What is Nano?

Earlier this year, my friends who publish the popular Forbes/Wolfe Nano Report listed an innovative golf ball produced by Buffalo-based NanoDyanmics Inc., as one of their “Nano Products of the Year.” More recently, I came across an interview in MIT’s Technology Review with Nanosys Executive Chairman of the Board, Larry Bock, who stated: “I don’t think golf balls loaded with nanomaterials should necessarily be labeled nanotechnology.”

Who is correct about the nano status of the NanoDynamics NDMX golf ball: the analysts at Forbes/Wolfe or Larry Bock? The answer depends on how you define nanotechnology. Mr. Bock said he prefers the definition of nanotechnology provided by the National Nanotechnology Institute (NNI), so let’s use that definition (which is my preferred definition as well).

According to the NNI, while many definitions for nanotechnology exist, the NNI calls it "nanotechnology" only if it involves all of the following:

1. Research and technology development at the atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels, in the length scale of approximately 1 - 100 nanometer range.

2. Creating and using structures, devices and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their small and/or intermediate size.

3. Ability to control or manipulate on the atomic scale.

Does the NanoDynamics NDMX golf ball meet all three NNI criteria? I believe it does.
Let’s take each of the criteria one at a time.

First, the NDMX golf ball is produced with materials that have been researched and developed at the atomic level. NanoDynamics teamed up with researchers from Purdue University to develop metals less than 100 nanometers in size to meet the unique specifications of the nano-structured golf ball. Unlike conventional golf balls, the NDMX golf ball has a hollow metal core, and that core has to be capable of withstanding the impact of a high-speed driver with deformation. Nanostructured metals are typically twice as hard and strong as their bulk (microstructured) counterparts. NanoDynamics used technology licensed from Purdue University to develop affordable metal alloys that could be manipulated at the atomic level in such a way to achieve the requisite combination of strength and weight in the NDMX hollow core.

Second, the structure of the NDMX golf ball has novel properties. The nano-structured ball spins less than a conventional golf ball and this particular function is due to the internal structure of the ball that is dependent on the nano materials used to make it. Having played a few rounds with various beta versions of the NDMX golf ball, I have seen how it impacts the moment of inertia to reduce hooking and slicing, as well as maintaining straight lines on a putting green. There is no question the NDMX golf ball has novel properties. The US Patent Office agrees with this assessment as well.

Thirdly, as noted above, the NDMX golf ball is manufactured with materials that are manipulated on the atomic scale.

As you can see, the NDMX golf ball meets all three criteria associated with the NNI Nano definition. The Forbes/Wolfe analysts were correct to include the NDMX golf ball in their “Nano Products of the Year” list this year. Perhaps Mr. Bock should consult with analysts at Forbes/Wolfe before he conducts his next interview. I think that would be a wise idea.

Toward Quantum Computing

John Markoff published an interesting article in the NY Times regarding Hewlett-Packard's progress on building a quantum computer. My quantum friend, Josh Wolfe, and I have a standing bet on whether quantum computing will ever become a reality. I say yes. He says no.


SAN FRANCISCO, June 30 - Scientists at Hewlett-Packard said Thursday that they had developed a new strategy for designing a quantum computer composed of switches of light beams that could be vastly more powerful than today's digital electronic computers, which are constructed from transistors.

Quantum computers are machines based on the principles of quantum mechanics, a branch of physics that describes the quirky world of subatomic particles where both yes and no can simultaneously be true.

The potential of quantum computing is still controversial. To date, researchers have built small demonstration systems, but most scientists in the field believe that it will be more than a decade before a large-scale quantum computer can be built, and there is debate about the range of problems such a machine will be able to solve.

The transistors in today's digital computers hold information in binary units - either 0 or 1. In quantum computing, units of information called "qubits" can hold both 0 and 1 simultaneously. That capacity is the heart of the vast potential power of quantum computers.

For example, while an array of three conventional bits could hold only one of eight possible values at a time, a similar quantum array could contain all eight values at once. Moreover, computing capacity based on multi-qubit computers scales up exponentially, a fact that underlies the potential of quantum computers.

The new strategy for designing a quantum computer was outlined in an article researchers at Hewlett-Packard published in the May issue of The New Journal of Physics. On Thursday the company said it would receive as much as $10 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Pentagon, known as Darpa, to design a prototype of the technology described by the researchers. The company said it planned to contribute about $7.5 million to the project.

The researchers said their idea was a potentially important advance because it may make it possible to assemble a quantum computing system out of very large numbers of light switches.

The Hewlett-Packard paper - written by Bill Munro and Tim Spiller of Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Bristol, England, with Prof. Kae Nemoto of the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo - explores the idea of using laser pulses to force the interaction of photons, which can contain quantum information.

