturing that provides the means to assemble and utilize these
tailored building blocks for new processes and devices in a wide variety of
applications. Technology programs cannot be developed without strong
supporting science programs because of the scale and complexity of the
nanosystems. The overlapping of discipline-oriented research with
nanotechnology-targeted programs seems appropriate at this point in time.
Highly interdisciplinary and multiapplication nanotechnology provides
generic approaches that enable advances in other technologies, from
dispersions, catalysts, and electronics to biomedicine. Essential trends
include the following:
• learning from nature (including templating, self-assembly,
multifunctionality)
• building up functional nanostructures from molecules
• convergence of miniaturization and assembly techniques
• novel materials by design
• use of hierarchical/adaptive simulations
A characteristic of discovery in nanotechnology is the potential for
revolutionary steps. The question “what if?” is progressively replaced by “at
what cost?” The road from basic research to applications may vary from a
few months to decades. Research and development is expensive, and the
field needs support from related areas. The R&D environment should favor
multiapplication and international partnerships.
Based on the data for 1996 and 1997 collected during this WTEC study,
1997 government expenditures for nanotechnology research were at similar
absolute levels in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe (Table 8.2).
(Estimated OECD data for 1997 indicated GDPs of $4.49 billion for Japan,
$7.76 billion for the United States, and $7.00 billion for Western Europe.)
The largest funding opportunities for nanotechnology are provided by
NSF in the United States (approximately $65 million per year for
fundamental research), by MITI in Japan (approximately $50 million per
year for fundamental research and development), and by BMBF in Germany
(approximately $50 million per year for fundamental and applied research).
Large companies in areas such as dispersions, electronics, multimedia, and
bioengineering contribute to research to a larger extent in Japan and the
United States than in Europe. While multinational companies are pursuing
nanotechnology research activities in almost all developed countries, the
presence of an active group of small and medium-size companies
introducing new processes to the market is limited to the United States.
In the United States, individual and small-group researchers as well as
industrial and national laboratories for specialized topics have established a
strong position in synthesis and assembly of nanoscale building blocks and
catalysts, and in polymeric and biological approaches to nanostructured
materials. The Japanese large-group research institutes, and more recently
academic laboratories, have made particular advances in nanodevices and
nano-instrumentation. The European “mosaic” provides a diverse
combination of university research, networks, and national laboratories with
special performance in dispersion and coatings, nanobiotechnology, and
nanoprobes. With a relatively lower base in characterization and computing
infrastructure, the research focus in Russia is on physico-chemistry
phenomena, advanced processing, and continuum modeling. Interest and
economic support, particularly for device-related research, is growing in
China, Australia, India, Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore.
TABLE 8.2. Government Expenditures on Nanotechnology Research in 1997,

Based on the WTEC Site Interviews
Geographical Area Annual Budget, Relative Annual Budget
NTR* ($ million) NTR/GDP* (ppm)
Japan 120 27
United States 116 15
Western Europe 128 18
Other countries (FSU, China, Canada, 70 -
Australia, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore)
Total 432 -
* NTR – nanotechnology research; GDP – Gross Domestic Product
148 M.C. Roco
The pace of revolutionary discoveries that we are witnessing now in

nanotechnology is expected to accelerate in the next decade worldwide.
This will have a profound impact on existing and emerging technologies in
almost all industry sectors, in conservation of materials and energy, in
biomedicine, and in environmental sustainability.
REFERENCES
ASTC (Australian Science and Technology Council). 1993. Small-things-big returns: The
role of nanotechnology in Australia’s future. ASTC Report No. 26 (May).
ATIP (Asian Technology Information Program). 1998. Nanotechnology in Korea. Report
ATIP98.027.
Bachmann, G. 1996. Nanotechnology (in German). Dusseldorf, Germany: Society of
German Engineers (VDI) Technology Center.
Bai, Chunli. 1996. Science and technology in China. In Proc. Nanotechnology Forum,
München, Germany, Oct.
Berkowitz, A.E., et al. 1992. Phys. Rev. Lett. 68:3745.
Chem. Eng. News. 1997. Science in Russia. Chem. Eng. News 75(7 April):45-47.
European Commission. 1997. Fifth framework programme (1998-2002). Proposal EUR
17651, EC, Belgium.
Fissan, H., and Schoonman, J. 1997. Vapour-phase synthesis and processing of nanoparticle
materials (NANO). Mid-term report, ESF, Strasbourg, France, Oct.
Malsh, I. 1997. The importance of interdisciplinary approaches: The case of
nanotechnology. IPTS Report No. 13, Seville, Spain, April.
Mendel, J. 1997. Private communication (Dec.).
NSF. 1997. Partnership in nanotechnology: Synthesis, processing and utilization of
functional nanostructures. Arlington, Virginia: National Science Foundation.
Olson, G.B. 1997. Computational design of hierarchically structured materials. Science
277:1237-1242.
POST (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, U.K.). 1996. Making it in
miniature – Nanotechnology, UK science and IT. London: POST.
Roco, M.C. 1998. Perspective on nanoparticle manufacturing research. In Proc. NATO-ASI
on nanostructured materials. Amsterdam: Kluwer, pp. 71-92.
Rohrer, H. 1997. Nanotechnology—the Nature way. Arlington, VA: NSF.
Sheka, E.F. N.d. Some aspects of nanoparticle technology in Russia. In Russian R&D on
nanoparticles and nanostructured materials, ed. Siegel et al.
Siegel, R.W., E. Hu, and M.C. Roco. 1998. R&D status and trends in nanoparticles,
nanostructured materials, and nanodevices in the United States. (Proceedings of the
WTEC workshop 8-9 May 1997, Arlington, VA.) Baltimore: Loyola College,
International Technology Research Institute (ITRI). NTIS #PB98-117914.
Siegel, R.W., E. Hu, G.M Holdridge, I.A. Ovid’ko, and M.C. Roco, eds. N.d. Russian
research and development on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials (Proceedings of
the WTEC Workshop, 21 August 1997, St. Petersburg, Russia). To be published by
Loyola College, ITRI, Baltimore, MD.
Sienko, T. 1998. Present status of Japanese nanotechnology efforts. In Proc., Fifth foresight
conference on molecular nanotechnology, Palo Alto, CA: Foresight Institute.
ten Wolte, A. 1997. Nanotechnology think tank in the Netherlands. In Proc., Fifth Foresight
Conf.
UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization). 1997. Special issue on
nanotechnology. In New and advanced materials, Emerging Technologies Series. Vienna,
Austria: UNIDO.
Uyeda, R. 1991. Studies of ultrafine particles in Japan. In Progress in Materials Science
35:1-73. Pergamon Press.
Williams, S. 1998. Private communication.
150 M.C. Roco
APPENDICES
Appendix A. Biographies of Panelists

and Other Team Members
PANELISTS
Dr. Richard W. Siegel (Panel Chair)

Robert W. Hunt Professor and Head, Materials Science and Engineering Dept.
Dr. Siegel holds an AB degree (Physics) from Williams College and MS

(Physics) and PhD (Metallurgy) degrees from the University of Illinois in
Urbana. He is the past Chairman of the International Committee on
Nanostructured Materials and earlier served on the U.S. National Materials
Advisory Board Committee on Materials with Submicron-Sized
Microstructures and was the co-chairman of the Study Panel on Clusters and
Cluster-Assembled Materials for the U.S. Department of Energy. He was on
the faculty of the State University of New York at Stony Brook from 1966 to
1976 and at Argonne National Laboratory from 1974 to 1995.
He has authored more than 180 publications in the areas of defects in
metals; diffusion; and nanophase metal, ceramic, and composite materials.
In addition, he has presented more than 300 invited lectures around the
world and has edited 9 books on these subjects. He was listed by Science
Watch as the fourth most highly cited author in materials science during
1990-1994. Dr. Siegel is an associate editor of Materials Letters and a
founding principal editor of Nanostructured Materials. He is a founder and
director of Nanophase Technologies Corporation, and was recognized for
this effort by a 1991 U.S. Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for
Excellence in Technology Transfer. He is an honorary member of the
Materials Research Societies of India and Japan, a 1994 recipient of an
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Research Award in Germany,
and he presented the 1996 MacDonald Lecture in Canada.
151
152 Appendix A. Biographies of Panelists and Other Team Members
Dr. Evelyn Hu (Panel Co-chair)

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director, Center for
Quantized Electronic Structures
University of California Santa Barbara
Dr. Hu’s research focus as Director of QUEST, the NSF-funded Science

and Technology Center focusing on Quantized Electronic Structures, is high-
resolution, low-damage fabrication of electronic and optoelectronic devices.
She is also the Director of the University’s node of the NSF-sponsored
National Nanofabrication Users Network. Prior to joining UCSB, Dr. Hu
was a member of technical staff and subsequently a supervisor in the
Department of VLSI Patterning Processes at AT&T Bell Laboratories.
She received her BA in Physics (summa cum laude) from Barnard
College and her MA and PhD in Physics from Columbia University. She
currently serves on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Defense Research Science Council. She is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of
the American Physical Society (APS), and holds an honorary doctorate of
engineering from the University of Glasgow.
Dr. Donald M. Cox

Exxon Research and Engineering Company
Dr. Cox is a physicist in the Corporate Research Laboratories of Exxon

Research and Engineering Company. He received a BA in Physics and
Mathematics from Indiana State College and his PhD degree in Atomic and
Molecular Physics from the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
(JILA) at the University of Colorado. After postdoctoral research at New
York University where he studied properties of thermal equilibrium alkali
plasmas, he joined Exxon Research and Engineering Company in 1973.
At Exxon, Dr. Cox’s research interests have encompassed a variety of
areas, including laser isotope separation of molecules using infrared
multiphoton excitation and dissociation; optoacoustic spectroscopy; studies
of the electronic, magnetic, and chemical properties of size-selected
transition metal clusters both in the gas phase and deposited on substrates;
investigations probing the properties and uses of carbon clusters, fullerenes
and carbon nanotubes; and most recently, studies of microporous materials
useful in gas separations via membranes and sorption. He is a member of
the APS and ACS and has two patents and over 100 publications.
Dr. Herb Goronkin

Director, Physical Research Laboratory
Phoenix Corporate Research Laboratories, Motorola Corp.
Dr. Goronkin received his BA, MA, and PhD in Physics from Temple
University and began work on high-speed devices and compound
semiconductor materials in 1963. He joined Motorola in 1977 to start the
GaAs electronics program. This program developed Motorola’s early
versions of MESFETs, MMICs, and HFETs for low-power, low-noise
applications, and the high-efficiency 3-volt power HFET for wireless
applications. The Physical Research Lab is engaged in quantum devices for
future ULSICs, giant magnetoresistance for nonvolatile memory, molecular
self-assembly for future electronic and bioelectronic applications, and data
mining using neural networks. The lab is the only non-Japanese organization
working on MITI’s 10-year program on quantum functional devices.
Dr. Goronkin is a fellow of the IEEE and member of the American
Physical Society and Sigma Xi. He has served on many conference
committees and organizations and given several conference short courses on
III-V device physics. He has over 40 patents and numerous publications.
Motorola presented him with the Distinguished Innovator Award (1992) and
the Master Innovator Award (1995), and he is a member of Motorola’s
Science Advisory Board Associates. Also, the Phoenix Section of the IEEE
selected him as Senior Engineer of the Year (1993). He is currently director
of the Physical Research Lab in the Phoenix Corporate Research
Laboratories and a Motorola Dan Noble Fellow.
Dr. Lynn Jelinski

At time of this study: Professor of Engineering and Director, Center for
Advanced Technology and Office of Economic Development,
Biotechnology Program, Cornell University
Presently: Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, Louisiana
State University
Dr. Jelinski’s research involves the use of magnetic resonance for studies
of biomaterials, including spider silk. Prior to joining Cornell in 1991 and
Louisiana State University in 1998, she was head of the Biophysics and
Polymer Chemistry Departments at AT&T Bell Laboratories.
She graduated from Duke University (BS) and the University of Hawaii
(PhD), both in chemistry. She is on a number of editorial boards and has
served nationally in various capacities, including as a member of the Galvin
Commission on the Future of the Department of Energy Laboratories. She
currently serves on numerous panels and advisory boards, including the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Nuclear Engineering

and the National Science Foundation’s Mathematics and Physical Sciences
Division. She has published over 100 papers on her research.
Dr. Carl C. Koch

Professor, Associate Department Head, and Director of Graduate Programs
Materials Science and Engineering Department, North Carolina State Univ.
Dr. Koch’s present research interests include non-equilibrium processing,

metastable materials, and intermetallic compounds. Current projects are
studies of ductility of nanocrystalline materials and metastable structures in
polymer alloys.
Dr. Koch received his PhD in metallurgy from Case Western Reserve
University (1964) and was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at Birmingham
University, England (1964-65). In 1965 he joined Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, where he became a group leader in 1970. In 1983 he was
appointed professor at North Carolina State University. He is a fellow of the
APS, ASM International, and AAAS. He is a member of TMS and MRS.
He has received a Department of Energy Metallurgy and Ceramics Award.
He was cited in Science Watch (October 1995) for the third highest number
of citations per paper in the world for high impact papers in materials
science for 1990-1994. Coholder of three U.S. patents, he has coedited four
books and authored or coauthored over 170 papers. He is editor of Material
Science and Engineering A and associate editor of Nanostructured Materials.
Mr. John Mendel

Senior Unit Director, Dispersion Technology
Emulsion Process Division, Eastman Kodak Co.
Mr. Mendel’s unit is a particle technology center involved with process

research and development, scale-up, technology transfer, and manufacturing
support. The unit’s scientists and engineers address issues in particle size
reduction, dispersion stabilization, process scale-up, process verification, and
characterization, as well as resolving day-to-day manufacturing issues. This
work involves interaction with Kodak plants worldwide on a variety of
nanoparticle systems, including organic dyes and pigments, and important
inorganic materials.
Mr. Mendel received his BS degree in Physical Chemistry from the
University of Washington in Seattle and his MS degree also in Physical
Chemistry from Boston College prior to entering industry at Hercules
Development Center. For three years he worked on pigmented polymer
systems before joining Kodak in Rochester, New York. He has been with
Kodak for 26 years. For the past nine years he has been the Unit Director for
the Dispersion Technology Unit in Kodak’s Emulsion Process Division.
Dr. David T. Shaw

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Executive Director, New York State Institute of Superconductivity
Director, Integrated Nanostructure Characterization Laboratory, State
University of New York, Buffalo
As founding president of the American Association for Aerosol Research

(AAAR), Dr. Shaw has been actively involved with the development of
nanoparticle technology. Together with Benjamin Liu and David Ensor, he
was one of the founding editors-in-chief for the journal Aerosol Science and
Technology, which is one of the major journals covering the generation,
characterization, and applications of nanoparticles. He has published more
than 230 journal papers and is the editor of seven monographs on aerosol
science and technology. He has lectured extensively in Japan, Europe, and
China and is well known for his work on the role of nanoparticles in the
fundamental and the applied aspects of superconductivity, and for his work
on magnetic and supermagnetic nanoparticles.
Dr. Shaw was a member of the US/USSR and US/OECD delegations on
submicron particles, and led the U.S. delegation in a jointly sponsored effort
to promote cooperation in the field of superconductivity between the United
States and Japan. He is the recipient of the Association Award (1985) and
the International Research Fellow Award (1994) from AAAR. Prof. Shaw
received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National
Taiwan University and his MS and PhD degrees from Purdue University.
NSF COORDINATOR
Dr. M.C. Roco

Program Director, Directorate for Engineering
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Dr. Roco’s area of responsibility at NSF includes chemical and

mechanical engineering and the initiatives on functional nanostructures and
nanoparticle manufacturing. He was a professor of mechanical engineering
at the University of Kentucky (1981-1995) and has been a consultant to
industry in the areas of two-phase flow equipment, surface phenomena,
computer-aided design, toner-based copy machines, and chemical
processing. Dr. Roco was honored as a recipient of the Carl Duisberg
Award in Germany, Gary Leach Award in the United States, special service
awards from ASME and AICHE, the ASME Fluids Engineering Award, and
as Outstanding Research Professor at the University of Kentucky. He served
as associate technical editor for the Journal of Fluids Engineering and
Engineering Journal of Flow Visualization and is currently editor of the
Journal of Nanoparticle Research. He is credited with 13 inventions, has
authored more than 100 archival articles, and has coauthored the books,
Slurry Flow: Theory and Practice (1991) and Particulate Two-Phase Flow
(1993). He is a fellow of ASME and is currently chair of the International
Multiphase Award Committee (since 1995), chair of the Particle Technology
Forum of AICHE (since 1996), and member of the executive committee of
the Institute of Multiphase Science and Technology.
OTHER TEAM MEMBERS
Hiroshi Morishita
President, HMI Corporation
Mr. Morishita specializes in ultramicro manipulation technology for

microelectromechanical systems. He founded HMI Corporation in 1991 to
commercialize his ultramicro manipulator system. He extended his interest
and business to the field of archaeological excavating machines and to the
new robot manipulator system to help bed-ridden persons. In 1994, he
became a consultant to WTEC panel members concerning their study tours
in Japan. He graduated from the University of Tokyo (BA, MA in
mechanical engineering) and is in the final stages of preparing his doctoral
thesis. He was a visiting researcher in the Mechanical Engineering
Department (1992 and 1993) and in the Research Center for Advanced
Science and Technology (in 1994 and 1995) of the University of Tokyo.
Cecil H. Uyehara
Senior Advisor to WTEC for Japan Operations
President, Uyehara International Associates
Cecil H. Uyehara, president of Uyehara International Associates, is a

consultant on U.S.-Japanese relations in the fields of science and technology.
He served in the U.S. government for almost 25 years, with the U.S. Air
Force (weapons systems planning), the Office of Management and Budget
(military assistance), and the Agency for International Development (AID).
He has published on Japanese politics, scientific advice and public policy,
and Japanese calligraphy. He organized the first U.S. Congressional
hearings on Japanese science and technology, lectures at the U.S. Foreign

Service Institute on Japanese science and technology, and has served as a
consultant to the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Library of Congress on Japanese
calligraphy. He received a BA from Keio University and an MA from the
University of Minnesota, both in Political Economy. He has received
awards and grants from the Ford Foundation, American Philosophical
Society, University of Minnesota (Shevlin Fellowship), and the National
Institute of Public Affairs.
Figure A.1. Panelists and other team members at the Yaesu Fujiya Hotel in Tokyo, July 1997.
From left: David Shaw, John Mendel, Lynn Jelinski, Donald Cox, Carl Koch, Richard Siegel,
Herb Goronkin, Mike Roco, Cecil Uyehara, Evelyn Hu, Hiroshi Morishita.
Appendix B. Site Reports—Europe
Site: Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique (CNRS)

3, rue Michel-Ange
75794 Paris cedex 16 France
Tel: (33) 1-4496 40 00; Fax: (33) 1-4496 50 00
http://www.cnrs.fr/ or http://www.uiuc.edu/cnrs/
Date visited: 17 October 1997
WTEC: R.W. Siegel (report author), D.M. Cox, H. Goronkin, E. Hu,

C. Koch, J. Mendel, D.T. Shaw
Hosts: Dr. Catherine Bréchignac, Director General of CNRS

Fax: (33) 1-4496 4913
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. J.F. Baumard, Director, CNRS Materials Program and
Laboratory of Ceramic Materials and Surface
Treatments, Limoges
Dr. Christian Colliex, Director, CNRS Laboratory Aimé
Cotton, Orsay
Dr. Henri Van Damme, CNRS, Centre de Recherche sur la
Matire Divise (CRMD), Orléans
Dr. François Gautier, CNRS, Strasbourg
Prof. Jean-Pierre Jolivet, Université Pierre et Marie Curie,
Paris
Dr. Jean-Paul Pouget, CNRS, Department of Physical and
Mathematical Sciences
Dr. Jacques Prost, Director, Institute Curie, Paris
Dr. Albert Masson, CNRS Research Director
BACKGROUND
The panel spent the afternoon of 17 October from 13:30 to 17:00 at the
headquarters of the Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique (CNRS) in
Paris as guests of the CNRS Director General, Dr. Catherine Bréchignac.
Dr. Bréchignac had the previous July taken over this important position after
159
160 Appendix B. Site Reports—Europe
being Director of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at CNRS (the post

now held by Dr. Jean-Paul Pouget) and Director of the CNRS Laboratory
Aimé Cotton in Orsay. She graciously and generously assembled a group of
nine senior leaders in the area of nanostructure science and technology to
meet with the WTEC panel. The CNRS programs in the area of
nanostructure science and technology are very extensive and range
nationwide, from Lille to Marseille and from Rennes to Strasbourg, with the
heaviest concentration being in the Paris area.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS
According to Dr. Bréchignac, who began with an overview of the CNRS

activities, about 300 researchers in 40 physics laboratories and 200
researchers in 20 chemistry laboratories are involved in nanotechnology
research with annual funding of about FFr. 18 million, much of which
(~ FFr. 12 million) comes from the interdisciplinary Ultimatech Program
within the CNRS. An additional FFr. 9 million is spent annually via
contracts for nanotechnology research in about 45 laboratories paid on a
50%/50% basis by industry and the CNRS. These latter efforts appear to be
particularly effective with regard to eventual technology transfer toward
commercialization, in that this research is carried out within industrial
surroundings, such as Thomson, St. Gobain, Rhône Poulenc, and Air
Liquide. Particularly impressive was the degree of interaction and
awareness apparent among the various participants in the French
nanotechnology network, something clearly fostered to considerable
advantage by the CNRS structure and its excellent management.
The CNRS research program ranges broadly across the full spectrum of
nanotechnology. Synthesis of nanostructures using molecular beam, cluster
deposition, and lithographic methods is being carried out, as are more
classical chemical and electrochemical approaches. In addition, soft
chemistry and biosynthesis efforts are underway. A wide range of scientific
instrumentation for characterization and manipulation of nanostructures is
being employed and/or developed. These include synchrotron radiation,
near-field microscopies—scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic
force microscopy (AFM)—and spectroscopies (STM, optical), magnetic and
electron microscopy, and atom manipulation. The scientific and
technological contexts of the CNRS nanotechnology research range over
such diverse topics as nanomagnetism, molecular electronics, nanotubes,
large-gap semiconductors, oxide layers, self-organization, catalysis,
nanofilters, molecular sieves (zeolites), hybrid materials, therapy problems,
and agrochemistry. Utilizing a roundtable format for the remainder of the
discussions, the French participants described the activities in their own

spheres of interest.
Research on Nanoparticles and Related Technologies
Dr. J.F. Baumard, Director of the Materials Program at CNRS and the
Laboratory of Ceramic Materials and Surface Treatments (ENSCI) in
Limoges, described the activities associated with the Department of
Chemical Sciences at CNRS. The main research issues, under investigation
at numerous university and industrial laboratories around France, are
concerned with nanoparticles and related technologies:
• nanomaterials—a number of interfacial problem areas:
– solid-gas interfaces and their relationship to adsorption and catalysis
applications
– solid-liquid interfaces in relation to dispersions, (soft) nanochemistry,
and membranes
– solid-solid interfaces and interphases in nanocomposites, more
conventional composites, and hybrid materials
• nanosystems for molecular electronics and handling of species at the
nanoscale level
• ceramic matrix nanocomposites containing intergranular metal
nanoparticles and/or high-aspect-ratio carbon nanotubes
• interdisciplinary research:
– in the area of adsorption and catalysis, 7 different laboratories are
synthesizing oxyfluoride compounds with nanoporous architecture
– in the area of dispersions, about 25 laboratories are investigating
(soft) nanochemistry, membranes, and colloidal mixed systems
– about 10 laboratories are researching Si-based (Si/C/N) nanophase
ceramic powders in nanocomposites, composites, and hybrid
materials
Research on Carbon and Other Nanotubes
Dr. Christian Colliex, the new Director of the CNRS Laboratory Aimé
Cotton in Orsay, described the major types of research under development in
France on carbon and other (e.g., BCN) nanotubes. The synthesis,
elaboration, purification, and integration of nanotubes are being carried out
by various methods at a number of locations:
• arc-discharge at Montpellier and Peleiseau
• solar furnace at Odeillo
• laser ablation at Chatillon
• catalytic routes at Orléans and Grenoble

• microscopic and macroscopic characterization performed by means of
electron microscopy (high-resolution imaging, analysis, and electron
energy loss spectroscopy—EELS) at Chatillon and Orsay
• near-field microscopy (STM and AFM) at Toulouse
• Micro-superconducting quantum interference device work
(microSQUIDs) at Grenoble
• Raman spectroscopy at Nantes and Bordeaux
• Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) at Montpellier
• measurements of physical properties of nanotubes are also being made:
– of mechanical properties at Chatillon
– of conductivity, transport, and magnetism at Saclay, Orsay, and
Grenoble
In addition, a variety of nanotube applications are being investigated in
the areas of nanoelectronics, nanocomposites, and storage media. Also,
significant CNRS network research programs (so-called GdR or
Groupements de Recherche) are underway or planned. One on fullerene
research (1992-1996) ended recently, and another on single- and multi-
walled nanotubular structures has been proposed at about FFr. 1.5 million.
Both are led by P. Bernier at Montpellier, who is also the coordinator of a
European effort on nanotubes for microstructure technology (NAMITECH)
that includes laboratories from Montpellier, Stuttgart, Valladolid, Namur,
Nantes, Orléans, and Dublin and is funded at about FFr. 1.5 to 2 million. In
all these French efforts, research ideas come from scientists in laboratories—
they “bubble up from the bottom.”
A new NEDO (Japan) effort on production, characterization and
properties of novel nanotubular materials, coordinated by Sumio Iijima
(formerly with NEC-Tsukuba and now at Nagoya University), includes
efforts at NEC-Tsukuba, Tokyo, MIT, Rehovoth, and Orsay.
Research on the Rheology and Mechanics of Nanoparticle

Arrays
Dr. Henri Van Damme (CRMD-Orléans) discussed ongoing, broad-based

French activities in the fundamental rheology and mechanics of ordered and
disordered arrays of nanoparticles with controlled interactions. Various
dispersed nanoparticle systems are being investigated:
• sol-gel soft glass and colloidal crystals for optical applications
• complex fluids such as ferrofluids and “smart” gels
• mechanical reinforcement of rubber, plastics, and concrete
• porous aggregates of nanoparticles as aerogels to make glass or for

damping (localized modes) or for their plasticity in part-forming
applications
• “aggregate engineering” with nanoparticles, in which the physics and
chemistry of the aggregates is very important, and especially their fractal
nature in many mechanical applications
• consolidated nanomaterials, such as ceramics, metals, and cements, for
their increased hardness (metals), wear resistance, and ductility (ceramics
and cements)
An exciting effort by a 6-laboratory network, with some additional
funding by industry, investigating the possibility of making ductile cement
(“nanoconcrete”), which could have a strong future impact in this field, was
also described.
Research on Magnetic Nanostructures
Dr. François Gautier (Strasbourg) described the extensive work on

magnetic nanostructures, including those for magnetic recording and
sensors, being carried out in France through a wide-ranging CNRS network
and EU-level interactions as well:
• synthesis of various new nanostructures and nanosystems consisting of
superlattices, nanowires, quantum dots, and nanoparticles, including
work with filled nanotubes and also with the “atomic sawing” of
multilayers by dislocation shear to form multilevel nanostructures with
various architectures
• investigation of a number of related physical properties and their
applications, including giant and colossal magnetoresistance (GMR,
CMR), tunneling and magneto-Coulomb effects, magneto-optics, and
rapid spin-flip femtomagnetism
• study of fundamental magnetization processes such as nucleation,
magnetization reversal, and hysteresis
• work on new experimental methods and instrumentation such as
microSQUIDs and nanocalorimetry
Most of the GMR work is being done in a joint laboratory at Thomson
CSF (Orsay) led by Prof. Albert Fert, the pioneer of GMR, and jointly
funded by CNRS, Thomson, and l’Université d’Orsay. Such laboratories are
a special and apparently very effective feature of the CNRS national research
program.
Research on Chemical Synthesis of Nanomaterials
Prof. Jean-Pierre Jolivet (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris)

described the work on the chemical synthesis of nanomaterials being carried
out in the area of chemistry of condensed matter at the University under
Prof. Jacques Livage, Director. This research is jointly supported by the
CNRS and various industries, such as St. Gobain and Rhône Poulenc. The
main topics of this work are
• nanostructured organic-inorganic hybrids
• oxide nanoparticles
• nanocomposites
• bioencapsulation
Wide-ranging application fields include dispersions and coatings, high
surface area materials, modification of bulk properties (mechanical, optical,
electrical, and magnetic), and immunology. For example, hybrid networks
of organic and inorganic materials interpenetrated at the nanometer scale
(e.g., a Zr metal network and a polymerized organic network former) could
be synthesized using a sol-gel route from heterofunctional molecular
precursors and engineered to yield improved mechanical properties of
coatings by varying the proportions of the two constituents.
Also discussed were research efforts on the mechanisms involved in the
interactions between the precursors and the control of the size and dispersion
of various nanostructured entities. The mean particle sizes of nanoparticles
of magnetic spinel iron oxides, for example, have been controlled by means
of controlling the chemistry of the oxide-solution interface to make
composites in polymers or silica glasses; the magnetic behavior of the
dispersed state in the nanocomposite is thus controlled.
Research on Self-Organized Soft Nanostructures
Dr. Jacques Prost, Director at the Institut Curie (IC) in Paris, described
work in progress at the IC on a variety of self-organized soft nanostructures,
including lyotropic liquid crystals (softeners, detergents), block copolymers
(polymer alloys), stealth vesicles (for drug delivery or gene therapy), and
Langmuir-Blodgett films with grafted antibiotic surface layers. He went on
to discuss a variety of related areas in analytical nanostructures, made by
patterning surfaces with filled nanocavities, and in DNA-based
bionanotechnology used to form nanoelectronics (wires, single-electron
transistors), much of it done in the United States or Germany. He cited
strong efforts in France at the IC, École Nationale Superieure, and
Strasbourg on DNA molecule system micromechanics and on molecular
motors for motility assays.
Research on Growth of Nanstructure Materials by Direct

Cluster Deposition
Finally, Dr. Albert Masson, CNRS Research Director and a close

colleague of Drs. Bréchignac and Colliex at the CNRS and Laboratoire
Aimé Cotton, then described extensive and impressive work on the growth
of nanostructured materials by means of direct cluster deposition from
molecular beams, research done only by the CNRS in France at Orsay and
Lyon. A variety of nanomaterials, including metals, semiconductors, and
insulators, have been synthesized and studied for a number of their
properties. They have been well characterized by several methods, including
transmission electron microscopy, Raman and electron spectroscopies, STM,
AFM, EELS, and grazing-angle X-rays, along with simulations.
CONCLUSION
The WTEC panel’s visit concluded with a general discussion among the
participants. It was clear on the scientific side that much more theory, in
both the modeling and ab initio areas, would be extremely useful to the
future development of the nanotechnology field, in France and elsewhere. In
terms of the functionality of national research efforts, in nanotechnology and
otherwise, there appears to be excellent (and rather unique) networking in
France across disciplinary lines and traditional areas, which seems to be
largely a result of the highly effective GdR research groups set in motion
with money from the CNRS. There is some concern about the effectiveness
of transferring science to engineering and then to manufacturing, but the
joint CNRS programs with industry can often (but not always) overcome this
problem.
Site: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Institut de Physique Experimentale (IPE)
Département de Physique
CH-1015 Lausanne-Ecublens, Switzerland
Tel: (41) 21-693 3320; Fax: (41) 21-693 3604
http://www.ipent.epfl.ch
Date Visited: 14 October 1997
WTEC: H. Goronkin (report author), M.C. Roco
Hosts: Dr. André Chatelain

Dr. Jean-Philippe Ansermet
Dr. Klaus Kern
BACKGROUND
The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is one of three

federally funded research institutions in Switzerland. The other two are the
Paul Scherrer Institute and Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule (ETH) in
Zürich. EPFL was founded in 1853 as a technical institute of the University
of Lausanne. The Laboratory of Experimental Physics was founded in 1947
and has traditionally explored the boundaries between pure and applied
science. Starting with activities in piezoelectric properties of crystals,
nuclear magnetic resonance, and surface and thin films, EPFL turned its
attention to nanoclusters in the 1970s. Today, the main focus is on
nanoscale physics of clusters, surfaces, and nanoscaled materials.
André Chatelain has been involved in cluster physics research for 30

years. He asks the questions, “How many atoms are needed for such bulk-
like properties as melting, magnetism, conductivity?” “How many atoms are
required for the Curie Temperature to be exhibited?” Clusters are size-
selected from a molecular beam and characterized with a Stern-Gerlach
magnet, after which the deflection is measured and the clusters are
accelerated through a column in which time of flight measurements are
made. Connections between cluster and bulk properties such as hysteresis
and coercivity have not yet been made.
Chatelain’s group has developed techniques for fabricating carbon

nanotubes in higher concentrations than previous methods. By fixing a
single nanotube to a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip, currents as
high as 1 mA have been obtained from the tube tip. Typical currents are in
the 10 pA to 1 nA range. Using a phosphor screen, fluctuations in the spot
position have been related to fluctuations in electron density over the surface
of the nanotube tip. It is not known whether this arises from thermally
induced structural alteration of the tip or changes in electron density due to
local charging.
Klaus Kern has a large group working on self-organized growth of
nanostructure arrays. The novelty of his approach lies in his use of periodic
dislocation arrays that serve to isolate nucleating adatoms. This has been
demonstrated using a Pt(111) substrate precovered with 1.5 monolayer of
silver that forms a pseudomorphic layer, and a second Ag layer that forms a
trigonal dislocation network. Subsequent Ag adatoms are repelled by the
dislocations and form into a network of regularly spaced individual islands.
Deposition is performed below 110 K. Kern states that these experiments
open a new method to create almost monodispersed, regularly spaced,
superlattice nanostructures using the natural properties of crystals.
Jean-Philippe Ansermet uses polycarbonate membranes with 6 x 108/cm2
pores with gold sputtered on the back side as a template for magnetic
nanowires. Magnetic material is plated into the pores, which are 20-200 nm
in diameter and about 6 µm high. Ni or Co is plated in order to study
anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), and layered materials are used for
giant magnetoresistance (GMR) structures. A structure consisting of 300
ten-nanometer layers of Cu and Co gave a 40% GMR ratio at room
temperature. One of the difficulties of this approach is making contact to
individual wires. Ansermet masks the top of the membrane and introduces
gold into the plating solution. Plating is halted when contact is made to one
wire, or perhaps, a few wires.
Ansermet is considering how AMR is related to GMR. His approach
uses the curling spin wall to separate domains in the wire. He explains that
the curl avoids surface charge along the wire. He claims that if the spin flip
length (~50 nm in Co/Cu) is less than the length of a domain, the system is
an appropriate analog-to-GMR structure. His prototype experiments show
that the AMR ratio is enhanced by using the curl domain wall.
Site: Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule (ETH)

Solid State Physics Laboratory
ETH Hönggerberg HPF E3
CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
http://www.phys.ethz.ch/solid
WTEC: E. Hu (report author), H. Goronkin, M.C. Roco, D.T. Shaw
Hosts: Prof. Dr. Klaus Ensslin (principal contact)

Tel: (41) 1-633 2209; Fax: (41) 1-633 1146
Dr. Hans von Känel
BACKGROUND
Eidgenössiche Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ), the Swiss Federal

Institute of Technology in Zurich, was founded by the Swiss government in
1854 as a polytechnic university. Until 1969, it was the only national
university in Switzerland; today, it is part of an ETH domain comprising
ETHZ, EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the polytechnic
institute at Lausanne) and four national research institutes. The ETH itself
comprises about 12,000 registered students, 330 professorships, and 700
lecturers. Each year, about 1,250 students receive an ETH diploma and
another 450 students complete a doctoral thesis.
ETHZ is carrying out a broad spectrum of nanoscience research, spanning

synthesis, processing, and characterization, ranging from fullerenes to
ferroelectric to magnetic materials and encompassing electronic devices and
nanorobots (Nanowissenschaften 1996). The funding sources seem largely
to emanate from the Swiss National Science Foundation, often under the
auspices of a National Research Program (such as NFP 36) or a Swiss
Priority Program; funding is also provided by industrial sources such as
IBM Rüschlikon or Ciba-Geigy.
Specific Project Highlights
Professor Dr. Ensslin, Professor of Physics at ETHZ, is also formally head of

the Paul Scherrer Institute Laboratory for Micro- and Nanostructures; a
position specifically designed to enhance close collaborations between the
two institutions. A long-time contributor to the study of functional
nanostructures, Professor Dr. Ensslin described some current projects
undertaken in his laboratory at ETHZ:
• Use of an atomic force microscope (AFM) to locally oxidize a structure,
forming a “quantum point contact” directly, without need for electron-
beam lithography or extensive alignment procedures. Professor Dr.
Ensslin noted the ease of use of commercially available AFMs and their
ready adaptability to lithography and materials modification at the
nanoscale (Held et al. 1997).
• Establishment of low temperature (1 K), high magnetic field (10 tesla)
capabilities to carry out scanning tunneling microscope (STM)
spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures in the quantum hall
regime.
• Wave function spectroscopy in specially tailored quantum wells grown at
the University of California in Santa Barbara.
The WTEC team also visited the laboratory of Dr. Hans von Känel, who
has developed an ultrahigh vacuum system for in situ growth and processing
of Si, Si/Ge materials that allow monitoring of the growth process; low-
temperature, controlled materials modification; and STM analysis. The
system is also used for characterization of nanomechanical properties
through the ability to prepare and “load” (sputter-deposit materials)
cantilever probes in situ.
REFERENCES
Nanowissenschaften an der ETH Zürich. 18 May 1996.
Held, R., T. Heinzel, P. Studerus, K. Ensslin, and M. Holland. 1997. Fabrication of a
semiconductor quantum point contact by lithography with an atomic force microscope.
Applied Physics Letters Nov.
Site: IBM Zürich Research Laboratory

Säumerstrasse 4
CH-8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland
Tel: (41) 1-724 8111; Fax: (41) 1- 724 8964
http://www.zurich.ibm.com
WTEC: H. Goronkin (report author), M.C. Roco
Hosts: Dr. Hans Biebuyck, principal contact

Fax: (41) 1-724 0809
Dr. Heinrich Rohrer, Science and Technology Department
Wanda Andreoni
R. Allenspach
James Gimzewski
Peter Vettiger
BACKGROUND
The IBM laboratory in Rüschlikon employs approximately 200 people.

