Document Body

Leading to the Next Industrial Revolution

A Report by the Interagency Working Group on
Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology

Committee on Technology
National Science and Technology Council

THE WHITE HOUSE
February 7, 2000

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS:
I am pleased to forward with this letter National Nanotechnology Initiative: Leading to the
Next Industrial Revolution, a report prepared by the Interagency Working Group on
Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology (IWGN) of the National Science and Technology
Council’s Committee on Technology. This report supplements the President’s FY 2001
budget request and highlights the nanotechnology funding mechanisms developed for this
new initiative, as well as the funding allocations by each participating Federal agency.

The President is making the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) a top priority.
Nanotechnology thrives from modern advances in chemistry, physics, biology, engineering,
medical, and materials research and contributes to cross-disciplinary training of the 21 st
century science and technology workforce. The Administration believes that nanotechnology
will have a profound impact on our economy and society in the early 21 st century, perhaps
comparable to that of information technology or of cellular, genetic, and molecular biology.

In the FY 2001 budget, the President proposes to expand the Federal nanotechnology
investment portfolio with this $495 million initiative, nearly doubling the current Federal
research in nanotechnology. The NNI incorporates fundamental research, Grand Challenges,
centers and networks of excellence and research infrastructure, as well as ethical, legal and
social implications and workforce.

The President’s Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) strongly
endorses the establishment of the NNI, beginning in FY 2001, as proposed by the IWGN.
PCAST’s endorsement is based on a technical and budgetary review of this report. With
PCAST’s recommendation, the President is taking the vital first step to increase funding for
long-term, high-risk R&D that will allow our nation to move to the forefront of the
nanotechnology frontier.

The Administration looks forward to working with Congress to strengthen investments in
nanotechnology research. Only by working in a bipartisan manner can we further solidify the
technological base that lies at the heart of America’s scientific and economic leadership.

Sincerely,

Committee on Technology
Dr. Mortimer L. Downey
Chair, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation

Dr. Duncan T. Moore
White House Co-Chair, Associate Director for Technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy

Gary R. Bachula
Vice-Chair, Acting Undersecretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce

Delores M. Etter
Vice-Chair, Deputy Director, Defense Research &Engineering, U.S. Department of Defense

Dr. E. Fenton Carey
Executive Secretary, Associate Administrator for Innovation Research & Education,
U.S. Department of Transportation

Lori A. Perine
White House Liaison, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Science and Technology Policy

NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL
COMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY’S
INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON
NANOSCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (IWGN)

NSF OSTP
Chair Representative
Mihail C. Roco Kelly S. Kirkpatrick

Representative NSTC
Thomas A. Weber Representative
Maryanna P. Henkart Mark Matsumura
Joan Porter
NEC
White House Co-Chair OMB
Thomas A. Kalil Representative
Dave Radzanowski
DOD
Vice-Chair NASA
Robert Trew Representative
Executive Secretary Murray Hirschbein
James S. Murday Tim Krabach
Representative Glenn H. Mucklow
Gernot S. Pomrenke Meyya Meyyappan

DOC NIH
Representative Representative
Phyllis Genther Yoshida Jeffery Schloss
Michael P. Casassa Eleni Kousvelari
Robert D. Shull

DOE
Representative
Iran L. Thomas
Robert Price
Brian G. Valentine

DOT
Representative
Richard R. John
George Kovatch
Annalynn Lacombe

Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 11

National Nanotechnology Initiative ............................................................................................... 14
1. Initiative Overview ................................................................................................................ 14
2. Definition of Nanotechnology ............................................................................................... 15
3. A Revolution in the Making: Driving Forces ........................................................................ 15
4. Nanotechnology’s Impact ...................................................................................................... 16
Materials and manufacturing;
Nanoelectronics and computer technology;
Medicine and health; Aeronautics and space exploration;
Environment and energy;
Biotechnology and agriculture;
National security; Other government applications;
Science and education;
Global trade and competitiveness.
5. Investment Opportunities....................................................................................................... 21
Need for investment
International Perspective
6. High-level Recognition of Nanotechnology’s Potential ........................................................ 22
7. Proposed Federal Contribution to the National Nanotechnology Initiative .......................... 23
Government's role in nanoscience and technology
Nanotechnology R&D require long-term investment
Budget summaries for participating departments and agencies
Funding themes and modes of research proposed in FY 2001
Priority research areas for increases in nanotechnology funding in FY 2001
Individual agencies' activities in the initiative
Collaborative activities in the FY 2001 National Nanotechnology Initiative
Infrastructure needs for nanotechnology

Microcraft space exploration and industrialization;
Bio-nanosensors for communicable disease and biological threat detection;
Application to economical and safe transportation;
National security.
A3. Centers and Networks of Excellence ..................................................................................... 58
A4. 61
Metrology (measurement technology)
Instrumentation
Modeling and Simulation Infrastructure
User Facilities
A5.Societal Implications of Nanotechnology and Workforce Education and Training.................... 67

B. Examples of Nanotechnology Applications and Partnerships ................................................ 70
(see also publication “Nanotechnology Research Directions - IWGN Workshop Report,”
1999, at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.Research.Directions/toc.htm)

B6. Giant magnetoresistance in magnetic storage applications ................................................... 70
B7. Nanostructured catalysts ........................................................................................................ 72
B8. Drug delivery systems ........................................................................................................... 74
B9. Nanocomposites: nanoparticle reinforced polymers.............................................................. 76
B10. Two examples of nanoelectronic devices .............................................................................. 77
B11. National Security: Bio detection...........................................................................................78
B12. Water purification and desalinization .................................................................................... 80
B13. Nanophase Technologies Corporation – a small business focused on nanotechnology........ 82
B14. Molecular electronics: UCLA-HP project sponsored by NSF and then by DARPA ............ 84
B15. Academe-Industry-Government Partnerships........................................................................ 86
B16. International activities in nanotechnology............................................................................. 91

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“My budget supports a major new National Nanotechnology Initiative, worth $500
million. … the ability to manipulate matter at the atomic and molecular level.
Imagine the possibilities: materials with ten times the strength of steel and only a
small fraction of the weight -- shrinking all the information housed at the Library of
Congress into a device the size of a sugar cube -- detecting cancerous tumors when
they are only a few cells in size. Some of our research goals may take 20 or more
years to achieve, but that is precisely why there is an important role for the federal
government.”

-- President William J. Clinton
January 21, 2000
California Institute Of Technology

President Clinton’s FY 2001 budget request includes a $225 million (83%) increase in the
federal government’s investment in nanotechnology research and development. The
Administration is making this major new initiative, called the National Nanotechnology
Initiative (NNI), a top science and technology priority. The emerging fields of nanoscience
and nanoengineering – the ability to precisely move matter - are leading to unprecedented
understanding and control over the fundamental building blocks of all physical things. These
developments are likely to change the way almost everything – from vaccines to computers to
automobile tires to objects not yet imagined – is designed and made.

The initiative, which nearly doubles the investment over FY 2000, strengthens scientific
disciplines and creates critical interdisciplinary opportunities. Agencies participating in NNI
include the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Defense (DOD), the
Department of Energy (DOE), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA), and Department of Commerce’s National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST). Roughly 70% of the new funding proposed under the
NNI will go to university-based research, which will help meet the growing demand for
workers with nanoscale science and engineering skills. Many of these research goals may take
20 or more years to achieve, but that is precisely why there is an important role for the Federal
government.

Nanotechnology is the builder’s new frontier and its potential impact is compelling: In
April 1998, Dr. Neal Lane, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology
remarked, “If I were asked for an area of science and engineering that will most likely
produce the breakthroughs of tomorrow, I would point to nanoscale science and engineering.”

This initiative establishes Grand Challenges to fund interdisciplinary research and education
teams, including centers and networks, that work for major, long-term objectives. Some of
the potential breakthroughs that may be possible include:

- Shrinking the entire contents of the Library of Congress in a device the size of a sugar
cube through the expansion of mass storage electronics to multi-terabit memory capacity
that will increase the memory storage per unit surface a thousand fold;
- Making materials and products from the bottom-up, that is, by building them up from
atoms and molecules. Bottom-up manufacturing should require less material and pollute
less;
- Developing materials that are 10 times stronger than steel, but a fraction of the weight for
making all kinds of land, sea, air and space vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient;
- Improving the computer speed and efficiency of minuscule transistors and memory chips
by factors of millions making today’s Pentium IIIs seem slow;
- Using gene and drug delivery to detect cancerous cells by nanoengineered MRI contrast
agents or target organs in the human body;
- Removing the finest contaminants from water and air and to promote a cleaner
environment and potable water;
- Doubling the energy efficiency of solar cells.

