Nanotech Buzzwords and Quantum Quandries

Courtesy of our friends the ramblin' wrecks from Georgia Tech:

NANOTECH BUZZWORDS

Bioinformatics This area of study combines biology with technological and computing advances. Through bioinformatics we can manage huge amounts of data and determine what’s important and what’s not. For example, sensors at the micro and nano electronics scale are being developed to screen blood samples to identify proteins that allow researchers to detect the presence of cancer in its very early stages.

Class X Ordinary room air has approximately one million dust particles per cubic foot, and is denoted as Class 1,000,000. Specialized research facilities are designed to “filter” these particles in order to avoid interference with ongoing experiments and research (see Clean Room).

Clean Room Research facility or “room” that is specially designed to reduce the number of dust particles in the air to facilitate research on the microelectronics scale. Much of the research in computer chip design and nano-electronic development requires the use of a clean room in a microelectronics processing facility to ensure accuracy in processing semiconductor materials.

Climate Systems Modeling (CSM) The assessment of past, present, and potential future climates and chemical compositions in the atmosphere using advanced computing systems. Significant changes in the Earth’s climate have the potential to impact economic and geopolitical issues. CSM allows researchers to model potential global impact due to climate change by integrating huge amounts of data via high performance computing.

Computational Grid “Grid” computing is different from distributed computing by its focus on large-scale resource sharing, innovative applications, and high-performance orientation. For example, current Internet technologies address communication and information exchange among computers, but do not provide integrated approaches to the coordinated use of resources at multiple sites for computation. An example in which a computational grid could be used would be providing data for quick and appropriate response by crisis management teams to natural or man-made disasters. Local weather and soil models can be reviewed for potential impact, population assessments for evacuation can be reviewed, and local resources such as hospitals and emergency response teams can be identified and coordinated for efficient response. (From The Anatomy of the Grid, Foster, Kesselman, Tuecke)

E-beam nanolithography Microelectronics research often involves the development of new chip technology. Starting with a wafer (most often made of silicon) and using various processes, different materials (polymers) are added in phases to create a chip that can be used in various forms toward the development technological products. E-beam nanolithography transfers photosensitive materials onto a wafer with a beam of electrons. Because this process allows extremely small features (imagine one thousandths the length of a human hair) to be defined on the wafer, it shortens the processing time and allows many more features to be included.

FLOPS (floating-point operations per second) According to IBM, FLOPS is “a method of encoding numbers within the limits of finite precision available on computers.” Using this type of encoding, extremely long numbers can be handled relatively easily. The computation of FLOPS is often required in scientific or real-time processing applications and is a common measure for any computer that runs these applications. In larger computers, operations can be measured in megaflops, gigaflops and teraflops (respectively, a million, a billion, and a trillion operations per second).

Fuel Cell A device that generates energy by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water, producing electricity and heat in the process. In principal, a fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce energy as long as fuel (hydrogen) is supplied. Since the fuel cell relies on chemistry, not combustion, emissions from fuel cells are much smaller than the cleanest fuel combustion processes.

Information Technology (IT) IT is a term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms (business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, and other forms including those not yet conceived). It’s a convenient term for including both telephony and computer technology in the same word. It is the technology that is driving what has is referred to as “the information revolution.”

MEMS (Micro-electro-mechanical systems) MEMS is a technology that combines computers with tiny mechanical devices such as sensors, valves, gears, mirrors, and actuators (the activating device) in semiconductor chips. MEMS is sometimes called smart matter. It involves the integration of multiple scientific and engineering disciplines such as physics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, electrical engineering, optics and electronics. A few examples of MEMS use and research are global position system sensors to track parcels, optical switching devices that can switch light signals over different paths at nanosecond speeds, and sensor driven heat and cooling systems that improve energy savings.

Micro/nano electronics For the past forty years electronic computers and other technological devices have grown more powerful as their basic sub-unit, the transistor, has shrunk. Microelectronics technology has allowed the integration of electronic circuits on a micrometer (one-millionth of a meter) scale. Nanoelectronics is continuing the miniaturization of integrated circuits to the nanometer scale (one-billionth of a meter). This minaturization has been the principal driver of the information revolution and has significant impact on our daily lives. Some examples of technology enhanced or created through micro and nano electronics are hearing aids, cardiac pacemakers, personal computers, cellular phones, communication satellites, and the Internet.

Molecular electronics A technology in which molecules are used in place of semiconductors, creating electronic circuits so small that their size is measured in atoms, not microns. The potential impact on computing speed and memory resulting from circuits this small would herald significant advances in all fields of technology and business. For example, with molecular electronics it might be possible to store a DVD movie on something the size of a grain of rice.