The WTEC team visited the Science and Technology Department, formerly
called the Physics Department. This department has about 50 people, of
whom approximately 40 are scientists (including pre- and post-docs). In
recent years, the lab’s scope has evolved beyond mostly basic research to a
problem-oriented mission in support of existing and alternative exploratory
technologies that are on IBM’s radar screen.
Heinrich Rohrer provided an introduction to the Science and Technology
Department, pointing out the need for new ideas to move beyond the limits
of present day technologies and devices.
The laboratories the WTEC team visited are well equipped and of a size
normally found in universities. Many of the experimental apparatuses are
set up by highly skilled technicians who also take an active part in the
operation of the equipment for experimental purposes. Although the mission
of the group is technology-driven, it is clear that science remains a key
component and that the staff strives for understanding of the experimental
results at the most basic level.
Collaborations with universities are numerous. The center leverages
productivity considerably while fulfilling an educational purpose and
creating a network of relationships of great value to all concerned. Some of
these collaborations are supported by European (ESPRIT) and Swiss

national programs.
Scanning probe technology was born in the IBM labs, and it has opened
numerous areas for research in Switzerland. Scanning probes are used for
atomic and molecular manipulation as well as characterization. Since the
technique is relatively inexpensive, it is ubiquitous and drives many of the
country’s research projects.
Peter Vettiger described the IBM Zürich approach to mass storage using
silicon microcantilevers with tips to record bits in a polymer medium (e.g.,
PMMA). Writing is achieved thermomechanically by heating the tip and
creating an indentation in the softened polymer. Erasing is done in blocks
rather than in individual bits by heating entire storage subfields.
Vettiger demonstrated a 5 x 5 array of individually accessible tips. In
this case, the tips were fabricated using anisotropically etched silicon so that
the 5 x 5 array used a 5 x 5 mm area (KOH etching provides sidewalls with a
54o slope). In order to increase the density of tips, a new etching process
was developed that provides vertical sidewalls so that a 32 x 32 array can fit
into a 1 x 1 mm area. Parallel operation of 1000 cantilever/tips is envisaged
with x-y addressing achieved through multiplexing. Bits of 20-40 nm in size
have been demonstrated. This extrapolates to more than 60 Gbit/in2 of data.
The array was demonstrated to image a test surface. In this
demonstration, each tip provided an independent image.
James Gimzewski described the well-known buckyball abacus in which
an STM tip is used to move C60 molecules along well-defined linear paths.
He pointed out that the buckyball molecule can also be used as an amplifier
when it is compressed by a scanning probe tip. He is generally working on
concepts for manipulating and assembling molecules with the STM to
implement useful functions.
R. Allenspach described the center’s magnetism activities. This work
focuses on the study of ultrathin magnetic films and multilayers with Cu/Co
as a model system and has a direct impact on the understanding of magnetic
properties such as giant magnetoresistance (GMR), exchange coupling, and
surface anisotropy. It has led to the discovery of anisotropy oscillations due
to quantum confinement in a Cu overlayer on a Co film. This work also
includes detailed studies of film growth and morphology and how these
correlate with magnetic properties.
Hans Biebuyck is a former student of George Whitesides at Harvard
University, who is well known for microcontact printing using elastomeric
stamps to transfer a pattern of self-assembling molecular layers to a

substrate. The project he described encompasses both the science and
pretechnology assessments of various high-resolution contact processing
techniques like microcontact printing and microfluidic networks. The group
has demonstrated the use of microfluidic networks for delivery of
functionally distinct biomolecules onto targeted regions of a substrate and
their application in localized biological assays. Stamps of very high quality
and stability have been developed, and critical dimensions smaller than
50 nm have been achieved with microcontact printing.
Wanda Andreoni described the activities in computational materials
science and the application of ab initio (Car-Parrinello) molecular dynamics
techniques to various problems in science and technology, e.g., fullerenes,
carbon nanotubes, and organic light-emitting structures for displays,
catalysis, and chemical reactions. Some of this work is in direct support of
ongoing local projects.
Site: Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC)

Kapeldreef 75
B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
Tel: (32) 16-281211; Fax (32) 16-229400
http://www.imec.be/
WTEC: E. Hu (report author)
Hosts: Dr. Marc Van Rossum, Head VLSI Materials and

Technologies, Advanced Semiconductor Processing Div.
Dr. John Randall, TI on assignment to IMEC
Dr. Wijm Magnus, PHANTOMS coordinator
Dr. Chris Van Hoof, Senior Researcher, Materials and
Packaging Division
Dr. Jan Genoe, software specialist – 8-band solver
Dr. Jo deBoeck, Senior Researcher, Novel Materials and
Components Group
BACKGROUND
IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) was begun in 1984 by

the Flanders government to strengthen the potential of Flemish universities
and to strengthen the infrastructure in microelectronics. The general mission
of IMEC is to strengthen local industry, set up new industry, and attract new
industry by carrying out advanced, focused research. Initially, the lead-time
on industrial technology was estimated to be five to ten years; actual
operation has led to carrying out projects in the nearer-term future (3-10
years, or even under 3 years). The initial investment was ~ $80 million and
150 people. Currently, IMEC has >700 people, 100 of whom are nonpayroll
(industrial participants, students with grants), and a >$80 million budget, of
which ~ 50% derives from the government, and 50% is contract research.
The WTEC team’s host at IMEC was Dr. Marc Van Rossum, the Head of
VLSI Materials and Technologies in the Advanced Semiconductor
Processing Division. He spoke of three main areas of research being carried
out: (1) VLSI system design methodology; (2) materials and packaging; and
(3) advanced semiconductor processing.
The advanced semiconductor processing area actually has 50% of the
budget and less than 50% of the personnel. One-third of the capital
expenditure in this area is associated with costs of running the pilot line.
Currently, this area develops new process modules compatible with 0.25 µm
and 0.18 µm lithographic design rules, as well as carrying out research in
0.1 µm. Assessments of the programs are carried out in five-year intervals;
among the measures of success are the number of spin-off companies
generated (an average of one per year) and the number of contracts
generated with local industry.
Discussions with Dr. Chris Van Hoof, Senior Researcher in the Materials
and Packaging Division, and Dr. Jan Genoe involved the following topics:
• InAsSb photovoltaic detectors operating in the 3-5 µm range, at 140 K
(an improvement over InAs detectors) with CMOS camera readouts
• InGaAs (28% In) light-emitting detectors sensitive to 3.3 µm wavelength,
with 10-4 efficiency, at >1 GB modulation rates
Dr. deBoeck is carrying out work on nanomagnetics and is the
coordinator of an ESPRIT Program called SPIDER, on spin-dependent
nanoelectronics, which looks at the possibility of combining semiconductor
devices and ferromagnetic nanostructures. One approach in this regard is the
formation of nanoscale MnAs ferromagnetic clusters in GaAs through the
low-temperature MBE growth of MnGaAs (230ºC - 280ºC) and subsequent
annealing at temperatures ranging from 625ºC–730ºC. Depending on the
starting material composition and the annealing conditions, metallic clusters
of 3 to 30 nm are formed, with saturation magnetization values that first
increase and then decrease with annealing temperature. Photoluminescence
studies of the predominantly GaAs surrounding matrix evidences good
optical quality.
Discussions with Drs. van Rossum and Magnus centered on IMEC
activities in new submicron electronic technologies, as well as on European-
wide microelectronic and nanoelectronic programs. Dr. Wijm Magnus is the
overall coordinator of the PHANTOMS (Physics and Technology of
Mesoscale Systems) program, a network of institutions now including sites
in Russia and Eastern Europe as well as in Western Europe. The strategic
research domains comprising PHANTOMS are (1) quantum electronics,
(2) nanometer-scale optoelectronics, (3) nanotechnology, and (4) novel
circuit architectures. PHANTOMS meets twice yearly, and is attempting to
put together a nanoelectronics roadmap. There has been an arrangement
between 7 PHANTOMS institutes and the NRC at Ottawa through ECAMI
(European-Canadian Mesoscopic Initiative), which was designed to facilitate
short- to midterm visits. The initial program, which ended in 1997, was
successful, and negotiations are now underway to seek an extension of such

an arrangement, to involve 14 European labs and 9 Canadian labs. A similar
arrangement between PHANTOMS and institutions in the United States
would be highly desirable, but it has not yet been possible to negotiate such
an arrangement. The National Science Foundation (NSF), for example,
usually recognizes bilateral proposals rather than working agreements with
networks of institutions.
There was also discussion of the ESPRIT Advanced Research Initiative
in Microelectronics (MEL-ARI) that includes projects launched under
nanoscale integrated circuits initiative. These projects are to contribute to
the research of future electron devices, such as single-electron electronics
(transistors/memories based on Si, SiGe, or GaAs), molecular electronic
devices, single-flux quantum logic circuits (high Tc superconductor-based)
or magnetoelectronic devices. For all projects, nanofabrication is a key
issue, and e-beam lithography, scanning probe microscopy, and stamping
techniques are to be explored as possible technologies to produce future
devices. Three associated projects deal with (1) low-energy coherent
electron microguns, (2) nanolithography using chemically amplified resists,
and (3) vertical SiGe MOS devices.
ESPRIT is currently operating within its “Fourth Framework” (1994-98).
The Fifth Framework of ESPRIT is currently in the definition phase. During
the 1st–4th frameworks, about $13.6 billion European Economic Units
(ECUs) were spent, of which 30% was spent on electronics. No figures were
available for nanoelectronics specifically, but long-term research was ~10%
of the total budget. Table B.1 provides a partial listing of ESPRIT projects
in nanoelectronics.
TABLE B.1. ESPRIT Nanoelectronics Projects
Acronym Project Coordinator

SIQUIC SiGe RTDs D. Paul, Cambridge
FASEM Single Electron Transistors H. Launois
4 x 4 memory based on Hitachi CNRS, Bagneux
Cambridge device
CHARGE Coulomb Blockade D. Haviland, KTH
QUEST STM/AFM lithography E. Dubois, ISEN, Lille
SPIDER Spin Valve Nanoelectronics J. deBoeck, IMEC
RSFQ-HTS Single Flux Quantum Device Rogalla, U. of Twente
QUADRANT Cellular Automata, with University M. Macucci, Pisa
of Notre Dame
LASMEDS Molecular electronics P. Morales, ENEA
NANOWIRES Nanowires M. Welland, Cambridge
Site: Institut für Festkörper und Werkstofforschung (IFW)

PF 27 00 16
D-01171 Dresden, Germany
Tel: (49) 351-4659 0; Fax: (49) 351-4659 540
http://www.ifw-dresden.de
WTEC: C. Koch (report author), R.W. Siegel
Hosts: Prof. Dr. Ludwig Schultz, Director, Institute of Metallic

Materials, IFW
Prof. Dr. Karl Leo, Institut für Angewandte Photophysik,
Dresden University of Technology, D-01062 Dresden, DE
Fax: (49) 351-463 7065; http://www.tu-dresden.de/
Prof. Mark Golden, IFW, Spectroscopy Group, Department
of Surfaces and Interfaces
Dr. Winfried Brückner, IFW, Institute for Solid State
Research, Thin Film Department
Dr. Jürgen Eckert, IFW, Institute of Metallic Materials,
Leader, Department of Metastable and Nanostructured
Materials
Dr. Karl-Hartmut Müller, IFW, Institute for Metallic
Materials, Department of Superconductivity, Magnetism
Dr. V. Neu, IFW, Institute for Metallic Materials,
Department of Superconductivity, Magnetism
Dr. Norbert Mattern, IFW, Institute for Solid State Analysis
and Structural Research, Department of X-ray Structural
Analysis
Dr. Martin Heilmaier, IFW, Institute for Metallic Materials,
Department of Strength, Environmental Effects
Dr. Roland Scholl, Fraunhofer Institute, Institute for
Applied Materials Research, Department for Powder
Metallurgy and Composite Materials,
Winterbergstrasse 28, D–01277, Dresden, Germany
BACKGROUND
The Institute of Solid State and Materials Research, IFW Dresden, was
founded in 1992. As an institute of the Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Blaue
Liste (WBL) it is funded by the Free State of Saxony and the Federal
Republic of Germany. It has a staff of over 400 employees and is devoted to

applications-oriented fundamental research. It is a member of the Materials
Research Association, Dresden, and is associated with the Dresden
University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute. In 1996 the staff
consisted of 235 permanent and 180 temporary employees, of which 220
were scientists. The budget for 1996 consisted of about DM 30 million basic
financing and about DM 11 million in projects. The scope of the research
includes studies of the relationships between fundamental and applications-
related characteristics of metallic and nonmetallic functional materials and
thin films, investigation of structural properties and failure mechanisms, and
studies of processing variables for property optimization. The WTEC team
was hosted by Prof. Dr. Ludwig Schultz, who is director of the Institute for
Metallic Materials. Research on nanostructures and nanostructure science is
carried on in many of the groups in IFW, with about one-third of the groups
partly or mostly involved.
Investigators in several fields of nanostructure science made

presentations to the WTEC team, after which we toured the laboratory
facilities. Brief descriptions of the presentations are given below, with
scientific and/or technical highlights.
Prof. Dr. Karl Leo

Institut für Angewandte Photophysik, Technische
Universität Dresden
Professor Leo gave a presentation on studies of electronic transport

through single molecules in epitaxially grown organic heterostructures. This
involves single-electron tunneling effects with single molecules. Common
approaches using metal structures of ~ 30 nm size with capacitance of a few
10-17 F require temperatures of < 20K. IFW’s approach is to use molecules
providing stable and reproducible “bricks” with a typical size of 1-2 nm.
Organic molecular beam epitaxy (OMBE) was used to deposit molecules of
perylene-tetra-carboxylic-dianhydride (PTCDA) on Au (111), which is on a
cleaved mica substrate. PTCDA orients on lines on the Au lattice. Coulomb
blockade measurements are made at room temperature with an STM tip.
This can only be accomplished on an “ordered” molecular lattice that is
locked into the Au lattice so it does not move. An insulating layer of
deconethiol is placed between PTCDA and the Au, and the S in the
deconethiol binds to the Au. Preliminary I-V measurements have been made
successfully.
Prof. Mark Golden

IFW, Spectroscopy Group, Department of Surfaces and
Interfaces
Dr. Golden presented a review of his work on the electronic structure of

fullerenes, nanotubes, and metal/fullerene multilayers. Spectroscopic
methods are used for these studies and include X-ray absorption
spectroscopy (XAS), angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES),
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electron energy-loss
spectroscopy (EELS). The facility for high resolution EELS measurements
is a dedicated machine, i.e., not part of a transmission electronic microscope.
Among the measurements made are charge states, bonding, plasmon
dispersions, optical properties, and core level excitations. Various materials
studied include C60/metal multilayers, nanotubes, and doped fullerenes (off-
ball doping-intercalation, on-ball doping such as C59N, and in-ball doping-
endohedral metallofullerenes such as Tm in C82).
Dr. Winfried Brückner

IFW, Institute for Solid State Research, Thin Film
Department
Dr. Brückner described his work on the electrical and mechanical

properties of a resistive CuNi(Mn) thin film with a nanocrystalline structure.
The CuNi(Mn) films, sandwiched between Ni-Cr films, had columnar grains
about 30 nm in dimension, and were twinned. The temperature coefficient
of resistivity (TCR) was a function of composition x of the Cu1-xNix films
and of the temperature of thermal cycling. The initial negative TCR changed
to positive after heating to > 500°C. This was explained by the changes in
the mechanical stresses in the films, which were influenced by formation of
NiO and grain growth at the higher temperatures.
Dr. Jürgen Eckert

IFW, Institute of Metallic Materials, Leader, Department of
Metastable and Nanostructured Materials
The four major thrusts of this group are: (1) basic principles of
mechanically alloyed nanocrystalline materials, (2) high-strength lightweight
nanostructured alloys, (3) mechanically alloyed superconducting

borocarbides, and (4) bulk metallic glasses.
In the first thrust the relationship to nanostructured research is that ball
milling is a nonequilibrium processing method for preparation of nanoscale
materials. In this regard the formation of nanocrystalline materials is studied
by determining grain size as function of milling conditions such as
temperature, milling intensity, and alloy composition. In terms of high
strength lightweight alloys, Al and Mg alloys with mixed phases of
nanocrystalline, amorphous, and/or quasicrystalline nanoscale
microstructures are studied. Of special interest are Al-base (> 90 at.% Al)
alloys with nanoscale quasicrystalline phases of 20-100 nm diameter
surrounded by fcc Al phase of 5-25 nm thickness. The quasicrystalline
phase comprises 60-80% volume fraction of the alloys. These alloys
combine high strength (1,000 - 1,300 MPa fracture strength) and good
ductility (6-25%). The suggested mechanisms for these excellent
mechanical properties include the thin fcc Al layer around the
quasicrystalline particles, a high density of phason defects and approximant
crystalline regions with subnanoscale size, and the spherical morphology of
the quasicrystalline particles with random orientations. The research is
aimed at a better understanding of the mechanical behavior of these
promising materials.
Bulk metallic glasses (e.g., Mg55Y15Cu30) are prepared by solidification
and mechanical alloying methods. The mechanically alloyed bulk metallic
glass powders are consolidated at temperatures above Tg. Again some
studies of mixed amorphous and nanocrystalline phases are carried out in
these systems. That is, the nanocrystalline precipitates are used to strengthen
the amorphous matrix.
Dr. Karl-Hartmut Müller

IFW, Institute for Metallic Materials, Department of
Superconductivity, Magnetism
Dr. Müller described the research program on the hydrogen-assisted

preparation of fine-grained rare earth permanent magnets. The technique
used is “hydrogenation disproportionation desorption recombination”
(HDDR). The final structure is fine-grained, 100-500 nm, rather than
nanoscale, but during the disproportionation and desorption steps the
structures can be ~ 100 nm in size. An example of HDDR for Nd-Fe-B is as
follows: Original cast alloy of Nd16Fe76B8 with Nd-rich and Nd2Fe14B
phases is processed in four steps: (1) hydrogenation forms NdH2.7 and
Nd2Fe14BH2.9; (2) disproportionation reaction results in a fine mixture of Fe,
NdH2.2, and Fe2B; (3) desorption provides a very fine mixture of Fe, Nd,
Fe2B + Nd2Fe14B nuclei; and (4) recombination yields fine grained

Nd2Fe14B. Several rare earth permanent magnet alloys are studied at IFW
using HDDR, including Sm2Fe17N3 and Sm2Fe17–xGax.
Dr. V. Neu
Superconductivity, Magnetism
Dr. Neu described NbFeB magnet powders prepared by mechanical

alloying. The goal of this work is to obtain high remanent, isotropic Nb-Fe-
B powders for polymer-bonded permanent magnets. Mechanical alloying is
used to obtain a nanoscale mixture of Nd2Fe14B and aFe which provides for
remanence enhancement via exchange coupling when the grain sizes are <
30 nm. The mechanical alloying provides an amorphous + nc Fe structure
which on annealing forms nc aFe + nc Nd2Fe14B which behaves as a single
magnetic phase. The powders can be bonded with polymers and form
isotropic magnets with high remanence. In addition some Fe can be replaced
by Co which increases the remanence (as well as the Curie temperature) and
has provided (BH)max values up to about 150 kJ/m2.
Dr. Norbert Mattern

IFW, Institute for Solid State Analysis and Structural
Research, Department of X-Ray Structural Analysis
Dr. Mattern described work on soft ferromagnetic materials such as the

“finemet”-like alloys (FeNiSiBNbCu) and FeZrB alloys. These materials
are made by rapid solidification to obtain amorphous alloys, which are then
partially recrystallized to give nanoscale (~ 50 nm) αFe particles in the
amorphous matrix. Studies have included composition variations to
influence nc grain size and studies of the crystallization kinetics. High
nucleation rates and slow growth rates are desired and influenced by the
alloy dopants. This research is funded by the federal government and by
Vacuumschmelze and Siemens.
Dr. Martin Heilmaier

Strength, Environmental Effects
Dr. Heilmaier described several projects involving dispersion hardening

with nanoscale dispersoids. One project has the goal of dispersion
strengthening of Ag to be used as casings for the BiSrCaCuO high TC
superconductor. Mechanical alloying of Ag and Cr2O3 powders is followed

by cold pressing, annealing in dry hydrogen, hot pressing at 500°C, and
finally hot extrusion at 700°C. The mechanical alloying times were
apparently too short in the initial study to provide a uniform distribution of
the 40 nm Cr2O3 particles. A bimodal grain structure was observed with
mean sizes of 10 µm and 0.3 µm composed of 60% pure Ag grains and 40%
Ag grains with the nc oxide dispersoids. Even so, significant Hall-Petch
hardening was observed at room temperature, along with increased creep
resistance at 500°C in the dispersion-hardened Ag. Another project focuses
on mechanical alloying of Ll2–(Al,Cr)3 Ti intermetallic with Y2O3 nanoscale
dispersoids of 5 nm size.
Dr. Roland Scholl

Fraunhofer Institute, Institute for Applied Materials
Research, Department for Powder Metallurgy and
Composite Materials
Dr. Scholl described an in situ data acquisition and monitoring system for
a planetary ball mill. This is important for studies of the mechanical
alloying/milling processes used for formation of nanocrystalline materials.
The device measures the temperature and pressure via a transmitter in the lid
of the milling vial. This was done for a Fritsch “pulverisette 5” planetary
mill; the work was partially supported by Fritsch. An example was given for
milling of Ti and C powders to form TiC. Good time resolution, about 10
ms, is available to monitor the reactions, which can occur during milling and
provide feedback to optimize the milling parameters.
After the formal presentations and discussions, the WTEC visitors were
given a tour of the IFW laboratories. We observed very impressive state-of-
the-art facilities for processing, characterization, and property testing. The
dedicated EELS facility referred to in the work of Dr. Golden (above) was
particularly noteworthy.
Site: Institute for New Materials (INM)

Im Stadtwald - Gebäude 43
D-66123 Saarbrucken, Germany
Tel: (49) 681-9300 312/313; Fax: (49) 681-9300 223
http://www.inm-gmbh.de/
WTEC: J. Mendel (report author)
Hosts: Prof. Dr. Rudiger Nass (principal contact), Head of

Ceramics Department
Dr. Rolf Clasen, Director, Department of Glass Technology
BACKGROUND
Founded in 1988, the Institute for New Materials (INM) is located within
the University of the Saarland. Currently, the Institute has 280 scientists and
technologists who develop new materials that industry will need for the
future. The institute’s purpose is to further the utilization of new high
technology materials on a large scale. It is a nonprofit limited liability
company with institutional sponsorship.

At INM, research and development comprises basic research on highly
innovative, high risk, long term programs as a basis for new technologies.
The goal is to reduce the cycle time of 10-15-year programs (concept to
commercialization). Products and processes are developed in close
cooperation with industrial partners, who often provide the necessary
financing. Since 1990, INM follows the scientific approach of integrating
inorganic synthesis with chemical nanotechnology.
In addition to metals, nonmetal inorganic materials, and organic
polymers of a singular nature, it is now possible to produce chemical
composite materials on the molecular and nanoscale level. Processes such as
sol-gel are used, in which liquid starting materials are utilized at low
temperatures for nanoscale metal, ceramic, glass, and semiconductor
particles. INM cites these high-interest features for preparing new materials
as nanoparticles:
• small enough not to scatter light
• quantum effects—intrinsic properties of metal and semiconductor

nanoparticles—for tailoring new properties
• large interfaces resulting from dispersion in a matrix so as to add another
dimension for property tailoring
Specific Project Highlights

Dr. Rolf Clasen is currently preparing glass powders via the colloidal gel
route. The advantages for this process are high purity powders.
Also in this same laboratory the following efforts are taking place:
• forming compacts of submicron silica particles by electrostatic deposition
• sintering behavior of submicron silica particles
• preparation of high purity silica glass tubes by centrifugal casting of
colloidal gels
Role of Nanostructure Science within INM

INM is focusing on four basic areas for spin-off and adaptation towards
commercialization:
1. New functional surfaces with nanomers: included are properties such as
corrosion protection, wettability, coloration, micropatterned surfaces,
porosity, or the ability for selective absorption of molecules.
2. New materials for optical applications: properties of lasers and ceramics
are combined with those of polymers. Such features as optical filters,
transparent conducting layers, materials for optical telecommunications,
photochromic layers, and holographic image storage are under
investigation.
3. Ceramic technologies: a simple precipitation process such as sol-gel
provides for pilot-scale production of agglomerate-free powder.
4. Glass technologies: chemical incorporation of metal colloids with
intelligent properties into glasslike structures are clearly possible.
Equipment
INM has available the following characterization tools:
1. HR-TEM 7. X-Ray Diffractometry
2. HR-SEM 8. GC/MS
3. EDXS 9. Laser Lab
4. AFM 10. Rheology Analyzing System
5. NMR 11. Mechanical Material Testing Facilities
6. SAXS 12. Optical Testing Services
Listed below are services INM performs:

• Consulting • Project Implementation
• Project Definition • Technical Development
• Project Formulation • Quality & Certification
• Contract Assistance • Pilot Production
• Patent Search • Troubleshooting
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The emerging new technologies under study at INM will play a dominant
role in the 21st Century. Nanomaterials will be incorporated into technical
components and systems in most sectors of the technology. They thus
become powerful tools in the preparation of specialized materials.
Site: Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1
D45470 Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
Tel: (49) 208-306 1; Fax: (49) 208-306 2980
http://www.mpi-muelheim.mpg.de/
WTEC: D. Cox (report author)
Host: Dr. John Bradley

Fax: (49) 208 306 2987
BACKGROUND
The Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (the Max Planck Institute

of Coal Research) in Mülheim was founded in 1912 as one of the first
institutes of the former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft as an independent
foundation. It is one of more than 70 Max Planck institutes in Germany but
has kept its independent legal status under private law and is a recognized
nonprofit organization. It is well known for its discoveries of the Fischer-
Tropsch process and the Ziegler catalysts. The patents from these
discoveries as well as others have generated significant additional income
for the institute over the years (particularly notable are the patents of Karl
Ziegler, whose first patent for the low-pressure polyethylene synthesis was
granted in 1953) and have allowed it to generously fund research efforts of
the staff. The expiration of the Ziegler patents has reduced the outside
income, and as a result, the funding levels are beginning to come more into
line with those of other Max Planck institutes.
This institute has a history of exploiting the inventions made in the
institute by retaining ownership of all patents through a trusteeship (the
Studiengesellschaft Kohle mbH) which grants licenses producing this
additional income. Presently the institute has about 30 nonexpired patents
and published patent applications. The Studiengesellschaft Kohle also
grants licenses for the usage of software developed within the Max-Planck-
Institut für Kohlenforschung; for example, the mass spectrometry software
MassLib® was developed at this institute.
As of the time of the WTEC visit, the staff has about 220 permanent
employees, about 50 of which are staff scientists. In addition, there are
about 100 graduate students, postdocs, and guest scientists distributed among
about 24 research groups focusing in the following areas:
• Organic Synthesis
• Organometallic Chemistry
• Homogeneous Catalysis
• Heterogeneous Catalysis
• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Coal Research
The institute has a rich history in the area of chemical catalysis, built in
large part on Ziegler’s Nobel Prize-winning work in ethylene
polymerization. The present research areas at the institute focus on synthesis
of novel materials for applications in catalysis, energy storage, and
separations. The efforts that are particularly applicable to nanoscale science
and technology are those involved in studying highly selective catalysts and
in generating microporous inorganic oxide materials and high surface area
materials for chemical energy storage. Research in these areas is centered in
several of the groups at Mülheim, particularly those of Prof. Dr. M.T. Reetz,
Dr. J.S. Bradley, Prof. Dr. W.F. Maier, and Prof. Dr. H. Bogdanovic.
The institute is very well equipped as are the individual research groups
with world class capabilities in NMR spectroscopy, X-ray characterization
and Modeling, Optical Spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry, Electron
Microscopies, and Chromatography as examples.
Research in the Group of Prof. H. Bönnemann
Prof. Bönnemann has developed widely applicable synthetic methods for

the preparation of surfactant-stabilized colloidal metal nanoclusters (1-10
nm, mono- and plurismetallic) based on reduction of metal salts with
surfactant-containing reducing agents and the use of surfactant cation salts of
metal complex anions. These materials, which have high metal nanocluster
content and high solubility (up to 1 mole of metal/liter) in organic solvents
or water, have been applied as catalyst precursors both in liquid dispersion
and in supported form for a variety of organic reactions, e.g., selective
(including enantioselective) hydrogenation and oxidation. Further fields of
application are bimetallic fuel cell catalysts, magnetic fluids, nanometal
pigments for magneto-optical data storage, and magnetic cell separation in
biological samples.
Research in the Group of Prof. Dr. M.T. Reetz
Prof. Reetz, in addition to his research effort, is one of two scientific

directors at the MPI für Kohlenforschung. He uses electrochemical
reduction of metal salts to prepare highly dispersed colloidal transition metal
nanoclusters and supported nanoclusters, a process for which a patent has
been granted. Variation of the current density and the temperature as well as
the polarity of the solvent during the electrochemical synthesis allows
control of the size of the nanoclusters. The stabilizing surfactant shell
surrounding these nanoclusters can be visualized with a combination of STM
and high resolution TEM. The clusters are evaluated as catalysts for
selective organic transformations including carbon-carbon bond forming
reactions (Science 267:367, 1995).
Research in the Group of Dr. J. S. Bradley
Dr. Bradley has long been involved in metal cluster and metal colloid
chemistry areas of nanoscale science and technology. He joined the MPI für
Kohlenforschung in 1995. His present emphasis in nanoscale materials
focuses on the development of new synthetic methods for colloidal transition
metal nanoclusters, their spectroscopic characterization (infrared, NMR, and
extended X-ray absorption fine structure [EXAFS] spectroscopy), and the
use of in-situ kinetic catalytic probes to define their surface chemistry. In
addition, research is ongoing on the preparation from organometallic
precursors of microporous nonoxide ceramics and their use in base-catalyzed
reactions. For example, high surface area (400 m2/g) silicon amidonitride
with a mean pore diameter of 7 Å has been prepared.
Research in the Group of Prof. Dr. W.F. Maier
Prof. Maier’s main research area is aimed towards design of new

heterogeneous catalysts that will have isolated active centers in a
microporous metal oxide matrix (amorphous microporous mixed oxides,
AMM). Guidance for this approach is taken from the fact that enzymes and
zeolites are the most selective catalysts, having in common an isolated active
center and a shape-selective environment around the active site. Prof.
Maier’s group has developed techniques to prepare AMM materials by a
special sol-gel process that allows control of the chemical composition, pore
size (0.5-1.0 nm), porosity, and surface polarity in a single preparation step.
AMM catalysts have a narrow micropore distribution comparable to those of
zeolites, and a homogeneous elemental distribution. They have produced
shape-selective catalysts based on microporous titania, zirconia, and
alumina. The AMM materials have been shown to be selective catalysts for
oxidation, hydrogenation, alkylation, and hydrocracking.
AMM membranes, prepared by dip-coating of asymmetric support
membranes, are then used as catalytic membrane reactors. The catalytic
membrane reactor allows the combination of catalytic activity with the
permselectivity of the membranes to improve the selectivity of
heterogeneously catalyzed reactions. Novel applications of AMM
membranes include poison-resistant catalysis and complete suppression of
secondary reactions with membrane catalysts.
Research in the Group of Prof. Dr. B. Bogdanovic
The nanomaterial research in Prof. Bogdanovic’s group focuses on the

preparation of highly reactive, highly dispersed inorganic materials (metal
and intermetallic cluster materials, metal hydrides, metal carbides) from
molecular organometallic precursors. Materials based on active magnesium
hydride were discovered for use as reversible hydrogen storage systems.
Highly dispersed metals, intermetallics, and carbides have been evaluated in
a variety of catalytic organic reactions.
Site: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)

Laboratory for Micro- and Nanostructures (LMN)
CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
http://www.psi.ch (or http://www1.psi.ch/www_lmn_hn/)
WTEC: E. Hu (report author), H. Goronkin, M.C. Roco, D.T. Shaw
Hosts: Dr. Jens Gobrecht (principal contact), Head, Micro- and

Nanostructures Laboratory
Fax: (41) 56-310 2646; E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Werner Wagner, Head, Experimental Facilities
Dr. Helena Van Swygenhoven, Experimental Facilities
Dr. Thomas Jung
BACKGROUND
The Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) is the largest Swiss-supported

government laboratory. The approximate allocation of funding and division
of personnel (1996) is as follows:
• government funding 158 million SF
• external funding ~28 million*
• PSI staff 880
• external staff 210
• doctoral students 230
• external users 650
*21% from industry, 29% from electricity generation industry and NAGRA for nuclear energy
research, 8% from EU and Swiss National Fund
The allocation of budget (in SFr. millions) by field of research is as

follows (parentheses show % of total allocation, including external funding):
• particle physics 13 (11)
• life sciences 14 (14)
• SS physics and materials sciences 39 (37)
• energy 34 (38)
Operated as a multidisciplinary national research lab, PSI provides

research infrastructure and the operation of large scale facilities, such as the
Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ), recently completed, and a synchrotron
light source (Swiss Light Source), which was to begin construction in Spring
1998. PSI interacts broadly with universities and polytechnical high schools.
University students may carry out their doctoral studies in PSI laboratories.
PSI personnel also carry out radiation safety training and reactor education.
NANOSTRUCTURE SCIENCE WITHIN PSI
The WTEC team’s host at PSI was Dr. Jens Gobrecht, the Head of the
Laboratory for Micro- and Nanostructures (LMN) in the Department of
Applied Solid State Physics. Dr. Gobrecht estimated that in his own area
about one-third of the personnel budget originates from external funding,
and about 50 people are involved in the nano field. The areas of research are
organized into three categories as follows:
• Micro- and Nanostructuring Technology, which includes (1) electron
beam lithography, (2) focused ion beam science and technology, (3) hot
embossing lithography, and (4) LIGA. The first two areas are partially
funded through the Swiss Priority Program (SPP) MINAST (Micro and
Nanostructure Technology: with a four-year budget of ~ SFr. 48 million).
Research area 3 is partially supported through the Swiss National
Research Program (NFP 36) on nanosciences. Another subarea of
research is titled “Zeolites as Materials for Nanodevices.”
• Molecular Nanotechnology, which includes (1) biochemical recognition
of individual molecules, (2) nanostructured electrodes for amperometric
immunosensors, (3) immunosensor for penicillin in milk, and (4) neurite
growth on biofunctionalized microstructured surfaces.
• Nanostructured Semiconductors Materials Research, which includes (1)
near infrared Brillouin scattering, and (2) work on Si/Si/Ge and Si/Ge/C
systems
Funding Profile
As mentioned above, the LMN participates in a number of national

initiatives involving nanostructure science. National Research Programs
(Nationale Forschungsprogramm, NFP) are directed towards solution of
specific problems and are largely interdisciplinary in nature. In 1993,
Nanosciences was chosen as a subject area of NFP 36 (1996-2001). The
Swiss Priority Programs (SPP), were developed to ensure that strategic
research in Switzerland is on a par with international research and that Swiss
universities have the competence and financial means to play an important
role in that research. SPPs are long term projects and can last eight to ten
years, encompassing both basic research and practical problem solving.
Among the projects discussed in greater detail are the following:

• 50 nm plated metal structures by e-beam lithography
• stamping of 80 nm features in PMMA; also, fundamental studies of the
polymer itself; possible application, heterogeneous catalysis
• nanoporous Au membranes for filtration: 100 nm Au membrane with 200
nm pores, 660 nm period, substrate etched off
• single-ion lithography to form nanoposts
• a-Si/a-SiN superlattice on single crystal Si: MBE/UHV CVD connected
by a tunnel: recrystallize with emission in the blue
• biochemical sensor: immunological reactions taken on nanostructured
surface; application: test for antibiotics in milk
• showed streptavidin immobilized on mica (see Figure B.1)
Dr. Thomas Jung described his work on the STM manipulation of
molecules, rather than atoms, thus availing himself of preassembled building
blocks. The building blocks can be prefabricated by chemical methods to
possess specific structural, chemical, and physical properties. In addition to
preassembly, a molecular approach has the advantage of being carried out at
room temperature. The molecular building blocks considered include C60 (as
was used to form the “abacus”), customized porphyrins, and bimolecular
systems involving planar aromatic systems and fullerenes. In particular, Dr.
Jung described work utilizing Cu-TBPP on Cu (100); experiments have
elucidated molecular adsorption, surface movement, positioning, and
stability of the assembled structures (for further information see Gimzerski
et al. n.d.).
Au
oxide
Figure B.1. Streptavidin immobilized on mica.
Team members also met with Drs. Werner Wagner and Helena Van
Swygenhoven, members of the Department on Solid State Research at Large
Facilities, associated with SINQ. In addition to providing support for
outside researchers wishing to use the Spallation Neutron Source, members
of this department also carry their own program of research in
nanostructured materials, interacting broadly with a number of collaborators,

both in Europe and the United States. Nanostructured materials are
synthesized by inert gas condensation (IGC), and evaluations of such
materials are made with respect to structural, magnetic (e.g., for Fe, Co, Ni),
mechanical, and electronic (Pd, Pt) properties. Molecular dynamics
computer simulations of structural and mechanical properties are carried out
in order to explore conditions for improved materials properties, such as
ductility or wear-resistance. Research is being undertaken with industrial
collaborators in this last area (nanoscaled multilayered coatings for wear-
resistant coatings).
In addition to SINQ, the Large Facilities Department of PSI makes
available its IGC facility, hot compaction unit, indenter, X-ray diffraction
and density measurements, small angle neutron scattering, prompt gamma
activation analysis, TEM, and SEM with EDX. SQUID and NMR are
carried out in the laboratories of collaborators at École Polytechnique
Lausanne, and positron lifetime measurements are made at the University of
Gent.
REFERENCE
Gimzerski, J.K., T.A. Jung, M.T. Cuberes, and R.R. Schlittler. Scanning tunneling
microscopy of individual molecules: Beyond imaging.
Site: Philips Research Laboratories

Prof. Holstlaan 4
5656 AA Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Tel: (31) 40-27-42577; Fax: (31) 40-27-44282
WTEC: D.T. Shaw (report author), H. Goronkin, M.C. Roco
Hosts: Dr. L.G.J. Fokkink, Department Head, Physical Chemistry