The NNI Investment Strategy:
The President’s Committee of Adviser’s on Science and Technology (PCAST) established a
PCAST Nanotechnology Panel comprised of leading experts from academia and industry to
provide a technical and budgetary review of the NNI which is detailed in this document.
Upon review of this initiative, PCAST strongly endorsed the establishment of the NNI,
beginning in Fiscal Year 2001, saying that ‘now is the time to act.’ In PCAST’s December
14, 1999 letter to President Clinton, PCAST described the NNI as a top Administration
priority and an excellent multi-agency framework to ensure U.S. leadership in this emerging
field that will be essential for economic and national security leadership in the first half of the
next century.

This initiative builds upon previous and current nanotechnology programs, including some
early investment from some of the participating agencies. The research strategy listed below
is balanced across the following funding mechanisms: fundamental research, Grand
Challenges, centers and networks of excellence, research infrastructure, as well as ethical,
legal and social implications and workforce programs. This strategy has been endorsed by
PCAST. This initiative initially supports five kinds of activities:

and healthcare, environment and energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries,
biotechnology and agriculture, computation and information technology, and national
security. This investment will provide sustained support to individual investigators and
small groups doing fundamental, innovative research and will promote universityindustry-
federal laboratory and interagency partnerships.

– Grand Challenges that are listed above.
– Centers and Networks of Excellence that will encourage research networking and shared
academic users’ facilities. These nanotechnology research centers will play an important
role in development and utilization of specific tools and in promoting partnerships in the
coming years.

– Research Infrastructures will be funded for metrology, instrumentation, modeling and
simulation, and user facilities. The goal is to develop a flexible enabling infrastructure so
that new discoveries and innovations can be rapidly commercialized by the U.S. industry.

– Ethical, Legal, Societal Implications and Workforce Education and Training efforts
will be undertaken to promote a new generation of skilled workers in the multidisciplinary
perspectives necessary for rapid progress in nanotechnology. The impact nanotechnology
has on society from legal, ethical, social, economic, and workforce preparation
perspectives will be studied. The research will help us identify potential problems and
teach us how to intervene efficiently in the future on measures that may need to be taken.

Funding by NNI Research Portfolio:
Fundamental
Research

Grand
Challenges

Centers
And
Networks
of Excellence

Research
Infrastructure

Ethical, Legal,
and Social
Implications
and Workforce

Total

FY 2000 $87M $71M $47M $50M $15M $270M
FY 2001 $170M $140M $77M $80M $28M $495M

NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE –
LEADING TO THE NEXT INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

1. Initiative Overview
The President’s budget proposes a ”National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) – Leading to
the Next Industrial Revolution,” as part of the fiscal year (FY) 2001 Federal budget. The
initiative will support long-term nanoscale research and development leading to potential
breakthroughs in areas such as materials and manufacturing, nanoelectronics, medicine and
healthcare, environment and energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, biotechnology
and agriculture, computation and information technology, and national security. The impact
of nanotechnology on the health, wealth, and lives of people could be at least as significant as
the combined influences of microelectronics, medical imaging, computer-aided engineering,
and man-made polymers developed in this century. The proposed level of additional annual
funding for FY 2001 nearly doubles the current level of effort of $270 million in FY 2000.
The NNI incorporates fundamental research, Grand Challenges, centers and networks of
excellence, research infrastructure that are high risk, high payoff, and broadly enabling. This
initiative also addresses development of a balanced infrastructure, novel approaches to the
education and training of future nanotechnology workers, the ethical, legal and social
implications of nanotechnology, and rapid transfer of knowledge and technology gained from
the research and development efforts. The interplay between fundamental research and
technology development will be supported for synergistic results. The National Science and
Technology Council Committee on Technology's Interagency Working Group on
Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology (IWGN) prepared a few publications, as listed in
Appendix C, that form the foundation for the evolution of the NNI.

The President’s Committee of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) established a
PCAST Nanotechnology Panel comprised of leading experts from academia and industry to
provide a technical and budgetary review of the NNI which is detailed in this document.
Upon review of this initiative, PCAST strongly endorsed the establishment of the NNI,
beginning in Fiscal Year 2001, saying that “now is the time to act”. In PCAST’s December
14, 1999 letter to President Clinton, PCAST described the NNI as a top Administration
priority and an excellent multi-agency framework to ensure U.S. leadership in this emerging
field that will be essential for economic and national security leadership in the first half of the
next century. PCAST's endorsement to the President is attached in Appendix D for your
review.

2. Definition of Nanotechnology
The essence of nanotechnology is the ability to work at the molecular level, atom by atom, to
create large structures with fundamentally new molecular organization. Compared to the
behavior of isolated molecules of about 1 nm (10 -9 m) or of bulk materials, behavior of
structural features in the range of about 10 -9 to 10 -7 m (1 to 100 nm - a typical dimension of 10
nm is 1,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair) exhibit important changes.
Nanotechnology is concerned with materials and systems whose structures and components
exhibit novel and significantly improved physical, chemical, and biological properties,
phenomena, and processes due to their nanoscale size. The aim is to exploit these properties
by gaining control of structures and devices at atomic, molecular, and supramolecular levels
and to learn to efficiently manufacture and use these devices. Maintaining the stability of
interfaces, and the integration of these “nanostructures” at the micron-length scale and
macroscopic scale is another objective.

New behavior at the nanoscale is not necessarily predictable from that observed at large size
scales. The most important changes in behavior are caused not by the order of magnitude size
reduction, but by newly observed phenomena intrinsic to or becoming predominant at the
nanoscale, such as size confinement, predominance of interfacial phenomena and quantum
mechanics. Once it is possible to control feature size, it is also possible to enhance material
properties and device functions beyond those that we currently know or even consider as
feasible. Reducing the dimensions of structures leads to entities, such as carbon nanotubes,
quantum wires and dots, thin films, DNA-based structures, and laser emitters, which have
unique properties. Such new forms of materials and devices herald a revolutionary age for
science and technology, provided we can discover and fully utilize the underlying principles.

3. A Revolution in the Making: Driving Forces
In 1959 Richard Feynman delivered his now famous lecture, “There is Plenty of Room at the
Bottom.” He stimulated his audience with the vision of exciting new discoveries if one could
fabricate materials and devices at the atomic/molecular scale. He pointed out that, for this to
happen, a new class of miniaturized instrumentation would be needed to manipulate and
measure the properties of these small—” nano”— structures.

discover novel phenomena at the intermediate scale between individual atoms/molecules and
hundred of thousand of molecules where the novel phenomena develop. Nanostructures offer
a new paradigm for materials manufacture by submicron-scale assembly (ideally, utilizing
self-organization and self-assembly) to create entities from the “bottom up” rather than the
“top down” ultraminiaturization method of chiseling smaller structures from larger ones.
However, we are just beginning to understand some of the principles to use to create “by
design” nanostructures and how to economically fabricate nanodevices and systems. Second,
even when fabricated, the physical/chemical properties of those nanostructured devices are
just beginning to be uncovered; the present micro- and larger devices are based on models
working only at scale lengths over the 100+ nm range. Each significant advance in
understanding the physical/chemical/bio properties and fabrication principles, as well as in
development of predictive methods to control them, is likely to lead to major advances in our
ability to design, fabricate and assemble the nanostructures and nanodevices into a working
system.

This proposal for strong financial support for nanoscale research and development is
motivated by the impressive potential for economic return and social benefit, including
continued improvement in electronics/electrooptics for information technology; higherperformance,
lower-maintenance materials for manufacturing, defense, space, and
environmental applications; and accelerated biotechnology advances in medical, health care,
and agriculture. John Armstrong, formerly Chief Scientist of IBM, wrote in 1991, “I believe
nanoscience and nanotechnology will be central to the next epoch of the information age, and
will be as revolutionary as science and technology at the micron scale have been since the
early ‘70s.” More recently, industry leaders including those at the January 27-29, 1999,
IWGN workshop have extended his vision by concluding that nanoscience and technology
will change the nature of almost every human-made object in the next century. Such
significant improvements in materials performance and changes in manufacturing paradigms
will spark an industrial revolution.

Federal support of the nanotechnology infrastructure is necessary to enable the United States
to compete in the global marketplace and take advantage of this strategic technology.
Focused research programs on nanotechnology have been initiated in almost all industrialized
countries in the last five years. Currently, the United States has a lead on synthesis,
chemicals, and biological aspects; it lags in research on nanodevices, production of nanoinstruments,
ultraprecision engineering, ceramics, and other structural materials. Japan has an
advantage in nanodevices and consolidated nanostructures; Europe is strong in dispersions,
coatings, and new instrumentation. Japan, Germany, U.K., Sweden, Switzerland, and EU all
are creating centers of excellence in specific areas of nanotechnology.