Hewlett-Packard is assembling a research program at its laboratories in Palo Alto, Calif., to build a working prototype based on the paper.

"To perform a demonstration once will not be difficult," said Ray Beausoleil, a researcher at that lab. "To do it reliably and to do it in a way that will allow us to do quantum information processing, you have to be very careful."

Several quantum computing scientists said that the paper offered an interesting theoretical proposal but that there were significant obstacles to building a useful system.

"The paper is interesting, and is likely a real advance in terms of quantum computing using photons," said Umesh Vazirani, the co-director of the Berkeley Quantum Information Center at the University of California, Berkeley. "That said, optical quantum computing schemes are not regarded as the most practical alternatives."

Most researchers in the field say that the leading candidate among the competing technologies for creating workable quantum computers is based on trapped ions, which are charged atomic particles that can be confined and suspended using electromagnetic fields.

The Hewlett-Packard researchers are also looking for applications for quantum computers. For example, in the field of computer security, quantum computing may make it possible to detect eavesdropping or tampering with great certainty.

"We're trying to figure out the quantum computing equivalent of the hearing aid," said Mr. Beausoleil, referring to one of the earliest uses of the transistor, which brought that technology into the mainstream.

According to Dr. Vazirani, last year Darpa had considered financing an ambitious "moon shot" program for quantum computing research, but scaled back that program after some researchers warned that there was a high likelihood of failure.

Nanotube bike enters Tour de France

Nanotechweb.org editor Liz Kalaugher notes that nanotechnology has emerged as a competitive weapon at the Tour de France this year.

This year’s Tour de France will see cyclists from the Phonak Team use a bike with a frame containing carbon nanotubes. Swiss manufacturer BMC claims that the frame of its "Pro Machine" weighs less than 1 kg and has excellent stiffness and strength.

To create the frame, BMC used a composite technology developed by US sports equipment specialist Easton. The company's "enhanced resin system" embeds carbon fibre in a resin matrix that's reinforced with carbon nanotubes. Easton says that this improves strength and toughness in the spaces between the carbon fibres.

Easton has partnered with nanomaterials specialist Zyvex, US, which supplies functionalized nanotubes for the system. Zyvex is able to treat nanotube surfaces so that the tubes disperse more easily in other materials.

BMC claims to be the first to build a complete bicycle frame using Easton CNT-Nanotechnology. The frame contains only one alloy part - the bottom bracket threading. As well as using the new material, BMC says it invested in moulding technology. The structure did not require machining after manufacture, avoiding damage to the carbon fibres.

The 92nd Tour de France starts on 2 July and ends on 24 July. Riders will cover a total distance of 3607 km. US citizen Lance Armstrong is attempting to win the race for the seventh time. He has not, however, commented in public as to whether his bike contains carbon nanotubes.

The Invisible Computer

Here's an interesting piece by Wil McCarthy on Transparent thin-film transistors, or TTFTs, that appeared in the July issue of WIRED.


For all practical purposes, silicon used to be the only real option for making integrated circuits. Sure, you could use exotic semi­conductors, like germanium, or expensive organic polymers. But for reasons of economics and reliability, to produce the zillions of transistors at the heart of every electronic gadget, silicon was it. Specifically, silicon with its atoms arrayed into an elegant crystal pattern.

Not anymore. Researchers have invented a semiconductor with conductivity similar to silicon. It makes cheap transistors that are as heat-resistant as stoneware, which means they can survive in hostile environments like car engines. They're as flexible and durable as plastic garbage bags, an obvious plus for portable electronics. The best part: They could be used in 3-D displays and windshield computers. Why? Because they're utterly clear.

Transparent thin-film transistors, or TTFTs, are a mixture of zinc and tin oxides. Ordinarily, if you wanted to turn that material into the crystals computer scientists like, you'd use precise combinations of pressure, tem­perature, and flow rate to deposit it on glass. It's an expensive, slow process. But John Wager, a computer engineer at Oregon State University, has figured out a way to spray microscopic blobs of TTFT almost like an aerosol. The resulting layer is "amorphous" - that is, the atoms are distributed randomly instead of as a crystal. Yet Wager's TTFTs transfer electrons 10 times faster than, say, amorphous silicon, and they can carry and process more infor­mation. Chip fabrication temperatures often exceed 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit; Wager's "sputtering" process works below the boiling point of water, which means he can spray TTFTs onto plastic without it melting. That provides a flexible, durable substrate that's more see-through than window glass.

For people interested in computer chips, those specs couldn't sound better. OSU investors, including the Army Research Office and Hewlett-Packard, and potential customers like Darpa and the Department of Energy, all see a host of possible applications. Fabricating TTFT chips, says Wager, could be 1,000 times cheaper than silicon. "I envision an industry of niche cottage fabs," he says, "making transistors with specialty functions."