Dr. Mark J. VanBommel, Senior Scientist in Inorganic
Materials and Processing
Dr. A.W.M. (Ton) deLaat, Colloidal Chemist
Dr. Erik A. Meulenkamp, Research Scientist, Department of
Physical Chemistry
Dr. Bianca M.I. van der Zande
BACKGROUND
Philips is one of the most important manufacturers of electronic

consumer products in Europe, with annual sales of more than $40 billion.
Roughly 70% of the Philips research comes from contracts from the
company’s product division; the rest is devoted to exploratory research,
which typically does not lead to commercial products within three years.
Among the exploratory research projects, an estimated 20% are related to
nanoparticle/nanostructured materials. The laboratories have a wide
spectrum of research activities that are of interest to this study, ranging from
nanocrystalline materials synthesis, nanofabrication, and nanocrystal
engineering to quantum transport in nanostructures and quantum theory of
solids.
Dr. Mark J. VanBommel made a short presentation on nanoparticle

coatings for consumer electronic applications (coatings for antiglare,
antistatic, and antireflection uses). Depending on their specific applications,
these nanoparticles need to have special properties (e.g., high electric
conductivity, or low specular optical scattering). Antimony-doped tin
dioxide (Sb:SnO2) particles have been used for these applications, as an
example. These nanoparticle coatings are typically produced by physical or
chemical wet deposition processes. Spray pyrolysis, spinning, or dip coating

techniques are usually carried out in a controlled ambient environment. To
avoid dull-looking surfaces, the primary particle diameter is usually less than
2 nm. Figure B.2 shows an electron micrograph of these particles. The
electrical conductivity can be regulated by controlling the antimony
concentration in SnO2.
Dr. A.W.M. (Ton) deLaat discussed briefly the production of nanometer-
sized ceramic particles with very low sintering temperatures. Homogeneous
green particles are important to prevent defects in sintered products; by using
proper dispersants, dense and homogeneous layers have been obtained.
Dr. Erik A. Meulenkamp discussed size determination by absorbance
measurements of ZnO nanoparticles and electrochemical properties of
ZnO/ITO/glass electrode systems. ZnO nanoparticles produced by physical
deposition are irradiated by light of various wavelengths. The shift of the
absorbance peaks toward higher energy (or low wavelength) when the size
of ZnO particles decreases (Figure B.3) clearly demonstrates the quantum
size effect on bandgap energies. Figure B.4 shows the effects of electron
accumulation for E < -0.5V in a ZnO/ITO/glass electrode system.
Dr. Bianca M.I. van der Zande, who is on leave from Utrecht University,
discussed the generation and optical properties of rod-shaped gold particles
with diameters ranging from 10 to 30 nm. Aqueous dispersion of rod-like
gold particles is obtained by electrode position in nanopores of anodized
alumina. In the VIS/NIR absorption spectra, two absorption maxima are
observed: one corresponds to the transverse plasma resonance, and the other
to the longitudinal plasmon resonance, which moves to higher wavelengths
when the particle aspect ratio is increased (Figure B.4).
Figure B.2. Electron micrograph of antimony-doped tin dioxide particles (primary particle
size ~20 nm).
Figure B.3. Quantum size effect on the absorbance of ZnO.
Figure B.4. Normalized experimental VIS/NIR absorption spectra of rod dispersions with
aspect ratio L/d = 1 (spherical gold sol), L/d = 4, L/d = 9, and L/d = 13.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
From published papers, it is evident that Philips researchers are active in

many other topics in nanostructures, including template synthesis of
nanowires in porous polycarbonate membranes, self-assembled monolayers
of metallic nanoparticles, and luminescence-tuning in semiconducting
nanocrystallines.
Site: Darmstadt University of Technology

Department of Materials Science
Thin Films Division
Petersenstrasse 23
D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany
Tel: (49) 6151-16 6306; Fax: (49) 6151-16 6335
http://www.th-darmstadt.de/ms/fg/ds
Hosts: Prof. Dr. Horst Hahn, Head, Thin Films Division, Materials
Science Department
Dr. Markus Winterer, principal contact
BACKGROUND
The Darmstadt University of Technology has recently focused on

nanomaterials. Its new building for material science was completed in 1992
and was officially dedicated in 1996. Here work includes particles, films,
coatings, and bulk phase. Interest is in pores, grains, and clusters.
Preparation methods can include gas vapor phase condensation, chemical
vapor deposition, liquid plasma studies, chemical deposition, and sputtering.
Electrical, mechanical, and spectral properties are all of interest.
There are 22 scientists in Professor Dr. Hahn’s group. Interaction with
industry and other technical centers occur frequently.
1. Preparation of SiC by chemical vapor synthesis (Sylkie Klein). This

work emphasizes both high purity and high production rates.
2. Synthesis of ZrO2/Al2O3 by chemical vapor synthesis (Vladimir Srdic).
Beginning with aluminum alkoxide, particles are formed in the 4-9 nm
size range. Flow rate of helium influences properties.
3. Impedance spectra on nano Y-stabilized zirconia (Pia Mondal). Powders
are prepared by inert gas condensation. The lattice conductivity appears
to be independent of grain size.
4. Synthesis and characterization of nanofilms with chemical vapor

deposition and synthesis (Stefan Siegfried). Both boron carbide and
silicon carbide are deposited on a silicon substrate.
5. Synthesis of metal-matrix composite coatings (Andreas Moller). Results
lead to improved hardness, wear resistance, and thermal stability.
6. Very thin films (Stefan Flege). This work involves layer growth at 3,000
degrees Celsius for vapor metal/ceramics applications.
ANALYTICAL EQUIPMENT
• Mechanical Creep Device • SIMS

• HRTEM • Electron Probe
• IR • XRD
• Diffractometer • SEM
• Molecular Beam Instrumentation • TEM
• Low Pressure Flow Chemical • Sputtering Equipment
Vapor Synthesis
FUNDING PROFILE
About 60-75% of the equipment is paid through state support. Additional

funding takes place through industrial collaboration.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The Thin Films Lab at the University of Darmstadt is strongly positioned

for preparation and characterization of nanoparticle systems. Their work
reflects the University’s commitment to expand the understanding needed
for particles, films, coatings, and bulk phase.
Site: Delft University of Technology (DUT)

Faculty of Chemical Technology and Materials Science
Delft Inst. of Microelectronics & Submicron Technology
Rotterdamseweg 137
2628 AL Delft, The Netherlands
http://www.stm.tudelft.nl/ or http://dimes.tudelft.nl
WTEC: D.T. Shaw (report author), H. Goronkin, M.C. Roco
Hosts: Prof. Brian Scarlett, Department of Chemical Engineering

Dr. Cees Dekker, Faculty of Applied Physics
BACKGROUND
The nanoparticle/nanostructured materials/nanodevices research activities

at the Delft University of Technology (DUT) reside primarily in the Faculty
of Chemical Technology and Materials Science (STM) and Delft Institute of
Microelectronics and Submicron Technology (DIMES). STM is one of the
more research-oriented faculties of DUT, which is the largest, oldest, and
most complete technical university in the Netherlands. About 40% of all
PhD degrees awarded at the University have been in STM. Among the 3
research areas the program covers (biotechnology, chemical engineering,
and materials science technology), the WTEC visit concentrated primarily
on chemical engineering and materials science technology.
DIMES is a large national research center in microelectronics managed
by the University. Funded by the government and accredited by the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, DIMES was created in 1987 as
a national facility for the fabrication of advanced integrated circuits and
nanostructured devices. Its 300-odd staff members and graduate students
actively explore the microelectronics field; studies range from carbon
nanotube electronics to nanofabrication of single-electron tunneling devices.
In addition to its vast (2,000 m2) clean-room fabrication facilities, the center
is also a training ground for scientific specialists in advanced
microelectronics in the Netherlands. Since its inception, more than a
hundred PhD students have finished their dissertations using DIMES
facilities. The Institute offers some twenty graduate courses, as well as
extensive training support for research students. It coordinates its graduate
education programs with the University’s academic faculties, including the
Faculty of Chemical Technology and Materials Science.
The Faculty of Chemical Technology and Materials Science

(STM)
STM has strong programs in both nanoparticle generation and functional

materials synthesis. Several professors in STM are active in the organization
of an European Science Foundation program on Vapor-Phase Synthesis and
Processing of Nanoparticle Materials. The principal objective of the
program is to promote interdisciplinary collaboration between the leading
research groups in Europe in aerosol and materials science. The program,
with an annual budget of about FFr. 1.5 million (for meetings, workshops,
and information dissemination), is coordinated by J. Schoonman of DUT and
Prof. H. Fissan of the University of Duisburg, Germany.
Two major groups are engaging in nanoparticle/nanostructured materials
research. One is led by Prof. J. Schoonman and the other by Prof. B.
Scarlett, who was the WTEC team’s host for the visit. Prof. Scarlett has
several projects in nanoparticle technology, including the production of
nanoparticles by electrospraying, electrostatic charging for micromixing, and
nanoparticle formation in a laser-heated aerosol reactor. His group also
developed photon correlation spectroscopy as a means to measure submicron
particles in a gas, in situ. His coworker, Dr. J.C.M. Marijnissen summarized
recent results on the generation of metal-oxide particles by bipolar mixing
techniques. Different precursors (i.e., titanium tetrabutoxide, zirconium
tetrabutoxide, etc.) have been used to generate metal-oxide particles. A
project in collaboration with Prof. Schoonman concerns the generation of
nanoparticles by laser-induced chemical vapor precipitation (LCVP).
Although the LCVP technique is not new, the project’s data in particle-
generation parametric optimization are useful in scale-up production of Si,
SiC, Si3N4, and SiCxNy nanoparticles. The research activities of Prof.
Schoonman, have focused also on the synthesis of custom-designed
structural and functional nanostructural materials. For example, his
coworker Dr. A. Goossens reported the use of an electrostatic spray
pyrolysis technique for the deposition of dense or nanoporous ceramic thin
films for lithium batteries and other energy-related applications. A great
variety of metal oxide nanocrystalline thin films have been synthesized,
including TiO2 and Li CoO2. STM researchers have developed a technique
called laser particle precipitation-aided chemical vapor deposition
(LPPCVD), which produces thin films with very low substrate temperatures.
Typically, the nanoparticle size is in the range of 10 to 30 nm.
Delft Institute of Microelectronics and Submicron

Technology (DIMES)
Dr. Cees Dekker (Faculty of Applied Physics) made a short presentation

on research activities in the area of quantum transport through
nanostructures. Prof. Mooij (who was touring the United States at the time
of our visit) heads the research program supported by DIMES. Four projects
were discussed briefly:
1. Junction Arrays (Project Director, Hans Mooij) and Single
Electronics (Project Director, Peter Hadly). The quantum behaviors of
small circuits of superconducting tunnel junctions were studied
experimentally and theoretically. A quality sample was designed and
fabricated, in which quantum superpositions of charge states, as well as
vortex states, have been experimentally observed. Quantum vortices were
studied in one-dimensional arrays. Disorder was seen to lead to localization,
while in periodic superlattices the vortices maintained their mobility.
Fluctuations were studied in normal metals near a tunnel barrier.
In single electronics, there are three main efforts: (1) fabrication of small
junctions for the study of charging effects, (2) understanding of high-
frequency behavior of single-electron tunneling (SET) transistors, and
(3) characterization of single-electron circuits. Figure B.5 shows an RS
flip-flop consisting of four SET transistors, each with three gates fabricated
by the group.
2. Quantum Dots (Project Director, Leo Kouwenhoven). Transport
experiments on quantum dots were performed on a gated device, as shown in
Figure B.6. Measurements of gate voltages vs. source-drain voltages show a
shell structure corresponding to a 2-D harmonic confinement potential in
normal atoms. Staff observed that the filling of a shell occurs according to
Hund’s rule: electrons occupying degenerate states prefer to have parallel
spins, which lowers the total energy due to an increased exchange
interaction.
3. Single Molecular Wires (Project Director, Cees Dekker). Single-
wall carbon nanotubes were obtained from R.E. Smalley at Rice University
for transport measurements. The nanotubes behave as coherent quantum
wires at the single-molecular scale. The density of states appears to consist
of well-separated discrete electron states. The approximate 0.4 meV energy
separation corresponds to estimated 1-D quantum box where a 3 µm long
nanotube constitutes the electron box. Electrical conduction through these
discrete electron states appears to occur quantum coherently over micron-
length distance.
For transport measurements of single metal nanoclusters, DIMES

researchers showed results made on a 20 nm Pd cluster, which was trapped
electrostatically between two nanometer-sized electrodes (Figure B.7).
4. NEXT Nanolithography (Project Director, Bart Geerligs). The
Nanoscale Experiments and Technology Project is based on a facility for the
fabrication and study of sub-10 nm structures. The project studies
mesophysics on 10 nm to atomic-size structures and assesses the
applicability of these mesophysical phenomena to future electronic devices.
Main features characteristics of the NEXT system are: (1) working in an
uninterrupted, clean, ultrahigh-vacuum environment, and (2) using maskless
fabrication techniques based on scanning tunneling probes. On-going
experiments in the facility include quantum electronic studies of metal
quantum dots, 1-D mesoscale systems, and transport in molecules.
Figure B.5. RS flip-flop of four SET transistors, each with three gates.
Figure B.6. (a) Schematic diagram of the gated quantum dot device and (b) the Coulomb
oscillations in the current vs. gate voltage at B = 0T observed for a 0.5 µm diameter dot.
Figure B.7. Single Pd colloid cluster of 20 nm diameter that has been deposited between two
nanoelectrodes.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The research facilities in nanostructured materials at Delft University of

Technology in general, and at DIMES in particular, are very impressive.
Projects are carried out with close collaboration between researchers from
industry and university. For many projects at DIMES it is common to have
several industrial sponsors. Since the research is generally precommercial in
nature, issues about intellectual property appear not to be a problem for these
multi-industrial sponsorships.
Site: University of Cambridge

Cavendish Laboratory
Toshiba Cambridge Research Center (TCRC)
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/ (Cavendish Laboratory)
Hosts: Prof. Michael Pepper, Director, TCRC

Dr. Neil Greenham, Conjugated Polymers and Molecular
Solids Group (Cavendish Laboratory)
Dr. Andrew Shields, TCRC
Dr. Mark Leadbetter, TCRC
TOSHIBA CAMBRIDGE RESEARCH CENTER (TCRC)
Overview of the Center
The Toshiba Research Center (TCRC) was founded by the Toshiba

Corporation of Japan as a laboratory pursuing fundamental research into
the physics of semiconductor structures and associated topics. The intent is
to provide an important part of electronics technology for the next century.
This includes development of collaborative projects with academic
institutions in the European community.
Accordingly, there is collaborative research with the Cavendish
laboratory of Cambridge University on advanced growth and fabrication
techniques. The Center maintains a close relationship with Toshiba
Research and Development Center in Japan, and there are frequent
reciprocal visits between the two centers.
Most research is for a 5- to 10-year horizon. Present staff totals about
18. All research is on semiconductors, on which ~ 50 papers have been
published since 1991, the year the center was established. The work
includes papers on electrical properties of quantum well structures where
the electron wave function is controlled by application of a voltage to a
controlling gate leading to a velocity modulated transistor. The center has
a full in-situ cleaning chamber, which is used prior to regrowth studies.
Studies of electron propagation on curved and nonplanar surfaces are
also taking place, partly as a result of observing the improved electrical
properties of advanced structures. Accordingly, the need to develop an

optical facility became readily apparent. Surface orientation as a function
of a magnetic field has led to the field taking on different values; electron
deflection can take place as a result of the electron velocity in the magnetic
field.
Extensive investigations into infrared properties as well as excitonic
effects led to the discovery of the positively charged exciton. Included
here were investigations on both positive and negative properties of
excitons.
Funding Profile
Funding is by the Toshiba Corporation.
Research and Development Highlights
• quenching of excitonic optical transistors by excess electrons in GaAs

quantum wells
• one-dimensional wire formed by molecular beam epitaxial regrowth on a
patterned pnpnp GaAs substrate
Concluding Remarks
The Toshiba Center is ideally positioned to explore electrical and

quantum phenomena for semiconductor technology for the next century,
due to its location, expertise of technical resources, and close association
with collaborative communities such as Cavendish. Its path forward
appears rewarding and certain.
CAVENDISH LABORATORY
Dr. Neil Greenham, associated with Prof. Richard Friend in the

Conjugated Polymers and Molecular Solids Group, was the principal
contact for this visit.
Overview of the Laboratory
Experimental and theoretical research in the Department of Physics at

Cambridge is carried out in the Cavendish Laboratory. The laboratory was
established 120 years ago by individuals such as Maxwell, Rayleigh,
Thomson, Rutherford, and Bragg. From this noteworthy beginning the

laboratory has evolved into three major sections: Condensed Matter
Physics, Radio Astronomy, and High Energy Physics.
The funding for the investigations at the laboratory come from a
combination of government and industry. There are currently some 63
companies that sponsor research at Cavendish.
Research and Development Highlights
The following areas of research are active in the area of optical and
electrical studies:
• characterization of conjugated polymers
• Electrical and electro-optical properties of polymer semiconductor
devices
• optical excitations of conjugated polymers and related materials
• optical microcavities
• optoelectronic properties of semiconductor nanoparticles
Discussion
Conjugated polymers with delocalized electron systems behave as

model organic semiconductors. Here activities such as design and
synthesis of new polymers are of interest for the semiconductor physics of
these materials. They give strong electro-optical and nonlinear optical
responses. There is concern for polymer light-emitting diodes as well as
photovoltaic and photoconductor diodes. Subpicosecond time-resolved
spectroscopy is included also. There is considerable collaboration with the
Chemistry Department in order to tailor these materials to the appropriate
properties needed for these studies.
Equipment at Cavendish
• X-ray diffractometer • Atom scattering facilities

• Low energy electron diffraction • Electron microscopy
• High resolution electron energy loss • Angle-resolved
measurements photoemission
• Scanning tunneling microscope • Tunable dye lasers
• Optical spectrometers • Laser Raman
• Fourier infrared spectroscopy • Molecular beam epitaxy
• Ion beam & electron beam lithography
HITACHI CAMBRIDGE LABORATORY
Although this site was not visited, it is included in the report for the
reader’s interest (see also http://www-hcl.phy.cam.ac.uk/).
Key Personnel: Prof. H. Ahmed, Microelectronics Research Center
Staff: Six Post Doctorates, 17 Research Students
Overview of the Laboratory
The purpose of this laboratory is to carry out research into physics and
fabrication of novel electronic devices. Activities include
• extensive electron beam lithography
• focused ion beam implantation
• electron-beam-assisted deposition
• thin film processing
• collaboration with Cambridge Physics Lab
Discussion
The Microelectronics Research Center has regular collaboration on

quantum effect devices with the Cambridge Physics Laboratory. There is
extensive equipment sharing. For example: a femtosecond laser system, an
ultra-low temperature scanning tunneling microscope and a powerful
system are shared for purposes of characterization on structures that are
fabricated in the Center.
Also, a newly organized group within the Center is investigating sensor
structures including an infrared sensor based on free-standing micro-
thermocouples. Work is in process on microsensors in silicon and GaAs
and on single-molecule sensors.
Site: University of Oxford

Department of Materials
Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3PH, United Kingdom
http://www.materials.ox.ac.uk
WTEC: R.W. Siegel (report author), C. Koch
Hosts: Prof. Brian Cantor, Cookson Professor of Materials, and

Head of Department; Fax: (44) 1865-273738; E-mail:
[email protected]
Prof. David Pettifor, Isaac Wolfson Professor of Metallurgy,
and Director, Materials Modelling Laboratory
Dr. Brian Derby, Director, Oxford Centre for Advanced
Materials and Composites
Dr. Patrick Grant
Dr. Amanda Petford-Long
Dr. Kenya A.Q. O’Reilly
Dr. Alfred Cerezo
Dr. Paul J. Warren
Dr. Steve Roberts
Dr. John L. Hutchison
Prof. Peter J. Dobson, Department of Engineering Science
Prof. Malcolm L.H. Green, Head, Department of Chemistry,
Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory
Prof. H.A.O. Hill
Prof. R.G. Denning
Prof. D. O’Hare
Prof. Paul Madden, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Laboratory
Dr. R.K. Thomas
Dr. C.D. Bain
Dr. F. Marken
BACKGROUND
The full day of 16 October from 9:30 to 15:30 was spent at the University
of Oxford visiting the Head of the Department of Materials, Prof. Brian
Cantor, and various other members of the Department. It was a very
interesting visit, with much to hear about in the area of nanostructure science
and technology at this prestigious university. An additional one-hour visit at
the end of the day was made to a group of faculty from the Department of
Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry and Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Laboratories. Although brief, the visit was quite effective, since it was held
in a very informative roundtable format well organized by Prof. Malcolm
L.H. Green and Prof. Paul Madden.
According to an initial overview of the University of Oxford and its
Department of Materials presented by Prof. Cantor, the Department currently
consists of about 330 people in total, with 20 academic staff and about 30
support staff, 80 research fellows and visitors, 80 postgraduate students, and
the remainder undergraduate students. The Department’s current annual
research budget of ~£3 million, comes two-thirds from government and one-
third from industry, with about 50% of this focused in nanoscale research
activities. The research in general is quite broad-based and includes
processing, characterization, and modeling activities in all classes of
materials: metals, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors, and composites (see
references list). The Department also houses the Materials Modelling
Laboratory (Prof. David Pettifor, Director) as well as the Oxford Centre for
Advanced Materials and Composites (Dr. Brian Derby, Director). In the
important area of nanostructure characterization, the very impressive
electron microscopy facilities here are particularly noteworthy, owing in part
to the tradition left by Professor Sir Peter Hirsch, as are those in atom-probe
field-ion microscopy. A series of visits with individual department staff
ensued.
Dr. Patrick Grant reviewed the department’s ongoing work in

nanocrystalline sprayed coatings. This work utilizes a variety of spray
processing methods including the Ospray process, electric-arc spraying,
plasma spraying, and ink-jet spraying. He described some examples in more
detail. For example, plasma spraying of titanium along with 100 µm
diameter SiC fibers yielded multilayered structures with a matrix having a
nanoscale substructure, owing to the rather stochastic process of oxide
contamination. Work was planned to soon begin on spraying 600 nm
diameter Al2O3 particles and 200 nm diameter SiC feedstock, as the research
moved more toward the true nanoscale regime.
Dr. Amanda Petford-Long then described her work on nanolayered
magnetic thin films. The primary focus of the work is on magnetic
recording materials at the nanoscale. A significant collaboration is ongoing
between Dr. Petford-Long at Oxford, Prof. Ami Berkowitz at UCSD, and

Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, who together are funding three post-doctoral
researchers in electron microscopy, band-structure modeling, etc., mainly on
spin-valve materials. These are made by spraying multilayered films, such
as NiFe/Cu/Co/NiFe/MnNi. Additional funding comes from small
companies in the UK and the Science Research Council. Also described
were unique capabilities for mapping local magnetization in devices using
Lorentz transmission electron microscopy. They are also working on
nanocomposite optical films, such as Bi nanoclusters in an amorphous Ge
matrix, made by pulsed laser ablation techniques.
Dr. Kenya A.Q. O’Reilly then described her work on the nucleation of
nanocrystalline secondary phases and the heterogeneous nucleation of
droplets on matrix surfaces studied by TEM in various alloy systems. Melt
spinning is used to produce composites of low and high melting point
materials. The method is apparently limited to about 20 nm diameter
particles, for example with Pb in Al. Melting (freezing) is observed via
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at different cooling rates to examine
kinetics. Studies of Al/Al3Zr sponsored by ALCAN have shown that small
particles melt first and then interface regions. The excellent electron
microscopy facilities in the Materials Department (consisting of ~ 14
instruments, presently) are used in this work. A new high-resolution FEG-
TEM will be added in a few months to upgrade further these facilities.
Next, Dr. Alfred Cerezo and Dr. Paul J. Warren reviewed some of their
current work involved with investigations of nanocrystalline and amorphous
materials, mainly alloys, using atom-probe field-ion microscopy and high-
resolution TEM. The position-sensitive atom-probe (PoSAP) field-ion
microscope was pioneered in this group and represents the ultimate in
combined structural and chemical nanoscale analysis, since it has atom-by-
atom sensitivity. Kindbrisk, Ltd. in Oxfordshire has commercialized the
instrumentation through a technology transfer arrangement with the
University. A variety of phase decomposition studies are being carried out
in order to develop an understanding of the mechanisms and effects of
different such processes in nanocrystalline materials, including Al-based
(high strength), Fe-based (soft magnetic), and Zr-based (high strength)
alloys. Pulse electroplated Ni-Fe alloys have also been investigated because
of their interesting increased hardness and improved magnetic properties.
Dr. Steve Roberts discussed the ongoing research in the Department on
nanocrystalline ceramics and ceramic-matrix composites, the latter with Dr.
Brian Derby. Most of this work is being carried out on the Al2O3/SiC
system containing ~ 5% SiC particles, similar to the materials studied by
Prof. Koichi Niihara in Osaka. The work is funded by BRITE/EURAM and
the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UK) with some in-
kind support from UK industry. Using 30-40 nm SiC particles well

dispersed (intra- or inter-granularly) in 3-4 µm grain size Al2O3 yields a
factor of 2 increase in strength (cf. the factor of 4 increase found by
Niihara’s group at Osaka), but a similar fracture toughness and 2-3 times
greater wear resistance compared with conventional Al2O3. This material is
found to be effective as a grinding medium, and good interactions with
industry in the UK and abroad have resulted.
Dr. John L. Hutchison then discussed his work on supported metal
catalysts and also on in situ high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM)
observations of filling carbon nanotubes (multiwalled tubes now, but starting
on single-walled tubes) with metals via reduction in the microscope. Dr.
Hutchison is the director of the HREM facility, which has an environmental
cell that has 0.25 nm resolution up to 20 mbar pressure and 500°C. He is
also working on WS2 and other related fullerene-like sulfides and selenides
in collaboration with a group at the Weizmann Institute. These are found to
give excellent lubricity in oil suspensions, since they apparently roll and
don’t slide.
The WTEC team’s next visit on a very busy and interesting day was with
Prof. Peter J. Dobson, Department of Engineering Science, who described
the wide range of activities in nanoparticles and nanocomposites in his
Department, much of it done in collaboration with colleagues in the
Departments of Materials and Chemistry. They create a variety of
nanoparticles via several methods, including colloidal, aerosol, gel/aerosol,
sputtering, gas evaporation, and electrochemical routes. These nanoparticles
(e.g., CdS, CdSe, ZnS, Ag/ZnO, etc.) are generally dispersed in a matrix to
make a “high technology” paint or coating with a specific functionality. For
example, semiconductor quantum dots with narrow size distributions for use
as light emitters are being dispersed in a glassy or polymeric matrix to
develop new display technology. Surface capping of the nanoparticles is
also being investigated in order to optimize and control their dispersion and
properties.
Finally, the last hour of the visit was spent with a group of eight faculty
from the Department of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry and Physical and
Theoretical Chemistry Laboratories in an informative roundtable format that
was well organized and briskly guided by Prof. Malcolm L.H. Green,
Department Head, and Prof. Paul Madden. First, Dr. R.K. Thomas spoke of
neutron scattering studies of interfaces, for example the surfactant layer at an
aqueous/silica surface. The interaction appears to be independent of silica
particle size down to 5 nm, the smallest size looked at. Next, Dr. C.D. Bain
described nonlinear optical studies related to tribology, work on crystal
growth, and dissolution, as well as confined molecules trapped between
glass (“lens”) surfaces. Dr. F. Marken then discussed his work on
electrocatalysis using small particles, emulsions in aqueous media. Ab initio

molecular dynamics simulations of Na clusters in zeolite Y were then
described by Prof. P.A. Madden in terms of what the Na cluster looks like in
the super cage after the sodalite cages are filled. Grain boundary migration
in Na with symmetric tilt boundaries was also being simulated and could be
followed for tens of picoseconds at two-thirds TM using a simpler molecular
dynamics (MD) approach than Car-Parrinello with Kohn-Sham for materials,
such as Na, with spherically symmetric bonding. Prof. H.A.O. Hill then
presented his work on nanoelectrodes for sensor applications in which a
different enzyme could be placed on each nanoelectrode. Profs. Dobson and
Hill and others are now using carbon nanotubes with redox proteins in a tube
of 3 nm radius for such sensors. Results of a new project on nanostructured
polymers were then described by Prof. R.G. Denning in which one-, two-,
and three-dimensional nanostructures were being created using optical
interference methods. It is planned to fill the ordered voids created in these
polymers with TiO2 or other high refractive index materials. Prof. M.L.H.
Green then spoke of his elegant results with filled carbon nanotubes opened
by reduction with Nd2O3, FeBiO3, or MoO3, for example. Dr. D. O’Hare
ended this session with a discussion of mesoporous silicates used for
nanochemistry with organometallic catalysts. The general issue was then
raised about funding for nanoscale science in the UK and, while EPSRC has
an initiative in microstructure materials, it was felt that the monies were
small and insufficient, with money for people and equipment easier to obtain
than actual research support. It was perceived that even EPSRC is now
being focussed toward “wealth creation” and the situation appears that it is
not going to be getting better.
At the end of this long and interesting day, it was very clear that the time
allowed could not possibly do justice to all of the excellent work being done
on nanostructure science and technology at Oxford, and that an hour with the
Chemistry Department could really at best only whet one’s appetite.
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Burden, A.P., and J.L. Hutchison. 1996. Real-time observation of fullerene generation in a
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Chen, Y.K., A. Chu, J. Cook, M.L.H. Green, P.J.F. Harris, R. Heesom, J. Sloan, S.C. Tsang,
and J.F.C. Turner. 1997. Synthesis of carbon nanotubes containing metal oxides and
metals of the d-block nd f-block transition metals and related studies. J. Mater. Chem.
7:545-549.
Chen, Y.K., M.L.H. Green, J.L. Griffin, J. Hammer, R.M. Lago, and S.C. Tsang. 1996.
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Chu, A., J. Cook, R.J.R. Heesom, J.L. Hutchison, M.L.H. Green, and J. Sloan. 1996. Filling
of carbon nanotubes with silver, gold, and gold chloride. Chem. Mater. 8:2751-2754.
Cook, J., J. Sloan, R.J.R. Heesom, J. Hammer, and M.L.H. Green. 1996. Purification of
rhodium-filled carbon nanotubes using reversed micelles. Chem. Commun. 2673-2674.
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Hodes, J.L. Hutchison, and R. Tenne. 1996. Bulk synthesis of inorganic fullerene-like
MS2 (M = Mo, W) from the respective trioxides and the reaction mechanism. J. Am.
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Green, M.L.H., A. Chu, J. Cook, J. Sloan, Y.K. Chen, E.S.C. Tsang, R.J.R. Heesom, and J.
Hammer. 1996. Synthesis and characterization of nanotubes filled with elemental metals
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Morilla, M.C., C.M. Afonso, A.K. Petford-Long, and R.C. Doole. 1996. Influence of the
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Applications of Ferroelectrics.
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and in situ rearrangement of polycrystalline SnO inside carbon nanotubes. J. of Crystal
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Site: University of Karlsruhe (Universität Karlsruhe)

Institut für Physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie
Lehrstuhl II Kaiserstrasse 12,
D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
Tel: (49) 721-608 2094; Fax: (49) 721-608 7232
http://www.chemie.uni-karlsruhe.de
Date of Visit: 14 October 1997
WTEC: D. Cox (report author)
Hosts: Prof. Dr. Manfred Kappes, Physical Chemistry

Prof. D. Fenske, Organic Chemistry
Prof. H. von Löhneysen, Physics
BACKGROUND
The University of Karlsruhe has a strong effort in nanoscale science and

technology. The effort encompasses several research groups in both the
Chemistry and Physics Departments, as well as collaborative efforts with the
Forschungzentrum Karlsruhe (FzK). The effort has both a strong
experimental component and a strong theoretical component.
At present the formal structure is best exemplified by the two
Sonderforschungbereiche (SFB) programs at the university. The earliest one
SFB-195 was started in 1992 and has a focus on electron localization. The
present coordinator of SFB-195 is Prof. H. von Löhneysen, a professor in the
Physics Department. Beginning in 1998 Prof. Dr. Manfred Kappes in the
chemistry department will assume the role of coordinator. The focus of the
program is on electron localization in macroscopic and microscopic systems,
including clusters and cluster complexes. This is a multidisciplinary effort
encompassing many research groups at Karlsruhe. Some of the groups
participating in this program are those of
Prof. Dr. M. Kappes Clusters, Physical Chemistry
Prof. D. Fenske Semiconductor Cluster Complexes, Inorganic
Chemistry
Prof. R. Ahlrichs Theory
Prof. Freyland Electron localization in metal salt systems
Prof. Hippler Femtosecond spectroscopy of solvated electrons
Prof. H. von Löhneysen UHV scanning probe techniques, Defect structures
in Si
Prof. Schimmel Fabrication and scanning probe techniques
The total effort is estimated at about 70-90 researchers, including

postdoctoral and PhD students.
In addition to SFB-195, the Karlsruhe group has received approval for a
second SFB commencing January 1998. This new SFB will obtain funds,
initially ~ DM 2 million/year for three years, to pursue research on carbon
materials. Again a strong multidisiplinary approach is evident, with groups
from Physics, Chemistry and Engineering contributing. The goal of the new
effort will be to understand carbon-fiber-reinforced materials. The approach
will be multifaceted with studies of carbon deposition from the gas phase,
chemical vapor infiltration and chemical synthesis of carbon structures
including materials aspects of carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, gas phase
kinetics and surface radical interaction on carbon surfaces to understand the
fundamental growth mechanisms, and solid state physics of nanotubes and
carbon materials for potential nanoelectronic properties. Some of the groups
involved include those of Kappes, Fenske, Hippler, Hüttinger, Ahlrichs, and
von Löhneysen at the University, and Rietschel at the FzK.
The WTEC team held individual discussions with Prof. Kappes, Prof.
Fenske, and Prof. von Löhneysen, and visited the laboratories of Professors
Kappes and von Löhneysen. It is clear from the discussions that nanoscale
science is a high priority area in Karlsruhe, both at the university and at the
FzK (Prof. Dr. H. Gleiter). As examples of efforts in this area, the research
activities in the three groups we visited are summarized below.
Research in Prof. Kappes’ Group
At the present time Prof. Dr. Kappes has a group of 12, consisting of 1
postdoc and 11 PhD students. The main focus of the research is to
understand several fundamental physical, chemical, and electronic properties
of metal and carbon (fullerene) clusters using spectroscopic and beam
techniques. Efforts are focused on
1. photodissociation probes of mass selected transition metal clusters and
derivatives
2. studies of charge separation and chemi-ionization processes in thermal
energy collisions of alkali clusters with various molecules (e.g., O29, Cl29,
C60...)
3. isolation and characterization of larger fullerenes, endohedral
metallofullerenes, and fullerene derivatives
4. cluster ion-surface scattering including the determination of

fragmentation, delayed ionization, and neutralization rates upon
collisions to obtain activation energies
5. probes of cluster ion penetration into HOPG, including tailoring of
surface morphologies by controlled etching of nanometer-sized impact
defects
The laboratory is well equipped, having several molecular/ion beam
systems, many different laser systems for spectroscopic and particle
generation, ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) STM for surface studies, Ti-Sapphire
laser-based Raman spectrometer, HPLCs for fullerene extraction, and
purification, among other equipment.
In addition to its experimental effort, the Kappes group collaborates with
the theory group of Prof. Ahlrichs. Each PhD student may be expected to
spend about one-quarter of his/her time performing theoretical studies,
perhaps calculating electronic spectra of fullerenes, alkali clusters or
transition metal clusters, properties of isomeric structures, and/or model
spectra, e.g., IR or Raman, for many of the new neutral and ionic species
being studied.
Research in Prof. Fenske’s Group
Prof. Fenske’s group consists of about 15 PhD students and has

historically focused on synthesis and structure/X-ray, primarily of new metal
calcogenide molecular clusters. In addition to the effort on synthesis, more
recent studies are now directed to probing the stability of the ligand-
stabilized clusters, via ligand alteration and cluster size and composition.
One goal is to synthesize molecular clusters of well-defined size and
geometry in order to investigate quantum confinement in such species.
Recent successes are in the area of copper selenium molecular clusters
stabilized by the protective ligand field of (PEt2Ph)x. As an example,
molecular clusters with cores of Cu20Se13, Cu44Se22, up to Cu70Se35, have
been synthesized and characterized. The structures of the clusters smaller
than Cu70Se35 are found to be spherical, whereas the structure of Cu70Se35 is
pyramidal. The color of the material depends on the cluster’s size. For
nanoscale technology, the Cu70Se35 is found to be metastable. It decomposes
under vacuum into smaller Cu2xSex clusters. When a sheet is coated with
Cu70Se35, a nearly uniform coating of smaller clusters of Cu2xSex (quantum
dots) is formed, thus creating a 2-D array of quantum dots. The next step—
not a trivial one—will be to form interconnects. One thought is to use
graphite surfaces using the beam techniques developed by Prof. Kappes.
The semiconducting cluster complexes can then stick to the graphite surface
at the defect site.
Research in Prof. von Löhneysen’s Group
Prof. H. von Löhneysen in the Physics Department has a fairly large

group of 20, with 5 postdocs and 15 PhD students. He has a well-funded
operation and commented that funding in Germany may still be better than
in the United States. However, he also felt that too much time has to be
spent to get funding. He commented that the University of Karlsruhe
strongly supports nanotechnology. He has strong interests and efforts in
electron beam lithography, break junctions, metallic nanostructures, low
temperature physics investigating nanostructures and thin films, metal
insulator transitions, and magnetism/superconductivity. Research on break
junctions is directed towards fabricating and characterizing nanometer
structures with few atom contacts. Contacts are broken and then brought
back together in a controlled fashion so that current voltage characteristics
can be probed. A tour of his laboratories confirmed that support for
equipment is certainly adequate, with strong capabilities in e-beam
lithography, UHV STM, and 20 mK dilution refrigeration for low
temperature physics studies.
Prof. H. von Löhneysen also outlined some of the other efforts in the
Physics Department with some emphasis on nanoscale science. Prof. T.
Schimmel uses STM treatments of surfaces to micromill and manipulate
nanometer structures on surfaces, such as fabrication of small junctions.
Prof. P. Wölfle carries out theoretical studies of phase coherence, and Prof.
G. Scöhn is developing the theory for a single-electron current standard.
Site: Universität des Saarlandes

