A technique developed in the 1970s for depositing monolayers of material in a sequential, controlled manner using self-limiting reactions. It is used to make thin films.
Atomic Manipulation
Manipulating atoms, typically with the tip of an STM.
Atomistic Simultations
Atomic motion computer simulations of macromolecular systems are increasingly becoming an essential part of materials science and nanotechnology.
A way in which spin orientation, encoding information on a storage medium such as a hard drive, can modify electrical resistance in a nearby circuit, thereby accomplishing the sensing of that orientation.
Bio-assemblies
Containing several protein units, DNA loops, lipids, various ligands, etc.
Biovorous
An organism capable of converting biological material into energy for sustenance.
Biochauvinism
The prejudice that biological systems have an intrinsic superiority that will always give them a monopoly on self-reproduction and intelligence.
Study of the structure and function of biological substances to make artificial products that mimic the natural ones.
Biomimetic Chemistry
Knowledge of biochemistry, analytical chemistry, polymer science, and biomimetic chemistry is linked and applied to research in designing new molecules, molecular assemblies, and macromolecules having biomimetic functions.
Biomimetic Materials
Materials that imitate, copy, or learn from nature.
Biopolymeroptoelectromechanical Systems (BioPOEMS)
Combining optics and microelectromechanical systems, and used in biological applications.
A state of matter (also called the fifth state of matter) which is typically formed when a gas of bosons at low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero.
A concept for robots of ultimate dexterity, they utilize fractal branching to create ever-shrinking "branches," eventually ending in nanoscale "fingers."
an array of identically programmed automata, or "cells," which interact with one another.
Cell pharmacology
Delivery of drugs by medical nanomachines to exact locations in the body.
Cell Repair Machine
Molecular and nanoscale machines with sensors, nanocomputers and tools, programmed to detect and repair damage to cells and tissues, which could even report back to and receive instructions from a human doctor if needed.
Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD)
A technique used to deposit coatings, where chemicals are first vaporized, and then applied using an inert carrier gas such as nitrogen.
A highly (or optimally) efficient matrix for computation, such as dense lattices of nanocomputers or quantum dot cellular automata.
Contelligence
The combination of awareness and computational power required in an Artificially Intelligent network before we could, without loss of anything essential, upload ourselves into them.
Convergent Assembly
It is based on the idea that smaller parts can be assembled into larger parts, larger parts can be assembled into still larger parts, and so forth.
Structures that resemble diamond in a broad sense, strong stiff structures containing dense, three dimensional networks of covalent bonds, formed chiefly from first and second row atoms with a valence of three or more.
A purpose built microchip used to identify mutations or alterations in a gene's DNA.
Dopeyballs
Superconducting Buckyballs (they) have the highest critical temperature of any known organic compound.
Dry Nanotechnology
Derives from surface science and physical chemistry, focuses on fabrication of structures in carbon (e.g. fullerenes and nanotubes), silicon, and other inorganic materials.
From quantum mechanics, entanglement is a relationship between two objects in which they both exhibit superposition but once the state of one object is measured, the state of the other is also known.
Exponential assembly
A manufacturing architecture starting with a single tiny robotic arm on a surface.
Hypothetical global catastrophic scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating machines consume all biomass on Earth while building more of themselves.
Green goo
Hypothetical use of nanomachines or bio-engineered organisms used for population control of humans, either by governments or eco-terrorist groups.
Guy Fawkes scenario
Hypothetical scenario in which wide availability of nanotech makes it trivial for anyone to produce significant amounts of explosives for use in committing acts of terrorism.
Medical nanomachines designed for internal use, especially in the bloodstream and digestive tract, able to identify and disable intruders such as bacteria and viruses.
IMP
Electronic implant, especially in the brain.
Inline Universities
Nanocomputer implants serving to increase intelligence and education of their owners, essentially turning them into walking universities.
The name of a nanofabrication technique used to create ultrathin films (monolayers and isolated molecular layers), the end result of which is called a "Langmuir-Blodgett film."
Molecular tools with chemically specific tip structures can be used, sequentially, to modify a work piece and build a wide range of molecular structures.
Any system with atomically precise electronic devices of nanometer dimensions, especially if made of discrete molecular parts rather than the continuous materials found in today's semiconductor devices.
Molecular Manipulator
A device combining a proximal probe mechanism for atomically precise positioning with a molecule binding site on the tip; can serve as the basis for building complex structures by positional synthesis.
Studying molecules as they relate to health and disease, and manipulating those molecules to improve the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disease.
Thorough, inexpensive control of the structure of matter based on molecule-by-molecule control of products and byproducts; the products and processes of molecular manufacturing, including molecular machinery.
Molecular Recognition
A chemical term referring to processes in which molecules adhere in a highly specific way, forming a larger structure; an enabling technology for nanotechnology.