Like what? Once the first circuits made from wide bandgap semiconductors hit the mass market, the fact that they're transparent will be hard to overlook. "Window glass is wasted real estate," Wager says. "TTFTs could be used for displays, for security electronics." They'll integrate smoothly with optic fiber and standard metal wires. See-through semi-conductors could even make it possible to etch circuitry rapidly in three dimensions, on the inside of clear solid objects. Theoretically, a femto­second-pulse laser - which can blast electrons away from molecules with a finely focused sunlike flash, altering the composition of materials such as glass and plastic - could draw a 3-D supercomputer inside a transparent semiconductor.

Imagine a video pillar filled top to bottom with radiant 3-D pixels, or a heads-up windshield display that helps you navigate, blocks the sun, flashes warnings to other drivers, and lights up the road ahead. Imagine eyeglasses with the computing power of a high-end laptop and the resolution of HDTV. "The military will get first crack at that kind of tech in five to ten years," Wager says. Consumers can expect clear iPods by 2020, and supercomputing soda bottles sometime thereafter.

Why GM Is High on Hydrogen

Here's a short interview with Larry Burns -- champion of General Motors move into hydrogen powered vehicles -- from the July issue of WIRED.

Remember the electric car? General Motors invested more than $1 billion in the Earth-friendly EV1 but managed to lease only 800 before shutting down the entire program - because, in part, people had too few places to plug in the cars. Now the cash-strapped carmaker has placed another billion-dollar bet, this time on hydrogen fuel cells, with plans to double its financial commitment over the next five years. GM expects to roll out a practical hydrogen-powered ride by 2010, but outside experts say the technology for an H2-fueled economy is decades off. Meanwhile, Toyota has taken the lead in eco-autos with its hugely successful Prius, and industry rumor has it that GM could license Toyota's hybrid tech to make up lost ground. We asked Larry Burns, GM's vice president of R&D and strategic planning, if the company is spinning its wheels on hydrogen.

Wired: Gas-electric hybrids are the automotive industry's biggest success story in years. So why is GM betting the farm on hydrogen?

Burns: I wouldn't call it betting the farm. The fuel cell and hydrogen program is the largest in my budget, but you have to look at it as our long-term play. Are we making a big bet? Yes. Is it an important bet? Yes. Is it our only bet? No. Are we spending like drunken sailors to the point that we wouldn't be able to do anything else if this doesn't pan out? No, not at all.

W: But you still have to catch up to Toyota.

B: What long-term problem have we fixed with the miracle of a hybrid? If you woke up tomorrow and all 220 million cars and trucks in the United States had been hybridized to the degree that the Prius has - all getting 25 percent better fuel economy - in six years we would be consuming the same amount of petroleum that we are right now. Fuel cells create a better automobile that's 50 percent more energy-efficient overall and sustainable from energy and safety perspectives. We're going to compete for customers by having good hybrids, but these vehicles account for less than 1 percent of US auto sales. I admire what Toyota has done, but at the end of the day, what problems are we trying to fix here?

W: So can I assume GM's hybrid cars, like Ford's, will be part of a deal with Toyota?

B: No, you can't assume that at all. The tech­nology we're coming out with in 2007 is our own. We do not have a collaboration with Toyota on hybrids.

W: Many scientists say it will take decades to develop fuel cells and the infrastructure to support them. What do you know that they don't?

B: The first question I'd like to ask them is, when was the last time you were in a state-of-the-art fuel cell-development laboratory? I work with a tremendous team of scientists and engineers who are creating that capability, and my confidence in our 2010 timetable grows every week.

W: But we still have to burn fossil fuels to get hydrogen. What's the point of a hydrogen economy if it's powered by carbon?

B: I don't believe that a hydrogen economy depends on a carbon economy at all. Do you know how many nuclear reactors China will be implementing over the next 20 years? Quite honestly, being in the car business, I don't care whether the hydrogen comes from wind, geothermal, nuclear, solar, or ­fossil. What I care about is that each local economy plays to its strength. You get 5 percent from here and 10 percent from there, and suddenly you've created a trans­portation energy market with a number of pathways competing, as opposed to just a petroleum pathway.

W: OK, but you have to admit it's tough to take all this seriously from the company that makes Hummers.

B: Yes, we do develop and sell Hummers. We're also offering Americans more high-efficiency, high-volume-potential vehicles than any other manufacturer. We're in the business of building cars that people want to buy. The question I have for environmentalists is, Why do some of them come across as anti-hydrogen? What's so threatening about a solution that removes the automobile from the environmental debate?