(Saarland University, Department of Technical Physics)
D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany
Tel: (49) 681-302 5173; Fax: (49) 681-302 5222
http://www.uni-sb.de/
Hosts: Prof. Dr. Rainer Birringer, Physics, Principal Contact

http://www.uni-sb.de/matfak/fb10/birringer
Prof. R. Humleman, Physical Chemistry
Prof. R. Houbertz, Characterization
Prof. Veitz, Chemistry
Prof. Hufner, Chemistry
Prof. Beck, Chemistry
BACKGROUND
The University of the Saarland has a strong focus on nanotechnology. Of
particular interest are the following areas of investigation within the
Department of Technical Physics:
1. Inert gas condensation processes to produce nanostructured powders
2. Determination of grain size distribution in nanomaterials from X-ray
diffraction profile analysis
3. Nanocrystalline metals and oxides by reverse microemulsions
4. Nanocrystalline metals and oxides with pulsed electrodeposition
5. Characteristics of one-dimensional tunnel junction arrangements
6. Size control synthesis of BaTiO3 by sol-gel hydrolysis
7. Nanocrystalline copper by pulsed electrodeposition
8. Muon diffusion in nanocrystalline copper
9. Growth kinetics of nanocrystalline CuTi
10. Implantation of ions on the surface initiation of reactions with metal
alkoxides
11. Characterization of nanoparticle surfaces
12. Use of photoelectron microscopy for resolving surfaces
13. Ultrasonic energy for creating nanoparticles
The inert gas condensation method has been optimized by using an

aerosol flow condenser. Characterization of product resulted in an 80%
reduction in the primary particle mean diameter and 17% reduction in
geometric standard deviation. Flow conditions also determined the primary
particle diameter and the geometric standard deviation.
There is considerable investigation on the synthesis of nanocrystalline
metal oxides and the formation of NH4MnF3 by microemulsion techniques.
Size and distribution of the primary reverse micelles were determined by
dynamic light scattering.
An analytical approach is now available for determining the Coulomb
blockade and single electron tunneling phenomena for arbitrary tunnel
junctions coupled in series.
Size controlled synthesis of nanocrystalline BaTiO3 by a sol-gel type
hydrolysis is currently under study in a microemulsion nanoreactor.
EQUIPMENT
• Small Angle Scattering • ESCA Nanoscope

• NMR • Nanodensitometer
• GC/MS • X-Ray Diffraction
• ESCA • Differential Thermal Analysis
• TEM • Dilatometry
• Neutron Diffraction • Differential Scanning Calorimetry
• SEM • Porosity measurements
• AFM • Magnetism/Vibrating Sample
• Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Magnetometer
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The synthesis and properties of nanocrystalline materials include

researching metals, metal oxides and nanocomposites. Preparation methods
are by inert gas condensation and ball milling. Specific properties of interest
are catalytic, sensor, magnetic and mechanical attributes. Such work is
providing increased understanding and capability in the investigation of
nanoscale science and technology at the University of the Saarland.
Appendix C. European Roundtable Discussions
STUTTGART ROUNDTABLE
Site: Stuttgart, Germany
Date: 13 October 1997
WTEC: C. Koch (report author), D. Cox, E. Hu, R.W. Siegel
Attendees:
University of Ulm
Prof. Dr. Peter Unger, Associate Professor, Dept. of Optoelectronics
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jorg Fecht, Fakultät für Ingenierwissenschaften, Abt.
Werkstoffe de Elektrotechnik
Prof. Dr. Rolf Jurgen Behm, Abteilung Oberflachenchemie und Katalyse,
Fakultat für Naturwissenschaften
Prof. Dr. R.-P Franke, Zentralinstitut für Biomedizinische Technik,
Abteilung Biomaterialien
Prof. Dr. Witold Lojkowski, Abteilung Werkstoffe der Elektroechnik
Dr. Joachim Spatz, Abteilung Oberflachenchemie III, Fakultat für
Naturwissenschaften
Max Planck Institutes
Prof. Dr. Klaus v. Klitzing, Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung
Dr. I.M.L. Billas, MPI für Festkörperforschung
Dr. P. Redlich, MPI für Metallforschung
Dr. Thomas Wagner, MPI für Metallforschung
Others
Prof. Dr. Manfred Kappes, University of Karlsruhe, Inst. Physikalische
Chemie
Dr. Victor Trapp, Project Manger, Fuel Cells, SGL Carbon Group, SGL
Technik GmbH
Dr. Margret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens, Electrochemical Material R&D, Solar
Energy and Hydrogen Research Center
Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Kleinekathofer, Daimler Benz AG, Forschung und
Technik
221
222 Appendix C. European Roundtable Discussions
A group of scientists from or near Stuttgart were invited to a roundtable

discussion of their various research projects on nanoscale technology and
materials. Names of attendees and their affiliations are listed above. The
highlights of these presentations are given below, by institution.
Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung (MPI FKF)

Tel: (49) 711-689 0; Fax: (49) 711-689 1010
http://www.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/start.html
Professor Dr. Klaus v. Klitzing
Professor v. Klitzing described research on functional nanodevices at the

Max Planck Institute (MPI). He also discussed the broader view of work on
nanotechnology in Germany, particularly on III-V quantum structure
devices. Summaries of work on this subject, financial supporters, and details
of technical progress are summarized in III-V-Elektronik Mesoskopische
Bauelemente (in German). There is broad cooperation between universities
and industry on this project. Professor v. Klitzing briefly described some of
his own research, including MBE growth and etching system for study of
GaAs/AlAs/ AlGaAs:15/AlAs:6/GaAs and quantum dot lasers GaInP and
InP. The ultimate single-electron tunneling transistor—which is being
addressed at many laboratories—is the goal of much of the research.
The electronic properties of clusters are studied, e.g., gold clusters with
well-defined number of atoms as contacts and islands for charge transfer.
Some examples of low-dimensional electronic systems prepared by the
chemistry department of the MPI FKF Stuttgart are “0-dimensional” CS11O3,
“one-dimensional” Na5Ba3N, and “two-dimensional” Ba2N crystals. Prof. v.
Klitzing is skeptical about the ultimate use of nano-semiconductor systems,
such as quantum dots, for applications in mainstream microelectronics.
Dr. I.M.L. Billas
Dr. Billas in the group of Prof. Dr. T.P. Martin described the group’s
work on clusters studied by means of time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
Much of the work deals with metal-covered C60 or C70 molecules. C60 is an
ideal template for growing shells of metal atoms. Several systems include
alkali-metal, alkaline-earth-metal, and transition-metal-covered fullerenes.
Fabrication of new exotic magnetic nanostructures is part of an interregional
research project “magnetic nanostructures,” which includes researchers from
adjacent regions of France and Germany partially funded by regional
governments. The project collaborators are listed below:
France: Rhône-Alpes region:

Dr. A. Perez, University C. Bernard, Lyon
Prof. Dr. M. Broyer, University C. Bernard, Lyon
http://www.univ-lyon.fr/
Prof. Dr. B. Barbara, CNRS, Grenoble
Dr. K. Hasselbach, CNRS, Grenoble
http://labs.polycnrs-gre.fr/
Alsace region:
Prof. Dr. J.-P. Bucher, University L. Pasteur, Strasbourg
http://www-ulp.u-strasbg.fr/
Germany: Baden-Würtemberg region:
Prof. Dr. H. Haberland, Frieburg University
Prof. Dr. T.P. Martin, MPI, Stuttgart
Prof. Dr. D. Weiss, Stuttgart and Regensburg
The research of this program includes fabrication and stabilization of
nanosize magnetic structures (magnetic dots and clusters) and their
characterization by time-of-flight mass spectroscopy, TEM and HRTEM,
XRD, and absorption techniques, Rutherford Backscattering, and XPS.
Magnetic properties are measured by magnetic force microscopy,
magnetometry (microSQUIDs), magnetotransport measurements, and
ultrafast magnetooptical measurements.
Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung

http://wwwmf.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/
Dr. Thomas Wagner
Dr. Wagner is staff scientist at the Max-Planck Institut für

Metallforschung leading the “Thin Film Synthesis and Processing” group.
His current research uses STM, TEM, coupled with standard surface analysis
techniques, to characterize metal and ceramic films, multilayers, and alloy
films with defined chemical composition grown by MBE and sputter
deposition on a variety of substrates. The main thrust of his group is to
investigate physico-chemical mechanisms of thin film growth like solid state
reactions, nucleation processes, and interface formation during film
deposition. The following thin film systems are under investigation:
Metal/Ceramic Nb, Cu/Al2O3 Al, Ag/MgAl2O4 Si, Pd, Cu/SrTiO3
Ceramic/Ceramic Ti2O3/Al2O3 ZrO2/Al2O3 TiO2/Al2O3
In addition, special thin film systems are grown to study their mechanical
properties (e.g., alloy films), thermal stability (grain growth, stability of
boundaries), atomistic structure, and bonding interfaces.
Prof. Dr. Manfred Rühle
The main thrust of Prof. Rühle’s group is use of state-of-the-art analytical

tools to study materials and thin film microstructures and interfaces. One
major goal of the research is to correlate chemical composition and
microstructure of materials to their macroscopic properties. In this context,
it is of fundamental interest to quantitatively investigate and model the
growth, atomistic structure, and bonding at interfaces of both real materials
and model systems. Such model systems are fabricated by different
techniques, like ultrahigh vacuum diffusion bonding and molecular beam
epitaxy. Major research activities are concentrated on electron microscopy
and interfacial research. Analysis is carried out with tools such as HRTEM,
analytical electron microscopy (AEM), and surface science techniques.
Interfaces of these material systems have been studied both experimentally
and theoretically: grain boundaries in metals, intermetallics and complex
oxides, and metal/ceramic phase boundaries, including the following:
metal/metal: NiAl/NiAl Cu/Cu
metal/ceramic Nb, Cu/Al2O3 Al, Ag/MgAl2O4 Pd, Cu/SrTiO3
ceramic/ceramic Al2O3/Al2O3 SrTiO3/SrTiO3
Major research interests include those listed below:
1. processing of clean and well-defined surfaces and interfaces by diffusion
bonding and MBE
2. growth and surface studies by modern techniques of surface science
3. quantitative investigation of materials, interfaces, and solid state
reactions by high resolution (transmission) electron microscopy (HREM),
analytical electron microscopy (AEM), and energy filtered convergent
beam electron diffraction (CBED)
4. refined quantifications of results from electron microscopy investigations
by methodical developments
5. computer simulation of boundary structures and bonding at interfaces by
different techniques (e.g., ab initio methods)
Dr. P. Redlich
Dr. Redlich is also in Prof. Rühle’s institute. His research interests are in
the field of carbon nanofibers. Institute researchers use arc-discharge
methods to synthesize their carbon nanotubes. They are also studying
chemically modified C nanotubes. Using BC4N as an anode they obtain a
new material. They use HRTEM and EELS to characterize their materials.
The interdisciplinary approach to these studies is emphasized with
collaborations with experts in synthesis and characterization within MPI,
Germany, and the United States.
University of Ulm
Albert-Einstein-Allee 45, D-89081 Ulm, Germany
http://www.uni-ulm.de
Prof. Dr. Peter Unger

http://www-opto.e-technik.uni-ulm.de/index-e.html
Dr. Unger is in the Department of Optoelectronics of the University of

Ulm (K.J. Ebeling, Director). Research topics in the university include
vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), Gbit data transmission
using VCSELs, high-power semiconductor lasers, and nitride-based
semiconductors (for LEDs, lasers). The funding of this research comes from
the German Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and Technology
(BMBF), Baden-Württemberg, German Research Society (DFG), the
European Union, and industry (Siemens, Daimler-Benz, Telekom). The
equipment used includes MBE (for GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs), GSMBE (for
InP, GaInAsP, AlGaInP) and MOVPE (and GSMBE) for GaN, InGaN, and
AlGaN. Lithography is both optical and e-beam, and dry etching is by RIE,
CAIBE. Nanotechnology studies include epitaxial growth (quantum wells,
nanometer accuracy, nanometer reproducibility) and lithography and dry
etching (holograms, waveguides, and laser mirrors). No structures have
nanometer-scale dimensions, but they do have nanometer-scale definition,
accuracy, and side wall roughness.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Jorg Fecht
Dr. Fecht is in the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Electronic

Materials/Materials Science. Dr. Fecht has a number of basic research and
applied research projects, many of which involve nanoscale science and
technology. The per-year funding level is about $1.2 million. Eight projects
are of particular interest for nanostructured materials research:
1. structure and properties of nanocrystalline (nc) materials prepared by
cyclic mechanical deformation
2. high temperature mechanical properties of ceramic thermal barrier
coatings
3. tomographic nanoanalytical microprobe/field ion microscopy
4. small angle neutron scattering of nanostructured materials
5. optimization of the wheel/rail contact for high speed trains—
development of new steels that are more prone to the formation of nc
surface layers due to friction-induced wear, as well as testing of nc
coating technologies
6. development and modeling of nanostructured wear resistant coatings—

examples are Ti-Al-N, SiC, and Fe-Cr-Si/WC to improve lifetime of
wear parts and biomaterials (e.g., stents, pacemakers, etc.)
7. “Simulation of Microsystems,” a materials databank for materials used in
microsystem technologies, including thin films and coatings and bonding
technologies: development of physical models to describe the
thermomechanical properties of nanostructured materials in
microsystems
8. sensor clusters in extreme environments: development of new sensors
that can withstand extreme current densities, temperatures (up to 1300 K)
and pressures (2000 bar) using surface acoustic wave devices; new
metallization schemes using nc/amorphous phase mixtures; and nc
diamond as a new material for pressure sensors
Prof. Dr. Rolf Jurgen Behm
Dr. Behm is in the Faculty of Sciences, Department of Organic

Chemistry and Catalysis. He described the fabrication of nanostructures by
scanning probes. These included semiconductor materials where, e.g.,
scanning tunneling microscopy was used for direct local deposition of Si or
Si-Hx species from a SiH4 precursor gas on the Si(111)–(7x7) surface.
Direct writing of nanostructures with lateral dimensions down to 40 nm is
accomplished; similarly, nanofabrication of small Cu clusters on Au (111)
electrodes is accomplished with the STM. Work is also carried out on the
chemical properties of defined multicomponent particles of interest for
catalysis. It is suggested that bimetallic catalysts may have a future,
compared to single-component monolayers, which are too expensive. About
80% of this research is directed toward fuel cell catalysis. These programs
are funded by government (BMBF, DFG, EU) and industry.
Dr. Margret Wohlfahrt-Mehrens

Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, Baden-Württemberg,
Department of Electrochemical Material Research and Development
The major function of the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen
Research is to characterize materials—some of which may be
nanostructured—for batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells (direct methanol),
and hydrogen storage (fuel cell, carbon nc materials). The center obtains its
materials from others, since it does not make materials. At this time it is not
possible to predict whether nanostructured materials will be useful in the
above applications.
Prof. Dr. R.-P. Franke
Dr. Franke is in the Central Institute for Biomedical Technology,

Department of Biomaterials. Dr. Franke described several interesting studies
related to the interfaces between biomaterials and tissues. One study
(funded by BMBF) involves the tribology of implants under load. The wear
particles of the implant can be in the size range of nm to mm and lead to
inflammation of the tissue and subsequent loosening of the implant.
Nanostructures may be important in filtering devices, sensors, and artificial
organs. Specificity—specific reactions by receptors—is important in
organisms, while biomaterials typically react by nonspecific reactions.
Placement of receptor-like molecules on biomaterials by nanomanipulation
methods should open new opportunities. In general, there appear to be many
new exciting research possibilities in the fields of wear, mechanical, and
chemical properties of nc biomaterials.
Prof. Dr. Witold Lojkowski
Dr. Lojkowski is in the Department of Electronic Materials/Materials

Science as visiting scientist from the Polish Academy of Sciences, High
Pressure Research Center in Warsaw, Poland (a Center of Excellence). His
major research interests at Ulm involve characterization of nc powder and
high pressure sintering. In terms of characterization of nanomaterials, X-ray
diffraction analysis is the methodology used. Ab initio calculations are
made of diffraction spectra for model structures and compared with the
experimental data. Information about size, shape, strain, and polytype-
structure of the nanopowders is obtained.
Studies of the sintering of nc SiC and nc diamond are carried out at
pressures up to 40 GPa and temperatures up to 2000°C. In situ X-ray
diffraction studies are made under pressure to determine the processes taking
place during sintering.
Dr. Joachim Spatz
Dr. Spatz is in the Faculty of Sciences, Department of Organic

Chemistry/Macromolecular Chemistry (director, Dr. Marten Möller). He
described his department’s research on using diblock copolymers in ultrathin
films for patterning. The phase organization of the diblock copolymers into
micelles can be arranged in various ways on substrates. The distance
between clusters can be about 10 nm and modified by changing the
molecular weights. The chemical inhomogeneity of the diblock copolymer
films can be used to deposit metals locally on either block “A” or “B.” This
can provide masks on the nanometer scale with the limit so far of about 30
nm. Another method to approach limits of 1 nm uses the addition of metal
compounds in solution to the core of a copolymer, then reduces the metal
compound to the metal. An example is Au nanoparticles about 6 nm in
diameter with the distance between them controlled by the polymer. Oxygen
plasmas can be used to remove the polymer with the metal particles
remaining in place. The particle size can be reduced with lower molecular
weight polymers. Precise islands 5–20 nm and 10-200 nm apart can make
high density quantum dot arrays, 1,000 dots/mm2.
University of Karlsruhe
http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de
Prof. Dr. Manfred Kappes, Institute of Physical Chemistry
Prof. Dr. Kappes briefly described the scope of their work related to
nanostructures. This includes studies of fullerenes, electronic structure of
clusters, and use of clusters as projectiles to make well-defined defects on
substrate surfaces. The details of the work in Prof. Dr. Kappes’ laboratory
are given in the report of the site visit to Karlsruhe (Appendix B).
SGL Technik GmbH

http://www.sglcarbon.com/welcome.html
Dr. Victor Trapp, Project Manager, Fuel Cells, SGL Carbon Group
Dr. Trapp provided an industrial perspective on work on carbon

nanofibers as part of a large, $1 billion per year, carbon company business.
The present cost is about $30/lb. The carbon nanofibers may be used in
composites (for automotive, electronics applications), electrochemistry for
electrodes, etc., and hydrogen storage. An industrial concern with carbon
nanofibers is potential or possible health/environmental problems. This is a
major obstacle to commercialization.
SWEDEN ROUNDTABLES
Site: Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
WTEC: D. Cox (report author), C. Koch, J. Mendel, R.W. Siegel
Hosts: Prof. K.V. Rao, Department of Condensed Matter Physics

Fax (and Tel): (46) 8-790 7771; Email: [email protected]
Prof. M. Muhammed, Materials Science and Engineering
Division of Materials Chemistry
Fax: (46) 8-790 9072
Attendees:
Docent Ingela Agrell, Foundation for Strategic Research

Prof. Tord Claesson, Dept of Physics, Chalmers Institute of Technology
Prof. C.G. Granqvist, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University
Prof. D. Haviland, Nanostructure Physics, KTH
Prof. Mats Jonson, Göteborg University
Prof. Ulf Karlsson, Materialfysik, KTH
Dr. Lazlo Kiss, Ångström Laboratory, University of Uppsala
Dr. Mirka Mikes-Lindbäck, ABB Corporate Research
Prof. Nils Mårtensson, MAX-Laboratories, Lund University
Prof. Arne Rosén, Department of Physics, Chalmers Institute of Technology
Prof. J. Roeraade, Dept of Analytical Chemistry, KTH
Prof. Lars Samuelson, Dept. of Solid State Physics, Lund University
Dr. Steven Savage, FOA (National Defense Research Institute)
Prof. Mats Wilander, Dept of Physics, Univ. of Göteborg/Chalmers
Background
The WTEC team’s site visit to Sweden was greatly facilitated by Prof.
Rao and Prof. Muhammed, who kindly organized a one-day workshop at the
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. Groups from across
Sweden involved in nanoscale science and technology were invited to send
representatives to participate in this workshop. Representatives from the
Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, Chalmers University of
Technology, Göteborg University, and Lund University, together with
program managers from four of the funding agencies in Sweden, contributed

to the workshop.
Sweden has made a conscientious effort to have broad-scale information
exchange in the area of nanoscale science and technology. There are several
consortia (described below) that not only have a multidisciplinary
composition but also multiorganizational composition in most instances. As
examples, in the area of mesoscopic (20 Å < size < 500 Å) physics, 80-100
people are involved from various institutions in Sweden, and the Nanometer
Structure Consortium at Lund has on the order of 100 people involved.
Regular meetings are held by the National Board for Industrial and
Technological Development (NUTEK) Competent Centers, and the scanning
probe community has regular meetings for researchers throughout the
country.
Presentation of Consortium Efforts
After introductory comments, which included a welcome from Prof.

Ingmar Grenthe, the Vice President of the Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), overviews of four major consortia in the Nanoscale Science and
Technology area were presented:
1. Clusters and Ultrafine Particles, presentation by Prof. Nils Mårtensson of
Lund/Uppsala, the consortium leader
2. Nanometer Structure Consortium, presentation by Prof. L. Samuelsson of
Lund University, the consortium head
3. Nanophase Materials Consortium, presentation by Prof. M. Muhammed,
of the Brinell Center at KTH
4. Ångström Laboratory, presentation by Prof. C.G. Granqvist and Dr. L.
Kiss of Uppsala University
These general consortia overviews demonstrated that significant effort is
being expended in nanoscale science and technology throughout Sweden. In
addition, there either is or is expected to eventually be, substantial industrial
involvement in every consortium. Academia’s strong and close ties to the
industrial needs of Sweden were repeated several times during the workshop.
Reports on the Consortia
1. Consortium on Clusters and Ultrafine Particles
The Consortium on Clusters and Ultrafine Particles is one of the

consortia that makes up the Interdisciplinary Materials Research Consortium
(see Table C.I) sponsored by the Swedish Foundation for Scientific Research
(SSF), the Natural Sciences Research Council (NFR), and NUTEK. The
present Consortium leader is Nils Mårtensson, who is also the new Director
of MAX-Lab, the synchrotron facility at Lund. The three primary areas of
focus of this consortium are (1) catalysis (clusters – nanophase materials),
(2) nanostructured electrodes, and (3) hard materials.
The consortium consists of groups from several different universities and
disciplines that collaborate in this area. For example, participants include
Uppsala researchers from Physics in Surface Science, Liquid ESCA
(electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis), Quantum Chemistry, and
Dynamic Electrochemistry; University of Stockholm researchers from
Physics in Theory; Linköping researchers in Theory of Spectra; and KTH
researchers in Materials Chemistry and Ceramics. In addition there are
strong interactions with industrial researchers.
Examples of research being carried out in this consortium are
investigations of the fundamental properties of CO dissociation on supported
metal clusters. XPS studies of the energy shift in the carbon 1s line have
allowed investigators to follow CO dissociation on different nanosize
rhodium clusters and conclude that clusters containing on the order of 1,000
rhodium atoms supported on alumina were the most adept at dissociating
CO. Clusters containing both less and more rhodium dissociated a much
smaller fraction of the CO. Similarly, bonding of organic acids on metals,
e.g., formate and acetate on Cu(110), is being studied experimentally by
XPS and modeled by theory.
These experiments are made possible by the use of the synchrotron
radiation at MAX-lab, which is located at Lund University. The MAX-II is
a third-generation facility, which means that it has been optimized for
insertion devices (straight sections). The high intensity X-ray sources at
MAX-lab have opened opportunities for X-ray lithography work in two
areas that lab researchers are calling micromachining/LIGA process or
nanostructuring/IC technology. Potential applications in micromachining
include neuro chips, microactuators, microsensors, pressure senders,
microparts, filters, flow meters/controllers, and fiberoptics connectors.
Potential applications in nanostructuring are sub-0.13 µm microlithography,
high speed FETs, biomaterials, fibers and particles, bioelectric sensors,
binary diffraction optics elements, optical elements based on CGHs, and
high aspect ratio nanostructures.
Another example is the MAX-Lab work on nanostructured
semiconductor electrodes for photovoltaics, photoconductors, sensors,
electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, electrochromism, electroluminescense, and
batteries. The Graetzel cell, which uses particles with controlled
morphology, allows optimization of devices that produce electrical energy
from light.
2. Nanometer Structure Consortium
During the Stockholm workshop, Prof. Lars Samuelson presented an

overview of the organization and work being carried out at the Nanometer
Structure Consortium. Since this consortium is reviewed in detail at the end
of Appendix C by Evelyn Hu, who separately attended a mini-workshop at
Lund Luniversity on 14 October 1997, a separate overview of Prof.
Samuelson’s presentation is not given here.
3. Nanophase Materials and Ceramics Thematic Network at KTH
The Nanophase Materials and Ceramics Thematic Network is based at

KTH and is part of the Brinell Centre. It was established in 1996/1997 and
is funded by the SSF, KTH, and by participating industries. Prof. Mamoun
Muhammed is project leader of the Nanophase Materials and Ceramics
Thematic Network.
The Brinell Centre is a newly formed strategic research center
coordinating research in materials science in the Stockholm area. The
Brinell Centre performs interdisciplinary research and graduate education in
materials science, with a focus on advanced engineering materials. It
consists of 15 departments and institutes, mostly based in the Stockholm
area. The Brinell Centre represents a very broad spectrum in materials
science, ranging from basic physics and chemistry to industrial applications
of materials science. One type of advanced material is based on
nanomaterials. The center maintains a close relationship with both
materials-producing and materials-consuming industries. Graduate students
will spend at least 6 months work within an industrial company and
accomplish a part of their thesis in work at the company.
The research programs at the Brinell Centre are organized within two
Interdisciplinary Research Programs entitled (a) Computational Materials
Science and Engineering, and (b) Precision Processing of Clean Steels; and
three Thematic Networks entitled (a) Nanophase Materials and Ceramics, (b)
Materials Science for High Temperature and Aggressive Environments, and
(c) Surface Science and Coating Technology. The Thematic Networks cover
large scientific areas that are also reflected in the graduate school program.
Thematic Network A: Nanophase Materials and Ceramics
This thematic network encompasses the groups of about six professors in
the KTH. Nanophase materials are defined here as materials with a grain
size in the 1-100 nm range and are found to exhibit greatly altered
mechanical properties compared to their normal, large-grained counterparts
with the same chemical composition. For example, nanophase materials are
up to five times harder than the normal materials. This thematic network
focuses on fabrication and evaluation of the mechanical properties of

alumina-based composites containing TiC and TiN nanoparticles. The
project aims to study the enhancement of the mechanical properties of
alumina composites by dispersion of nanoparticles of titanium carbide and
titanium nitride. Scanning probe techniques are commonly used to study the
interfaces and fabrication of alumina-based composites. Their mechanical
properties are evaluated by nano-indentation, and then the indentation areas
are mapped in order to better understand the mechanisms leading to
improved mechanical properties of bulk alumina by nanoparticles. Another
area of interest involves study of cerium oxide catalysts. Studies have
shown that significant improvement in the oxygen storage capabilities of
these materials has been achieved with neodymium, calcium, lead, or
manganese doping. The program is funded “quite handsomely” by industry.
For aerospace applications, nanogranular thermoelectrics based upon opals
are being studied in collaboration with Allied Signal Corporation.
4. The Ångström Laboratory
The Ångström Laboratory is located at Uppsala University. It is a center

in which expertise in materials science has been gathered together from
diverse fields of chemistry, materials science, physics, electronics, etc. The
facilities have been designed to expedite high technology research and there
are specially equipped laboratories to offer optimal conditions for
experiments, for example, rooms with extremely high air purity that are free
from vibration. Four strategic research programs have been established at
the Ångström Laboratory: the Center for Advanced Micro-Engineering, the
Ångström Solar Center, the Batteries and Fuel Cells for a Better
Environment Program, and the Energy Systems Program.
As an example of the lab’s world-class capability is its recent purchase
and installation of a $1 million apparatus to fabricate large quantities of
ultrafine particles. The apparatus can be operated in several different modes,
such as Gas Evaporation Mode or Direct Gas Deposition Mode, depending
on the material to be fabricated. The equipment will allow researchers to
produce high purity, nearly perfect nanocrystals with a narrow size
distribution (2-3 nm in diameter) at a very high production rate (20 gm/hr).
Several types of nanoparticles are being produced and examined by different
researchers. These include active metal particles, isolated metal particles,
nanochains of ferromagnetic nanoparticles, and ceramic nanoparticles.
Studies include fabrication of Fe-Ag films for experimental investigation of
giant magnetoresistance (GMR) properties, as well as use of “ordinary”
nanoparticles to fabricate films from nanopaste for studies of their electrical
and thermal resistivity properties.
Reports from Funding Agencies of Sweden
In addition to presentations overviewing consortia efforts, four

presentations were given by managers from four different Swedish funding
agencies describing nanoscale science support in their respective agencies.
Summaries of these presentations follow.
NUTEK
Dr. H. Hakansson stated that NUTEK budgets are being reduced to about
SKr. 26 million for 1998, whereas over 50 applications have been received
that request support in the amount of SKr. 150 million. NUTEK nanoscale
program areas are (a) active materials and nanofunctional materials; (b)
microsystems technology; and (c) peripherals.
Natural Sciences Research Council (NFR)
The Natural Sciences Research Council presentation by Dr. U. Karlsson

emphasized that the NFR primarily supports basic research. The budget for
physics is about SKr. 82.5 million, of which about 25% is for condensed
matter physics. It was estimated that about 20-30% of the total NFR
chemistry and physics budget supports nanoscale science initiatives,
continuing the NFR history of strongly supporting nanoscale science efforts.
It supports the Materials Science Consortia, of which the Nanometer
Structure Consortium and the Clusters and Ultrafine Particles Consortium
are part, and it also supports the National Facility at Göteborg University,
which consists in part of experimental physics groups from Lund, Göteborg,
Uppsala, Stockholm, and Umea Universities. Interestingly, the NFR also
supports “senior research positions.” At present it provides support for
positions in the following areas: low dimension structures, mesoscopic
physics, surface chemistry, and theory (4 positions). Two other positions are
presently under consideration, one in cluster chemistry and another in the
physics of small structures.
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)
The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research is a relatively new

organization, created in January 1994 with a SKr. 6 billion budget. As
described by Dr. Marika Mikes-Lindback, the goal of the foundation is to
support scientific, technical, and medical research. One objective is to build
up competence in a field and then get companies founded to commercialize
products in that field. Projects are 100%-funded by SSF. There are six main
programs, of which five are vertically oriented and one (Materials) is

horizontally oriented. Two programs have large components of nanoscale
science and technology:
Interdisciplinary Materials Research Consortia, receives about
SKr. 42 million in support, about 25% of that for projects involving
nanoscience. Table C.1 lists the Interdisciplinary Materials Research
Consortia, together with their objectives and 1998 funding levels.
TABLE C.1. Sweden’s Interdisciplinary Materials Research Consortia & 1998 Funding Levels
Consortium Objectives 1998

Leader SKr (M)
Ångström Consortium Methods and processes for preparation of 5.9

Soren Berg surface coatings with controllable structure
and composition
Thin Film Growth Growth of thin films for power electronics, 6.3
Lars Hultman for magnetic multilayers, and for wear-
protective coatings
Nanometer Structures Nanometer structures and their applications; 5.5
Lars Samuelson fabrication and characterization
Clusters and Ultrafine Physical and chemical methods for 3.3

Particles synthesizing and characterizing clusters and
Nils Mårtensson ultrafine particles
Biomaterials Physics and chemistry of surfaces and their 5.7

Bengt Kasemo interaction with biological systems
Theoretical and Theoretical and computer-aided methods and 4.7

Computational Materials models and application to technologically
Physics relevant materials
Bengt Lundqvist
Computer-Assisted Materials Creation of a computer-based tool for 4.1
and Process Development materials and process development
Bo Sundman
Superconducting Materials Thin film HTC materials preparation and 5.7
Tord Claeson characterization and optimization of their
properties and applications
High Speed Electronics, Photonics, and Nanoscience/Quantum Devices

receives SKr. 40 million in support, of which ~ 25% is targeted for
nanoscience. This program is being established because Sweden believes
that the microelectronics area is highly strategic for modern society and
affects all sectors of industry as well as the information society generally.
Its primary goal appears to be to open the pipeline to a continual supply of
well-trained and -educated researchers to industry. It is a joint strategic

research program and graduate school at the Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), Chalmers University of Technology and Göteborg University
(CTH/GU), and at Lund University (LU). The joint program is based on
three research proposals submitted by CTH/GU (Components for High
Speed Electronics), LU (Nanoscience) and KTH (High Speed Electronics
and Photonics), all of which are judged to have current relevance to the
Swedish microelectronics industry. The goal of the joint program is to
“create research results within these research sub-fields, but specifically also
to create novel ones by a strategic cooperation within and between the sub-
fields and Swedish electronics industry.” The goal of the graduate school is
to “provide Ph.D.s and Licentiates with a education which fulfills both the
short term and the long term needs of the Swedish society and in particular
the Swedish industry.” After the initial four-year startup period, students
will be graduating at a rate of 15 per year, with 80% going to industry.
Defense Research Establishment (FOA)
The FOA is Sweden’s national defense research establishment. It has

about 1,000 employees and an annual budget of SKr. 600 million. The
defense research must function as a link between the possibilities offered by
science and technology and the needs of the armed forces of Sweden. Dr.
Steven Savage of the FOA’s Department of Materials gave a presentation
entitled “Nanostructured Materials at FOA.” There has been a proposal
presented to FOA to free up about 3% of the organization’s funds for
nanoscale research programs. At present, there are only some small efforts
that involve nanoscale materials within existing projects:
• molybdenum, chemical precipitation, and dynamic consolidation
• additives to new explosive compounds, e.g., aluminum or iron oxide
particles
• high-strain-rate properties of nanostructured aluminum alloys
• coating 50 µm particles to create energetic materials with conducting
layers
• fullerenes as optical limiters for laser protection
In an attempt at international collaboration, the FOA is participating in an
EU project application for fabrication and study of nanostructured light
materials. The coordinator of this project is Prof. Brian Cantor of Oxford
University.
Individual Presentations from Research Groups
The last part of the workshop at KTH was devoted to presentations from
individuals who gave brief overviews of the nanoscale science and
technology research efforts in their individual groups.
Prof. David Haviland, now at KTH, described his efforts in nanostructure
physics. He uses lithographically defined nanostructures to study electronic
transport phenomena such as Coulomb blockage, spin-dependent transport,
and theory involving quantum optics in nanostructures and diffraction optics
in nanostructures. Prof. Haviland collaborates closely with Profs. P. Delsing
and T. Cleason of the Single Electron Group at Chalmers.
Prof. K.V. Rao of KTH described his group’s research in large scale
applications of soft magnetic materials. The work is entitled Functional
Nanometric Science and consists of three primary thrusts:
1. Production by several different techniques such as thin film deposition
using rf laser ablation, rf sputtering, and e-beam deposition; rapid
solidification technology such as melt spinning to produce GMR
materials; and chemical co-precipitation techniques.
2. Characterization using surface probe microscopy; atomic force, scanning
tunneling, and magnetic force microscopy (AFM, STM, and MFM) are
key techniques.
3. Applications of nanostructures, under study as magnetic dots, novel
GMR materials, high Tc-based tapes from nanosize precursors,
nanolithography and carbon nanotubes and fullerenes as nanoscale
electrodes.
Prof. Arne Rosén of Chalmers University of Technology and Göteborg
University presented a detailed overview of the nanoscale science being
carried out in his Molecular Physics Group. The title of his talk, “Clusters,
Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Nanowires: New Building Blocks in
Nanoscience,” accurately describes the presentation. A brief description of
the key areas of interest is given here. The key research areas in his group
cover six main themes:
1. surfaces and catalysis
2. metal clusters
3. fullerenes and nanotubes
4. combustion engine research (there is a center dedicated to this work)
5. medical-related research
6. related other projects
Two areas that are almost entirely devoted to nanoscale work are the
metal cluster and the fullerene and nanotube research areas. In both areas
there is a strong experimental effort, coupled with a strong theoretical effort.
For example, the metal cluster experimental approach is directed towards

studies of reactivity and electronic properties of free (molecular beam) metal
clusters and studies of size-selected deposited metal clusters. The theory
then examines electronic structure of free metal clusters, calculations of
electronic structure for adsorbates on clusters, ab initio molecular dynamics
(MD) calculations of clusters and adsorption on clusters, MD simulations of
thermal properties, and simulations of cluster atom collisions. The approach
taken in this group closely ties experiment to theory, as well as basic science
to applied science.
Prof. Bengt Kasemo oversees nanoscience research that consists of three
main thrusts:
1. Nanofabricated model catalysts. In this thrust, modern micro- and
nanofabrication methods are used to provide a new avenue to prepare
controlled model catalysts that are expected to realistically mimic real
supported catalysts. These catalysts consist of 2-D arrays of active
catalysts deposited on active or inactive support materials. Particle size,
shape, separation, and support can be systematically varied. The
structures are easily accessible to scanning probe imaging and surface
analysis techniques. The 2-D analogs of supported catalysts are
illustrated by Pt particles in the size range 10-500 nm deposited on
alumina and ceria manufactured by electron beam lithography. The
sintering mechanisms of Pt particles on support materials and the role of
oxygen supplied from support material (e.g., ceria) in catalytic reactions
are being studied.
2. Nanofabricated metal particles. Nanofabrication is used to create arrays
of Ag particles of 100-200 nm in size and of different shapes in order to
study the influence of these parameters on the ability to detect individual
biological molecules using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
Kasemo’s group has successfully shown this for colloidal Ag suspensions
(3-D) as well as 2-D arrays of nanofabricated Ag particles made by
electron beam lithography.
3. Colloidal lithography for biomaterials applications. Different methods
are being explored to create surfaces of interest for biomaterials testing
and applications by using large area topographic patterning of nanoscale
features by colloidal lithography (8-200 nm). Specifically of interest is
how nanometer-scale topography influences biomolecule and cell
adhesion and function at surfaces.
Prof. Tord Claeson described the work in Nanoelectronics, Nanoscience
at Chalmers University of Technology. Approximately 100 people are
involved in this research effort. The main areas of interest are in high
electron mobility transistors, electron hole drag phenomena, fabrication of
junctions with small capacitance, phase coherent transport with possible
applications to superconducting mirrors, and biological applications in which

they have shown that nanoscale TiO2 fibers are engulfed by cells without cell
collapse, whereas silica fibers cause cell collapse.
Prof. Mats Jonson overviewed the theoretical efforts at Göteborg
University. About 15 theorists are involved in study of mesoscopic systems.
Efforts are directed towards theoretical understanding of phase coherence in
mesoscopic systems, strong electron correlation effects, nonequilibrium
situations, high frequency microwave response, and mixed metal
superconducting materials.
Summary
In the general discussion at the end of the workshop, the following

themes were emphasized:
• In Sweden there is a good and close relationship between experiment and
theory. Most groups or programs have a strong experimental as well as
theoretical component.
• There is a strong sensitivity towards industry. Industry in Sweden puts
money into development but not so much into research. One comment
was that there are too few people with PhD-level education in industry.
Programs were described during the workshop where this is being
addressed.
• Large industrial firms in Sweden appear to be more closely coupled to
the academic community in the universities than are smaller firms.
• Most technical research in Sweden is carried out in universities. Sweden
does not have an institute/ national laboratory organization equivalent to
that in some other countries.
• Nanoscale research is of interest to several industries, such as those
interested in ceramics, powder metallurgy, thin films, electronics,
magnetic materials, catalysis, and energy storage.
Site: Nanometer Structure Consortium

Lund University
Department of Solid State Physics
Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
Tel: (46) 46-222 00 00; Fax: (46) 46-222 36 37
http://anders.ftf.lth.se/nm/nm.html
Host: Prof. Lars Samuelson, Consortium Coordinator

WTEC panel co-chair Evelyn Hu participated in a mini workshop at the

University of Lund at which several scientists made presentations on their
work, some working within the Nanometer Structure Consortium there, and
some working in academia and industry at other locations.
This consortium, based at Lund University, was initiated about 1990.
The Coordinator is Professor Lars Samuelson of Lund. It primarily involves
the Lund University Solid State Physics group, although the interaction
encompasses other departments at Lund, as well as collaborators at other
universities such as Chalmers. Having a 10-year lifetime, the consortium is
primarily funded by the Natural Sciences Research Council (NFR), and the
National Board for Industrial and Technological Development (NUTEK).
The consortium is guided by an Advisory Board, which includes industrial
members and academic leaders both from Sweden and from other countries.
The Chair of the Advisory Board is from industry. Industrial participation is
considered important, and Lund hosts an adjunct Professor from Ericsson,
who spends 20% of his time at the university, advising students and student
projects. The very strong industrial support and commitment is believed to
be linked to Swedish industry’s recognition of the importance of long term
research carried on within the universities. In addition to the funding from
NFR and NUTEK, the consortium receives funding from the Research
Council for Engineering Sciences (TFR) and also participates within
ESPRIT programs, funded by the European Union.
As a point of interest, the graduate student population in this area is not
diminishing in Sweden, as is true in many other countries. Part of the reason
may lie in the fact that graduate students are given stipends, which are
designed to be competitive with what MS students would be paid in industry
(total funding for students is collected from grants, the university, and the
government). Another factor may be that industry hiring of PhD students

has been more stable than in other European countries.
The consortium seems well equipped, having moved into new, expanded
facilities in 1983. There are small clean room spaces for TEM and e-beam
writing, extensive growth capabilities (gas source MBE, CBE), a newly
installed ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition system for growth of
silicon-based materials, and a host of characterization tools: micro PL,
atomic force microscopy (AFM), and low temperature, high magnetic field
apparatus. A highlight of the program is synthesis of aerosol particles
(metals, subsequent conversion to semiconductors: GaAs, InP) with size
selection, and the use of AFM manipulation to controllably position the
particles. The consortium also makes use of the on-site synchrotron source,
MAX-Lab, a national (and international) user facility that has recently
brought up a larger, brighter ring that will be used for X-ray lithography,
surface studies, and structure studies for biological samples.
The consortium held its annual review on the 13th and 14th of October,
with a mixture of invited talks from outside speakers, and talks and posters
presented by the consortium students. The invited speakers included Dr.
Suhara from Tokyo Institute of Technology and Professor Fukui of
Hokkaido University. Both researchers are carrying out joint projects with
the consortium. Among the invited speakers were the following:
Thomas Lewin from Ericsson Microwave Systems offered an industrial
perspective on quantum nanoelectronics, pointing out that although he could
not give an answer to “what would nanoelectronic devices be used for,” that
50 years ago, one could hardly have predicted the current importance of the
transistor. He noted that in 1948, at the time of invention of the transistor,
the primary “high tech” companies were major vacuum tube suppliers such
as GE, RCA, and Philco. Within ten years, catalyzed by the invention of the
transistor, dominance of these companies had been ceded to Motorola, Texas
Instruments (which had formerly specialized in geophysics), and Fairchild
(which had formerly specialized in camera and instrumentation for air
surveys).
Lewin noted the importance and pervasiveness of Moore’s Law, and how
the transistor has been the pacesetter for technological development; whether
we are prepared or not, the scaling down of current technology will place us
in the “Nano Era” by about 2010 or so, and we should be prepared for it
(Fig. C.1).
1 µm
’Nano Era’
0.5 µm
0.05 µm
1990 2010 2020
Figure C.1. Moore’s Law in the “Nano Era.”
Another interesting talk and industrial perspective was given by Dr.