Materials and Manufacturing. Nanotechnology is fundamentally changing the way
materials and devices will be produced in the future. The ability to synthesize nanoscale
building blocks with precisely controlled size and composition and then to assemble them into
larger structures with unique properties and functions will revolutionize segments of the
materials manufacturing industry. At present we perceive only the tip of the iceberg in terms
of the benefits that nanostructuring can bring: lighter, stronger, and programmable materials;
reductions in life-cycle costs through lower failure rates; innovative devices based on new
principles and architectures; and use of molecular/cluster manufacturing, which takes
advantage of assembly at the nanoscale level for a given purpose. We will be able to develop
structures not previously observed in nature. Challenges include synthesis of materials by
design, development of bio- and bio-inspired materials, development of cost-effective and
scalable production techniques, and determination of the nanoscale initiators of materials
failure. Applications include (a) manufacturing of nanostructured metals, ceramics and
polymers at exact shapes without machining; (b) improved printing brought about by
nanometer-scale particles that have the best properties of both dyes and pigments; (c)
nanoscale cemented and plated carbides and nanocoatings for cutting tools, electronic,
chemical, and structural applications; (d) new standards for measurements at nanoscale, and
(d) nanofabrication on a chip with high levels of complexity and functionality.

to enable unmanned combat and civilian vehicles; and communication capability that obviates
much commuting and other business travel in an era of increasingly expensive transport fuels.

Medicine and Health. Living systems are governed by molecular behavior at nanometer
scales where the disciplines of chemistry, physics, biology, and computer simulation all now
converge. Such multidisciplinary insights will stimulate progress in nanobiotechnology. The
molecular building blocks of life— proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates and their nonbiological
mimics— are examples of materials that possess unique properties determined by
their size, folding, and patterns at the nanoscale. Recent insights into the uses of
nanofabricated devices and systems suggest that today’s laborious process of genome
sequencing and detecting the genes’ expression can be made dramatically more efficient
through utilization of nanofabricated surfaces and devices. Expanding our ability to
characterize an individual’s genetic makeup will revolutionize the specificity of diagnostics
and therapeutics. Beyond facilitating optimal drug usage, nanotechnology can provide new
formulations and routes for drug delivery, enormously broadening their therapeutic potential.
Increasing nanotechnological capabilities will also markedly benefit basic studies of cell
biology and pathology. As a result of the development of new analytical tools capable of
probing the world of the nanometer, it is becoming increasingly possible to characterize the
chemical and mechanical properties of cells (including processes such as cell division and
locomotion) and to measure properties of single molecules. These capabilities thus
complement (and largely supplant) the ensemble average techniques presently used in the life
sciences. Moreover, biocompatible, high-performance materials will result from controlling
their nanostructure. Proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, or their nonbiological mimics, are
example of materials that have been shown to possess unique properties as a function of their
size, folding, and patterns. Based on these biological principles, bio-inspired nanosystems
and materials are currently being formed by self-assembly or other patterning methods.
Artificial inorganic and organic nanoscale materials can be introduced into cells to play roles
in diagnostics (e.g., quantum dots in visualization), but also potentially as active components.
Finally, nanotechnology-enabled increases in computational power will permit the
characterization of macromolecular networks in realistic environments. Such simulations will
be essential in developing biocompatible implants and in the drug discovery process. Potential
applications include (a) rapid, more efficient genome sequencing enabling a revolution in
diagnostics and therapeutics; (b) effective and less expensive health care using remote and invivo
devices; (c) new formulations and routes for drug delivery that enormously broaden their
therapeutic potential by targeting the delivery of new types of medicine to previously
inaccessible sites in the body; (d) more durable rejection-resistant artificial tissues and organs;
(e) enable vision and hearing aids; and (f) sensor systems that detect emerging disease in the
body, which will ultimately shift the focus of patient care from disease treatment to early
detection and prevention.

exploratory platforms. Moreover, the low-gravity, high-vacuum space environment may aid
development of nanostructures and nanoscale systems that cannot be created on Earth.
Applications include (a) low-power, radiation-tolerant, high performance computers; (b)
nanoinstrumentation for microspacecraft; (c) avionics made possible by nanostructured
sensors and nanoelectronics; and (d) thermal barrier and wear-resistant nanostructured
coatings.

Environment and Energy. Nanotechnology has the potential to significantly impact energy
efficiency, storage, and production. It can be used to monitor and remediate environmental
problems; curb emissions from a wide range of sources; and develop new, “green” processing
technologies that minimize the generation of undesirable by-product effluents. The impact on
industrial control, manufacturing, and processing will be impressive and result in energy
savings especially through market driven practices as opposed to regulations. Several new
technologies that utilize the power of nanostructuring but developed without benefit of the
new nanoscale analytical capabilities, illustrate this potential: (a) a long-term research
program in the chemical industry into the use of crystalline materials as catalyst supports has
yielded catalysts with well-defined pore sizes in the range of 1 nm; their use is now the basis
of an industry that exceeds $30 billion/year; (b) the discovery of the ordered mesoporous
material MCM-41 produced by oil industry, with pore sizes in the range of 10-100 nm, is now
widely applied in removal of ultrafine contaminants; (c) several chemical manufacturing
companies are developing a nanoparticle-reinforced polymeric material that can replace
structural metallic components in the auto industry; widespread use of those nanocomposites
could lead to a reduction of 1.5 billion liters of gasoline consumption over the life of one
year’s production of vehicles and reduce related carbon dioxide emissions annually by more
than 5 billion kilograms; and (d) the replacement of carbon black in tires by nanometer-scale
particles of inorganic clays and polymers is a new technology that is leading to the production
of environmentally friendly, wear-resistant tires. Potential future breakthroughs also include
use of nanorobotics and intelligent systems for environmental and nuclear waste management,
use of nanofilters to separate isotopes in nuclear fuel processing, of nanofluids for increased
cooling efficiency of nuclear reactors, of nanopowders for decontamination, and of computer
simulation at nanoscale for nuclear safety.

when its is exposed to salt or drought stress. The application of nanotechnology in agriculture
has only begun to be appreciated.

National Security. The Department of Defense recognized the importance of nanostructures
over a decade ago and has played a significant role in nurturing the field. Critical defense
applications include (a) continued information dominance through advanced nanoelectronics,
identified as an important capability for the military; (b) more sophisticated virtual reality
systems based on nanostructured electronics that enable more affordable, effective training;
(c) increased use of enhanced automation and robotics to offset reductions in military
manpower, reduce risks to troops, and improve vehicle performance; for example, several
thousand pounds could be stripped from a pilotless fighter aircraft, resulting in longer
missions, and fighter agility could be dramatically improved without the necessity to limit gforces
on the pilot, thus increasing combat effectiveness; (d) achievement of the higher
performance (lighter weight, higher strength) needed in military platforms while
simultaneously providing diminished failure rates and lower life-cycle costs; (e) badly needed
improvements in chemical/biological/nuclear sensing and in casualty care; (f) design
improvements of systems used for nuclear non-proliferation monitoring and management; and
(g) combined nano and micromechanical devices for control of nuclear defense systems.

Other Government Applications. Nanoscience and technology can benefit other
Government agency missions, including (a) lighter and safer equipment in transportation
systems (Department of Transportation, DOT); (b) measurement, control, and remediation of
contaminants (Environmental Protection Agency, EPA); (c) enhanced forensic research
(Department of Justice, DOJ); and (d) printing and engraving of high quality, forgery-proof
documents and currency (Bureau of Engraving and Printing, BEP).

Science and Education. The science, engineering, and technology of nanostructures will
require and enable advances in many disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, materials,
mathematics, and engineering. In their evolution as disciplines, each area is now strengthened
and simultaneously equipped to address nanostructures providing a fortuitous opportunity to
revitalize their interconnections. The dynamics of interdisciplinary nanostructure efforts will
reinforce educational connections among disciplines and give birth to new fields that are only
envisioned at this moment. Further development of the field requires changes in the
laboratory and human resource infrastructure in universities and in the education of
nanotechnology professionals, especially for industrial careers.

5. Investment Opportunities
Need for Investment. Made possible by the availability of new investigative tools and a new
interdisciplinary synergism, and driven by emerging technologies and their applications,
nanoscale science and engineering knowledge is exploding worldwide. The number of
revolutionary discoveries reported in nanotechnology can be expected to accelerate in the next
decade; these are likely to profoundly affect existing and emerging technologies in almost all
industry sectors and application areas, including computing and communications,
pharmaceuticals and chemicals, environmental technologies, energy conservation,
manufacturing, and diagnostics and treatment in healthcare. As a result of the highly
competitive and dynamic nature of nanotechnology, of the clear need to create a balanced
infrastructure for nanoscale science, engineering, technology and human resources
development, and of the potentially immense return on investment, the time appears right for
the nation to establish a significant R&D initiative to support nanotechnology.