Molecular Systems Engineering
Design, analysis, and construction of systems of molecular parts working together to carry out a useful purpose.
Molecular Wire
A molecular wire - the simplest electronic component - is a quasi-one-dimensional molecule that can transport charge carriers (electrons or holes) between its ends.
The implantation inside a single molecule of all the functional groups or circuits to realize a calculation, without any help from external artifices such as re-configuration, calculation sharing between the user and the machine, or selection of the operational devices.
It stated at the time that the number of transistors packed into an integrated circuit had doubled every year since the technology's inception four years earlier.
A nanoscale balance for determining mass, small enough to weigh viruses and other sub-micron scale particles.
Nanobeads
Polymer beads with diameters of between 0.1 to 10 micrometers.
Nanobialys
Miniature bialy-shaped particles developed by Washington University as delivery agents for drugs and imaging agents directly to the sites of tumors and plaques.
Applying the tools and processes of MNT to build devices for studying biosystems, in order to learn from biology how to create better nanoscale devices.
Nanomachines existing inside living cells, participating in their biochemistry (like mitochondria) and/or assembling various structures.
Nanocombinatorics
The new analytical method utilizes a technique invented at Northwestern called polymer pen lithography, where basically a rubber stamp having as many as 11 million sharp pyramids is mounted on a transparent glass backing and precisely controlled by an atomic force microscope to generate desired patterns on a surface.
Electronics on a nanometer scale, whether made by current techniques or nanotechnology; includes both molecular electronics and nanoscale devices resembling today's semiconductor devices.
A device that precisely meters the flow of tiny amounts of fluid.
Nanohorns
One of the SWNT (single walled carbon nanotube) types, with an irregular horn-like shape, which may be a critical component of a new generation of fuel cells.
Nanoimprinting
A technique that is very simple in concept, and totally analogous to traditional mould- or form-based printing technology, but that uses moulds (masters) with nanoscale features.
An artificial molecular machine of the sort made by molecular manufacturing.
Nanomachining
Like traditional machining, where portions of the structure are removed or modified, nanomachining involves changing the structure of nano-scale materials or molecules.
nanoManipulator
Uses virtual reality (VR) goggles and a force feedback probe as an interface to a scanning probe microscope, providing researchers with a new way to interact with the atomic world.
Nanomanipulation
The process of manipulating items at an atomic or molecular scale in order to produce precise structures.
The art of manipulating materials on a quantum scale.
POSS Nanotechnology
POSS nanomaterials are attractive for missile and satellite launch rocket applications because they offer effective protection from collisions with space debris and the extreme thermal environments of deep space and atmospheric re-entry.
The process by which proteins acquire their functional, preordained, three-dimensional structure after they emerge, as linear polymers of amino acids, from the ribosome.
The term proteome refers to all the proteins expressed by a genome, and thus proteomics involves the identification of proteins in the body and the determination of their role in physiological and pathophysiological functions.
A computer that takes advantage of quantum mechanical properties such as superposition and entanglement resulting from nanoscale, molecular, atomic and subatomic components.
A largely computational physical theory explaining the behavior of quantum phenomena, which incorporates the theory of special relativity. Despite dilignet attempts, general relativity has not been successfully incorporated into quantum mechanics.
A P-N-P junction in which the "N" layer is ~10 nm (where traditional physics leaves off and quantum effects take over) and an "electron trap" is created.
The study of the deformation and flow of matter under the influence of an applied stress, which might be, for example, a shear stress or extensional stress.
An instrument able to image conducting surfaces to atomic accuracy; has been used to pin molecules to a surface.
Sealed Assembler Laboratory
A work space, containing assemblers, encapsulated in a way that allows information to flow in and out but does not allow the escape of assemblers or their products.
In chemical solutions, self-assembly (also called Brownian assembly) results from the random motion of molecules and the affinity of their binding sites for one another.
More accurately labeled "exponential replication," self-replication refers to the process of growth or replication involving doubling within a given period.
An object or substance that conducts electricity with zero resistance.
Superlattice Nanowire Pattern
A technique for producing "Ultra High Density Nanowire Lattices and Circuits". See Researchers Discover How to Make the Smallest, Most Perfect, Densest Nanowire Lattices-And It's a SNAP
A nanoscale artificial device (especially a nanite) in the human bloodstream used for repairs, cancer protection, as an artificial immune system or for other uses.
Top Down Molding
Carving and fabricating small materials and components by using larger objects such as our hands, tools and lasers.
A single, complex, multisegmented nanotechnological medical robotic system capable of duplicating all essential thermal and biochemical transport functions of the blood, including circulation of respiratory gases, glucose, hormones, cytokines, waste products, and cellular components.
Referring to the typical number of distinct designed parts in a product made by the systems we envision (molecular, mature, or molecular-manufacturing-based nanotechnology).