Sandip Tiwari of IBM, who spoke on “Nanocrystal and quantum-dot
memories.” His plan is to integrate and take advantage of silicon quantum
dots in a more natural way, within the context of “mainstream” silicon
electronics. This would entail the controlled and discrete charging of
nanodots, placed immediately above a gate oxide in a MOS device, as a
means of controlling the source to drain current, with an enormous gain in
output compared to input signal. His claim is that such an application can
operate at room temperature, integrate and enhance a dominant technology,
and not suffer from many of the drawbacks of nanodots, such as long
charging/access times and variations in dimension.
Appendix D. Site Reports—Japan
OVERVIEW OF NANOPARTICLE /
NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH IN JAPAN
Lynn Jelinski
When considered together, the WTEC panel’s visits to Japanese sites

revealed several important trends that augur well for Japan’s success in
nanotechnology. These trends include a substantial capital infrastructure, the
high quality of the science, vigorous exchange of personnel, existence of
mechanisms for scientific renewal, and established and growing
collaborations between academia and industry.
Capital Infrastructure. The panel was impressed with the very large and
recent investments in capital equipment for nanotechnology and
microelectronics, both at the national labs and at universities. In places such
as JRCAT, NRIM, ONRI, Osaka University, RIKEN, Tohoku University,
and Tokyo University, panelists toured room after room of state-of-the-art
fabrication and synthesis equipment, characterization equipment, and
carefully designed cleanrooms for micro- and nanotechnology. Given this
infusion of capital into infrastructure, Japan is well positioned to assume a
leadership role in nanotechnology and nanoparticle science.
Quality of the Science. As would be expected for any large-scale and far-
ranging laboratories tour, the WTEC panel encountered some research that
mainly takes the work of others and advances it forward, perhaps with a new
twist or wrinkle. However, the panel also encountered research groups that
are defining the field and creating, rather than riding, the wave of scientific
discovery and development. Examples of Japanese institutions where
worldwide scientific leadership has occurred or is emerging in
nanotechnology and nanoparticles include ETL, the Institute of Molecular
Science, JRCAT, Kyoto University, NAIR, NEC, NRIM, RIKEN, and
Tohoku University. The organizations that have a world leadership position
tend to be those that have chosen a focus area (e.g., organometallic
chemistry at IMS; nanoparticle synthesis at Tohoku University), rather than
those that have lots of people working on too broad a range of subject areas.
Flow of Personnel and Ideas. The panel was impressed with the large
numbers it observed of international postdoctoral fellows, students, visiting
243
244 Appendix D. Site Reports—Japan
scientists, and temporary researchers. There are apparently a number of

programs in place in Japan to encourage international collaboration and
cooperation. This flow of scientists and ideas in the field of nanoparticles
and nanotechnology suggests that international scientists feel they have
much to learn from Japan. This open flow of personnel also ensures that
Japan has ready and early access to new ideas and technologies from abroad.
Mechanisms for Scientific Renewal. Focusing on the national labs such
as IMS, NAIR, NRIM, and RIKEN, the team was impressed with their
agility in moving into new scientific areas. Panelists heard of mechanisms to
close down nonproductive programs, mechanisms to ensure fresh turnover of
faculty (e.g., at IMS), and mechanisms to develop consensus on new areas of
science (e.g., the Intelligent Materials Forum). Such mechanisms will help
ensure Japan’s leadership role, not only in nanotechnology and nanoparticle
science, but in many other important areas of research and development.
Collaborations Between Academia and Industry. The panel was
impressed with the large number of collaborations evident between academic
labs and industrial workers. Many of the academic labs are staffed with long
term visitors from industry. A single lab may have workers from competing
industries, working side-by-side on company-specific projects. There does
not appear to be particular concern about intellectual property rights.
Site: Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL)

Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)
1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba-shi
Ibaraki 305, Japan
Tel: (81) 298-54 5220; Fax:(81) 298-54 5088,
Date Visited: 22 July 1997
WTEC: R.W. Siegel (report author), D.M. Cox, H. Goronkin,

J. Mendel, H. Morishita, M.C. Roco
Hosts: Dr. Koichiro Tamura, Director-General of ETL

Dr. Tsunenori Sakamoto, Director of Electron Devices
Division; E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Masanori Komuro, Leader, Micro-Beam Section,
Electron Devices Division
Dr. Junji Itoh, Electron Devices Division
Dr. Hiroshi Yokoyama, Leader, Molecular Physics Section,
Supermolecular Science Division
Dr. Hiroyuki Oyanagi, Leader, Exotic Matter Physics
Section, Physical Science Division
BACKGROUND
The afternoon of July 22 from 13:30 to 16:00 was spent at the
Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) of the Agency of Industrial Science and
Technology (AIST) of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI). It is more than 100 years old and is the largest national laboratory in
Japan, with ~ 530 researchers and an annual budget of $100 million,
according to a general introduction to ETL presented by its Director-
General, Dr. Koichiro Tamura. Of this budget, ~ 15-20% is currently
focused on various aspects of nanotechnology. The four major fields of
research and development activities at ETL are (1) Electronics and
Bioelectronics, (2) Energy Technology, (3) Information Technology, and (4)
Standards and Measurement Technology.

The work in the Electronics and Bioelectronics area, in which most of the
nanotechnology efforts reside, is carried out primarily in four divisions,
which are themselves each comprised of several sections. These divisions,

their constituent sections, and their respective leaders are as follows:
Physical Science Division (Dr. Hajime Shimizu)
Fundamental Physics Section (Dr. Shuji Abe)

Exotic Matter Physics Section (Dr. Hiroyuki Oyanagi)
Electron Physics Section (Dr. Hajime Shimizu)
Applied Physics Section (Dr. Shin-ichi Kuroda)
Materials Science Division (Dr. Kazuo Arai)
Materials Fundamentals Section (Dr. Hideyo Okushi)

Nonequilibrium Materials Section (Dr. Akihisa Matsuda)
Quantum Materials Section (Dr. Sadahumi Yoshida)
Superconducting Materials Section (Dr. Hideo Ihara)
Optoelectronic Materials Section (Dr. Toshiro Tani)
Electron Devices Division (Dr. Tsunenori Sakamoto)
Device Functions Section (Dr. Shigeki Sakai)

Device Synthesis Section (Dr. Toshihiro Sekigawa)
Process Fundamentals Section (Dr. Keizo Shimizu)
Micro-Beam Section (Dr. Masanori Komuro)
Microstructure Electronics Section (Dr. Kazuhiko Matsumoto)
Superconductivity Electronics Section (Dr. Akira Toukairin)
Supermolecular Science Division (Dr. Tetsuo Moriya)
Molecular Physics Section (Dr. Hiroshi Yokoyama)

Molecular Electronics Section (Dr. Hideaki Shimizu)
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Section (Dr. Toshio Iijima)
After an introduction to the ETL, our host, Dr. Tsunenori Sakamoto,

Director of the Electron Devices Division, kindly provided answers to the
questions posed by the WTEC panel prior to its visit. He said that his
researchers are focusing on a single-electron device that can operate at room
temperature (“smaller is better”) using scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM) and electron-beam fabrication technologies, but he indicated that they
were not yet successful. ETL is seven years into its 10-year Quantum
Functional Device (QFD) Project (1990-2000), having spent about
$40 million so far, with $8-9 million per annum anticipated for the
remainder of the project. According to Dr. Sakamoto, the proposals for the
direction of ETL’s work come “randomly” from industry, university,
laboratory researchers, and MITI officials. His division expects a follow-on
project on one-electron devices, and he also indicated that MITI has begun a
new five-year project on fullerenes/nanotubes in Tsukuba at the National
Materials Laboratory with funding of $20-30 million for five years.
Collaborations between ETL and the U.S. National Institute of Standards
and Technology exist in the areas of STM and liquid crystals.
Technical presentations and laboratory visits followed. The laboratory
facilities at ETL are extensive and excellent. They are typical of a mature
and well funded research establishment in that all the necessary equipment is
available, but the excesses have been avoided of other newer laboratories the
panel visited, where there sometimes seemed to be more new expensive
equipment than people to use it effectively.
Dr. Sakamoto continued with a description of some research activities at
ETL on nanotechnology. He described an STM nanooxidation process for
creating a one-electron device showing quantum blockade behavior. The
process consists of an STM tip with a water droplet between it and a 3 nm
thick layer of Ti on an SiO2 layer on an Si substrate. TiOx is formed at the
STM tip/H2O/Ti interface. ETL researchers are also doing this on stepped
alpha-Al2O3 substrates. This technology has now flowed into other
laboratories.
Dr. Masanori Komuro then described an electron-beam writer with a 3
nm diameter beam in ultrahigh vacuum—UHV (10-9 torr). Since the normal
resolution of polymer resists (e.g., PMMA) with electron-beam lithography
and a 50 keV electron gun is about 10-20 nm, higher resolution is needed.
His staff report being able to do much better, yielding smaller features, with
SiO2 films using electron beam lithography. A single-electron transistor,
written by W dots or wires from WF6 using electron-assisted deposition, was
reported to operate at 230 K.
Dr. Junji Itoh, standing in for Dr. Seigo Kanemaru (Senior Researcher in
the Electron Devices Division), then reported on nanostructure activities in
the area of vacuum microelectronics. Work was being carried out to create
ultraminiature field-emitter tips (Mo, Si) for field emission displays. The
tips have about 10 nm radii, can be created in two-dimensional arrays, and
show increased emission levels. Because of problems with the stability of
emission currents in conventional tips from reduced gas adsorption from the
ambient atmosphere, development of MOSFET-structured emitter tips is
being pursued, which will enable the combination of light emission and
Si-based electronics on the same device structures.
Next, Dr. Hiroshi Yokoyama, Leader of the Molecular Physics Section,
described ETL’s Scanning Maxwell-stress Microscope (SMM), a new
instrument that can look at nanoscale electrical characteristics (work

function or charge distribution) as well as structure (topography) by
detecting electric long range forces with about 1 mV sensitivity. The
instrument is based on an STM or atomic force microscope (AFM), but by
oscillating the probe (tip), it is possible to obtain additional information
regarding dielectric constant, etc. (Yokoyama et al. 1994; Yokoyama and
Inoue 1994). With the SMM, it is even possible to look at living cells under
water. The instrument is in use at ETL in various experimental forms, but it
is also now beginning to be commercialized by Seiko Instruments (in a price
range of $500 thousand to $1 million) in a UHV version with variable
temperature capabilities (70-500 K) and both SMM and AFM modes of
operation. Future directions for the research work in this area will
investigate semiconductor nanodevices under UHV conditions and problems
in nanobiology under water. New functionalities for the SMM will be
developed using higher frequencies to investigate band structure and the
effects of doping, as well as optoelectrical investigations in combination
with near-field optical microscopy (an effort funded by AST).
Finally, Dr. Hiroyuki Oyanagi described some work in the Physical
Science Division on probing nanostructures with EXAFS. Dr. Oyanagi’s
group has a close relationship with a number of other groups worldwide. Its
EXAFS studies are being carried out at an undulator beamline at the Photon
Factory about ten miles from Tsukuba. They have been able to induce local
melting by optical excitation and subsequent quenching-in of disordered
regions in Se, and they are hoping to use this method for memory
applications, if it can be done microscopically. Dr. Oyanagi also mentioned
very briefly some work going on in ETL’s Materials Science Division on
nanostructured one-dimensionally modulated GaAs quantum well systems.
REFERENCES
Yokoyama, H., T. Inoue, and J. Itoh. 1994. Appl. Phys. Lett. 65:3143
Yokoyama, H., and T. Inoue. 1994. Thin Solid Films 242:33.
Site: Hitachi Central Research Laboratory

Planning Office
1-280 Higashi-Koigakubo
Kokubunji-shi
Tokyo 185-8601, Japan
Fax: 81-423-27-7695
WTEC: E. Hu (report author), L. Jelinski, C. Koch, D. Shaw,

C. Uyehara
Hosts: Dr. Shigeo Nagashima, Deputy General Manager and Head

of the Planning Office
Dr. Tadashi Ikeda, Head, Research Cooperation Center,
Planning Office
Ms. Yuko Nakamura, Research Cooperation Center,
Planning Office
Dr. Masanobu Miyao, Head, Electronics Material Center,
Electron Devices Research Department
Dr. Toshio Katsuyama, Sr. Researcher, Optoelectronics
Research Department
Dr. Atsushi Kikukawa, Research Scientist, Advanced
Research Laboratory
Dr. Masaaki Futamoto, Chief Research Scientist,
Information Storage Research Department.
Dr. Kazuo Yano, Sr. Researcher, Systems LSI Research
Department
INTRODUCTION
The Research Cooperation Center Planning Office of Hitachi Central

Research Laboratory hosted the WTEC team’s visit. We were greeted by
Dr. Shigeo Nagashima, Deputy General Manager and Head of the Planning
Office. Exact figures were not available as to the representation of
nanotechnology research at Hitachi.
Dr. M. Miyao discussed the enhanced emission of light from SiGe

quantum well devices, relating the quality of light emission with the quality
of the interfaces of the quantum well, and the correlation lengths between Ge
atoms.
Dr. T. Katsuyama gave a presentation on exciton-polariton quantum
wave devices, achieved through confinement of excitons within quantum
wires. He discussed a number of novel ways of forming the quantum wires.
One method involved the formation of Au islands on GaAs or InAs surfaces.
Upon heating, these Au dots formed liquid alloys of In/Au or Ga/Au. For
substrates immersed in an arsine/trimethylgallium ambient, the liquid
droplets provided the nucleation points for the selective growth of compound
semiconductor whiskers (or quantum wires) as long as 1.5 µm, with a 15 nm
diameter.
Dr. A. Kikukawa discussed some ways of achieving ultrahigh density
recording using indentation by an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip
(Fig. D.1). In addition to the recording of data through AFM indentation,
read-out by AFM was also characterized. Dr. Kikukawa claimed a read-out
rate of 1.25 MB/s with a 25 nm pit size.
Dr. M. Futamoto gave an excellent presentation on ‘near-term’ issues for
improved materials for magnetic storage. He showed some examples of
materials control at the nanostructure scale required for the formation of
magnetic materials suitable for magnetic recording and novel magnetic “spin
valves” (Fig. D.2). He showed charts on trends in recording areal density
(Fig. D.3) and perpendicular recording using CoCrTa (Fig. D.4).
100%
nano-indentation (AFM)
yield magnetic modification
60 nm 120 nm
AFM field evaporation

optical modification
Figure D.1. Concept for high density data recording using nano-indentation (Hitachi).
50Å Ta
300Å CrMnPt
30Å Co
25Å Cu
10Å Co
50Å NiFe
50Å Ta
Figure D.2. Spin valve structure.
1G multimedia
DRAM
motion picture
1M
storage
stills
1M 1G 1T
Figure D.3. Need for storage capacity, in bytes (Hitachi).
CoCrTa
Ti controls structure of magnetic layer

amorphous CrTi
silicon
Figure D.4. Perpendicular recording using CoCrTa (Hitachi).
Dr. K. Yano discussed single-electron transistor (SET) memory schemes

(Fig. D.5) where quantum dots would form the gate of the device. He
described a memory cell (0.8 µm x 0.5 µm) comprising the SETs, using a 2.5
V signal to carry out the ‘reading’ of the information bit, 10 V to erase a bit,
and 15 V to write a bit. Although 107 write and erase cycles have been
demonstrated, the operation of this memory cell is still rather slow (on the
order of microseconds). Dr. Yano suggested that SET technology might be
more easily demonstrated in memory devices, rather than in logic devices.
Dr. Yano also described work on novel polysilicon transistors (Fig. D.6)
and on ladder-shaped memory cell arrays based on single-electron transistors
(Fig. D.7).
The WTEC team’s hosts were pessimistic about single-electron logic,

stating that reliability requirements are severe. They stated that memory is
different—it is possible to use conventional CMOS circuitry to insert
different cell structures.
dot
S D
channel
Figure D.5. Single electron memory concept.
gate
s i li con
oxide 3 nm S i
nitride
nitride oxide
Figure D.6. Polysilicon transistors.
’1’ ’0’
word line
15V
0V
0V 5V 5V
D S D S
read 2.5 V, erase -10 V, write, 15 V

0=0.01 nA, 10 seconds, slow writing time at 9 V
w/erase 10 µsec, still slower than DRAM
showed 107 write/erase cycles
Figure D.7. Ladder-shaped memory cell array.

Site: Institute for Molecular Science (IMS)

Okazaki National Research Institutes (ONRI)
Myodaiji, Okazaki 444, Japan
Tel: (81) 564-55 7240; Fax: (81) 564-55 5245
WTEC: L. Jelinski (report author)
Hosts: Dr. Mitsuo Ito, Director-General

Dr. Mitsuhiko Shionoya, Professor
Dr. Makoto Fujita, Associate Professor
Dr. Takahiro Kusukawa, Assistant Professor
Dr. Tatsuhisa Kato, Associate Professor
Dr. Kyuya Yakushi, Professor
Dr. Yoshihito Watanabe, Professor
BACKGROUND
The Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) is one of three institutes under
the umbrella of the Okazaki National Research Institutes. The other two are
the National Institute for Basic Biology and the National Institute for
Physiological Sciences. Together, they employ over two hundred
professionals and about 180 technical and support staff. Each of the three
Institutes is headed by a Director-General, who reports to the President. The
Institutes are funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and
Culture (Monbusho).

Research at IMS is directed toward understanding the properties of
molecules and molecular assemblies, and to the design and synthesis of new
materials, especially those with novel properties. IMS is strongly oriented
toward basic research. The faculty members have few teaching duties and
can devote themselves full-time to research.
IMS has an unusual, almost Harvard-like method for ensuring that
research remains fresh and of high quality: it imposes the rule that none of
the assistant and associate professors can remain at IMS as full professors.
Instead, they must go to another institution for promotion, as IMS always
hires its full professors from outside. The faculty members with whom I
spoke, including junior professors, thought that this policy worked quite
well.
Research at IMS that falls within the scope of this report is in the general
category of synthesis of novel materials, some with inspiration from biology
and some with biomolecules as the building blocks. Most of the work that
involves nanoparticles involves some form of organometallic chemistry.
The hallmarks of the research are two-fold: creativity, and the soundness by
which the new materials are characterized and evaluated. Much of the
research the WTEC team saw on this visit has been published in high quality
journals such as Nature and the Journal of the American Chemical Society,
attesting to the international reputation of IMS and the high quality of the
research. Several of the faculty members have good collaborations with
other scientists in Japan. One has an ongoing and productive NSF-funded
collaboration with the University of Rochester, and another introduced the
visiting WTEC team member to a visiting researcher, on leave from Emory
University, who was spending six months in his lab.
Japan seems to be in a leadership role in the production of
metallofullerenes. IMS has a large-scale facility for producing fullerenes,
and Prof. Kato has been successful in producing C82 that contains Sc, Y, and
La inside the cage structure. Kato is now using the metal inside the fullerene
as a way to “tune” the reactivity of the outside. For example, he has shown
how LaC82 can be reacted with disilanes and diazo compounds to form
adducts. A combination of electron spin resonance (ESR) and theory is
being used to explain the reactivity of the precursor and the products
obtained. One could imagine how this ground-up assembly of nanomaterials
could be polymerized to produce larger molecules with novel properties.
Another area of research involves the characterization of magnetic
transport and optical properties in phthallocyanines (Pc). Of special interest
is PtPc(AsF6)0.5, whose transport properties are being studied under high
pressure.
Prof. Shionoya, a very young full Professor who recently came to IMS
from Hiroshima University, is using novel combinations of DNA, metal
ligands, DNA templating, and proteins to produce molecular wires and
molecular hoops through which DNA could be threaded. He is also using
double-stranded peptides whose helix pitch could be controlled by an
entrained copper that could be induced to go from Cu(I)tetrahedral to
Cu(II)square planar , perhaps by electrons delivered by an STM tip. Figure 7.6
(p. 123) summarizes Prof. Shionoya’s vision of how bioinspiration could be
used to produce nanodevices.
In a very creative and careful series of single point mutations, Prof.
Watanabe has uncovered evidence for, and verified the existence of a “push-
pull” mechanism for cytochrome C peroxidase. This was done by drawing
an analogy between peroxidase and cytochrome P-450, and using insights

gleaned from similarities in the active site.
Finally, Prof. Fujita’s work involves the approach of using self-assembly
by transition metals to form organized large structures. He has been able to
make various nanocages, which have potential applications for controlled
drug release. He has also used three-dimensional organometallic cage
compounds to achieve a “ship-in-a-bottle” synthesis of organic molecules
and is currently producing nanostructured molecules with larger cavities than
have ever been made before.
Site: Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT)

Angstrom Technology Partnership (ATP)
c/o National Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary
Research
1-1-4 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Tel: (81) 298-54 2570; Fax: (81) 298-54 2575
WTEC: R.W. Siegel (report author), D.M. Cox, H. Goronkin,

J. Mendel, H. Morishita, M.C. Roco
Host: Dr. Eiichi Maruyama, Executive Director and General

Director of Research Center
BACKGROUND
Tuesday morning 9:30 to 12:00 noon of 22 July was spent in Tsukuba

visiting the Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT), an
organization founded in February of 1993 through a joint contract between
the National Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (NAIR) and
the Angstrom Technology Partnership (ATP). These latter organizations
were created by the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of
the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The central focus
of JRCAT is the Atom Technology Project, a ten-year effort begun by AIST
in fiscal year 1992 as one of its Industrial Science and Technology Frontier
Programs under the official title, Research and Development of Ultimate
Manipulation of Atoms and Molecules. AIST’s total ten-year budget for this
project is about ¥25 billion (~ $250 million), which flows mostly (~ 90%)
through the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization (NEDO) and hence ATP, with the balance (~ 10%) flowing
directly through NAIR. The distinct advantage of this imbalance for JRCAT
is that the NAIR funds are hard (national) monies that cannot be used for
hiring people, while the ATP funds are soft (invested) monies that can be
used very flexibly. The Atom Technology Project is envisioned as
comprised of overlapping efforts in atom manipulation, nanoscale self-
organization, and critical-state phase control based on in situ dynamic
measurement and control complemented by ab initio calculation.
The WTEC panel visit was hosted by Dr. Eiichi Maruyama, Executive
Director of ATP and the Atom Technology Project Leader, who presented a
very informative and extensive introduction to JRCAT and its research

efforts. JRCAT presently has 36 administrators and about 100 research
scientists, of whom 35 are from industry, 28 are from national laboratories, 7
are from universities, 26 are postdocs, and four are PhD candidates. About
60% of the scientific staff are supported from ATP and 40% from NAIR. Of
these, there are 78 PhDs, 21 foreign scientists, and 3 female scientists. The
total funding flow has been reasonably steady since FY1995 at about ¥2.5
billion per annum, with significant fluctuations in the first three years for
initial capital expenditures. The publication of research results in “major”
journals (i.e., those with high citation impact factors, such as Nature,
Science, Physical Review Letters, Applied Physics Letters, and Physical
Review B) appears to be used as a measure of research program success.
There have been a significant number of such publications (~ 120 per year)
from JRCAT during FY94-FY96.
The Atom Technology Project research program is lead by Project

Leader E. Maruyama along with Deputy Project Leaders K. Tanaka
(experiment) and K. Terakura (theory) and is organized into 11 groups in
four general areas. These are as follows (with leader):
Solid Surface and Solid Material
• Measurement and control of atomic level structures by mechanical

probe—19 scientists (H. Tokumoto)
• Observation and formation of atomic scale structure using beam
technology—8 scientists (M. Ichikawa)
• Measurement and control of surface reactions for nanostructure
fabrication—7 scientists (M. Ozeki)
• Atomic level analysis and control of II-VI semiconductor surface—6
scientists (T. Yao)
• Exploration of transition metal oxides and organic molecular system—8
scientists (Y. Tokura)
• Exploration of amorphous semiconductors, magnetic thin films, solid-
liquid interfaces—15 scientists (K. Tanaka)
Cluster in Free Space
• Formation and control of clusters in ion trap and on solid surface—4

scientists (T. Kanayama)
Organic Molecular Structure
• Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and optical analysis for DNA and
organic molecular structure—11 scientists (T. Okada)
Quantum Simulation of Atomic and Molecular Processes
18 scientists are working on several programs, including the following:

• Organic molecular system, new techniques for computer simulation (K.
Terakura)
• Semiconductor materials (T. Uda)
The theory group is also responsible for the JRCAT Supercomputer
Laboratory, introduced in March 1994.
Formal evaluation of the research program is held only at its midpoint
(six years) and end (ten years), but annual reports are produced. Successful
efforts are expected to be transferred to industry. Some projects are
continued under new programs, and others are terminated after these
evaluations. The second phase (next 4 years) of JRCAT will see increased
collaboration with industry, a new study on spin-electronics applications,
and an effort to maintain top-level atom technology. The primary scope of
the Atom Technology Project will continue to include nanostructure
formation and control of surfaces and interfaces (especially in semiconductor
and related materials); spin electronics (new materials and measurements);
observation and manipulation of atoms and clusters; and theoretical
simulation (emphasizing good interaction with experimental groups).
In carrying out its mission, JRCAT interacts with foreign universities via
contact and exchange of scientists (e.g., with the University of Birmingham
in the UK). Also, the science and technology laws in Japan were changed
ca. 1995 to allow Japanese university professors to have more significant
interaction with JRCAT and other industries.
The WTEC panel also made visits to four JRCAT research laboratories,
the Advanced Interdisciplinary Laboratories of Drs. K. Tanaka, K. Ichikawa
(H. Watanabe, host) and Y. Tokura (A. Asamitsu, host), and the Theoretical
Research Laboratory of Dr. K. Terakura. The group of Dr. H. Tokumoto
was unfortunately away at a conference that day; it is active in attempts to
create nanoscale ferroelectric domains by scanning force microscopy (SFM)
for nonvolatile, high density memories, sensors and actuators, but is mainly
working at the micron scale at present. It also works on self-assembled
monolayers (SAM) on surfaces, particularly those that are electrically
conductive. All of the groups are extremely well equipped with all of the
latest facilities and capabilities necessary to carry out their respective
missions.
The Tanaka group laboratory is located in a specially vibration-isolated

separate building in the NAIR facilities. The primary research themes of this
group are (1) fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures and investigation
of their defect structure, (2) creation of magnetic superstructures and
searching for new magnetic materials, and (3) elucidation at
atomic/molecular levels of the electric double layer at solid-liquid interfaces.
Work is ongoing in developing high resolution Raman spectroscopy for the
study of molecules on surfaces. It was reported that information from
individual molecules can be obtained by coupling to surface plasmon
polarization, which enhances the signal by three orders of magnitude. Also,
atom manipulation (atom and layer removal) by scanning tunneling
microscope (STM) tips is being carried out on Si (mainly) and high
temperature superconductors in a UHV-STM without damaging the
surrounding regions.
The Ichikawa group has as its primary research themes (1) development
of an atomic manipulation system using beam technology and extremely
high vacuum pumping, (2) development of surface/interface characterization
technologies, and (3) exploration of surface/interface reactions useful for
nanostructure formation. The laboratory contained a state-of-the-art 30 keV
UHV field-emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an SPM
being used for Si-based nanostructures. For this development project, a
unique STM with atomic resolution was developed on a 6-axis manipulator
in the UHV-FE-SEM, but because of unique problems with vibration
isolation, the system requires a special isolation room. Electron holography
using a biprism to produce 2 coherent beams from the FE (field emission)
gun was also in place on the SEM and was being used to create nanoperiodic
structures (with 17 nm wavelengths) on SiO2. In another major development
project, a multifunctional Surface Analysis System, with Auger analysis with
a 1.4 nm diameter beam probe, was built in this group. About $2.5 million
was spent on each of these two major development projects.
The Tokura group (also partly at the University of Tokyo) focuses on the
synthesis and physics of oxide electronic materials and organic molecular
systems. Examples of current work are the floating-zone crystal growth, in a
parabolic mirror image furnace (manufactured by NEC), of large single
crystals (e.g., Pr0.65Cu0.35MnO3); investigation of natural one-dimensionally
modulated nanostructured superlattices (….+ insulating + magnetic
+ insulating +....) for giant or colossal magnetoresistance (GMR or CMR)
applications; and studies of electric-field-induced resistivity changes in
.… + insulating + metallic + insulating + metallic + .... multilayers, such as
Pr1-xCaxMnO3 (e.g., x = 0.3), below 100 K. A main focus of the group’s
research is using laser ablation to build layers by cluster assembly on
stepped substrates of SrTiO3 for functional device applications. A system
with five movable targets and a fixed laser is being used for this work, and
the studies are carried out as a function of substrate temperature and oxygen
partial pressure.
Finally, the WTEC team visited the Terakura theory group, led by Dr.
Kiyoyuki Terakura, who has been at JRCAT for about three and a half years.
This world-class theory group specializes in first-principles, state-of-the-art
quantum simulations of atomic and molecular processes in the areas of
semiconductor surfaces, transition metal compounds, and exotic materials
such as conducting organic solids (e.g., DCNQI-M, with M = Li, Ag, Cu).
The group also develops new computational methodologies for approaching
such problems and is responsible for the large-scale supercomputer system at
JRCAT, consisting of two main computers—a vector-parallel computer
(VPP500/32) and a massively parallel computer (128 node CM-5E). The
theory group has good interactions with the experimental efforts at JRCAT;
although frequently the experimentally investigated systems can be rather
complex for fundamental theoretical simulation, serious theoretical efforts
are made to benefit the experimental program. The Terakura group also has
extensive external collaborations with NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, and various
universities in Japan and abroad. In addition to its normal publications, the
theory group disseminates the results of its efforts in a series of well-
prepared annual reports.
Site: Kyoto University

Graduate School of Energy Science
Yoshida, Sakyo-ku
Kyoto 606-01, Japan
Fax: (81) 75-753 5464
WTEC: C. Koch (report author), D.M. Cox, J. Mendel, H. Morishita,

R.W. Siegel
Host: Professor Paul Hideo Shingu, Dean
BACKGROUND
This visit concentrated on the laboratory of one professor, Professor Paul
Hideo Shingu at Kyoto University. He has a group of associates and
graduate students (about 15) and is funded by the Ministry of Education,
Science, Sports, and Culture (Monbusho).