Federal Government expenditure for nanotechnology in FY 1997 was approximately $116
million, according to the 1998 WTEC report “R& D Status and Trends in Nanoparticles,
Nanostructured Materials, and Nanodevices in the United States” (NTIS Report PB98117914).
Nanotechnology as defined there only included work to generate and use
nanostructures and nanodevices; it did not include the simple observation and description of
phenomena at the nanoscale. Utilizing the broader definition, the Federal Government
expenditure is estimated to be about $270 million for FY 2000. A much greater investment
could be utilized effectively. Funding agencies and professional societies are experiencing a
flurry of new results in nanotechnology, and there is exploding interest within the research
community. The funding success rate for the small-group interdisciplinary research program,
FY 1998 NSF “Functional Nanostructures” initiative, was about 13% (lower, if one considers
the limitation of two proposals per university). The success rate for the DOD 1998 MURI
initiative on nanostructures was 17% (5%, if one starts with the number of white papers
submitted to guide proposal development).

computation to the prediction of nanostructured properties, phenomena, and processes; (5)
Device and system concepts: Stimulate the innovative application of nanostructure properties
in ways that might be exploited in new technologies.

International Perspective. The United States does not dominate nanotechnology research.
There is strong international interest, with nearly twice as much ongoing research overseas as
in the United States (see the worldwide study Nanostructure Science and Engineering, NSTC
1999). Other regions, particularly Japan and Europe, are supporting work that is equal to the
quality and breadth of the science done in the United States because there, too, scientists and
national leaders have determined that nanotechnology has the potential to be a major
economic factor during the next several decades. This situation is unlike the other post-war
technological revolutions, where the United States enjoyed earlier leads. The international
dimensions of nanotechnology research and its potential applications implies that the United
States must put in place an infrastructure that is equal to that which exists anywhere in the
world. This emerging field also creates a unique opportunity for the United States to partner
with other countries in ways that are mutually beneficial through information sharing,
cooperative research, and study by young U.S. researchers at foreign centers of excellence. A
suitable U.S. infrastructure is also needed to compete and collaborate with those groups.

6. High-Level Recognition of Nanotechnology’s Potential
The promise of nanoscience and engineering has not passed unnoticed. Dr. Neal Lane,
currently the President’s Advisor for Science and Technology and former NSF director, stated
at a Congressional hearing in April 1998, “If I were asked for an area of science and
engineering that will most likely produce the breakthroughs of tomorrow, I would point to
nanoscale science and engineering.” In March 1998, Dr. John H. Gibbons, the former
President’s Science Advisor identified nanotechnology as one of the five technologies that
will determine economical development in the next century. Several federal agencies have
been actively investigating nanoscience R&D. NSF started the National Nanofabrication
User Network in 1994, the Nanoparticle Synthesis and Processing initiative in 1991, has
highlighted nanoscale science and engineering in its FY 1998 budget. The Defense
Department identified nanotechnology as a strategic research objective in 1997. NIH
identified nanobiotechnology as a topic of interest in its 1999 Bioengineering Consortium
(BECON) program.

7. Proposed Federal Contribution to the NNI
Government’s role in nanoscience and technology. While nanotechnology research is in an
early stage, it already has several promising results. It is clear that it can have a substantial
impact on industry and on our standard of living by improving healthcare, environment and
economy. But investments must be made in the science and engineering that will enable
scientists and engineers to invent totally new technologies and enable industry to produce
cost-competitive products. Since many of the findings on nanostructures and nanoprocesses
are not yet fully measurable, replicable, or understood, it will take many years to develop
corresponding technologies. Industry needs to know what are the principles of operation and
how to economically fabricate, operate, and integrate nanostructured materials and devices.
Private industry is unable in the usual 3-5 year industrial product time frame to effectively
develop cost-competitive products based on current knowledge. Further, the necessary
fundamental nanotechnology research and development is too broad, complex, expensive,
long-term, and risky for industry to undertake. Thus, industry is not able to fund or is
significantly underfunding critical areas of long-term fundamental research and development
and is not building a balanced nanoscience infrastructure needed to realize nanotechnology’s
potential.

As for Federal and academic investments in nanotechnology R&D, U.S. nanotechnology
research has developed thus far in open competition with other research topics within various
disciplines. This dynamics is one reason that U.S. nanotechnology research efforts tend to be
fragmented and overlap among disciplines, areas of relevance, and sources of funding. It is
important to develop a strategic research and development and implementation plan. A
coordinated national effort could focus resources on stimulating cooperation, avoid unwanted
duplication of efforts, capture the imagination of young people, and support of basic sciences.
The government should support expansion of university and government laboratory facilities,
help to build the workforce skills necessary to staff future industries based on nanotechnology
and future academic institutions, encourage cross-disciplinary networks and partnerships,
ensure the dissemination of information, and encourage small businesses to exploit the
nanotechnology opportunities.

Nanotechnology R&D require long-term Federal investment. Nano- science and
engineering R&D will need a long-term investment commitment because of their
interdisciplinary characteristics, the limitations of the existing experimental and modeling
tools in the intermediate range between individual molecules and microstructure, and the need
for technological infrastructure. The time from fundamental discovery to market is typically
10-15 years (see for instance the application of magnetoresistance, and of mesoporous silicate
for environmental and chemical industry applications). Historically, industry becomes a
major player only in the last 3-5 years, when their investments are much larger than in the
previous period, but the economic return is more certain. Industry is frequently reluctant to
invest in risky research that takes many years to develop into a product. In the United States,
the government and university research system can effectively fill this niche.

markets are not yet established for nanotechnology products, it is proposed that the
government support technology transfer activities to private industry to accelerate the longterm
benefits. The enabling infrastructure and technologies must be in place for industry to
take advantage of nanotechnology innovations and discoveries. The increasing pace of
technological commercialization requires a compression of past time scales, parallel
development of research and commercial products, and a synergy among industry, university,
and government partners. The government role will be on crosscutting, long-term research
and development nanotechnology areas identified in this report.

Budget summaries for participating departments and agencies are as follows:
· Current level of support: The estimated nanotechnolgy funding in FY 1999 is
approximately $255 million, and for FY 2000 is $270 million.

· The proposed investments in FY 2001: The total proposed increase in Federal
expenditures for all participating departments and agencies for FY 2001 is $225 million.
Table I illustrates the Federal agency investments from 1999 onward.

Table I. National Nanotechnology Initiative funding (in $ millions)
Agency FY 1999
($ M)

FY 2000
($ M)

FY 2001 (+from FY 2000)
($ M)

Percentage
Increase (%)

DOC/NIST 16 (with ATP) 8 18 (+10) 125%
DOD 70 70 110 (+40) 57%
DOE 58 58 94 (+36) 62%
NASA 5 5 20 (+15) 300%
NIH 21 32 36 (+4) 13%
NSF 85 97 217 (+120) 124%

Total 255 270 495 (+225) 83%

Funding themes and modes of research proposed for Funding Agencies in FY 2001:
Below is an outline of the funding mechanisms (for more details on specific plans for each
theme – please see Appendices A1 to A5).

1. Fundamental research (total FY 2001 is $170 million, $83 million above FY 2000). Fund
single investigators and small groups with awards of $200-500K each. This investment
will provide sustained support to individual investigators and small groups conducting
fundamental, innovative research; larger investment should be given at the beginning to
funding fundamental research, as well as to development of university-industry-laboratory
and interagency partnerships.

a. Nanomaterials ‘by design’ –stronger, lighter, harder, self-repairing and safer:
Structural carbon and ceramic materials ten times stronger than steel for use in
industry, transportation, and construction; polymeric materials three times stronger
than present materials, melting at 100°C higher temperature, for use in cars and
appliances; and “smart” multifunctional materials;
b. Nano-electronics, optoelectronics and magnetics: Nanometer structures for minuscule
transistors and memory chips that will improve the computer speed and efficiency by
factors of millions; expansion of mass storage electronics to multi-terabit memory
capacity that will increase the memory storage per unit surface a thousand fold and
make data available on a pinhead; changes in communication paradigms by increasing
bandwidth a hundred times, which will reduce business travel and commuting;
c. Healthcare: Effective and less expensive health care by remote and in-vivo
diagnostics and treatment devices; diagnostics and therapeutics using rapid genome
sequencing and intracellular sensors; gene and drug delivery to targeted cancer cells
and organs in the human body; earlier detection of cancer by nanoengineered MRI
contrast agents; biosensors that will allow earlier detection of diseases, 50 percent
reduction in rejection rate of artificial organs; and use of tiny medical devices that will
minimize collateral damage of human tissues;
d. Nanoscale processes and environment: Removal of the finest contaminants from water
(under 300 nm) and air (under 50 nm), and continuous measurement in large areas of
the environment; Water purification and desalinization desalting seawater with at least
10 times less energy that state-of– the art reverse osmosis.
e. Energy: Dramatic improvement in the efficiency of energy conversion and storage;
double the efficiency of solar cells;
f. Microspacecraft: Continuous presence in space outside of the solar system with lowpowered
microspacecraft;
g. Bio-nanodevices for detection and mitigation of threats to humans: Efficient and
rapid bio-chemical detection and mitigation in situ for chemical-biowarfare, HIV, and
tuberculosis; Miniaturized electrical/mechanical/chemical devices will extend human
performance, protect health, and repair cellular/tissue damage; The research into these
basic devices will be coordinated with the Healthcare Grand Challenges;
h. Economical and safe transportation: Adoption of novel materials, electronics, energy,
and environmental concepts;
i. National security: Maintain defense superiority, with special attention to the
nanoelectronics, multifunctional materials and bionanodevices Grand Challenges.