Moore’s Law An observation made in 1965 by the founder of Intel, Gordon Moore. He asserted that the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated circuit has and would continue to double every year since the integrated circuit was invented. Moore’s law has three variables; price, density, and performance, which in effect states that integrated circuits will continue to provide greater power at a lower cost. Based on current technological innovations, Moore’s Law is expected to hold true until at least 2010.

Nanotechnology A branch of engineering that deals with the design and manufacture of extremely small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular level of matter. Nanotechnology has the potential to develop ever-more-powerful computers and communications devices, as well as allowing significant contributions toward advances in medical science. For example, nanorobots might be programmed to selectively seek out and destroy cancer cells.

Photonics An area of study that involves the use of radiant energy (such as light), whose fundamental element is the photon (visible light particle). Devices that run on light have a number of advantages over those that use electricity. Data transmitted photonically can travel long distances in a fraction of the time without interference. For example, a single optical fiber has the capacity to carry three million telephone calls simultaneously. Some applications in photonics include energy generation and detection, fiber optics, communications, and information processing.

Quantum dot Quantum dots are tiny semi-conducting crystals. These tiny crystals (sometimes called boxes) hold a well-defined number of electrons that may be adjusted in a way that changes its properties. Because of this unique quality, quantum dots exhibit all the colors of the rainbow. This feature allows them to be used as markers in the development of molecular-scale technologies. The application of quantum dots in science, engineering, and medicine have resulted in tremendous advances in microelectronics, optoelectronics, memory systems, and medicine.

Supercomputer A computer that performs at or near the highest operational rate for computers. Supercomputers are typically used for scientific and engineering applications that must handle very large databases or do a great amount of computation (or both). Most supercomputers are really multiple computers that perform parallel processing.

Telecommunications The art and science of “communicating” over a distance. Telecommunications technology involves the transmission, reception, and the switching of signals, such as electrical or optical, by wire, fiber, or electromagnetic (through the air or wireless) means.

Tissue Engineering The development and manipulation of laboratory-grown molecules, cells, tissues, or organs to replace or support the function of defective or injured body parts. Tissue engineering crosses numerous medical and technical specialties. Cell biology, biomaterials engineering, computer-assisted design, and robotics engineering are only a few of the disciplines involved in tissue engineering.

And courtesy of Unca Cecil at the Straight Dope:

Dear Cecil:

Cecil, you're my final hope
Of finding out the true Straight Dope
For I have been reading of Schroedinger's cat
But none of my cats are at all like that.
This unusual animal (so it is said)
Is simultaneously live and dead!
What I don't understand is just why he
Can't be one or other, unquestionably.
My future now hangs in between eigenstates.
In one I'm enlightened, the other I ain't.
If you understand, Cecil, then show me the way
And rescue my psyche from quantum decay.
But if this queer thing has perplexed even you,
Then I will and won't see you in Schroedinger's zoo.
--Randy F., Chicago

Dear Randy:

Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics!
Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics!
(Not bad, eh? Don't worry. This part of the verse
Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.)
Win saw that the theory that Newton'd invented
By Einstein's discov'ries had been badly dented.
What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, "Don't panic,
No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic.
Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles
Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles.
If that's not confusing, the nuclear dance
Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance!
No sweat, though--my theory permits us to judge
Where some of 'em is and the rest of 'em was."
Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck
The comforting linkage of cause and effect.
E'en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried
To tell him what quantum mechanics implied.
Said Win to Al, "Brother, suppose we've a cat,
And inside a tube we have put that cat at--
Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos,
A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes
(Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got 'em,
One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom
Or atom--whatever--but when it emits,
A trigger device blasts the vial into bits
Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime
Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.
The cylinder's sealed. The hour's passed away. Is
Our pussy still purring--or pushing up daisies?
Now, you'd say the cat either lives or it don't
But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won't.
Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),
Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.
To some this may seem a ridiculous split,
But quantum mechanics must answer, "Tough @#&!
We may not know much, but one thing's fo' sho':
There's things in the cosmos that we cannot know.
Shine light on electrons--you'll cause them to swerve.
The act of observing disturbs the observed--
Which ruins your test. But then if there's no testing
To see if a particle's moving or resting
Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!
We know probability--certainty, never.'
The effect of this notion? I very much fear
'Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.
Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports,
"We've just flipped a coin and we've learned he's a corpse."'
So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, "You're nuts.
God doesn't play dice with the universe, putz.
I'll prove it!" he said, and the Lord knows he tried--
In vain--until fin'ly he more or less died.
Win spoke at the funeral: "Listen, dear friends,
Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends.
Though he doubted my theory, I'll say of this saint:
Ten-to-one he's in heaven--but five bucks says he ain't.