Professor Paul Hideo Shingu was the WTEC panel’s host. He is the
Dean of the Graduate School of Energy Science at Kyoto University. He is a
pioneer in the use of severe mechanical deformation to produce
nanocrystalline (nc) microstructures. He was the first researcher to
demonstrate the synthesis of nc materials by mechanical alloying (high
energy ball milling) in the Ag-Fe immiscible system in a paper published in
1988. His group was the first to point out that nc materials can be made by
MA. Much of his group’s work in this area is summarized in a paper by
P.H. Shiugu in Materials Transactions JIM 36:96 (1995). In order to be
better able to define the mechanism(s) involved in creation of nc materials
by severe plastic deformation, Prof. Shungu turned to the method of repeated
press-rolling of component foils or powder mixtures. This “deterministic”
mechanical alloying has allowed for both experimental studies of the
developing microstructure—by, for example, high resolution transmission
electron microscopy (HRTEM)—and the modeling of the microstructure by
computer simulations. He and his coworker, Dr. K.N. Ishihara, have used
chaos theory to model the microstructure obtained in shearing of dissimilar
components, based on several simple approaches such as the baker’s
transformation, linear shear, and parabolic shear. The iteration of certain
mapping generates chaos. It is noted that the application of precisely

deterministic mapping can generate a chaotic mixing of initially
macroscopically separated structures by a surprisingly small number of
repeated applications of a mapping. This is analogous to the structures
observed experimentally due to the mechanical deformation.
Among the systems Shingu’s group has studied are immiscible systems
such as Ag-Cu and Cu-Fe, which form metastable solid solutions; Ag-Fe,
which forms an nc composite microstructure; and Co-Cu, which exhibits the
giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect.
The preparation of multilayers by repeated rolling requires careful
control of the process. Component foils (or powder compacts) are first
annealed in vacuum, pressed together in vacuum, annealed, then repeatedly
rolled and annealed. The selected annealing temperature is critical to
maintaining the planarity of the layers and to avoid their spheroidization,
while relieving the deformation strains to allow further rolling.
HRTEM of the layered structures reveals nc grains within the layers, with
rotation of the grain into an apparent epitaxial relationship with the other
component.
The panel’s other observations on this visit include the following:
• the rolling of mixed powder compacts has produced results similar to
those with foils
• a number of mechanical and magnetic measurements have been made on
these samples
• it is believed this method of repeated rolling could be scaled up to
commercial quantities, since rolling technology is well developed in the
steel industry, as one example
• Shingu’s group consists of several professionals, one technician, and
15-20 graduate students
A tour of the laboratory facilities revealed several critical processing
devices such as a pseudo hot isostatic press (HIP), a good four-high rolling
mill, and a vacuum hot press. Characterization facilities, such as a
transmission electron microscope, are shared with others in the Department.
Professor Shingu’s research differs in the smaller scale of his effort from
that carried on by the large groups at national laboratories and IMR at Tohoku
University. However, the innovative and creative studies done in his group
have made significant contributions to the field of nanostructured materials.
REFERENCE
See also Yasuna et al. 1997. J. Appl. Phys. 82(5):2435-2438.
Site: Nagoya University

Department of Crystalline Materials Science
Furocho, Chikusa-ku
Nagoya 464-01, Japan
Fax: (81)-52-789-3821
WTEC: D. Shaw (report author), E. Hu, L. Jelinski, M.C. Roco,

C. Uyehara
Hosts: Professor Uichiro Mizutani

Professor Toshiharu Fukunaga
Professor Nobuo Tanaka
Professor Jun-ichiro Inoue
Professor Toshiharu Fukunaga, Nanoparticles by

Mechanical Milling
The X-ray diffraction spectrum of milled graphite was the same as for
amorphous material. The density decreased from 2.2 to 1.85 g/cm3 in 36
hours of milling. Neutron diffraction confirmed the disorder. These results
were analyzed to calculate the radial distribution factor that gives the
coordination number, which reduced from 3.01 to 2.82 in the 36 hours. It is
believed that this describes production of dangling bonds in the milled
material. Assuming the crystalline structure is unchanged upon milling, only
the size of the particles changes and the coordination number decreases. The
size was estimated to be about 27 Å.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) before milling showed a
layered graphite-like structure. After milling the material was amorphous.
Ball milling is done at low temperature. The equipment has a 150 G (x
gravity) capability but 10 G is used in work in this department.
Trigonal selenium was also milled. Using the same analytical procedures
as above, it was estimated that the particles contained about 22 atoms.
Li and graphite were milled together. The Li incorporates into the
graphite and coats the balls to produce a gold-colored LiC6 film. The Li is
inserted into the hexagonal C network if the milling intensity is kept low.
The potential application is to batteries. One of the technical challenges is to
remove the material from the balls.
Professor Nobuo Tanaka, Electron Microscopy
Prof. Tanaka described nanobeam drilling using e-beam, which showed

approximately 1 nm square windows drilled with a cylindrical beam. The
lattice was distorted around the periphery of the window.
Tanaka discussed a number of other issues, including granular
magnetoresistive structures and mass production of fine particles, but it was
not clear whether the work was done at Nagoya University or pulled from
the literature.
Tanaka showed a video of two sharp gold tips coming together to create a
liquid-like interface. The tips were electrolytically sharpened. As seen in
the video, the tip diameter was about 10-15 atoms. As the tips separated, the
liquid-like region took on the lattice constant of one of the two tips.
Previously, this demonstration had been reported with a tip and a flat
surface.
Professor Jun-Ichiro Inoue, Transport Phenomena in

Macroscopic Magnets
Prof. Inoue has calculated the magnetoresistance ratio vs. surface/volume

ratio of FeCr granules in a matrix. The model was independent of matrix
material and distance between clusters. Although the assumed spacing was
2-5 Å, interactions were not included. Data from Tohoku University of a
tunnel diode with Co-AlO granular barrier had a four order of magnitude
drop in resistivity and a constant MR ratio of about 19% at 4.2 K. The
barrier thickness was about 1.0 µm, and the maximum voltage was 1.0 V.
Typical barrier thickness reported in the literature is about 10-15 Å, so the
Tohoku data applies to fields that are about 1E7 lower than structures
designed for memory cells or hard drive heads.
The decrease in resistivity was explained by the charging energy of the
single-electron-like granules, although this explanation seems unlikely to
this author.
Site: National Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary

Research (NAIR)
Cluster Science Group
1-1-4 Higashi
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Tel: (81) 298-54 2540; Fax: (81) 298-54 2949
WTEC: D.M. Cox (report author), H. Goronkin, E. Hu, J. Mendel,

H. Morishita
Host: Dr. Harutoshi Takeo, Leader of Cluster Science Group

BACKGROUND
NAIR, the National Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research is

one of 15 research institutions of AIST, the Agency of Industrial Science and
Technology. The focus of the AIST laboratories is concentrated on R&D
programs judged to be capable of raising the level of Japan’s technology in
four main ways:
1. nurture new leading-edge technology that will lay the basis for future
technical innovation
2. establish basic technical standards
3. meet the society’s needs for earthquake prediction, pollution prevention,
and environmental preservation
4. embrace all basic or general research that is appropriate for a national
research organization
NAIR was founded in January 1993 with an objective of pursuing
interdisciplinary research themes covering fundamental and frontier areas of
industrial science. The institute is dedicated to the creation of international
intellectual properties in broad fields of basic and strategic R&D, where
national funds are expected to play a positive role. NAIR is characterized by
the tripartite collaboration of industrial, academic, and governmental sectors,
as well as by international cooperation. It is portrayed as an innovative
attempt to overcome institutional boundaries by bringing together scientists
of diversified specialty—not only from research institutes under AIST and
the Science and Technology Agency (STA), but also from universities and
research organizations in the private sector—to engage in intensive joint
research.
NAIR had four main research projects at the time of the WTEC visit:
1. The Atom Technology Project. This project has as its goal the ultimate
technology for manipulating atoms and molecules; it started in January
1993 and runs until March 2002; total budget is ¥25 billion.
2. Research on Cluster Science Project. The goal of this project was
experimental and analysis of the character of clusters; it ran from January
1993 until March 1998; total budget was ¥1 billion.
3. Research on Bionic Design Project. The goal of this project was to
advance understanding in cell and tissue engineering and molecular
machines; it ran from January 1993 until March 1998; total budget was
¥1 billion.
4. Basic Research on Next Generation Optoelectronics. The goal of this
project is large capacity optical memory; this is a new program with seed
money first available in April 1996; start date appeared to be April 1998,
running until March 2003; total budget in April 1996 was ¥80 million for
defining program goals and directions.
In addition to the above projects, NAIR has carried out several two- to
three-year feasibility studies since its formation in 1993. The Atom
Technology Project is the subject of a separate review in the JRCAT site
report (p. 256 of Appendix D). The remainder of this report will focus on
the Research on Cluster Science Project.
Research on Cluster Science
Dr. Harutoshi Takeo, the Cluster Science Group Leader, greeted the
WTEC panel and first presented an overview of the science projects in his
group, then led the panel on a tour of the laboratories. The cluster group
consists of about 30 researchers, with nine regular research staff members,
seven staff members on assignment from other AIST institutes, one from a
university, 9-11 postdoctoral fellows, of which seven or eight are foreigners,
and two to three graduate students. To further broaden the perspectives of
the Cluster Science Group, it organizes a yearly workshop to which it invites
15-20 outside researchers. Over the lifetime of the project over 90 outside
scientists will have participated in and contributed to these workshops.
The Cluster Science Group’s research areas fall roughly into four areas:
1. clusters in collisionless environments (molecular beams)
2. clusters in liquid or solution
3. clusters stabilized on surfaces or in matrices
4. clusters stabilized in a nanocage such as a zeolite
In the collisionless environment the main activities are focused on

probing the structure and reactivity of clusters under single collision
conditions. The research facilities, which have been designed and built
entirely from scratch since mid-1993, include a Fourier transform ion
cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer with which cluster structures are
studied via laser spectroscopy; cluster chemical reactivity is being probed
through controlled introduction of various molecular species. A second
apparatus, a cluster beam system, combines infrared pumping of molecular
adsorption on clusters with resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization
techniques to interrogate cluster and molecular bonding. Bonding of aniline
and aniline dimers to a variety of different molecules has been studied.
To study the properties of liquid clusters, an expansion liquid droplet
source together with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (reflectron mode)
was built. Study of mixtures of water/ethanol solutions have shown an
evolution from clusters consisting of mostly water molecules complexed
with one or two ethanol molecules for high concentration of water in the
mixture, to clusters consisting of mostly ethanol molecules complexed with
one or two water molecules when the ethanol concentration in the mixture
reaches 40% or more. Such studies allow fundamental intermolecular
interactions of molecules in liquids to be investigated.
To probe the properties of clusters on supports, several sophisticated
pieces of experimental apparatus were built. One especially impressive
experiment uses a liquid metal source (heated crucible) to produce clusters
that are deposited on a cryogenic substrate in order to stabilize them. The
apparatus is interfaced with an X-ray source. The substrate with different
cluster deposits is rotated in-situ, allowing X-ray determination of the
structure to be investigated as a function of the metal type, the cluster size,
the substrate material, and the temperature. Interestingly, gold clusters with
size < 6 nm are found to have icosahedral structure and not the fcc structure
of bulk gold. Upon warming the substrate, the clusters sinter and the
development of the fcc structure can be followed as a function of
temperature. Studies of gold-copper alloy clusters also show icosahedral
structure for clusters less than about 6 nm. Several other metal and metal
alloy systems will be examined.
To investigate the quantum properties of nanometer-sized materials, the
Cluster Science Group is attempting to stabilize metal clusters in the
channels of zeolites. Specifically they have put sodium into the channels of
an LTA zeolite in the hopes of producing a quantum wire. The sodium-
doped materials have been shown to exhibit photochromic behavior,
exhibiting reversible darkening upon exposure to light. In contrast,
potassium-doped zeolites investigated by another group exhibited
ferromagnetic behavior.
One of the researchers has developed a terahertz spectrometer capable of

probing molecular vibrations in the 15-30 cm-1 range. At the time of the
WTEC visit, this spectrometer appeared ready to be applied to real problems.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In the short time it has existed, the NAIR cluster group has put together
some of the best approaches of any group in Japan to study fundamental
science issues. They began with virtually no equipment in 1993 and have
designed and built a series of sophisticated apparatuses, each focused on
probing a specific fundamental issue of cluster science. The unfortunate
event was the termination of this effort in March of 1998. In this particular
instance, the researchers are just beginning to harvest the results of careful
and thoughtful design of state-of-the-art equipment. In at least one instance
the apparatus was just coming on line at the time of the panel’s visit, and that
particular scientist will have only a few months to generate data before
termination of the program.
It was the WTEC panel’s perception that several of the researchers
(almost all fairly young) did not yet have positions to which they could
move. Some of the older researchers obviously will be able to return to their
sending organization, but several were hired directly into this project and
had no ties to any outside organization. We were informed that each
researcher will be allowed to keep his equipment in the new position, which
is certainly good news, but “the termination of the program” was a theme
that had certainly raised the anxiety level of many of the staff. The quality
of the research and the novelty with which these young researchers have
approached science could serve as a model for other groups in Japan;
namely, the researchers were allowed (even encouraged) to identify
interesting cluster science problems and then design experimental apparatus
to probe these problems, rather than to just buy equipment. This appears to
have born fruit, but the fruit may dry up before harvest can occur.
Site: NEC
Electron Devices Laboratory
34 Miyugaoka
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Fax: (81) 298-56 6135
WTEC: H. Goronkin (report author), D. Cox, J. Mendel,

H. Morishita, M.C. Roco, R.W. Siegel
Hosts: Dr. Kohroh Kobayashi, General Manager, Fundamental

Research Laboratories
Dr. Jun’ichi Sone, Senior Manager, Advanced Device
Research Lab
Dr. Y. Ochiai, Manager, Advanced Device Research Lab
Dr. K. Tanaguchi, Manager, Exploratory Research Lab
BACKGROUND
Funding: 1% of NEC’s sales go to its Corporate Research Laboratory

(including the Fundamental Research Laboratories)
70% of funding is from the corporate level
30% is contract funding from business groups
15% of funding for Fundamental Research Laboratories is
from business groups and national projects
Targeting: Business group R&D, from three to five years

Fundamental R&D Labs, from five to ten years
Staffing and Tsukuba: 300 (devices, materials, fundamental orientation)

Foci of NEC Kawasaki: 1,100 (computer and communication systems,
Labs: software, and components)
Princeton: 50-60 (computer science and physical science)
Berlin, Bonn: (computers and communications software for
parallel computers and ATM transmission technologies)
K. Taniguchi—Si, Ge, C Clusters
• the Exploratory Research Lab has synthesized buckyball magic numbers

of 20, 24, 46, and 60 and has achieved >100
• change bonding from van der Walls to covalent by changing number of
atoms in the ball
• doping provides conductivity and superconductivity
• need ionized Si or Ge; quench to remove electron and form 20 or 24 atom
cages
• modify substrate to form clusters by adding electrons by doping, ion
implantation, e-beam
• critical temperature for silicon cages is 6-8 K
Y. Ochiai—Nanofabrication
The Goal of the Advanced Devices Research Lab is 10 nm scale

lithography using e-beam. It needs a capability by 2007 for manufacturing
16 Gbit DRAMs. Previous work on short gates includes 100 nm in 1987, 45
nm in 1993 using a 50 keV field emitter beam having less than 5 nm beam
diameter at 100 pA; and 40 nm in 1997.
The lab is using Tox = 3.5 nm and is working on 1 nm SiO2. Although
tunneling will exist, it is believed that the small area of the gate oxide will
limit gate current to a negligible fraction of the channel current.
W/L scaling is not maintained at 2:1.
The lab developed an e-beam resist (Calixarene, molecular weight 1,000)
for the 10 nm project in which resolution is limited by the six benzene ring
length to 6 nm; 10 nm lines show smooth edges and regular spaces. The
resist was licensed to other companies for commercialization.
Atom Beam Holography
Starting with a Ne discharge, the neon momentum is decreased and the

atoms are trapped in a laser beam. The Ne atoms are allowed to fall under
gravitational attraction and they pass through a hologram plate before
dropping onto a microchannel plate, where they excite an image. The large
mass of Ne compared to electrons provides a large increase in resolution.
According to quantum mechanics, the wave of a single Ne atom can pass
through thousands of holographic channels simultaneously where it is
diffracted and then recombined to form images on the microchannel plate. It
is hoped that this can be used for future 1 nm lithography. It currently takes
seven hours to form an image. This project began in 1995 in collaboration
with the University of Tokyo.
Jun’ichi Sone—Nanoelectronics
Encouraged by Advanced Device Lab’s success with e-beam lithography

using Calixarene resists to obtain 10 nm features, various device structures
become possible. The Lab’s goal is to look for the classical-quantum
crossover in MOSFET structures. There are many potential problems,
including source-drain tunneling (S-D) and tunneling through the gate
insulator. An EJ MOSFET (electrically variable junction MOSFET) was
fabricated with gate lengths from 134 nm to 32 nm. A second gate located
over the channel control gate was used to modulate the resistance of the
source and drain virtual access regions. Satisfactory saturating
characteristics were obtained down to 32 nm. At 32 nm, short channel
effects were observed; however, no S-D tunneling was observed. At this
writing, a 15 nm gate was achieved but results were not reported. It is hoped
that when quantum effects are observed, useful novel devices can be made.
The advanced e-beam lithography with PMMA resist was used to
fabricate a metallic single-electron transistor using Al/Al2O3/Al
island/Al2O3/Al. The process involves opening a 20 nm window between
source and drain. The Al is oxidided to form Al2O3 , and Al is deposited in
the window to form the island region. Extremely reproducible drain current
peaks as a function of gate voltage were obtained. Unlike semiconductor
SETs, for example, where the peaks are of uneven height, the lack of
depletion and charging of defects provides uniform heights in the metallic
system. It is believed that 10 nm islands could provide room temperature
operation.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
NEC’s Electron Devices Laboratory is one of the top labs in the world in
nanoelectronics. This lab seems to be able to quickly start new programs in
promising areas and to change direction when fundamental obstacles block
the path to progress. The Atom Beam Holography and the 10 nm gate
projects are at the leading edge. The lab appears to be clear in its
understanding of how its research fits into future company needs and how
the research must be directed to produce world-leading results.
Site: National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya (NIRIN)

1 Chome Hirate, Kitaku
Nagoya 462, Japan
Fax: (81) 52911 1661
WTEC: J. Mendel (report author), D.M. Cox, C. Koch, H. Morishita,

R.W. Siegel
Hosts: Dr. Shuzo Kanzaki, Chief Senior Researcher

Dr. Mutsuo Sando, Research Manager
Dr. Sakae Tanemura
BACKGROUND
The National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya (NIRIN) has as its

mission to carry out advanced materials research on ceramics, metals,
composites, and related materials. Established in 1952, its main research
field is material science and technology. There is close cooperation with
domestic and global universities; there are also efforts to interface with other
national research institutes.
Within Japan’s National Industrial Research Institutes (NIRI) there are
six major technical departments. In 1996, the annual budget for NIRI was
$92 million (US). Total staff is 220 who participate in the Institute. For this
visit, the WTEC panel focused on the area of synergy ceramics and
materials.
In the area of synergy ceramics, the emphasis is on structural control for
improving a specific property of a given material. Here there is effort to
simultaneously control structural elements at every stage (from atomic scale
to the macro scale). This approach is referred to as “hyperorganized
structure control.” In the area of synergy ceramics, there are a total of 30-35
people involved in the investigation of ceramics and metals. Size can be
classified into four major categories for creating superior ceramic materials:
(1) atomic and molecular scale, (2) nanoscale, (3) microscale, and (4)
macroscale. In the hyperorganized approach to structure control, effort is
made to harmonize and trade off functions, such as strength and toughness or
electrical conductivity and stress sensitivity. In 1994, the synergy ceramics
project was launched to foster collaboration among national research
laboratories, universities, and industries. Part of the program is under the
sponsorship of the New Energy and Industrial Development Organization
(NEDO) and is entrusted to the Fine Ceramics Research Association

(FCRA).
The Synergy Ceramics Project is divided into core research and satellite
research projects. Core research is being carried out at NIRIN and at the
Synergy Ceramics Laboratory located in the Japan Fine Ceramic Center
(JFCC) by researchers from FCRA, NIRIN, and several national universities.
Satellite research is being carried out by 12 industrial organizations
participating in the FCRA and by the Osaka and Kyushu National Research
Institutes.
The projects that the WTEC panel were introduced to constitute only a
portion of the core research. There are also many other topics being pursued
as part of the Synergy Ceramics program.
Specific projects for synergy ceramics include the following:

1. alumina ceramics containing lanthanum oxide (La2O3)
2. alumina ceramics doped with SiO2
3. alumina ceramics doped with both La2O3 and SiO2 producing anisotropic
grain growth of Al2O3 and in situ plate growth of La2O3
4. scaling of Si3N4 with Y2O3 and SiO2; thermal conductivity values of SiN4
are dependent on the processes of scaling and casting to improve
strength, toughness, and Young’s modulus
5. nanoporous silica films with one-dimensional throughput channels of
10-20 nm; high temperature oxides of Fe2SiO4 were prepared for
evaluation as molecular sieves and particulate filters
6. preparation of submicron emulsions of Al2O3, surfactant and water; here,
a silica coating is deposited on alumina powder; this coating makes the
alumina surface negative over a broad pH range
EQUIPMENT
1. ISO pressing (12 tons/cm2)

2. Ceramic furnaces
3. Superplasticity measurement device
4. High resolution TEM
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The final year for this five-year program on synergy ceramics is 1998. It
is anticipated that this program will continue in the pursuit of the synthesis
of nanoporous materials for absorbing oil and identified particulates; the
preparation ligands include ferrous materials such as ferrous disilicate; also
of interest is the synthesis of ceramic materials with polymers that have low
coefficient of friction similar to teflon.
RESPONSE TO WTEC QUESTIONNAIRE
Attached below are discussions on cluster engineering by Dr. Sakae

Tanemura in response to the technical questions posed by the WTEC panel
before the visit.
NIRIN’s Research Activities on “Cluster Engineering” by

Prof. Dr. Sakae Tanemura
Scientific Drivers
Those important to cluster engineering are as follows: new phenomena

(cluster and surface interaction in both soft and hard collision cases; cluster
coalescence and/or diffusion on the surface; solid state properties of
assembled and/or embedded clusters).
Applications
Cluster itself is nanoscale material and shows the size-dependent

quantum effect. If we can use a size-controlled cluster as a building block
for nanostructure fabrication on a surface, we can fabricate new types of
electronics (multiemitter-type resonance transistor, multitunnel junctions,
and new magnetic devices having multivalued recordings with superhigh
density). We will accomplish this by the combination of any materials and
generally any substrates. “Cluster engineering” will help to break through
some of the present difficulties faced by silicon technologies for
nanostructures and will be a promising complement to silicon technologies.
Critical Parameters to Control
To move a high density size controlled cluster beam from the source to
another vacuum vessel for deposition (for deposition by soft landing and/or
hard collision); to identify a cluster source; and deal with cooling and
filtration will require specific knowledge for installation to operate
effectively.
To realize soft landing and/or hard collision deposition of clusters on a
substrate, and to have ion optics to accelerate and deaccelerate ionized
clusters will require specific designing skill.
To control the assembled parameters (parameters to control self-
diffusion, migration and/or coalescence of deposited clusters, as well as the
surface crystallinity of the substrate), including introduction of regular steps
and/or kinks and termination of crystal bonds of surface atoms, will require
extensive systematic research.
Current Status
These investigations have just begun with the cluster groups in Japan, the
United States, and Europe, and the work is at a fundamental stage. Rapid
progress will be expected within three to five years if certain research
resources are available.
Time Scale to Completion and Manufacturability
It is difficult to estimate the time scale for ultimate application. This will
be very much affected by the nanoscale requirements by semiconductor and
memory industries. We must identify needs for large capacity and high
speed memory requiring relatively small amounts of power.
R&D Philosophy
Our philosophy, directions, and basic concept are described in published

brochures.
Overall Japanese R&D Activities on Cluster Engineering
I don’t know the overall R&D of nanotechnology throughout Japan. The

definition of nanotechnology should be defined clearly. As far as I am
concerned with cluster engineering in Japan, here are the other leading
laboratories and/or persons working in this area:
1. JRCAT and NAIR (AIST, MITI) at Tsukuba: Atom Technologies group,
particularly Dr. Y. Kanayama, (“Atom Technologies” project is a typical
national project on nanostructures and being well funded by AIST, MITI)
2. Metal & Inorganic Material Institute, Tohoku Univ. at Sendai: Profs. K.
Suzuki, K. Sumiyama and A. Kasuya. They are funded by “Strategic
Fundamental Research Fund” of Science & Technology Agency (STA)

as three-year projects of about $2.5 million.
3. Ion Engineering Research Laboratory, Kyoto Univ. at Kyoto, Prof. I.
Yamada and Dr. Z. Matsuo. Dr. Z. Matsuo is doing research on argon-
cluster sputtering (no data for funding).
4. Cluster Lab., Toyota Inst. of Tech. at Ichikawa, Chiba, Prof. T. Kondow.
The funding is given by the Kompon (Fundamental & Generic)
Laboratory of Nippon Denso Co.
5. Chemistry Dept., Faculty of Science & Technology, Keio Univ., Prof. K.
Kaya (no data for funding).
Educational Initiatives
All occur in the above-mentioned universities. I have already supervised

my postgraduate student on cluster deposition.
NIRIN has already inaugurated international cooperation work on Cluster
Engineering with Frei University, Department of Physical Chemistry, Berlin,
Prof. Woeste’s lab (experiments); and with Wien Technical University,
Department of General Physics, Wien, Prof. G. Betz (MD simulation of
cluster impact).
We welcome international cooperation on any subject related to cluster
engineering.
REFERENCES
Hirao, K., T. Nagaoka, M.E. Brito, and S. Kanzaki. 1994. Microstructure control of silicon
nitride by seeding with rod-like b-silicon nitride particles. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 77:1857-62.
Hirao, K., M. Ohashi, M.E. Brito, and S. Kanzaki. 1995. Processing strategy for producing
highly anisotropic silicon nitride. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 78:1687-90.
Hirao, K., A. Tsuge, M.E. Brito, and S. Kanzaki. 1993. Preparation of rod-like b-Si3N4
single crystal particles. J. Ceram. Soc. Jpn. 101:1071-73.
Kanzaki, S., and H. Matsubara. 1994. New and developing research on advanced ceramics.
Bull. Ceram. Soc. Jpn. 29: 124-30 (in Japanese).
Yasuoka, M., K. Hirao, M.E. Brito, and S. Kanzaki. 1995. High-strength and high-fracture-
toughness ceramics in the Al2O3/LaAl11O18 systems. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 78:1853-56.
Site: National Research Institute for Metals (NRIM)

1-2-2 Sengen
Tsukuba 305, Japan
Fax: (81) 298-59 2008
WTEC: C. Koch (report author), E. Hu, D. Shaw, C. Uyehara
Hosts: Dr. Masatoshi Okada, Director General

Dr. Mikihiko Kobayashi
Dr. I. Nakatani
Dr. N. Koguchi
Dr. M. Murayama
Dr. W. T. Reynolds
Dr. M. Ohnuma
Masatoshi Saito
BACKGROUND
The WTEC panel’s host at the National Research Institute for Metals
(NRIM) was Dr. Masatoshi Okada, Director General of NRIM, and the panel
had presentations/discussions with Drs. M. Kobayashi, I. Nakatani, N.
Koguchi, M. Murayama, W. T. Reynolds, and M. Ohnuma.
NRIM is a national laboratory devoted to the development and
improvement of new and advanced metallic (and other) materials. It is
funded by the Science and Technology Agency (STA). There are about 330
researchers out of a total staff of 415 people and an annual budget of about
$100 million.
We were greeted by Dr. Masatoshi Okada, who then described his
organization. The laboratory can be divided into four major parts: (1)
research in advanced physical field (high magnetic fields, high resolution
beams, extreme high vacuum), (2) research for materials science, (3)
research for materials development, and (4) social-needs-oriented research.
Researchers in various areas related to nanostructured materials presented
descriptions of their research.
RESEARCH AND DEVEOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS
Dr. M. Kobayashi described his work on particle assemblage. At present

this work is focused on micron-scale particles (~ 5 µm particles) and toward
the preparation of “smart” materials. Particles are assembled by electrostatic
force by several methods involving, for example, the atom probe or
electrostatic patterning by electron beams with particles attracted to the
patterned regions. Examples of materials include SiO2 particle assemblages
for gas (e.g., CO) sensors and Ni-base magnetostrictive particles for actuators.
Dr. I. Nakatani has a program involved with research on quantum
magnetic properties. Studies involve magnetic substances with sizes of
around (a) 100 nm, (b) 10 nm, and (c) 1 nm in dimension.
a) A novel reactive-ion etching method was developed and applied to
producing ferromagnetic Fe-Ni thin wire arrays with 250 nm width and
spacing.
b) Magnetic relaxation phenomena of iron nitride or cobalt ferrofluids were
studied. These are colloidal 10 nm diameter ferromagnetic particles.
The relationship between the viscosities of the magnetic fluids and
volume fractions of solid particles was determined. It was stated that
these ferrofluids possess the highest performance achieved in the world.
c) Giant magnetoresistance (GMR) was observed for 2 nm Fe particles
embedded in SiO2 or MgF2. The GMR effect is due to spin-polarized
electrons tunneling between the Fe particles.
Dr. N. Koguchi described his group’s work on direct formation of
GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots by droplet epitaxy. The process consists of
forming Ga droplets on the inert S-terminated AlGaAs substrate and reacting
the droplets with As to produce GaAs microcrystals. First, a molecular
beam of Ga is put on the substrate, followed by an As molecular beam.
About 10 nm GaAs particles are formed. The photoluminescence of these
structures is being studied.
Dr. M. Murayama and Dr. W.T. Reynolds (on sabbatical from VPI)
described their studies of the microstructure of a variety of structural
materials with nanoscale features. Included in their studies are fine atomic
clusters in Al-base alloys in which clusters not resolvable with high
resolution electron microscopy were revealed by special tomographic three-
dimensional atom probes. NRIM has two of the three existing in the world.
All materials they study with the atom probe are nanostructured, including
• magnetic materials — Co–12Cr–2Ta thin films
Fe-Zr-B amorphous/nc structures
• structural materials — steels (e.g., piano wire)
high strength Al-base alloys
(from A. Inoue’s group at Tohoku University)
The piano wire—Fe–0.8%C—with a pearlitic structure-after strains of

4.0 assumes a nanocrystalline structure with 5 nm carbide particles, along
with some amorphous regions.
Dr. M. Ohnumo described studies of GMR behavior in Co-Al-O granular
thin films. This work is in collaboration with H. Fujimori from Tohoku
University.
A new thrust of NRIM is enhanced cooperative programs with industry
and universities, and with international programs. NRIM is designated as a
Center of Excellence and is charged with development of state-of-the-art
facilities for extreme high vacuum, high resolution beams, and high
magnetic fields.
Site: Osaka National Research Institute (ONRI)

Interdisciplinary Basic Research Section
AIST, MITI
1-8-31 Midorigaoka
Ikeda, Osaka 563, Japan
Tel: (81) 727-51 9690; Fax: (81) 727-51 9630
WTEC: D.M. Cox (report author), C. Koch, J. Mendel, H. Morishita,

R.W. Siegel
Hosts: Dr. Masatake Haruta, Chief Senior Researcher;

Head, Interdisciplinary Basic Research Section
Dr. S. Tsubota
Dr. M. Okumura
Dr. Cunningham
Dr. Ando
Dr. Kohei Fukumi
Dr. Teruo Kodama, Director General of ONRI
Dr. Noboru Wakabayashi, Senior Officer for Research
Planning
BACKGROUND
This WTEC site visit was hosted by Dr. Masatake Haruta, the Chief
Senior Researcher at Osaka National Research Institute (ONRI), who
presented an excellent overview of the AIST laboratories under MITI.
ONRI is one of 15 national laboratories, of which 8 are located in Tsukuba.
ONRI, founded in 1918, is the fourth oldest research institute of MITI. At
ONRI there are five major research departments and one research section:
• Department for Energy Conversion
• Department of Energy and the Environment
• Department of Optical Materials
• Department of Materials Physics
• Department of Organic Materials
• Interdisciplinary Basic Research Section
These research departments focus on three primary areas: (1) energy
related materials, (2) optical materials, and (3) fundamental research. The
major components of energy related materials are energy storage using new
battery technology; molten carbonate fuel cells; production, storage,
transportation, and application of hydrogen energy; and catalysis. In optical
materials the focus is on nonlinear optical materials and application of
optical measurements. In fundamental research the focus is on thin film and
ion beam technology, material design and characterization, and
bioengineering of molecular complexes of peptides.
ONRI is very proud of its history of contributions to industry, with

several major inventions, discoveries, and developments in the labs at Osaka.
Four of these are as follows:
1. polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers, which are used as carbon
fiber reinforcements for plastics used in golf club shafts and fishing rods,
as well as for aerospace applications
2. transparent conductive films of indium oxide (and tin oxide) via vacuum
deposition, which advanced liquid crystal technology; the transparent
conductive films are also used commercially as anti-icing coatings and
have been applied to windshields of the Tohoku-Shinkansen bullet trains
3. inorganic spherical microcapsules with porous walls, with applications in
cosmetics and deodorants
4. the discovery that nanosized gold catalysts have specific catalytic
properties useful for odor removal, specifically for rest rooms; this work
is a recent invention from Dr. Haruta’s group
Dr. Haruta, our host, in addition to his responsibilities as Chief Senior
Researcher at ONRI, is head of the Interdisciplinary Basic Research Section,
which was founded in 1994 as a new research section for basic studies, with
a primary aim to provide fundamental knowledge to the science world.
The technical update was provided by Dr. Haruta plus several other
members of his group, Drs. Tsubota, Okunura, Cunningham, Ando, and
Fukumi. The work on “gold catalysts” is a major focus for ongoing research
and has led to the discovery that supported gold catalysts exhibit unique
catalytic properties only in the case where the gold particles are nanoscale
and highly dispersed (gold particles on the order of 1-5 nm in diameter
supported on metal oxides such as TiO2).
S. Tsubota and M. Okumura described catalyst preparation techniques,
characterization, and present understanding of the behavior of these
materials as a function of particle size. Specifically, the particle size effects
have been examined as a function of (a) the pH of the initial Au solution, (b)
the effect of calcining temperature on the TiO2 supports, (c) comparison of
results using different synthesis techniques and parametric studies to

optimize the catalyst fabrication, and (d) the wt% of Au loading.
The characteristic nature of the gold catalyst was the main topic of the
science presentations from Dr. Haruta and members of his staff. This
included evidence for the structure-sensitive character of the gold catalysts,
namely, the strong dependence on particle size, type of support material, and
the interface structure of the Au catalyst with the support. Gold catalysts
have unique behavior, being active at low temperature. For example, CO
oxidation occurs on nanoscale gold catalysts at temperatures as low as
-70°C. In addition, the gold catalysts are found to exhibit very high
selectivity for partial oxidation reactions, such as oxidation of propylene to
propylene oxide with 100% selectivity at 50°C as well as near room
temperature reduction of nitric oxide. A key scientific finding is the
sensitive role that H2O plays in activating the gold catalytic behavior.
Similar results with Pd and Pt catalysts show effectively no propylene oxide
yield, but give about 100% conversion to propane. The fundamental work
on gold catalysts has led to “odor eaters” for the bathroom, a recent
commercialization.
In addition to the ongoing studies on gold catalysts, there is a significant
effort to apply the learning from the gold system to other catalyst systems,
using, for example, Pt- or Pd-based catalysts with the expectation that
particle size effects will lead to novel materials with highly specific
functionality.
In addition to the catalysis work, the Basic Research Section also has
efforts in developing optical gas sensors, and in studies of the unusual
nonlinear optical properties of gold nanoparticles. The use of sputtered gold
or nanoparticle gold colloids deposited on transition metal oxide surfaces has
produced surfaces for which selective adsorption of H2 and CO gases can be
detected. The use of entirely optical techniques for selective detection of H2
was being promoted, since such detection would eliminate the possibility of
fire ignition or explosion in H2 atmospheres. Dr. Ando summarized the
optical gas sensor work as follows:
• Au nanoparticles on nickel oxide show enhanced selectively to both CO
and H2
• Au nanoparticles on copper oxide show large selectivity and sensitivity to
CO
• Au nanoparticles on cobalt oxide show two effects:
– Enhanced selectivity to H2 at the plasmon band of Au
– Decreased absorbance (selectivity) to both CO and H2 away from the
Au plasmon center frequency.
The results open the possibility for strictly optical recognition of H2 and
CO.
Dr. Fukumi showed that nanoscale gold colloids dispersed in glasses

exhibit novel nonlinear optical properties. The materials are produced by
ion implantation of Au+ into silica glass. The Au+ ion energy is 1.5 MeV
with densities of 1016-1017 Au+ ions/cm2. Characterization by TEM showed
the average particle size was 8.6 nm diameter. In these materials, the third
order nonlinear susceptibility χ3 was measured to be 1.2 x 10-7 esu, about
four orders of magnitude higher than that obtained by a melting method used
by others to produce the gold/glass system.
Following the technical presentations, the WTEC team enjoyed a lunch
that Dr. Haruta had kindly arranged with the Director General of ONRI, Dr.
Teruo Kodama, and Dr. Noboru Wakabayashi, the senior officer for research
planning. After lunch the team had a tour of the lab facilities of the
Interdisciplinary Basic Research Section. From these interactions we
learned that funding for the National Laboratory at Osaka increased by 16%
in 1996, but simultaneously, the permanent staff is decreasing. The decrease
in permanent staff is somewhat compensated by the increase in (mostly)
foreign postdoctoral support to the 30-40 person level.
The lab facilities for the Basic Science Section are impressive, consisting
of several catalyst testing units and a special testing unit with all stainless
steel surfaces that have been chromium oxide-coated to allow water vapor
levels to be reduced to < 10 ppb. This is the only unit in the world with this
capability, which has allowed this group to carefully isolate the role of water
vapor in the catalytic reactions. Recent funding has allowed purchase of a
new high resolution TEM (~$1.3 million), and a new sophisticated surface
science apparatus (>$1 million) which at the time of the WTEC visit had
been ordered but not yet delivered. The new equipment is to be used to
better understand the differences and similarities of surface reactions
occurring at low pressure under UHV conditions and those occurring in the
higher pressure catalytic reactions carried out under actual processing
conditions.
Site: Osaka University

Research Center for Intermaterials
Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research
8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaragi-shi
Osaka-fu 567, Japan
Tel: (81) 6-879 8440; Fax: (81) 6-879 8444
WTEC: J. Mendel (report author), D.M. Cox, C. Koch, H. Morishita,

R.W. Siegel
Host: Prof. Koichi Niihara, Director
BACKGROUND
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research was founded in 1939

as part of Osaka University. Its whole purpose is to study scientific
principles necessary for industry to make progress in the fields of
electronics, computer science, and metallic and inorganic materials, as well
as other disciplines in biochemistry and radiation science. In 1995 the
Institute was restructured into 6 divisions and 24 departments. The six
divisions are (1) Quantum Engineering; (2) Advanced Materials Science and
Technology; (3) Organic Molecular Science; (4) Intelligent Systems
Science; (5) Biological Science; and (6) Quantum Beam Science and
Technology.
The Institute’s budget in 1996 was $25 million. For the area of
Intermaterials, the budget amounted to $4 million plus grants from
companies. For the Department of Structure Ceramic Materials, there are a
total of 25 individuals supporting this technology. Professor Niihara, who
heads this department, had been at the institute for eight years. Eighty per
cent of the students work on ceramics, both functional and structural, and
20% are involved with metals and polymers.
The main focus for programs within Structure Ceramic Materials is

ceramic-based nanocomposites prepared by sintering methods. There is
special emphasis placed on understanding the relationships between the
nanostructure of materials and their mechanical properties. Ceramic
nanocomposites can be divided into intragranular, intergranular, and
nano/nano composites. Intragranular and intergranular nanocomposites,

even at elevated temperatures, result in remarkably improved mechanical
properties, including (1) fracture toughness, (2) abrasive and cutting
performance, (3) fracture mode, (4) fracture strength, (5) maximum
operating temperature, and (6) creep resistance. As an example, toughness
may increase 1.5 to 4 times in the Al2O3/SiC system. Hybridization of
micro- and nanocomposites using fiber-reinforced components results in
toughness improvements at higher temperatures.
Specific Classifications
Multifunctional ceramics, then, can have some specific classifications:

1. micro-nano composites with enhanced toughness (Al2O3/SiC)
2. hard matrix/soft dispersion nanocomposites (Si3/N4/BN)
3. soft matrix/hard dispersion nanocomposites
4. structural ceramics
5. nanopore composites as future targets
Preparation
The process for preparing these ceramic materials involves a sintering

reaction where the challenge is to keep different size particles uniformly
dispersed to prevent nonuniform distribution.
Wet ball milling is also used, where materials like Si3N4 are mixed with
Al2O3, Y2O3, H3BO3, and urea. After ball milling, the material is dried and
subjected to hydrogen reduction. Such processes have yielded properties like
high strength, excellent thermal shock resistance, good chemical inertness,
and easy machinability similar to metals. Addition of chrome oxide has also
yielded improvements in Young’s modulus and fracture strength.
Although the institute has no formal process for patents, the work has
resulted in the granting of 35 patents from this ceramic technology.
Collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
laboratories in Germany is ongoing.
Equipment
A tour of laboratory facilities showed a wide range of processing and

characterization equipment. Included are (1) ceramic ovens, (2) Instron with
filament-winding equipment (3) X-ray diffractometer with temperature range
to 2000oC, (4) laser Raman, (5) hot isostatic press, (6) SEM, (7) AFM, (8)
nano-indentor, and (9) spark plasma sintering systems.
Site: RIKEN (Institute of Physical and Chemical Research)