3. Centers and networks of excellence (total FY 2001 is $77 million, $30 million above FY
2000). Fund ten new centers at about $3 million each for five years with opportunity of
one renewal after the review. Encourage research networking and shared academic users’
facilities. Establish nanotechnology research centers similar to supercomputer centers that
will play an important role in reaching other initiative priorities (fundamental research,
Grand Challenges and education), in development and utilization of the specific tools, and
in promoting partnerships in the next decade.

national laboratory and international collaborations as well as knowledge and technology
transfer between universities and industry. Develop a flexible enabling infrastructure so
that new discoveries and innovations can be rapidly commercialized by U.S. industry.

5. Societal implications of nanotechnology and workforce education and training (total $28
million, $13 million above FY 2000). Fund student fellowships/traineeships and
curriculum development on nanotechnology; and change the general teaching paradigms
with new teaching tools. Focused research on societal implications of nanotechnology,
including social, ethical, legal, economic and workforce implications will be undertaken.

Priority research areas for increases in nanotechnology funding in FY 2001 over FY
2000:
A. Long-term fundamental nanoscience and engineering research. The goal is to build
fundamental understanding and to discover novel phenomena, processes, and tools for
nanotechnology. Tools refer to measurement, modeling, simulation, and manipulation.
This commitment will lead to potential breakthroughs and accelerated development in
areas such as medicine and healthcare, materials and advanced manufacturing, computer
technology, environment and energy. It will refocus the Government’s investment that
led to today’s computer technology and biotechnology.
B. Synthesis and processing “by design” of engineered, nanometer-size, material building
blocks and system components, fully exploiting molecular self-organization concepts.
This commitment will generate new classes of high-performance materials and bioinspired
systems; changes in device design paradigms; and efficient, affordable
manufacturing of high-performance products. Novel properties and phenomena will be
enabled as control of structures of atoms, molecules, and clusters become possible.
C. Research in nanodevice concepts and system architecture. The goal is to exploit
properties of new nanodevice principles in operational systems and combine building-up
of molecular structures with ultra-miniaturization. Nanodevices will cause fundamental
changes such as orders-of-magnitude improvements in microprocessors and mass storage,
widespread use of selective drug and gene delivery systems, tiny medical tools that
minimize collateral human tissue damage, and unmanned combat vehicles in fully imaged
battlefields. There will be dramatic payback to other programs with National priority in
fields such as information technology, nanobiotechnology, and medical technology.
D. Application of nanostructured materials and systems to manufacturing, power systems,
energy, environment, national security, and health care. Research is needed in advanced
dispersions, catalysts, separation methods, and consolidated nanostructures. Also needed
is development of core enabling technologies such as fundamental molecular scale
measurement and manipulation tools and standard methods, materials, and data that can
be applied to many commercial sectors.
E. Education and training of a new generation of skilled workers in the multidisciplinary
perspectives necessary for rapid progress in nanotechnology. Study the impact of
nanotechnology on the society at large, including economic, social, ethical and legal
considerations.

Table II. Funding by NNI Research Portfolio in FY 2001.
The data in parenthesis are FY 2001 increments above FY 2000. All budgets are in $
millions.

Agency Fundamental
Research

Grand
Challenges

Centers and
Networks of
Excellence

Research
Infrastructure

Societal
Implications
and Workforce

Total

DOC/NIST 10 (+5) 6 (+4) 2 (+1) 18 (+10)
DOD 10 (+4) 54 (+23) 24 (+8) 19 (+5) 3 (+0) 110 (+40)
DOE 27 (+10) 36 (+23) 15 (+0) 16 (+3) 94 (+36)
NASA 4 (+3) 11 (+8) 5 (+4) 20 (+15)
NIH 7 (+1) 17 (+1) 1 (+1) 9 (+1) 2 (+0) 36 (+4)
NSF 122 (+65) 12 (+9) 37 (+21) 25 (+13) 21 (+12) 217 (+120)

Total 170 (+83) 140 (+69) 77 (+30) 80 (+30) 28 (+13) 495 (+225)

Individual Agencies’ Activities in the Initiative. A preliminary inventory of activities
assembled by the IWGN is outlined below. The participating agencies are DOC, DOD,
DOE, NASA, NIH, and NSF. Other agencies with nanotechnology-related activities included
in other programs may be added in the future such as DOJ (with interest in forensic research,
high performance computing, and data base management), DOT (with interest in
nanostructured materials and sensors for physical transportation infrastructure), EPA (with
interest in measurement and remediation of nanoparticles in air, water, and soil), and the
Treasury Department (with interest in special colloidal suspensions at BEP). The following
topics are addressed for each of the participating agencies (Note that all dollar figures are
estimates):

– Nanoscale characterization: measurement systems, approaches and algorithms;
standard data and materials (priorities A, C, D)
– Nanoscale manipulation for synthesis and fabrication of measurement systems and
standards (priorities A, B, D)
– Study the economical, social and legal aspects (priority E)

Department of Defense (DOD)
a. Total FY 2001 request is $110 million, $40 million over FY 2000.
b. Major interests in nanotechnology: Information acquisition, processing, storage and
display; materials performance and affordability; chemical and biological warfare defense.
c. Estimated funding in FY 1999 and FY 2000: $70 million in mainstream nanotechnology.
The main topics are: novel phenomena, processes, and tools for characterization and
manipulation ($19 million); nanoelectronics ($40 million), bio-chemical sensing ($1
million), and materials ($10 million).
d. Modes of R&D support: Principally university-based programs for individual
investigators ($22 million) and centers ($8 million), some programs at the DOD
laboratories ($5 million); and infrastructure (equipment, high performance computing, $5
million).
e. Major themes and new programs in FY 2001 include:
– Advanced processes and tools (priority research areas A to D listed on page 25)
– Nanostructured materials and systems(priority C)
– Multifunctional electronics and materials “by design” (priorities A to D)
– University centers focused on nanotechnology (priorities A-E)

Department of Energy (DOE)
a. Total FY 2001 request is $94 million, $36 million over FY 2000. Requested increment
increase in FY 2001 is for $23 million to national laboratories, $10 million to academic
support, and $3 million for SBIR.
b. Major interests in nanotechnology: Basic energy science and engineering, with research
relevant to energy efficiency, defense, environment, and nuclear nonproliferation.
c. Estimated funding in FY 1999 and FY 2000: Approximately $58 million ($35 million
materials, $11 million chemistry; $7 million defense, $1 million engineering).
d. Modes of R&D support: Capital development at national labs; secondary funding of
universities for collaboration with DOE labs; support of national labs to work with other
government agencies and industry; 2-3 laboratory user facilities.
e. Major themes and new programs in FY 2001 include
– Research user facilities at four national laboratories, with a different focus (priority
research areas A to E listed on page 25)
– Academic support for energy and environment related topics (priorities A, B, D, E)

c. Estimated funding: $5.3 million in FY 1999 (additional $13 million are spent in other
targeted programs), and $5 million in FY 2000.
d. Modes of R&D support: Fund laboratories JPL (Pasadena), NASA (Ames) and JSC
(Houston); academic research.
e. Major themes and new programs in FY 2001 include: – Manufacturing techniques of
single walled carbon nanotubes for structural reinforcement; electronic, magnetic,
lubricating, and optical devices; chemical sensors and biosensors (priority research
areas B, C, D listed on page 25)
– Tools to develop autonomous devices that articulate, sense, communicate, and
function as a network, extending human presence beyond the normal senses (priorities
C, D)
– Robotics using nanoelectronics, biological sensors and artificial neural systems
(priorities C, D)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
a. Total FY 2001 request is $36 million, $4 million above FY 2000. Additional $20-30
million will be spent in other targeted programs.
b. Major interests in nanotechnology: Biomaterials (e.g., material-tissue interfaces,
biocompatible materials); devices (e.g., biosensors, research tools); therapeutics (e.g.,
drug and genetic material delivery); infrastructure and training.
c. Estimated funding: approximately $21 million in FY 1999, and $32 million in FY 2000.
d. Modes of R&D support: Academic research; small business research; in-house studies
e. Major themes and new programs in FY 2001 include: – Biomaterials (priority research
areas A, B, D listed on page 25)
– Clinical diagnostic sensors (priorities B, D)
– Genomics sensors (priorities A, B, D)
– Nanoparticles and nanospheres for drug and gene delivery (priorities B, D)
– Multidisciplinary training (priority E)
– Study social, ethical and legal aspects (priority E)