Frontier Materials Research
Semiconductor Laboratory
2-1 Hirosawa Wako-shi
Saitama 315-01, Japan
Fax: (81) 48-462 4659
Host: Dr. Aoyagi, Coordinator, Frontier Research Program; Chief,

Semiconductor Laboratory
Dr. Katsuhiko Fujita, Exotic Nano Materials Group
Dr. Takashi Isoshima, Researcher, Biopolymer Physics Lab.
Dr. Hideo Yabuki
Yoshiro Miki, Director of the Frontier Research Program
Division and the Brain Science Planning Office
BACKGROUND
The Frontier Research Program was set up within the Institute of

Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) within the Science and
Technology Administration to be a more flexible program emphasizing
• multidisciplinarity
• flexibility, obtained by recruiting researchers with the proper expertise,
working under one-year contracts that can be extended (average age of
the researchers is 35)
• international participation, with non-Japanese team leaders; 1/3 of the
participants are from overseas
• active recruitment of young researchers
• external evaluation by world-class scientists
• forum to create new ideas
All programs have a fixed lifetime of eight years, extendible, with a mid-
program review. The Frontier Materials Research program that the WTEC
team visited was in Phase II of its activities.
Within the Frontier Materials Research Program were three subareas:
(1) the Laboratory for Nano-Electronics Materials (Sugano), (2) the
Laboratory for Nano-Photonics Materials (Sasabe), and (3) The Laboratory
for Exotic Nano Materials (Knoll). The emphasis is on basic research, rather
than on applications (this was explicitly stated).
Dr. Aoyagi gave the WTEC team an introduction to some of his team’s
research activities.
Quantum wire growth: they used a technique similar to that developed by
Kapon for the growth of (primarily) GaAs/AlGaAs and GaP/AlGaP quantum
wires. The attempt was to improve that process and gain better control of the
growth process, with a higher selectivity of incorporation, using the fact that
the growth rates on the (111)A plane is minimal to zero. Measurements
were done in a 40 T magnetic field; the researchers expected to observe a
diamagnetic shift in the luminescence peak under the high field conditions,
and obtained 123 µeV/T2 for the LH transition and 210 µeV/T2 for the HH
transition. These are far larger shifts than expected (110 µeV/T2 for bulk
and 20 µeV/T2 for 2-D systems). Aoyagi attributes the discrepancy to the
influence of the interaction of the electrons in the wire with the adjacent
impurities.
Si nanostructure formation: these studies began with amorphous silicon
deposited onto Si substrates and annealed in a hydrogen or nitrogen ambient.
The result was the formation of Si nanocrystals, ~ 7 nm in size, embedded
within an amorphous matrix. Emission in the blue was observed, with about
10-5 stated efficiency. Emission at 420 nm and 380 nm was observed.
Simulations have been carried out to look at the effects of confinement on
the relative regions of the amorphous and crystalline areas (Figure D.8).
amorphous
2.17 nm
crystalline
2.72 nm
Figure D.8. Effects of confinement on the relative regions of the amorphous and crystalline
areas.
GaN dot formation: dot formation is attempted on a nearly lattice-

matched substrate: GaN on AlGaN (thin buffer layer, grown on SiC, ~ 10-7
defects/cm2). Growth is believed to proceed by step-flow. In order to
promote dot formation (without the influence of strain), researchers chose to
control the surface energy, by using a monolayer of silicon as a surfactant
(this has been published in APL). They have achieved stimulated emission
in these dots, with a density of greater than 109/cm2.
Transport: Dr. Aoyagi showed the WTEC team quantum dots formed by
split gate structures, with a separate gate that allowed coupling between 2
dots. He observed interference fringes in the I-V, indicative of coupling,
measurements taken at 10 mK. He also showed magnetoCoulomb
oscillations, using the magnetic field rather than a gate to alter the
interactions (Figure D.9).
Figure D.9. MagnetoCoulomb oscillations using the magnetic field.
Dr. Aoyagi then took us for a brief tour of various labs in his area: a
transport lab with three cryostats, an He 3/4 dilution refrigerator, and high
field magnets (8 T); a JEOL e-beam writer, MOCVD capabilities (MBE was
elsewhere), analysis lab with focused ion beam and photoluminescence
spectroscopy.
• The WTEC team was then provided with some overviews of the research
in the Exotic Nano Materials group. Dr. Katsuhiko Fujita discussed
some of the projects within this group, headed by Dr. Wolfgang Knoll.
He described a supramolecular architecture, building from a substrate to
a metal layer, to a biological interface to proteins. Dr. Fujita described a
project in which fabricated gratings of various periods were used to
facilitate studies on the motility and growth of hippocampal neurons.
Another project involved the integration of neurons with transistors, to be
used as in-situ recording devices. Laboratory support included
capabilities for the synthesis of biopolymers, as well as characterization
facilities, including scanning tunneling microscopy (atmospheric and
ultrahigh vacuum), and atomic force microscopy. A surface plasmon
resonance microscope and a near field optical microscopy facility are
also being developed.
Dr. Takashi Isoshima, a researcher in the Biopolymer Physics Lab

(degree from Tokyo University), then described some of the experiments
involving polymers for optical devices: ultrafast optical switching, low
power consumption photorefractives. This group carries out its own
polymer synthesis, molecular design, and modification, in order to enhance
optical properties such as nonlinearity and absorption. The goal is to
synthesize multicomponent, photorefractive materials with capabilities in
electrooptic coefficient, photoconductivity, etc. He showed us an impressive
optical characterization lab: subpicosecond systems, a time-resolved
fluorescence setup (100 fs), three optical benches, and optical fiber devices
for ultrafast multiplexing.
Dr. Hideo Yabuki then gave us a general overview of RIKEN, its history
and current mission. RIKEN is a semipublic corporation, receiving 95% of
its funding from the Science and Technology Agency. It is believed that this
semipublic status gives it more autonomy. There is extensive collaboration
with universities (University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and
others), with a number of dual appointments and joint doctoral courses.
RIKEN collaborates extensively on an international scale and has established
a number of laboratories outside of Japan; the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory was the first overseas lab to be established.
Yoshiro Miki, the Director of the Frontier Research Program Division
and the Brain Science Planning Office (he has been at STA, in Materials
Research, and then at MITI on an excimer laser project), spoke of a new
priority project: a brain research institute. Citing a research effort that is
only 10% of that carried out in the United States, promoters of the brain
research institute hope that this will help to bring “brain science” in Japan up
to world-class levels. Miki also spoke of the disconnect between RIKEN
and the universities in terms of identifying important research priorities;
there is a 10-15 years lag between initiation of RIKEN priority programs and
observation of changes in university programs.
EQUIPMENT
Various laboratory equipment included a synthesis lab, with Langmuir

Trough, Brewster angle microscope, an analysis laboratory with two STMs,
a UHV STM, and AFM. WTEC’s hosts described the development of a
surface plasmon resonance microscope (magnification limited), and a near
field optical microscopy facility that is being built under the coordination of
Dr. Ruggiero Micheletto (current resolution is 100 µm).
Site: Tohoku University

Institute for Materials Research (IMR)
Katahira 2-1-1, Aoba-ku
Sendai 980-77, Japan
Tel: (81) 022-215 2000; Fax: (81) 022-215 2002
WTEC: E. Hu, C. Koch, and D. Cox (report authors), L. Jelinski,

M. Roco, R.W. Siegel, D. Shaw, C. Uyehara
Hosts: Prof. Kenji Suzuki, Director, Institute for Materials

Research; E-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Masayoshi Esashi, Department of Mechatronics &
Precision Engineering
Prof. A. Inoue, Head, Nonequilibrium Materials Laboratory
Prof. H. Fujimori
Prof. Kenji Sumiyama
Dr. Changwu Hu
Dr. Elisabeth Kurtz
Dr. Darren Bagnall
BACKGROUND (Carl Koch)
Most of the WTEC team’s visit to Tohoku University was focused on the
Institute for Materials Research (IMR) which is directed by Professor Kenji
Suzuki. IMR’s historical roots go back to 1916; at first it was devoted to
research on iron and steel. However, under the leadership of Professor
Matsumoto it became a leading research laboratory in the 1970s and 1980s
in the area of nonequilibrium processing techniques for producing
metastable materials, in particular metallic glasses, an area in which it was a
world leader. At present IMR is a large modern materials research center
containing 26 research laboratories in which approximately 160 scientists,
120 technicians, 190 graduate students, and 70 visiting scientists carry out a
variety of research projects. The major part of the financial support for the
IMR is provided by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture
(Monbusho). The specific groups in the IMR concerned with nanoparticles/
nanostructured materials that the panel visited are those of Professors K.
Suzuki and K. Sumiyama (metallic nanocluster assemblies), Professor
Kasuya (semiconductor nanocluster assemblies), Professor H. Fujimori
(magnetic nanostructured materials), Professor A. Inoue (nanostructured
bulk materials), and Professor T. Yao (semiconductor nanodevices). Brief

descriptions of these research efforts are given below. In addition to visiting
IMR, the WTEC team visited the Tohoku University laboratory of Professor
Esashi in the Department of Machine Intelligence and Systems Engineering.
Professor Esashi’s research on micro/nano machines is also described.
Prof. M. Esashi (Lynn Jelinski)
Microsystems by Silicon Machining: This program at Tohoku

University, under the direction of Prof. M. Esashi, is located on the
“mountain” campus of Tohoku, about a 15-minute drive from the main
campus. The program has five components and is staffed by 35
professionals. The components are:
• active catheter and piezoelectric films
• inertia measurement systems
• microactuators and thermal and fluidic micro systems
• ultrasensitive sensors and nanostructures
• semiconductor research institute
The professionals comprised postdoctoral fellows from a number of
countries, resident staff, and employees of a number of companies, including
Samsung, Ford, Hitachi, Asahi Optical, and Honda.
Prof. Esashi has been working in the area of microelectromechanical
systems (MEMS) devices for the past 25 years and over that time built up a
fairly sophisticated, albeit homemade, facility for producing MEMS devices
and another facility for characterizing them. A number of biomedical
devices have been produced over the years, including blood gas sensors, a
1 mm diameter, navigable catheter based on shape-memory alloy material,
produced with an STM tip, using a heated silicon substrate.
In the past several years there have been major capital investments into
the program, resulting in the building and equipping of a microfabrication
facility and a separate nanofabrication facility.
The microfabrication facility, also called a Venture Business Laboratory,
was constructed and outfitted with government money. Companies are
encouraged to make use of the facilities. The names of 27 companies, most
of them large and well known, were displayed in the entryway.
The microfabrication facility consisted of a 0.5 micron CMOS line for
2-inch wafers, and housed an impressive array of modern equipment,
including He-Cd and Ar lasers for laser fabrication, and laser-induced CVD.
This facility was very heavily invested in etch equipment, which included a
molecular beam etch station for fairly sophisticated controlled etching.
There was room after room of characterization equipment, including field
emission SEM, SIMS, an SEM for characterizing biological systems under
water, and an in situ monitor. There was also highly specialized equipment,
including an entire room devoted to sensor characterization, which housed
an accelerometer tester that worked in vacuum and a position-sensitive
device that also worked in vacuum.
The nanofabrication facility, a Class-1000 cleanroom, was about a year
old. Like the microfabrication facility, it was equipped with an impressive
array of new and sophisticated equipment, including an e-beam direct
exposure system and a stepper/pattern generator. It is conservatively
estimated that the facility cost $10 million.
There was also a nanodevice characterization room, including ultrahigh
vacuum AFM, STM, STEM, and ESCA. An in situ infrared ellipsometer
was available for characterization of epitaxial layers.
While the size scale of the micro- and nanomachines we learned about
were larger than that covered in this report, two projects bear description:
1. Esashi and coworkers (Ono et al. 1997) described the use of an ultrahigh
vacuum STM to produce a silicon nanowire via field evaporation of
silicon. A gold STM tip was positioned over a clean silicon substrate, the
later of which was held at 700°C. At an applied sample voltage of 5 V
(10 nA tunneling current) for 15 min., with the tip positioned 6 Å above
the surface, growth of the silicon nanowire could be monitored by in situ
SEM. The diameter ranged between 20-150 nm and the length was about
3 mm. Electron diffraction patterns showed that the wire was silicon,
with between 2 and 15 at.% gold on its surface. It is posited that the field
evaporation of silicon is enhanced by the formation of an Au-Si eutectic
on the substrate.
2. In other work, the group described a self-supported silicon nanostructure
that had been fabricated on a silicon diaphragm (Hamanaka et al. 1997).
Prof. H. Fujimori (Carl Koch)
The focus of Professor Fujimori’s group is on new developments in the

field of magnetic materials. A major part of this effort is directed at
nanocrystalline (nc) Fe-based soft magnetic materials. A major method of
processing utilizes preparation of amorphous precursors by melt spinning or
sputtering followed by partial crystallization of nc bcc Fe particles. The nc
Fe particles provide high magnetic moments and, if < about 20 nm in
diameter, exhibit small crystalline anisotropy and superior soft ferromagnetic
properties. An example given is an Fe-base amorphous alloy produced by
sputtering that contains Hf, Ta, C, which on crystallization gives 10 nm Fe

particles whose grain boundaries are pinned by about 10 nm diameter
carbide (e.g., Fe80Hf8C12) particles, which stabilize the nm grain size up to
elevated temperatures (~ 700°C). This material exhibits almost constant
permeability µ', with frequency up to about 10 MHz while the µ"
(imaginary, lossy) component rises at values between 1 and 10 MHz.
Another interesting topic involves preparation and property
measurements of metal/nonmetal granular nc composites. Sputtering was
used to form systems such as Fe/SiO2, Co/Al2O3. As the oxygen
concentration in the films increases, the electrical resistivity increases from
metallic (101–102 µΩcm), to a ρ vs. T behavior with a ρ minimum with
ρ = 102–103 µΩcm, to high resistivity (negative coefficient of ρ) with
ρ = 104–1010 µΩcm. The low oxygen content composites show
ferromagnetic behavior with high permeabilities—about double that of
ferrites but with higher losses. A potential application is use as a high
frequency inductor.
The oxygen-rich composites exhibit giant magnetoresistance (GMR). For
example, the Co, Fe in Al2O3 provides an assembly of tiny tunneling
junctions with ∆ρ/ρo about 7.8%.
Fujimori’s magnetic materials program is expected to receive an
additional $3.8 million in government funding for the next five years in a
new program entitled, “Nanostructurally controlled spin dependent quantum
effects and new electronics and magnetics.” A goal is a one-electron spin
memory.
Prof. A. Inoue (Carl Koch)
Professor Inoue’s large group (41 persons) studies amorphous, quasi-

crystalline, and nc materials. The nc materials are typically prepared by
crystallization of amorphous precursors, which can be bulk amorphous
alloys, ribbons or wires produced by melt spinning, or rapidly quenched
powders produced by powder atomization methods. Mechanical tests on
nc/amorphous alloys from bulk amorphous samples exhibit increased yield
strengths but little elongation in tension—that is, behavior similar to
amorphous alloys even though 60–70 vol.% of the material is crystalline.
Mg-base alloys have been successfully studied in this regard.
The equipment for processing, material characterization, and property
measurements in Inoue’s laboratory is very impressive indeed, with most
nonequilibrium processing tools, sophisticated characterization, and property
measurement facilities available.
The innovative work on metastable materials Professor Inoue has carried
on over the years cannot be praised too highly. He and his coworkers are
responsible for a new class of soft ferromagnetic materials based on Fe-Zr-B

compositions that consist of nanocrystalline bcc Fe particles in an
amorphous matrix. These materials exhibit the lowest core losses at
frequencies up to 400 Hz of any known material. They have also developed
alloys based on Al or Mg, which are two-phase nanocrystalline and
amorphous and which exhibit high strength, e.g., the Al alloys have more
than double the strength of the strongest existing Al alloys, along with some
ductility.
A major factor in his group is its close association with Japanese
industry. This is illustrated by the fact that 20 of his 41-member group are
employees of many companies, specially assigned to carry out research in
his group.
Profs. K. Suzuki and K. Sumiyama (Don Cox)
Prof. Kenji Sumiyama and Dr. Changwu Hu gave highlights of some of

the work being done in the areas of metallic nanocluster assemblies and
work on fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, respectively. In the metallic
nanocluster area the main focus is on developing different techniques for
production of metallic clusters.
Prof. Sumiyama described five different techniques for production of
metallic clusters that have been utilized by his group:
1. ionized cluster beam deposition
2. plasma sputtering with cluster aggregation
3. field emission of atoms from a metal (gold) tip
4. liquid metal ion source
5. laser ablation cluster source
For characterization their main tools are electron microscopes, e.g., SEM,
FE-TEM, and STM examinations of clusters deposited on substrates. The
primary use appears to be for evaluation of the cluster size and cluster size
distribution from the various cluster production techniques. Every
researcher appears to be well equipped, with each possessing electron
microscopes for individual use. They reported plans to add electron
holography capability to the field-emission TEM next year. In addition to
use as cluster size and size distribution measurements, recent STM studies of
selenium clusters deposited on HOPG were interpreted as the first evidence
for six or eight metal atom rings covering an HOPG surface.
The ionized cluster beam apparatus is the most developed and was an
early workhorse, with several publications reporting work using this source.
More recently, a new plasma sputtering apparatus has been constructed over
the last four years and has become the primary cluster synthesis apparatus at
IMR. Drs. Suzuki and Sumiyama reported being able to produce clusters of
smaller sizes and with narrower size distributions than was possible with the
ionized cluster beam apparatus and are optimistic that this source can be
scaled up for much larger production than currently feasible. For example,
with the plasma sputtering apparatus, they reported production of chromium
clusters with sizes ranging between 3-4 nm with about 10% variation in size.
Previously, the average cluster size was about 8-9 nm, but with a larger
variation in size. Optimization of the helium and argon gas mixtures used in
the plasma sputtering have resulted in better control of the cluster size and
cluster size distribution, according to Prof. Sumiyama. The laser ablation
cluster source is now being developed for production of transition metal
clusters. The other two techniques, field emission and liquid metal ion
source, are not as versatile, being limited to materials that have relatively
low melting points.
Dr. Changwu Hu (Don Cox)
Dr. Hu described the efforts at Tohoku in the area of fullerene and carbon
nanotube production and characterization. Dr. Hu described three main
items:
1. chemical reaction studies of C60 on Si(111)
2. polymerization of C60 and C84 by argon ion laser irradiation
3. production and characterization of single-walled carbon nanotubes
In (1), the chemical reaction of C60 on Si(111), C60 is deposited on
Silicon(111) and then heated to 800°C. At 800°C STM shows that a
monolayer of C60 in registry with the Si(111) surface is covering the surface.
Upon further heating to 850°C, the C60 layer becomes disordered. Heating
even further to 1100°C results in formation of SiC in the form of SiC
clusters of about 50 nm diameter and 2-4 nm height. This technique is
reported to be a novel low temperature route to SiC.
In (2) the fullerenes are observed by STM to polymerize upon irradiation
by an Ar ion laser and form large (150 nm diameter) clusters. Additional
studies showed that the STM pattern changed with changing bias voltage,
suggesting some polymerization is induced by the STM electric fields.
Lastly, Dr. Hu reported recent results on characterization of nanotubes
produced in the laboratory. The researchers report single-walled nanotube
yields of 20-30%, and that the diameter of the single-walled nanotube
depends on the metal used in their (metal catalyzed) production, e.g.,
nanotube radii of 0.5 nm, 0.65 nm, and 1.0 nm for Fe/Ni, Co, and La,
respectively. Raman spectroscopy and STM are used to characterize the
nanotube deposits. Attempts to interrogate the electronic structure have been
unsuccessful thus far.
The overall picture is that this group at Tohoku is well equipped as far as
the electron microscopy techniques are concerned and is primarily interested
in developing larger scale production techniques for both metallic clusters
and for carbon nanotubules. It was not clear what the ties to future
technology development may be.
Prof. T. Yao’s Lab: Drs. D. Bagnall and E. Kurtz (Evelyn Hu)
Dr. Takafumi Yao’s general research goal is “to exploit new

optoelectronic materials for the 21st century.” The WTEC team’s visit to
Professor Yao’s laboratories was hosted by two postdocs working with him:
Dr. Elisabeth Kurtz and Dr. Darren Bagnall. Drs. Kurtz and Bagnall are two
of three foreign (JSPS) postdocs working within Dr. Yao’s lab. (This
laboratory is apparently one of three under Professor Yao’s supervision;
another one is located in Tsukuba). They described projects in the
nanostructured growth of wide bandgap materials: ZnO and CdSe.
Dr. Bagnall spoke of Plasma-Assisted MBE of ZnO for Blue-UV
Emitters. A plasma source of oxygen was used to assist the epitaxial growth
of ZnO on sapphire substrates. Free exciton emission dominates at room
temperature, and pulsed, optically-excited lasing was observed up to 500 K,
with fairly large thresholds: 2.5 MW/cm2. With the large amount of strain
between ZnO and sapphire, it would not be surprising to observe
nanostructure growth (e.g., islands). In fact, AFM traces showed evidence
of pyramidal structure: this was not thought to be the basis of the excitonic
emission. Bagnall hopes to grow quantum wells in this material structure.
Dr. Kurtz described the growth of self-organized quantum dots in the
CdSe material system: (111)A ZnSe was grown on a GaAs substrate, and
CdSe dot structures were subsequently nucleated on this surface. The
(111)A surface was utilized because it provided a smooth, featureless
surface. The dots had typical diameters of 47 nm, with a height/diameter
ratio of 19%. There are some interesting differences in these dots compared
to self-organized dots in the III-V materials, such as InAs/GaAs:
• They have less stability: the dot dimensions are not stable with time, due
to Ostwald ripening.
• Under different growth conditions, the dot sizes do not change, although
the densities do change. Typical densities range from 5-25(µm)-2 (using
atomic layer epitaxy with either 1 or 3 cycles of growth). In the III-V
materials, the dot diameter and dot density are usually coupled, i.e., one
cannot change one parameter without having the other parameter also
vary.
Both projects used cathodoluminescence, photoluminescence, and AFM

measurements in their analysis. There was a lack of modeling effort
complementing the experimental work of the group. There seemed to be
access to a broad range of characterization tools within or external to the
Yao group—such as near field scanning optical microscopy. The WTEC
team was taken for tours of some of the Yao labs, which include five MBE
stations, cathodoluminescence (CL), photoluminescence (PL), X-ray
analysis, and a UHV STM.
REFERENCES
Ono, T., H. Saitoh, and M. Esashi. 1997. Si nanowire. In growth with ultrahigh vacuum
scanning tunneling microscopy. Applied Physics Letters 70(14)(7 April).
Hamanaka, H., T. Ono, and M. Esashi. 1997. Fabrication of self-supported Si nano-structure
with STM. In Proc. of IEEE, MEMS ‘97 (January), pp. 153-158.
Site: Tokyo Institute of Technology

Nagatsuta, Midori-ku
Yokohama 226, Japan
Tel: (81) 45-924 5759; Fax: (81) 45-924 5779
WTEC: L. Jelinski (report author), E. Hu, M.C. Roco, D. Shaw,

C. Uyehara
Host: Professor Masuo Aizawa, Faculty of Bioscience and

Biotechnology; E-mail: [email protected]
BACKGROUND
The Tokyo Institute of Technology has two campuses, one at Tamachi

and another at Nagatsuta. The Nagatsuta Campus is about 20 years old, and
the Faculty of Bioscience and Biotechnology was moved there about six
years ago.
Professor Aizawa, whose laboratory the WTEC team visited at the Tokyo
Institute of Technology’s Nagatsuta Campus, was the project leader of a ten-
year national MITI project on bioelectronic devices. The project, which
ended in 1995, involved eight electronics companies and two national labs
for its initial five-year period. One of the electronics companies dropped out
and did not participate in the second term. An example of the work
performed in the project is that by Mitsubishi, which produced an artificial
protein that binds an electron acceptor and electron donor.
It appears that much of what was accomplished in the MITI
bioelectronics project was accomplished in Aizawa’s laboratory (see below).
He set out to answer the question, “Are biological systems ideal for
molecular electronics or not?” Parts of the project that are being continued
appear to be in the form of RIKEN’s Brain Research Center. Formulation of
ideas for somewhat related work is being carried out by the Intelligent
Materials Forum, whose members are working to promote a national project
in this area. (The president of the forum is Toshinori Takagi; Aizawa is the
vice president.) The idea of intelligent materials is to incorporate sensing
and transduction and information processing into the same materials. The
idea of forming a “Nanospace Laboratory” was just coming together at the

time of the WTEC visit.
Aizawa has been a world leader in bioelectronics. His review on
molecular interfacing for protein molecular devices and neurodevices
(Aizawa 1994) describes subjects such as the coupling of electron transfer
proteins (e.g., glucose oxidase) to solid surfaces, conducting polymer wires
that couple the enzyme to the surface, and electrically modulated activity of
molecular-interfaced enzymes.
More recent work, not yet published at the time of the WTEC visit,
involved developing methodology to orient antibodies on surfaces. The key
to making this work was to genetically modify protein A, known to bind the
non-antigen binding stalk of the “Y” of the antibody, so its C-terminal
carried a cysteine. The modified protein A was then bound to a gold surface
via the well-known alkylthiol/gold chemistry. The ability to control the
orientation of proteins on the surface is a major step forward in the ability to
use these systems for drug targets, biochemical purifications and separations,
and for sensing and diagnostic applications.
In other experiments, liposome nanoparticles were engineered by
coupling to phosphatidyl choline, a peptide corresponding to one antigen
binding domain of an antibody (Kobatake et al. 1997). These nanoparticles
were used as the basis for a new fluoroimmunoassay.
REFERENCES
Aizawa, M. 1994. Molecular interfacing for protein molecular devices and neurodevices.
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (February/March).
Kobatake, E., H. Sasakura, T. Haruyama, M.-L. Laukkanen, K. Keinänen, and M. Aizawa.
1997. A fluoroimmunoassay based on immunoliposomes containing genetically
engineered lipid-tagged antibody. Analytical Chemistry 69(7): 1295-1298.
Site: The University of Tokyo

Department of Chemical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Kogakukan #5, Room 709
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan
Fax: (81) 3-5689 7352
WTEC: D.T. Shaw (report author)
Hosts: Prof. H. Komiyama, Dept. of Chemical Systems Engineering

Dr. H.S. Zhou
Dr. Fumihiro Wakai, Professor, Center of Materials Design,
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama
BACKGROUND
The University of Tokyo is the oldest and the most prestigious university
in Japan. Prof. Komiyama belongs to the Department of Chemical Systems
Engineering, which is one of three departments (the other two are the
Department of Applied Chemistry and the Department of Chemistry and
Biotechnology) in the Department of Chemical Engineering. His work on
nanoparticles has focused on the synthesis and optical properties of
nanocomposites of metal/organic, organic/metal, metal/semiconductor, and
semiconductor/semiconductor particles. More recently, coated self-
assembled nanoparticles have also been studied.
Overall, Prof. Komiyama’s work on nanoparticles and nanoparticle
structures has focused on fundamental studies of the effects of quantum
confinement of heterostructured nanoparticles and nanoparticle structures.
Prof. Komiyama’s laboratory is extremely well equipped and has formed
strong connections to other research laboratories both within and outside
Japan. At the present time, all his research projects appear to be
experimental. In fact, the last theoretical work was conducted in cooperation
with Prof. Joseph W. Haus (Physics Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, RPI) who visited him for one year in 1992.
Dr. H.S. Zhou, who is now a researcher at the Electrotechnical

Laboratory at Tsukuba City, showed me his work with Prof. Komiyama on
the study of conformational change of protein cytochrome b-562 absorbed
on colloidal gold particles. Cytochrome b-562 is a small cylindrical haem
protein (diameter ~2.5 nm and height ~5 nm) found in the periplasm of E-
coli. Depending on the degree of coverage, the protein on the gold particles
(diameter ~ 31 nm) can be in side-on or tail-on conformation. Maximum
optical shift occurs when protein particles are in side-on conformation with
an effective composite particle size of 36 nm. Other work in this area
includes the synthesis of semiconductor/semiconductor (such as CdS/PbS)
and metal-coated (such as AuS/Au, Ag/polydiacetylene) particles. Some of
this work was partially inspired by the theoretical work carried out while
Prof. Haus was visiting Tokyo University on leave from RPI in 1992. In
recent years, special emphasis has been placed on experimental projects
because of the great influx of equipment funds from the government. At
present, nanoparticles are fabricated by colloidal chemical vapor deposition
and physical vapor deposition techniques (e.g., laser ablation, sputtering, and
electron cyclotron resonance).
Dr. Fumihiro Wakai was invited by Prof. Komiyama to make a
presentation on his work on superplasticity. Dr. Wakai was associated with
the National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya. He is now a professor
at the Center of Materials Design at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in
Yokohama. His work (Nature 1990. 344:421) on Si3N4/SiC composites has
led to the discovery of superplasticity in nanocrystalline covalent ceramic
materials. Currently, he is also the director of a large cooperative project
between Japan and Germany (Prof. Fritz Aldinger, Max-Planck-Institut für
Metallforschung), supported by the Japan Science and Technology
Corporation, that commenced its operation in October 1966. The objectives
of the cooperative project are to explore the nanostructures of the
superplastic grain boundaries and to develop new synthesis techniques for
maximum superplastic deformation at elevated temperatures. In addition,
Prof. Komiyama mentioned the possibility of investigating the
miniaturization of superplastic testing and characterization with a very small
amount of materials.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Although I spent all of my visit with Prof. Komiyama’s group, there are
several other groups at the University of Tokyo that are conducting
significant research in nanotechnology. These include the Physics

Department (theoretical and experimental work on quantum-confinement
and functional materials) and the Department of Applied Chemistry (TiO2
particles).
Although my two-hour visit concentrated on composite
nanoparticles/nanostructures as described above, I know from my previous
visit in October 1996 that Prof. Komiyama is also active in areas related to
amorphous silicon and other metal and semiconductor nanostructured
materials. He is one of the research leaders in the one-step CVD synthesis of
AlN, TiN, SiN, SiC, TiC, and ZrO (single or two components)
nanostructured materials.
Site: Toshiba Research and Development Center

1 Komukai, Toshiba-cho
Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki 210, Japan
Tel: (81) 44-549 2318; Fax: (81) 44-520 1287
WTEC: H. Goronkin (report author), E. Hu, L. Jelinski, M.C. Roco,

D. Shaw, C. Uyehara
Hosts: Mr. Haruo Nakatsuka, R&D Center

Dr. Koichiro Inomata, R&D Center
Dr. Masaaki Tamatani, Materials and Devices Research Labs
Dr. Shuji Hayase, Materials and Devices Research Labs
Dr. Takashi Kawakubo, Materials and Devices Research Labs
Dr. Atsushi Kurobe, Advanced Research Laboratory
Mr. Kunio Yoshihara, Advanced Semiconductor Devices
Research Laboratories
BACKGROUND
Toshiba has a history over 100 years. In 1939, Shibaura Engineering

Works and Tokyo Electric Company were merged to a single company
named Tokyo Shibaura Electric Company. In 1978, it changed its named to
Toshiba Corporation.
Toshiba has a 3-layered R&D organization with long-, medium- and
short-term elements: the corporate laboratories work on new technology that
may be applied to products 5 to 10 years later; the development laboratories
are working on technology for deployment 3 to 5 years later; the engineering
departments in the operating divisions have as their most important task the
solution of problems inherent to present products.
RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL HIGHLIGHTS
The following sections summarize the ongoing work in various Toshiba

laboratories concerned with nanostructure technologies, based on
presentations made to the WTEC panel by our hosts.
A. Kurobe, Advanced Research Laboratory
“Study of Shapes Produced by Stranski-Krastanov Growth in Cold-Walled

UHV-CVD”
With a silicon buffer, hut-shaped Ge dots with (001 x 010) alignment
were obtained. Without a buffer, dome-shaped Ge dots were obtained.
Using H-terminated Si wafers by exposure of atomic hydrogen, domes were
obtained.
The H-free wafers with a prior annealing at 750oC contained the hut dots.
Thermal desorption spectroscopy supports the difference in the surface:
Dihydride desorbs at 415oC. Monohydride desorbs at 550oC. Annealing at
750oC removes all H. Atomic hydrogen exposure produces a monohydride
surface. The goal is study of interaction of dots with 2DEG. The plan is to
move to a SiO2-Si system to increase barrier height.
K. Inomata, Research and Development Center
“Advanced GMR”
Working on spin electronics for high density heads, 20 Gbit in 2002 is
forecast. Toshiba researchers have achieved >10% GMR ratio in layered
films at room temperature. They have also achieved > 30% in nanogranular
films with a coercive field of 0.1 T.
The most promising approach is the tunnel junction. It has > 25% MR
ratio but drawbacks include high resistance and strong fall-off of the
magnetoresistance ratio with applied voltage and pinholes in the ultrathin
insulator barrier.
Dr. Inomata described two structures for possible use in future memory
and logic. One new proposed structure consists of two ferromagnetic (FM)
layers sandwiching a barrier containing 8 nm granules of FM material in an
SiO2 matrix. The total barrier thickness is about 10 nm. Inomata and
coworkers explained that the size and distribution of the FM granules must
be carefully controlled. The FM contact polarization can be switched either
parallel or antiparallel to the granules and to each other to provide high or
low current transport through the barrier. No data were provided.
A second proposed structure places the two FM electrodes on the same
surface of granular FM materials. This is a transistor structure in which
lateral conduction can be controlled by the relative polarization of the
contacts. No data were provided.
T. Kawakubo, Materials and Devices Research Laboratories
“Epitaxy of Ferroelectric (FE) Materials”

The goal of this project is to control FE properties by orientation and
strain of the epitaxial material.
The researchers use (Sr, Ba)TiO3 with SrRuO3 electrodes, which have
good metallic conduction. By reducing the thickness and sputter conditions,
good performance (saturating hysteresis loop) at 1.0 V has been obtained.
This material is also under investigation for DRAM charge storage
capacitors. With 20% Ba content, the dielectric constant is about 900. An
SiO2 equivalent thickness of 0.085 nm was obtained. The leakage current
was 4 x 10-8 A/cm2 between ±1.3 V. This was said to be satisfactory for
0.12 µm DRAM. TiAlN/Pt barrier layers were used.
M. Tamatani, Materials and Devices Research Laboratories
“Nanoparticle Phosphors Made by Thermal Plasma”

This project produces spherical particles compared to faceted particles.
These particles have the particle size in the same region as those of
commercially available materials. They must be heat treated in oxygen or
hydrogen to restore luminescence efficiency comparable to that of the
commercial phosphors. The thermal plasma also produces nanoparticle
phosphors, which could be used as labeling agents for analysis.
Site: ULVAC Japan, Ltd.

Vacuum Metallurgical Company (VMC)
516 Yokota, Sanbu-cho, Sanbu-gun
Chiba 289-12, Japan
Fax: (81) 467-87 3383
WTEC: D. Shaw (report author), C. Koch, R.W. Siegel, C. Uyehara
Hosts: Dr. Chikara Hayashi

Dr. Masaaki Oda
BACKGROUND
The Vacuum Metallurgical Company (VMC) is a subsidiary of ULVAC
Japan, Ltd., which is a relatively large conglomerate of 30 companies
employing over 3,500 people. The principal products of VMC include
sputtering targets; complex shaped Ti-alloy cast parts; reactive and
refractory metal sheet, wire, and shapes; and service coating for processing
equipment for semiconductors, display panels, etc.
VMC’s ultrafine-particle (UFP) business is based on early work by Dr.
Hayashi and colleagues on gas-phase particle nucleation (evaporation and
condensation) and deposition by using nanoparticles dispersed in tiny gas
jets (in the 10 micron diameter range). VMC commercialized magnetic UFP
in 1971, and Dr. Hayashi (at the time, president of ULVAC) served as the
leader of a UFP project in Japan’s Exploratory Research in Advanced
Technology (ERATO) program from 1981-1986. ERATO has been
supported by the now renamed government organization, Japan Science and
Technology Corporation (JST). The UFP project investigated the physical,
chemical, and biological properties of nanoparticles.
Over the years, VMC has improved the magnetic UFP technique and now
offers a large quantity of metallic and organic particles; gas-evaporation and
gas-deposition equipment for producing fine pattern of contacts and
conductive lines for electronic devices; and UFP paste (dispersed liquid)
with coating system.

Although the basic design of the induction-heating chamber for the
ultrafine-particle generation was developed by Hayashi and Oda in the
1970s, the performance of the chamber has been steadily improved through a
series of government-subsidized R&D programs at VMC. At present, there
is an impressive list of UFPs that are produced in large scales under
reasonably controlled conditions. These include chain-aggregate
ferromagnetic UFPs, metallic (e.g., Au, Ag, Cu, Pd, Ni, Al, Sn, etc.) isolated
UFPs, and coated UFPs (e.g., ZnO-coated Cu and polymer-coated Fe).
These particles are used for the formation of thick films for various
applications, including electronics, optics, etc. Application fields presently
being pursued by VMC are shown in Table D.1.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
VMC is in many ways similar to Nanophase Technologies Corporation in
the United States. They both use the principle of gas-phase condensation for
particle generation. Both are market-driven companies that try to break into
various new markets. Thus, their targeted markets, as shown in Table D.1,
are very similar. At the present time, the UFP revenue for VMC is about $4
million. Dr. Hayashi indicated that he hopes to increase the UFP business in
VMC to about $10 million in two or three years.
TABLE D.1. UFP Applications and Processes at VMC

Applications Coating Methods Effects
ELECTRONICS
Metalizing of ceramic parts Dipping or printing Reduce processes and
(Eliminating electric discharge) materials (replacing
vacuum deposition)
Formation of electrodes of chip Dipping
condensers
Formation of test circuits Drawing with a Decrease firing
microdispenser temperature
Repairing of electric circuit of LCDs Repainting with a
or PDPs microdispenser
Formation of electric circuits Screen printing
OPTICS
Coating of infrared reflectors Dipping Reduce processes
Coating of laser reflectors
Repairing of reflectors
ARTS
Decoration of ceramics or glass Pad painting Reduce processes,
utensils decrease firing
temperature
Coating of accessories Dipping Replace electroplating
Replacing of gold leaf Spraying Reduce processes
NOTES ON FUNDING OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

RESEARCH IN JAPAN
M.C. Roco
Introduction
Government organizations and very large corporations are the main

source of funding for nanotechnology research and development in Japan.
Small and medium-size companies play a minor role. All large Japanese
corporations devote a significant portion (generally ~ 10% in the electronics
industry) of their income to R&D. Japanese corporate research tends to be
product-oriented, but there is also a well-established culture within the
corporate and scientific community of planning for the next generation of
technological innovation. As evident in the foregoing site reports,
nanotechnology R&D is decidedly a part of the present and future planning
of both government and industry labs, and funds are allocated accordingly.
Government funding for nanotechnology research should be viewed in
the context of the overall increase of public support for basic research since
1995 as a result of passage of Japan’s Science and Technology Basic Law
No. 130 (effective November 15, 1995). The law proposes to allocate
approximately ¥17 trillion (~$148 billion1) for basic research to Japanese
universities, industry, and national laboratories from 1996 to 2000. The
main recipients of the 1996 government budget for science and technology
($23.3 billion/year) were the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and
Culture (known as Monbusho), which received 46.5% of the S&T budget;
the Science and Technology Agency (STA), which received 25.9%; and the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), which received 11.9%.
In 1997 the university system received $935 million from Monbusho as
“grants-in-aid” for research, and $239 million from other ministries,
however, it appears that the ministry with the largest allocation of funds
specifically earmarked for nanotechnology R&D is MITI.
The information on funding presented here is based on interviews with
Japanese colleagues during the WTEC panel’s visit in July 1997, using the
nanotechnology definition adopted by this study. All budgets are for the
fiscal year 1996 (April 1, 1996 to March 31, 1997) and are approximate. In
many institutions it was difficult to separate the exact contribution of
research related to nanostructure science and technology, and for those
institutions, only the total budget, as available, is given.
1
The exchange rate used throughout this overview is ¥115 = $1, unless otherwise stated; the
budgets given are for FY 1996.
A. Main Japanese Government Organizations Sponsoring

Nanotechnology R&D
MITI / AIST (Agency of Industrial Science and Technology)

Total budget, $2.75 billion/year; nanotechnology budget from all sources
below, ~$60 million/year
National Institute for Advancement of Interdisciplinary Research (NAIR),

Tsukuba City
• Joint Research Center for Atom Technology (JRCAT), ten-year budget of
~$220 million (1992-2001); $25 million/year
• Research on Cluster Science, ~$10 million (1992-1997); $2 million/year
• Research on Bionic Design, ~$10 million (1992-1997), 50% for
nanotechnology; $1 million/year
Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba City
• Total budget, ~$100 million/year; nanotechnology budget, ~$17 million
Osaka National Research Institute, Osaka
• Total budget, ~$26 million/year; estimated nanotechnology budget,
~$3 million/year
National Industrial Research Institute of Nagoya (NIRIN), Nagoya
• Total budget, ~$25.2 million/year (1996); estimated nanotechnology
budget, ~$2.5 million/year
MITI’s Quantum Functional Devices (QFD) Program
• Ten-year budget ~$64 million (1991-2001); estimated nanotechnology
budget, ~$6.4 million/year
Science and Technology Agency (STA)

Total budget, $6 billion/year; estimated nanotechnology portion was
~ $35 million/year in FY 1996
Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Wako City

• Total budget, $300 million/year; nanotechnology budget is included in
Frontier Materials research
National Research Institute for Metals (NRIM), Tsukuba City
• Total budget, $130 million/year; nanotechnology work in various projects
National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials (NIRIM), Tsukuba City
• Total budget, $35 million/year; nanotechnology budget, ~$0.8 million
Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST)

• Administration of ERATO Program (Exploratory Research for Advanced
Technology), including 4 nanotechnology projects, each with total
budgets of $13-18 million for five years:
– Quantum Wave Project (1988-1993)
– Atomcraft Project (1989-1994)
– Electron Wavefront Project (1989-1994)
– Quantum Fluctuation Project (1993-1998)
Ministry of Science, Education, Sports, and Culture (Monbusho)

Total budget, $10.8 billion/year
Nanotechnology programs are supported at universities and national

institutes, as well as via the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (total
resource allocation unknown).
Tokyo University, Tokyo
• University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and
Technology
• Institute of Industrial Engineering
• Chemical Engineering (H. Komiyama) (A newsletter “Quantech” for a
loose network on nanotechnology in Japan is edited here)
Kyoto University, Kyoto (H. Shingu)
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama (M. Aizawa)
• Bioelectronic Devices—10 year MITI project was completed in 1996
Tohoku University, Institute of Materials Science, Sendai
• Total budget, $44 million/year
Nagoya University, Nagoya
Osaka University, Osaka, K. Niihara’s lab
• Total budget, $25 million/year
Institute of Molecular Science, Okazaki (M. Fujita)
Exploratory Research on Novel Artificial Materials and Substances for Next
Generation Industries
• Five-year university-industry research project sponsored by the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), part of Monbusho
“Research for the Future” Program
– e.g., at IMR, Tohoku University, JSPS funds “Nanostructurally

Controlled Spin Depending Quantum Effects and New Electronics
and Magnetics”; total 5-year budget 1996-2001, $3.8 million
B. Industry
Hitachi Central R&D Lab., Tokyo (T. Ikeda)
Annual sales Hitachi are about $70 billion/year; R&D spending as

percent of total sales is on the order of 10%. There are seven corporate
laboratories with 3,000 personnel. Nanotechnology takes a significant
percentage of precompetitive research at Hitachi, perhaps as much as
$280 million per year.
NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories, Tsukuba (J. Sone)
Annual sales are about $40 billion/year; R&D is 10% of total sales;
Precompetitive research (Central group) spends about 1% (or $30 million
per year); Nanotechnology-related precompetitive research is 50% of that
(or $15 million/year); it also receives partial support from government (for
example, 20% of funding for devices)
Toshiba Research Center
Annual sales are $52 billion/year; R&D expenditures as a percentage of

total sales are comparable to other Japanese corporations; nanotechnology-
related precompetitive research is about $20 million/year.
Nihon Shinku Gijutsu (ULVAC)
Vacuum Metallurgical Co., part of a conglomerate of 35 companies, had

at the time of the WTEC visit ~$4 million in particles sales per year for
electronics, optics, and arts; it planned to expand that investment to
~ $10 million/year within three years. A major focus of ULVAC is
marketing.
Other companies with large nanotechnology research programs are

NTT, Fujitsu, Sony, and Fuji Photo Film Co.
Comments
Strengthening of Japan’s nanotechnology research infrastructure in the

past several years has been fueled by both the overall increase of
government funding for basic research and by larger numbers of academic
and industry researchers choosing nanostructured science/technology as their
primary field of research. The main drivers are technological innovation and
potential industrial applications, with several exceptions where the driver is
scientific curiosity. A system approach has been adopted in most laboratory
projects, including multiple characterization methods and processing
techniques for the same objective. The university-industry interaction is
stimulated by new MITI projects awarded to universities in recent years that
encourage use of research personnel from industry. Issues that are being
addressed already are more extensive use of peer review, promotion of
personnel mobility and intellectual independence, rewarding researchers for
patents, promotion of interdisciplinary and international interactions, and
better use of the physical infrastructure. The three major government
organizations (MITI, STA, and Monbusho) allocated an estimated total of
$120 million for nanotechnology in fiscal year 1996.
Appendix E. Site Reports—Taiwan
OVERVIEW OF NANOPARTICLE /
NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH IN TAIWAN
David T. Shaw
In 1996, the total product value of integrated circuits (IC) produced in

Taiwan reached $7.8 billion. From 1995 to 1997, IC products have grown at
an average of 50-60% per year. The current state of IC manufacturing and
product technology in Taiwan, as summarized in Tables E.1 and E.2, is two
to four years behind the leading countries. However, the technology gap is
closing fast as Taiwan invests heavily in nanotechnology R&D. In l996,
more than 400 research projects amounting to more than $7 million were
supported by the National Science Council in such diverse microelectronic
fields as VLSI technology, amorphous silicon, microelectromechanical
systems, and electronic packaging. These projects share a common theme:
the development of submicron or nanometer technology.
TABLE E.1. Current State of IC Manufacturing Technology in Taiwan

Item Taiwan’s Level Leading Country Leading-edge
Technology Level
CMOS 0.25 µm (R&D) Japan, U.S. 0.18 µm (R&D)

0.35 µm (production) 0.25 µm (production)
BiCMOS 0.8 µm (production) Japan 0.35 µm (production)

0.25 µm (R&D)
Bipolar 2.5 µm Japan 1.0 µm (production)
GaAs Circuit design and U.S.A., Japan 0.35 µm (R&D)

0.6 µm process
313
314 Appendix E. Site Reports—Taiwan
TABLE E.2. Current State of IC Product Technology in Taiwan

Item Taiwan’s Level Leading Country Leading-edge
Technology Level
DRAM 64 M (R&D) Japan, Korea 1G (papers published)

16 M (production) 256 M (production)
SRAM 4 M (pilot run) Japan 64 M (papers

1 M (production) published)
16 M (production)
ROM Introduction of 64 M Japan Introduction of 64 M

mask ROM in 1994 mask ROM by Sharp
by UMC
Flash 4 M Flash U.S., Japan 64 M/256 M Flash

Memory (production) (R&D)
16 M Flash (pilot run) 32 M (production)
MCU 4 bit, 8 bit U.S. 16 bit (production)

32 bit (announced)
MPU RISC CPU U.S. RISC: 64 bit

200 MIPS
A/D D/A A/D: 8 bit, 20 MHz U.S., Europe A/D: 8 bit, 650 MHz
converter D/A: 8 bit, 120 MHz D/A: 8 bit, 100 MHz
Power IC Discrete bipolar Japan, Europe Smart power

Discrete MOS
Site: National Taiwan University (NTU)

1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd.
Taipei, Taiwan ROC
Date Visited: 16 April 1997
WTEC: D. Shaw (report author)
Hosts: Prof. C.Y. Mou, Department of Chemistry

Fax: (886) 2-3636359
Prof. S.F. Cheng, Department of Chemistry
BACKGROUND
NTU is widely considered to be the most prestigious university in

Taiwan. The first university on the island, established nearly 100 years ago,
it is also the most renowned and the most competitive university in Taiwan.
NTU alumni play key leadership roles in all levels of government, industry,
and academia. I met with about a dozen professors from various
departments (Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Electrical
Engineering) and had an informal exchange of information on nanoparticle
technology.
DISCUSSION
During the discussions, it became clear that R&D on nanoparticle

technology is generally new on campus. All the departments represented at
this meeting are considered to be large departments, having more than 50
faculty members. Most of the research in the Electrical Engineering
Department covers traditional silicon-based IC processing with some limited
optoelectronic device studies. Research programs on submicron
photoresistance are being initiated by the Department of Chemical
Engineering, while programs on quantum lasers are being conduced by the
newly established Institute of Optoelectrical Engineering.
A project in the Chemistry Department is of interest to nanostructure
scientists: “Synthesis and Application of Mesoporous Molecular Sieves”
(Project Principal Investigator, Prof. C.Y. Mou; Co-Principal Investigators,
Prof. S.F. Cheng, Prof. P.Y. Wan, and Dr. S.P. Liu). The investigators have
successfully synthesized mesoporous aluminosilicate MCM-41, which
consists of hexagonal arrays of nanometer-sized cylindrical pores (Science
1996, 273:765). As illustrated in Fig. E.1, a liquid crystal phase-

transformation mechanism was used for formation of the nanostructure. The
complex tubules-within-a-tubule structure is now being explored for various
applications, including catalysis, separation technology, and optoelectronics
(Fig. E.2).
SUMMARY
Besides the mesoporous membrane project discussed above, the related

nanoparticle/nanostructure projects at NTU are generally in their early
stages. There is, however, a considerable amount of interest in this research
area. The Institute of Optoelectrical Engineering is very well equipped and
is staffed by a group of enthusiastic graduate students. Most of the projects
under consideration are related to the development of silicon IC devices.
Figure E.1. Proposed mechanism for the formation of the microtubular morphology of
MCM-41: (A) mixed lamellar-hexagonal membrane phase; (B) acidification leads to
membrane curvature; (C) neutralization bends the membrane into tubules; (D) the membrane
consists of a hexagonal array of cylindrical micelles.
Figure E.2. Molecular conducting device.

Site: National Chiao-Tung University (NCTU)

Hsinchu, Taiwan ROC
Hosts: Prof. M.S. Feng, Deputy Director, National Nano Device

Laboratory,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Dr. M.C. Jiang, Associate Researcher, National Nano
Device Laboratory
BACKGROUND
NCTU has the most abundant resources for microelectronic research

among the universities in Taiwan in terms of manpower, equipment, and
research funds. It boasts of six research institutes in the College of
Electronics Engineering and Computer Sciences, covering such subject areas
as information engineering, control, communication, optoelectronics, and
computer science. The Institute of Electronics, the biggest of the six
institutes, has more than 40 faculty members, whose research ranges from
model simulation and nanometer-sized MOS and bipolar devices, to thin-
film deposition and multilayer superlattice fabrication. In addition, there is a
Semiconductor Center, which appears to be a training center for
semiconductor production engineers. A complete line for IC processing
based on 10 cm wafers is housed in its Class-10,000 cleanroom facilities.
Situated near the Science/Industrial Park in Hsinchu, NCTU is a major force
in Taiwan’s high-tech industry. Its close relationship with industry is also
reflected in the university’s numerous research grants and contracts from
industrial firms. According to university officials, in 1995 NCTU ranked
first among the institutes worldwide in publications in IEEE Transactions on
Electronic Devices and Electron Device Letters. The crown jewel of NCTU
is the National Nano Device Laboratories (NDL).
I was met by Prof. M.S. Feng, Professor at NCTU’s Institute of Materials
Science and Engineering and Deputy Director of NDL. During an official
briefing, Prof. Feng told me that NDL was founded in 1993 as Taiwan’s
response to the increasingly competitive world of VLSI R&D. By the end of
1995, NDL had completed advanced R&D work on 0.18 micron IC process
modules. Prof. Feng told me that NDL’s goal is to reach 0.13 micron
processing by the year 2000. Overall, unlike the corresponding facilities at

Cornell University in the United States, NDL is a production R&D facility
with a carefully laid out roadmap for the development of IC technology.
DISCUSSION
Dr. M.C. Jiang, an associate researcher at NDL, led me through a guided

tour. He showed me some of the key modules completed so far by the NDL
personnel:
• the design, technologies, and manufacturing of 250 nm and 180 nm
devices
• growth of ultrathin (4 nm) oxide and shallow trench isolation for p-
channel 120 nm processes
• SiGe-based microwave device technology
• process development and application of ECR-RIE etching
• selective tungsten CVD for 0.20 µm via holes
• CVD-TiN, CVD-Al and CVD-Cu for advanced metallization
• Al Damascene process for 0.25 µm metallization
• chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) processes for dielectrics and
metals
• low-K (SiOF, SOG) and high-K (BST, Ta2O5) dielectrics
• shallow junction process for 120 nm devices
• surface characterization of semiconductors (SIMS, ESCA, AFM, etc.)
• 100 nm e-beam lithography
In addition to the module development work, NDL provides equipment
services to universities and other organizations for semiconductor-related
research. The four major universities mentioned in the Overview in this
Appendix are all frequent users of NDL’s equipment. In fact, many of the
research achievements in NDL would not be possible without the input from
the other universities, which have their graduate students conduct their
experiments at NDL.
SUMMARY
To integrate resources among research organizations, Taiwan’s National

Science Council (NSC) and Taiwan’s Ministry of Economy have encouraged
cooperation between major universities and research institutes to conduct
massive-scale R&D projects on advanced technology. The joint project
between NDL and the Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (SRRC) on
X-ray lithography is a good example of such principles at work. The project

started in April 1996 and will last for three years. SRRC will build a beam
line and a cleanroom to house lithographic tools under the guidance of NDL.
Both sides will share their equipment, expertise, and manpower. This
project marks Taiwan’s first attempt towards deep submicron X-ray
lithography.
Site: National Tsing-Hua University (NTHU)

No. 101, Sec. 2, Kuang Fu Road
Hsinchu, Taiwan 300, ROC
Hosts: Prof. M.K. Wu, Chairman, Research and Development

Council, Materials Science Center and Physics Dept.
Prof. C.C. Chi, Director, Materials Science Center and
Physics Dept.
BACKGROUND
Compared to NCTU, which is very technology-oriented, NTHU’s R&D

strength lies mainly in basic R&D. Physics, Chemistry, and Materials
Science have been the strongest fields of study at NTHU. Nanoparticle/
nanostructure R&D, however, is in its initial stage and is carried out mostly
at the Materials Science Center.
DISCUSSION
There are several groups actively working on projects related to

nanoparticle technology.
Professor David Z.Y. Ting, a condensed matter theorist, has developed
techniques to study (1) disorder effects in semiconductor alloys and
superlattices; (2) electronic and optical properties of quantum wells and
superlattices; (3) heterostructure tunnel device physics; (4) 3-D modeling of
quantum transport in nanostructures; and (5) light extraction from light-
emitting diodes. His current research projects include
• clustering effects in alloy tunnel barriers
• thermoelectric properties of type-II superlattices
• 3-D simulations of magnetotunneling in nanostructures
• multiband quantum transmitting boundary methods for non-orthogonal
basis
• magnetotunneling in interband tunnel structures
• resonant tunneling via InAs self-organized quantum dot states
Professor S. Gwo of the Physics Department has been involved in the

growth of self-organized semiconductor nanostructures by MBE. He has
ample experience in nanostructure fabrication for advanced electronic and
optoelectronic devices. He is also involved in the atomic-scale studies of
dopants in semiconductors and in the development of UHV scanning probe
microscopy and spectroscopy for optical measurements. Professor T.P. Peng
of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (in collaboration
with Professor M.K. Wu and Dr. S.R. Sheen of the Materials Science
Center), has been working on the preparation of nanoparticles by vapor
condensation, high-energy ball milling, or magnetron sputtering. Their
current research projects cover
• sintering or grain growth behavior of nanoparticles
• chemical reactivity of nanoparticles and application of nanoparticles in
catalysis
• characterization of the interface structure of nanoparticles
• chemisorption, diffusion, and solution of gases in nanocrystalline
materials
• fabrication and structural characterization of metal/metal or
metal/ceramic nanocomposites
• effects of particle size on the second-order phase transitions, such as
order-disorder, superconductivity, ferroelectricity, and piezolectricity
• kinetics and mechanism of nucleation and growth of nanoparticles in an
amorphous matrix
SUMMARY
Impressive progress has been made in nanoparticle/nanostructured

research at NTHU. Under the leadership of Professors M.K. Wu and C.C.
Chi, the university has established a network connecting the
microfabrication capabilities of NCTU, the chemical processing techniques
of NTU, and the analytical and materials processing capabilities at their own
Materials Research Center to perform the only organized research effort in
this area. They also plan to expand their characterization capabilities to
include some of the atomic force microscopy techniques developed at the
Academia Sinica. Their future research activities will be directed toward
semiconducting functioning materials and nanophase materials for biological
sensor applications.
Site: National Chung-Chen University (NCCU)

Taiwan 621, ROC
Hosts: Prof. W.H. Lee, Chairman, Department of Physics

Prof. D.P. Tsai, Associate Professor, Department of Physics
Prof. C.C. Chen
BACKGROUND
NCCU is a relatively new university in the south of Taiwan, but its

scientific research laboratories are very well equipped. I visited the Physics
Department, which is small, having about fourteen faculty members. The
department is guided by its energetic leader, Prof. W.H. Lee, who joined the
university from the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Hsinchu.
Prof. Lee, who is an old acquaintance of mine, told me that they had been
fortunate enough to attract a group of young energetic researchers, most of
whom had received their advanced degrees in the United States.
DISCUSSION
During an informal gathering, I first gave a brief summary on the R&D

activities in nanoparticle/nanostructure technology in the United States. This
was followed by discussions with several professors, most of whom have
joined the university during the last four to five years. The most impressive
research was presented by Prof. C.C. (Jay) Chen, who had just come back
from working with Prof. A.P. Alivisatos at the Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory (University of California at Berkeley).
Prof. Chen’s work (Science 1997, 276:398) shows that there is a practical
optimal size for metastable nanocrystals, which is also the largest size at
which the nanocrystals can be synthesized defect-free. Thus, a much wider
range of materials may be metastable in nanocrystals than in bulk solids.
Figure E.3, taken from Prof. Chen’s paper, illustrates the various size
evolution of the kinetic barriers to structural transformation in defect-free
nanocrystals. For small nanocrystals (d < 2 nm), the barriers are small and
the kinetics are dominated by interface contributions. Eventually, the

barriers will be volume-dominated. This understanding of solid-solid phase
transition kinetics will help us to define general rules that are important in
the future synthesis of new metastable nanocrystals.
Prof. C.R. Wang of the Chemistry Department is developing an
innovative electrodeposition technique for the synthesis of metallic particles.
Prof. D.P. Tsai is a leading authority in Taiwan on atomic force and
scanning near-field optical microscopies. He has developed a working
relationship with Prof. P.C. Cheng at SUNY/Buffalo and is applying some of
his AFM and SNOM techniques to nanotribological and other
nanotechnological problems.
SUMMARY
One of NCCU’s problems is its inability to attract top-notch graduate

students, partially because qualified students are attracted to more
prestigious universities such as NTU, NTHU, and NCTU in the north part of
the island. This situation may change when the government formally
establishes a second Science/Industrial Park a short distance from the
campus in 1999.
Figure E.3. Illustration of the various size regimes of the kinetics of solid-solid phase
transitions. Defects, which act as nucleation sites, are indicated by asterisks in the cartoon of
the bulk solid.
Site: Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI)

Materials Research Laboratory (MRL)
195-5 Chung Hsing Rd., Section 4
Chutung, Hsinchu, Taiwan 310, ROC
Hosts: Dr. L.C. Lee, Director, Materials Research Laboratory

Fax: (886) 35-958662
Dr. C.M. Wang, Deputy Director, Materials Research
Laboratory
BACKGROUND
Located at the center of the Science/Industrial Park in Hsinchu, ITRI is

the largest research organization in Taiwan devoted to production-oriented
R&D of industrial technologies. Unlike the other institutions previously
discussed, which are supported by the National Science Council
(corresponding with our National Science Foundation), ITRI is supported by
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). There are six laboratories
and three centers, among which only the Materials Research Laboratory
(MRL) is related to nanotechnology.
DISCUSSION
I was received by Dr. L.C. Lee, Director, and Dr. C.M. Wang, Deputy
Director, of MRL. They mentioned that MRL’s materials development
programs cover such areas as electronic polymers, magnetic materials,
organic-photoelectronic materials, superconducting materials, organic
composites, and ceramics. With suitable molecular structure design,
formulation, and synthesis, polymers have given the electronics industry
photoresistant, low-EM interference materials. Organic composites have
produced lightweight, high strength, fatigue-resistant, and anticorrosive
structures. Ceramics with specified mechanical or electromagnetic
characteristics at various temperature ranges have been developed.
Superconducting materials have been prepared for certain high-precision,
low-temperature applications.
In the area of nanoparticle technology, my hosts candidly admitted that

MRL is a very new player. They introduced me to Dr. Geoffrey W. Shuy
who recently joined MRL and is in charge of nanoparticle R&D. Dr. Shuy
showed me MRL’s laboratory for ceramic and diamond thin-film synthesis.
He also mentioned the institute’s interest in semiconducting nanoparticles
because of their novel optical properties.
SUMMARY
One of the constraints for all research programs at ITRI is that the
Institute receives only 50% of its budget from MOEA; the rest must be
contributed by industry. This rigid industrial cost-sharing requirement from
MOEA makes it necessary to conduct only those projects that are close to
commercialization. During the discussion about future research projects in
nanoparticle technologies, this cost-sharing requirement repeatedly came up
as an obstacle to doing any electrooptical projects (e.g., semiconducting
nanocrystals). Instead, the laboratory’s R&D work will probably be directed
to coating- and structural-materials-related applications.
Appendix F. Glossary
2DEG 2-dimensional electron gas

A/D Analog to digital
AAAR American Association for Aerosol Research
ADC Analog-digital converter
AEM Analytical electron microscopy
AFM Atomic force microscope/microscopy
AFOSR Air Force Office of Scientific Research
AIST (Japan) Agency of Industrial Science and Technology
AIST (Japan, MITI) Agency of Industrial Science and Technology
AMLCD Active matrix liquid crystal display
AMM Amorphous microporous mixed (oxides)
AMO Atomic, molecular, and optical
AMR Anisotropic magnetoresistance
ARO (U.S.) Army Research Office
ARPES Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy
ASET (Japan) Association of Super-Advanced Electronics Technologies
ASTC Australia Science and Technology Council
ATP (Japan) Angstrom Technology Partnership
ATP Adenosine triphosphate
B Magnetic flux density
B/H loop Closed figure showing B (magnetic flux density) compared to H
(magnetic field strength) in a magnetizable material—also
called hysteresis loop
bcc Body-centered cubic
BMBF (Germany) Ministry of Education, Science, Research, and
Technology (formerly called BMFT)
BOD-FF Bond-order-dependent force field
BRITE/EURAM Basic Research of Industrial Technologies for Europe, European
Research on Advanced Materials program
CAD Computer-assisted design
CAIBE Chemically assisted ion beam etching
CBE Chemical beam epitaxy
327
328 Appendix F. Glossary
CBED Convergent beam electron diffraction

cermet Ceramic/metal composite
CIP Cold isostatic press
CMOS Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
CMP Chemical mechanical polishing
CMR Colossal magnetoresistance
CNRS (France) Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique
CNSF China National Science Foundation
CRMD Centre de Recherche sur la Matire Divise (part of CNRS, France)
CRT Cathode ray tube
CSM Covalent shell model
CVD Chemical vapor deposition
CVI Chemical vapor infiltration
D/A Digital to analog
DARPA (U.S.) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DM Deutsche mark
DOC (U.S.) Department of Commerce
DOD (U.S.) Department of Defense
DOE (U.S.) Department of Energy
DSC Differential scanning calorimetry
e-beam Electron-beam (lithography, etc.)
EC Evaporation/condensation generators
EC European Community (or Commission)
ECAMI European-Canadian Mesoscopic Initiative
ECNM European Consortium on NanoMaterials
ECU European currency unit
EDX(S) Energy-dispersive X-ray (spectroscopy)
EELS Electron energy loss spectroscopy
EM Electromagnetic
ENEA (Italy) National Agency for Energy, Environment and New
Technologies
EPFL (Switzerland) École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
EPSRC (U.K.) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
ERATO (Japan) Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology Program
ERC (U.S., University of Illinois) Engineering Research Center on
Microelectronics
ESCA Electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis
ESPRIT European Commission’s information technologies program

ESR Electron spin resonance
esu Electrostatic unit
ETL (Japan) Electrotechnical Laboratory
ETRI (Korea) Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
EUSPEN European Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology
EXAFS Extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy
fcc Face centered cubic
FCRA (Japan) Fine Ceramics Research Association
FE Field emission
FEG-TEM Field-emission gun – transmission electron microscope
FET Field effect transistor
FE-TEM Field-emission transmission electron microscope/microscopy
FETs Field-effect transistors
FF Force field
FFr French franc
FIB Focused ion beam
FIFO First in - first out
FIM Field-ion microscope/microscopy
FM Ferromagnetic
FOA (Sweden) National Defense Research Institute
FPMD First-principles molecular dynamics
FzK (Germany) Forschungzentrum Karlsruhe
GC/MS Gas chromotograph mass spectroscopy
GDS-DFT Gaussian dual space density functional theory
GIC Graphite intercalated composites
GMR Giant magnetoresistance
GP Guinier-Preston
GPC Gas phase condensation
GPS Global Positioning System
GSMBE Gas source molecular beam epitaxy
GVB Generalized valence bond
HBFF Hessian-based force field
Hc Coercivity
HDDR Hydrogenation disproportionation desorption recombination
HDS Hydrodesulfurization
HFET Heterojunction field effect transistor
HIP Hot isostatic press

HMDS Hexamethyl-disilazane
HOPG Highly oriented pyrolitic graphic
HP (U.S.) Hewlett-Packard
HPHT High pressure/high temperature
HPLC High performance liquid chromatography
HREM High resolution electron microscope/microscopy
HRTEM High resolution transmission electron microscope (see also HREM)
HTc High superconducting transition temperature
i.d. Inner diameter
IC (France) Institut Curie
IC Integrated circuit
icd internal coordinate dynamics
IGC Inert gas condensation
IMEC (Belgium) Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center
IP Ionization potential
IPE (Switzerland) Institute of Experimental Physics at EPFL
IR Infrared
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ITO Indium tin oxide
I-V Current-voltage
JFCC (Japan) Japan Fine Ceramic Center
JIM Japanese Institute of Metals
JRCAT (Japan) Joint Research Center for Atom Technology
JSPS Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
K Degrees kelvin
KOH Potassium hydroxide
KTH (Sweden) Royal Institute of Technology
LCD Liquid crystal display
LCT Liquid crystal templating
LCVP Laser-induced chemical vapor precipitation
LED Light-emitting diode
LIGA (German acronym) Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung
LINK (U.K.) nanotechnology programme
LPPCVD Laser particle precipitation-aided chemical vapor deposition
LSI Large scale integration/integrated (circuits)
LTMC Layered transition metal chalcogenide
MA Mechanical alloying
MBE Molecular beam epitaxy
mCP Microcontact printing
MD Molecular dynamics
MEL-ARI (Europe, ESPRIT) Microelectronics Advanced Research Initiative
MEMS Microelectromechanical systems
MFM Magnetic force microscopy
microSQUID Micro-superconducting quantum interference device
MIMIC Micromolding in capillaries
MITI (Japan) Ministry of International Trade and Industry
MOCVD Metal organic chemical vapor deposition
Monbusho (Japan) Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture
MOS Metal oxide semiconductor
MOSFET Metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor
MOVPE Metal organic vapor phase epitaxy
MPI (Germany) Max Planck Institute(s)
MRAM Magnetic random access memory
MR-CI Multireference configuration interaction
MRI Magnetic resonance imaging
MSC (U.S., California Institute of Technology) Materials and Process
Simulation Center
MTJ Magnetic tunnel junction
mTM Microtransfer molding
MWNT Multiwalled nanotube
NAIR (Japan) National Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research
NASA (U.S.) National Aeronautic and Space Administration
nc Nanocrystalline
NCA Nanoparticle chain aggregate
NCAP Nematic curvilinear aligned phase material
NCCE (U.S., NSF) National Center for Computational Electronics
NDL (Taiwan) National Nano Device Laboratories
NEDO (Japan) New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization
NEIMO Newton-Euler inverse mass operator method for modeling
NEMD Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics
NEOME (Switzerland) Network for Excellence on Organic Materials for
Electronics
NFR (Sweden) Natural Sciences Research Council

NIH (U.S.) National Institutes of Health
NION (U.K.) National Initiative on Nanotechnology
NIRIM (Japan) National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials
NIST (U.S.) National Institute of Standards and Technology
NMR Nuclear magnetic resonance
NNUN (U.S.) National Nanofabrication Users Network
NOR not or (used in logic circuits)
NRC (Canada, also Australia) National Research Council
NRIM (Japan) National Research Institute for Metals
NRL (U.S.) Naval Research Laboratory
NSF (U.S.) National Science Foundation
NSOM Near-field scanning optical microscope/microscopy
NSS Nanoscale systems
NUTEK (Sweden) National Board for Industrial and Technological
Development
o.d. Outer diameter
OECD (Int’l.) Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
OLED Organic light-emitting device
OMBE Organic molecular beam epitaxy
ONR (U.S.) Office of Naval Research
PAN Polyacrylonitrile
PB Polybutadiene
PBC Periodic boundary conditions
PCD Polycrystalline diamond
PCR Polymerase chain reaction
PDLC Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals
PDMS Polydimethylsiloxane
PHANTOMS (Europe) program to investigate physics and technology of
mesoscale systems
PL Photoluminescence
PMMA Polymethylmethacrylate
p-n junctions Positive-negative
PoSAP position-sensitive atom-probe
PS Polystyrene
PS-GVB Psuedospectral generalized valence bond
PVD Physical vapor deposition
PVDF Poly(vinylidene fluoride)

QCA Quantum cellular automata
QCL Quantum cascade lasers
QD or Q-dot Quantum dot
QEq Charge equilibration
QM Quantum mechanics/mechanical
QUEST (U.S.) Center for Quantized Electronic Structures, UCSB
rf Radio frequency
RCMM Reduced cell multipole method
redox Reduction-oxidation
RGB Red, green, blue
RHEED Reflection high energy electron diffraction
RIE Reactive ion etching
RIKEN (Japan, STA) Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
RT Room temperature
RTD Resonant tunneling diode
SAM Self-assembled monolayer
SAMIM Solvent-assisted microcontact molding
SAW Surface acoustic wave device
SAXS Small angle X-ray scattering
SBIR (U.S.) Small Business for Innovative Research program
SED Single electron device
SELETE (Japan) Semiconductor Leading Edge Technologies, Inc.
(consortium)
SEM Scanning electron microscope/microscopy
Sematech (U.S.) Semiconductor Manufacturing and Technology Institute
SEMPA Scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis
SEP Size-dependent evolutionary pattern
SET Single-electron transistor
SFM Scanning force microscopy/microscope
SFr Swiss franc
SIMS Secondary ion mass spectrometry
SINQ (Switzerland) Spallation Neutron Source
SIRI (Japan) Semiconductor Industry Research Institute
SMM Scanning Maxwell-stress Microscope
SNOM Scanning near-field optical microscopy
SOI Silicon on insulator
SOQD Self-organized quantum dot

SPC Statistical process control
SPD Superplastic deformation
SPM Scanning probe microscopy
SQUID Superconducting quantum interference device
SRC (U.S.) Semiconductor Research Corporation
SRRC (Taiwan) Synchrotron Radiation Research Center
STA (Japan) Science and Technology Agency
STARC (Japan) Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center
STEM Scanning transmission electron microscope/microscopy
STM Scanning tunneling microscope/microscopy
STN Super twisted nematic
STTR (U.S.) Small Business Technology Transfer program
SUNY (U.S.) State University of New York
SWNT Single-walled nanotubes
T tesla
TBC Thermal barrier coating
TCR Temperature coefficient of resistivity
TEM Transmission electron microscope/microscopy
TFR (Sweden) Research Council for Engineering Sciences
TFT Thin film transistors
TM Melting temperature
TMS Tech molecular sieves; family of transition metal oxides
TMV Trapped magnetization vortice
TSR Tetrahedral shaped recess
UFF Universal force field
UFP Ultrafine particle
UHV Ultrahigh vacuum
UHV CVD Ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition
UHV-FE-SEM Ultrahigh vacuum field emission scanning electron microscope
UHV STM Ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope
ULSI Ultra large scale integration/integrated (circuit)
VC Vanadium-carbon
VCSELs Vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers
VLSI Very large scale integration/integrated (circuit)
WC/Co Tungsten carbide/cobalt
WTEC World Technology Division of the International Technology

Research Institute at Loyola College, Baltimore, MD
XAS X-ray absorption spectroscopy
XPS X-ray photoemission spectroscopy
XRD X-ray diffraction

Nano Structure Science and Technology

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National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)

Nanostructure Science and Technology

Prepared under the guidance of the IWGN, NSTC

Edited by R.W. Siegel, E. Hu, M.C. Roco

WTEC, Loyola College in Maryland

Interagency Working Group on Nano Science, Engineering and Technology (IWGN)

Chairman : Dr. M.C. Roco, Directorate for Engineering, NSF

R.D. Shelton, ITRI Director

NANOSTRUCTURE SCIENCE AND

Richard W. Siegel, Panel Chair

International Technology Research Institute

This document is available on the World Wide Web at http://itri.loyola.edu/nano/final/.

Richard W. Siegel (Panel Chair) Lynn Jelinski

INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

This report reviews the status of research and development in nanoparticles,

World Technology (WTEC) Division

Cecil Uyehara, Senior Advisor for Japan Operations

Copyright 1999 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Copyright to electronic versions

Timely information on scientific and engineering developments

assessment of the quality or quantity of the outputs obtained. Studies of the

Executive Summary xiii

1. Introduction and Overview 1

2. Synthesis and Assembly 15

3. Dispersions and Coatings 35

4. High Surface Area Materials 49

5. Functional Nanoscale Devices 67

6. Bulk Behavior of Nanostructured Materials 93

7. Biologically Related Aspects of Nanoparticles, Nanostructured

8. Research Programs on Nanotechnology in the World 131

Appendix A. Biographies of Panelists and Other Team Members 151

Appendix B. Site Reports—Europe 159

Appendix C. European Roundtable Discussions 221

Appendix D. Site Reports—Japan 243

Appendix E. Site Reports—Taiwan 313

Appendix F. Glossary 327

1.1 Organization of nanostructure science and technology and the

2.1 Schematic of variety of nanostructure synthesis and assembly

3.1 Transparency as a function of particle size (courtesy,

4.1 Schematic drawing of the experimental setup used in

5.1 Functional device scales. 68

5.12 Granular GMR—Co, Fe (Nagoya University, Tohoku

6.1 Ratio of the Young’s (E) and shear (G) moduli of

7.1 Organization of the WTEC study; sections with large

7.6 Novel combinations of DNA, metal ligands, DNA

ES.1 Technological Impact: Present and Potential xvi

3.1 Nanoparticle Preparation for Dispersions/Coatings 40

4.1 Zeolite Channel “Window” Dimension for Number of

5.1 SET Architectures 75

7.1 Comparisons between Japan, Europe, and the United States

8.1 Support for Nanotechnology Research from U.S. Federal

Nanostructure science and technology is a broad and interdisciplinary

2. identify promising areas for future research and commercial development

TABLE ES.1. Technological Impact: Present and Potential

TABLE ES.2. Comparison of Activities in Nanostructure Science and Technology

Synthesis & Assembly U.S. Europe Japan

Dispersions and U.S./Eur

Nanodevices Japan Europe U.S.

Consolidated Materials Japan U.S./Eur

We are now at the threshold of a revolution in the ways in which

use computational approaches in directing this, if we are really going to take