– Nanoscale processes in environment: small length scale/ long time scale processes;
functional interfaces between biological/inorganic, inorganic, and biological structures
(priority A)
– New paradigms of operation, synthesis and fabrication: nanostructures “by design”;
quantum realm; exploratory computational principles: quantum, DNA, etc. (priorities
A, B)
– Integration of systems and architectures at the nanoscale: integration at nanoscale and
with other scales; multiscale and multiphenomenal modeling and simulations
(priorities A, B, C)
– Multiscale/multi-phenomena at nanoscale (priorities A, B and C)
– Education and training of the new generation of professionals for nanotechnology
(priority E)
– Study the impact of nanotechnology on the society at large, including economic,
social, ethical and legal considerations (priority E)

Collaborative Activities in the FY 2001 National Nanotechnology Initiative. The IWGN
will coordinate joint activities that synergize the individual agencies’ activities in a variety of
topics and modalities of collaboration. The main collaborative activities planned for FY 2001
are:
– University-based centers on simulation at nanoscale, integration at nanoscale, interaction
processes at nanoscale, nanofabrication, nanotechnology and bio-robotics, and nanobiomedicine
(Participants: NSF/centers and DOD and NIH)
– Coordinated research and education activities in all five priority areas listed on page 9.
The agency participation to different priorities is shown under each agency on pages 10
to 12.
– National laboratory-based user facilities and research networks. Four facilities are
recommended, to be developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National
Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory
(Participants: DOE, other agencies, state and private organizations)
– Focused joint programs on bioengineering (NIH, NSF and DOD); unmanned missions
(NASA and DOD); lab-on-a chip (NIH, DOE, DOD, and NSF); quantum computing
(DOD, NASA and NSF); and environmental monitoring (DOE and NASA)
– An education and training network on nanoscience and engineering (Participants: all
agencies)
– National facility at NIST for calibration and standards at the nanoscale (Participants: all
agencies)
– National information center for nanotechnology (Participants: all agencies)
– Societal implications of nanotechnology (Participants: NSF, NIH, DOC and other
agencies)

– Synthesis, assembly, and processing of nanostructured materials “by design”
– System architecture and devices
– Focus on fundamentals that are broadly enabling of many technology areas and that help
industry to develop new competitive, profitable products that it would not develop on its
own

Partnerships will be encouraged
– Among disciplines (small group research)
– Among institutions and types of institutions (e.g., universities, industry, government labs)
– Among U.S. Federal government and state funding agencies (support for complementary
activities)
– Among expensive equipment users (joint funding and use of facilities in centers)
– Among countries (international collaborations to promote access to centers of excellence
abroad, visits by young researchers abroad, and bilateral and multilateral agreements)

Infrastructure Needs for Nanotechnology. A major objective is to create a balanced,
predictable, strong, and flexible U.S. infrastructure in nanoscale science, engineering, and
technology. This kind of infrastructure is required for the nanotechnology initiative to
stimulate further rapid growth of the field. Ideas, concepts, and techniques are developing at
an exceedingly rapid pace, such that the field needs coordination and focus with a national
perspective. Demands are being made on universities and government to continue to evolve
this science and to bring forth the changes in technology that are expected from the field.
Even greater demands are on industry to exploit new ideas, protect intellectual property, and
develop appropriate products. This field has major transdisciplinary aspects that will be
difficult to coordinate without a strategic R&D plan. It is imperative to address these kinds of
issues; the future economic strength, quality of life, and national security of the United States
may be at stake.

Tools must be provided to investigators in nanotechnology for them to carry out competitive,
state-of-the-art research. Tools will include but not be limited to ion, neutron and photon
sources, instruments for manipulation, new forms of lithographies, computational capabilities,
and other systems to characterize the nanoscale systems. Centers involving multiple grantees
or laboratories where these tools would be available should be established at a level of several
million dollars annually. These centers should also have diverse research teams that will be
effective in different scientific disciplines. Means should be investigated to achieve remote
use of these facilities. Funding mechanisms should be emphasized that encourage
collaboration between centers, university, laboratories, and industry, as well as single
investigators who are tied into these networks. A major potential barrier to cooperative efforts
is the issue of intellectual property rights, which must be addressed in a national framework.

be on development of new profitable products that maintain and improve global
competitiveness, both short-term (3-5 years) and long-term.

It will be necessary to fund training of students and support of postdocs under fellowships that
will attract some of the best students available. This is extremely important, considering the
rapid changes in the knowledge base. Students should receive multidisciplinary training in
various nanotechnology fields. Both organizational attention and funding should also be
devoted to ensuring the open exchange of information in multidisciplinary meetings and to
rapid publication of results, through, for example, workshops and widely disseminated
summaries of research.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix A
Appendix A. Statements for the Proposed Funding Themes
and Modes of Research in FY 2001

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix A1
A1. Fundamental Research (total FY 2001 is $170 million, $83 million above FY
2000)

The National Nanotechnology Initiative identifies five “high priority” research areas for
additional funding beginning in FY2001. The first and largest of these is “long-term science
and engineering research leading to new fundamental understanding and discoveries of
phenomena, processes, and tools for nanotechnology”. The investment will provide sustained
support to individual investigators and small-groups, with a typical award of $200K to $500K.
Sustained and larger funding for fundamental research in the early years of the Initiative is
critical for its success.

Vision
The Initiative will develop the capacity to create affordable products with dramatically
improved performance through basic understanding of ways to control and manipulate
matter at the ultimate frontier – the nanometer – and through the incorporation of
nanostructures and nanoprocesses into technological innovations. In addition to producing
new technologies, the study of nanoscale systems also promises to lead to fundamentally new
advances in our understanding of biological, environmental, and planetary systems.

Nanoscience is still in its infancy, and only rudimentary nanostructures can be created with
some control. The science of atoms and simple molecules, on one end, and the science of
matter from microstructures to larger scales, on the other end, are generally established. The
remaining size-related challenge is at the nanoscale, roughly between 1 and 100 molecular
diameters, where the fundamental properties of materials are determined and can be
engineered. A revolution has been occurring in science and technology, based on the recently
developed ability to measure, organize, and manipulate matter on a scale of 1 to 100
nanometers (10 -9 to 10 -7 m) and on the importance of controlling matter at nanoscale on
almost all human-made products. Recently discovered organized structures of matter (such as
carbon nanotubes, molecular motors, DNA-based assemblies, quantum dots and molecular
switches) and new phenomena (such as magnetoresistance and size confinement) are
scientific breakthroughs that merely indicate future potential developments. Nanotechnology
creates and utilizes functional materials, devices, and systems by controlling matter on this
scale.

however, in fundamental understanding of systems on this scale before the potential of
nanotechnology can be realized. An acceleration of the pace of fundamental research in
nanoscale science and engineering will allow for development of the necessary knowledge
and human and technological base. Currently, Federal agencies are not able to support many
research requests in nanosystems, nano-bioengineering, quantum control, nanosimulations,
and nanoscale processes in the environment. Also, there is a need for interdisciplinary
consortia that will integrate various disciplines and university/industry/national laboratories’
efforts in nanoscience and engineering.

There are several reasons why the nanoscale is so interesting and important:
· Electronic and atomic interactions inside matter are influenced by variations at the
nanometer scale. Patterning matter at a nanometer length scale will make it possible to
control the fundamental properties of materials (such as magnetization, charge capacity,
catalytic activity) without having to change their chemical composition. For instance,
nanoparticles of different sizes emit light at different frequencies so they can be used for
different color, and nanoparticle are of the size of single magnetic domains so vastly
improved magnetic devices can be made.

· Because systematic organization of matter at nanoscale is a key feature of biological
systems, nanoscience and technology will allow us to place artificial components and
assemblies inside cells and to make new structurally organized materials by mimicking
the self-assembly methods of nature. These materials and components will be more
biocompatible.

· Nanoscale components have very high surface areas, making them ideal for use as
catalysts and other reacting systems, adsorbents, drug delivery, energy storage, and even
cosmetics.

· Many nanostructured materials can be harder, yet less brittle than comparable bulk
materials with the same composition because of certain interface and confinement effects.
Nanoparticles are too small to have defects and are harder because of the surface energy
so they can be used to make very strong composite materials.

· The speed of interacting nanostructures is much faster than that of microstructures
because the dimensions involved are orders of magnitude smaller. Much faster and
energy efficient systems are envisioned.

As Feynman sagely pointed out in 1959, nanoscience is one of the unexplored frontiers of
science. It offers one of the most exciting opportunities for innovation in technology. It will
be a center of fierce international competition when it lives up to its promise as a generator of
technology.

Long-term, basic research opportunities arise in
· developing scaling laws, and threshold length and time scales for the properties and
phenomena manifested in nanostructures.

· linking biology, chemistry, and physics to accelerate progress in understanding the
fundamental principles behind living systems and the environment.

· discovering and eventually tailoring the novel chemical, physical, and biological
properties and phenomena associated with individual and ensembled nanostructures being
anticipated.

· creating new instruments with the sensitivity and spatial localization to measure,
manipulate, and able to in-situ monitor processing of nanostructures; utilizing the new
ability to measure and manipulate supramolecules to complement and extend prior
measurements derived from ensemble averages.

· addressing the synthesis and processing of engineered, nanometer-scale building blocks
for materials and system components, including the potential for self-organization and
self-assembly.

· exploiting the potential for both modeling/simulation and experiment to understand, create
and test nanostructures quantitatively.

· developing new device concepts and system architecture appropriate to the unique
features and demands of nanoscale engineering.

Priorities and Modes of Support
Long-term nanoscale research should be focused on understanding basic processes for the
new ranges of length and time scales, on development of new measurement and manipulation
tools, and on development of the processes necessary to fabricate quality nanostructures in
areas of maximum potential impact on technology, health, national security, and the
environment. Areas of focus include the following:

Potential applications include integrated devices to monitor health, interconnected
nanoscale mechanical and electronic circuits, and multifunctional ‘smart’ devices that can
change physical properties in response to external stimuli for safety, space, and national
security applications.
- Nanoscale processes in the environment: The role and impact of nanoscale phenomena in
the environment is only beginning to be realized. Research is needed to develop and
adapt new experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches for characterizing
nanostructures in the environment and to develop an integrated understanding of the role
of nanoscale phenomena in ecosystems. Potential applications include pollution control
and understanding the origins of biodiversity. Because natural and artificial nanoparticles
can be trapped in lungs, the nanoparticle generation and transport need to be investigated.
- Multiscale/multiphenomena modeling and simulation: The emergence of genuinely new
phenomena at the nanoscale creates a great need for theory, modeling, and large-scale
computer simulation in order to understand new nanoscale phenomena and regimes. The
links between the electronic, optical, mechanical, and magnetic properties of
nanostructures and their size, shape, topology, and composition are not understood well,
although for the simplest semiconductor systems, carbon nanotubes, and similar
“elementary” systems, considerable progress has been made. However, for more complex
materials and hybrid structures, even the basic outline of a theory describing these
connections remains to be written. In nanoscale systems, thermal energy fluctuations and
quantum fluctuations are comparable to the activation energy scale of materials and
devices, so that statistical and thermodynamic methods must include these effects more
fully. Thus, the performance of nanoscale devices depends on stochastic simulation
methods, as well as computational models incorporating quantum and semi-classical
methods for evaluation. Consequently, computer simulations, both electronic-structurebased
and atomistic, will play a major role in understanding materials at the nanometer
scale and in the development “by design” of new nanoscale materials and devices. The
greatest challenge and opportunity will be in those transitional regions where nanoscale
phenomena are just beginning to emerge from macroscopic and microscale regimes that
are describable by bulk property theories combined with the effects of interfaces and
lattice defects.

Nanoscale science and engineering is inherently interdisciplinary. A focus on
interdisciplinary teams of researchers and on exploratory research projects is recommended.
Active collaboration between academic and industrial scientists and engineers, and integration
of research and education will be encouraged. Interagency partnerships will play a synergistic
role in these activities.

Impact on Infrastructure
The research activities will use and help develop a laboratory and human resource
infrastructure for nanotechnology. A skilled workforce familiar with the tools and concepts
of nanoscience will be established for moving scientific breakthroughs from the laboratory to
practical application.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix A2
A2. Grand Challenges (total FY 2001 is $140 million, $69 million above FY 2000)
The following Grand Challenges have been identified as essential for the advancement of the
field: nanostructured materials "by design"; nanoelectronics, optoelectronics and magnetics;
advanced healthcare, therapeutics and diagnostics; nanoscale processes for environmental
improvement; efficient energy conversion and storage; microcraft space exploration and
industrialization; bio-nanosensors for communicable disease and biological threat detection;
economical and safe transportation, and national security.

Nanostructured Materials “by Design” —
Stronger, Lighter, Harder, Self-Repairing, and Safer

Vision
The initiative will support new generations of innovative materials that exploit the
organization of matter at nanoscale and that are high performance yet affordable, able to
adapt, and more environmentally benign. The novel materials will be created for given
purposes and may be multifunctional, may sense and respond to changes in surroundings, may
be ten times stronger than steel, may be ten times lighter than paper, may be paramagnetic or
superconducting, optically transparent, and may have a higher melting point. The new
materials may combine best properties of two or more known structures.

Special Research Opportunities
Nanostructured materials have smaller structures than most of current materials, and this has
an important qualitatively effect under a threshold small size. A typical current structure is
composed of groups of many trillions of molecules. Nanotechnology involves groups of a
few or even single molecules. This difference fundamentally changes the way nanostructured
materials behave and opens entirely new and radically different applications. Major
differences between the ways nanostructured materials and conventional materials behave
result from nanostructured materials’ much larger surface area per unit volume and the
confinement effects within each material entity. Since many important chemical and physical
interactions are governed by surfaces, a nanostructured material can have substantially
different properties than a larger material of the same composition. Compared to
conventional materials, nanostructured materials yield extraordinary differences in rates and
control of chemical reactions, electrical conductivity (nanostructured materials can be highly
conductive, highly insulating, or semiconducting), magnetic properties, thermal conductivity,
strength of bulk substance made of nanoparticles (resistance to fracture or deformation,
elasticity, ductility, etc.), and fire safety.

condensation, and nanotube growth. Research into self-assembly, net-shape forming,
templating, and other manufacturing approaches will allow for a high level of control over the
basic building blocks of all materials. An important challenge is to scale up the laboratory
processes and develop commercially viable production methods to manufacture stable
nanostructures. The creation of new materials will make extensive use of molecular modeling
and simulation. High performance computing now permits simulations based on first
physico-chemical principles with few molecules, and these capabilities are expanding rapidly.
Another challenge is to develop a single simulation that includes multiple length scales.

The properties of individual nanostructures must be quantitatively measured to establish
differences from bulk properties. But the real challenge is to investigate the properties of
percolating structures (nanostructure networks) and matrix isolated nanostructures where the
impact of neighboring grain interactions begins to modify nanostructure properties. As we
move from the individual nanostructure to networks, composites, and coatings, the admixtures
of different nanostructures into an integrated entity will benefit from the unique contributions
of the different components.

Compacting nanostructures offers another opportunity. The properties of nanostructure
interfaces can be unique in themselves. For instance, nanopowder compacts offer high
strength simultaneously with ductility. Techniques to make these compacts in bulk and
coating forms are necessary; control of the interface composition/structure is crucial. This
opportunity could yield coatings for reduced life-cycle-cost, net-shape forming structures for
reduced manufacturing costs, and many other improvements.

High surface area materials provide another perspective on nanostructures — controlled
porosity where the nanostructure is open space enveloped in a thin material structure.
Aerogels and zeolites offer two examples. These materials offer important opportunities in
chemical synthesis (hetero-catalytic reactions), clean-up (adsorbents), and separation
(controlled porosity membranes) with expected applications in the chemical industry,
environmental clean up, and biotechnology.

Relevance
Performance advances of materials have impact on broad commercial, standard of living and
national security aspects. Nanostructuring leads to the next generation of high performance
materials. Areas of impact include:

nanodesign and high strength nanostructured plastics that do not burn. New polymer and
nanocomposite materials will not only be many times stronger, but they will prevent fires
from spreading and dramatically reduce the production of toxic fumes.

- With the incorporation of sense/response functions directly into materials, these smart
materials will have condition-based maintenance (reducing the enormous cost of
multibillion $/year associated with materials replacement) and will provide new materials
capabilities. One military application would be stealthy materials that can recognize
probing radar or sonar beams and initiate an action that gives no return signal.
Automobile and aircraft materials could also be made to sense incipient failure and warn
the user well in advance, rather than stranding him on the highway or plunging her from
the air. Paints that change color with temperature — white when hot (solar reflective) and
black when cold (solar absorptive) — could provide home heating or cooling adjustments.
Smart windows in the home and workplace will create huge energy savings.

- Nanotechnology will potentially lead to long lasting, self-cleaning surface finishes;
reducing friction, wear, and corrosion; and providing multispectral camouflage (visible,
infrared, millimeter wave, radar, sonar).

- In medical applications, nanomaterials will make self-regulating pharmaceutical
dispensers compatible with biosystems so that they will not be rejected by the human
body and will last many times longer in the corrosive and mechanically harsh
environment of the human body.

Materials manufacture and disposal contribute substantially to environmental problems.
Nanotechnology offers new biodegradable structures that can be designed for chosen
functions. Self-assembly and/or final shape forming of manufactured nanostructures will
have less waste by-product than the cutting operations presently used in manufacturing.
Longer-lived materials — reduced wear corrosion, fatigue, and fracture though nanostructure
control — will reduce the amount of material to dispose.

Priorities and Modes of Support
Nanostructured materials offer a wide range of investment opportunities, with the following
expecting to lead to good future return on investment:

· Develop synthesis, processing, and fabrication methods for nanostructures like
nanoparticle powders and nanotubes from inorganic and organic materials, and scale up
these methods for industrial uses

· Develop models and simulations that incorporate all size scales from nano to macro and
that predict materials performance

· Extend the range and sensitivity of analytical tools that measure the composition,
structure, and properties of individual nanostructures and their various aggregated forms
(networks, composites, coatings, compacts)

design freedom for potential applications such as dielectrics for electromagnetic
absorbers, sensors, detectors, and convertors

· Develop nanostructured fillers embedded in a matrix; for instance, nanotubes for strength,
nanoclay for fire, nanocarbons for wear resistance, tailored “pigment” incorporation for
multispectral low observable structures and materials, including a focus on interfacial
properties between filler and matrix

· Develop nanostructured nanoparticles consolidated into composites and nanoporous
materials where control of porosity holds promise for chemical selectivity in adsorption,
permeation, and chromatographic applications

· Understand the physics and control of nanoscale failure initiation mechanisms

Single investigator projects will dominate the investment portfolio, but selected centers will
be necessary to fund expensive equipment.

Infrastructure
Centers and networks will be crucial for nanostructure characterization. The National
Laboratory synchrotron and neutron facilities will be important for the range of wavelengths
(sub-nanometer to thousands of nanometers) since they provide diffraction/scattering
characterization for various length scales. Academic centers with high-resolution electron
microscopes (HREM) and other high cost analytical tools will be necessary.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
All agencies, with larger contributions from DOC, DOD, DOE, and NASA, will move toward
materials issues that address their mission needs and will partner with NSF to establish the
generic science base.

Nano- Electronics, Optoelectronics and Magnetics
Vision
Nanometer structures will foster a revolution in information technology hardware rivaling the
microelectronics revolution begun about 30 years ago that displaced vacuum tube electronics.
Minuscule transistors and memory chips will improve computer speed and efficiency by
factors of millions, expand mass storage electronics to multi-terabit memory capacity that will
increase the memory storage per unit surface a thousand-fold and make data available on a
pinhead, and reduce power consumption tens of thousands of times. Communication
paradigms will change by increasing bandwidth a hundred times — which will reduce
business travel and commuting — and by developing foldable panel displays that are also ten
times brighter. Merging biological and non-biological objects into interacting systems will
create new generations of sensors, processors, and nanodevices.

and directional etching. Other approaches under consideration are individual atom and
molecule manipulation, batch formation of precursor nanostructures (powder, cluster, colloid,
nanowires, nanodots, fullerene/nanotubules), directed self-assembly whereby individual
nanostructures aggregate, and parallel processing via arrays of microfabricated proximal
probes.

An investment must be made to accelerate progress in measurement capabilities — electronic,
optic, magnetic, and other properties essential to device design; chemical and structural
analysis for fundamental understanding and control; the integration of tools for simultaneous,
multiple property measurements on the same structure; and techniques compatible with in situ
fabrication processes.

Novel device concepts must be established. Nanodevices require understanding fundamental
phenomena, the synthesis of appropriate materials, the use of those materials to fabricate
functioning components, and the integration of these components into working systems. For
this reason, success will require a substantial funding level over a long period of time.
Exploratory research is necessary on quantum size effects, tunneling, exchange coupling, and
other phenomena where present physical models have critical scale lengths larger than the
size of the structure. The desirability of room temperature operation will be a severe
constraint, but nanostructures promise stable, manipulable state at room temperature.
Examples of innovative device concepts include single electron devices, spin-electronics,
resonant tunneling devices, quantum dots, molecular electronics, and vertical cavity lasers.

The new properties of nanostructures and the requirements for quality control for large
numbers of small nanodevices in a system will necessitate innovative approaches to
information system architectures. Examples include cellular automata, quantum computers,
cellular parallel computers, neural networks, photonic crystals, computation using DNA, and
mechanical molecular memory.

Our ability to control materials in one dimension to build nanometer scale structures with
atomic scale precision in now-commercial giant magnetoresistance devices comes from a
decade of basic and applied research on thin film growth, surfaces, and interfaces. The
extension from one nanodimension to two or three is not straightforward, but the payoffs can
be enormous.

In all of the above opportunities, modeling and simulation will play an essential role. As one
gains control of matter at the nanometer scale, the possible combinations and permutations of
structures become far too great for only experimental approaches to progress.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) roadmap projects nanotechnology to 0.1
micron by approximately 2010, then terminates; it states that new materials, new
technologies, affordable scaling, and new approaches must be invented and that these required
inventions constitute a Grand Challenge. The year 2010 is only ten years away; now is the
time for government investment in the nanoscience base that will enable information
nanotechnology.

Priorities and Modes of Support
The research interests should be focused on the following:

· New approaches to nanostructure synthesis and processing that will lead to affordable
commercial fabrication

· The physics of innovative device concepts
· New systems and architectures for given functions
· Multiscale/multiphenomena modeling and simulation of complex systems with focus on
information technologies

· New optical properties achieved by fabricating photonic band gap superlattices to guide
and switch optical signals with nearly 100% transmission, in very compact architectures

A strong, single investigator program is essential to introduce the broad range of innovations
necessary to this Grand Challenge. But there is also the need for multidisciplinary centers —
combining physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, computational science, and other
traditional academic departments. The centers should be charged with integrating industrial
and academic interests.

Infrastructure
Instrumentation and facility centers — incorporating not only the expensive items such as
high voltage, high-resolution electron microscopes, but also suites of proximal probes —will
be necessary for full characterization capability. These centers must provide competent,
affordable assistance to visiting users. They must also develop new instrumentation that
eliminates the many deficiencies in the present capability. The National Nanofabrication
Network will need expansion and enhancement.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
All agencies, with particular attention by DOD, DOE and NASA for mission driven projects
and NSF for fundamental aspects. Partnerships between university/government/industry will
be essential to the rapid transition of nanostructure science into new information technology
hardware. The DOD/MARCO and DoD/EPRI Government-Industry-Cosponsorship of
University Research (GICUR) research center programs are an example of this needed
partnership.

diseases; more effective, less expensive diagnostics and therapeutics using rapid gene
sequencing; novel biocompatible materials that will double the retention time of artificial
organs; targeted gene and drug delivery systems; enable vision and hearing aids; and use of
tiny “smart” medical devices for treatment modes that will minimize collateral damage of
human tissues.

a. Earlier Detection and Treatment of Disease
Special Research Opportunities
Nanotechnology will play a central role in the development of new technologies to detect and
treat disease much earlier. Current approaches to healthcare for most diseases depend on the
appearance of substantial symptoms before medical professionals can recognize that the
patient has the disease. By the time those symptoms have appeared, effective treatment may
be difficult or impossible. Earlier detection of incipient disease will greatly enhance the
success rate of existing treatment strategies and would significantly advance our ability to
employ prevention strategies that could arrest or delay the onset of clinical symptoms that
may require chronic treatment and/or intervention. Nanoscience and technology will play a
central role in the development of novel methods for detecting the biological and structural
evidence of incipient disease.

Priorities
· Improved medical imaging technology
Medical imaging today uses X-rays, magnetic resonance, and ultrasound imaging. These
technologies have an impressive ability to report, non-invasively, on structures within the
body. However, they have not yet reached the speed, low cost, resolution, and sensitivity
that their practitioners strive for; and as a result, most diseases and conditions must be
relatively advanced before they can be detected. Advances that nanotechnology will bring
to other fields such as electronics and computing will directly benefit medical imaging.
Nanotechnology will also result in improved contrast agents for use in conjunction with
imaging systems. Delivery of conventional contrast agent molecules to sites in the body
that are currently inaccessible to those molecules will be achieved through the use of small
particles designed to have the physical and chemical properties consistent with delivery to
their target organ. New chemical and particulate formulations will also be created to
enhance the images created by such imaging modalities as MRI and ultrasound.

As a result of these improvements, diseases will be detectable earlier than they are today:
Tumors consisting of just a few cells, or subtle perturbations to blood flow that signal a
warning of impending heart disease, will be detectable, making earlier treatment possible.

anomaly. For chronic conditions like diabetes, this would constitute a great leap forward.
Nanotechnology will contribute critical technologies needed to make possible the
development of these sensors and dispensers.

· Susceptibility Testing
Sensor systems that can rapidly process patient samples and detect an array of medically
relevant signals at high sensitivity and selectivity will also be developed for the clinical
laboratory or doctor’s office. Some of these tests will be based on nucleic acids like DNA
or RNA and will be used, for example, to rapidly determine a patient’s susceptibility to
certain diseases, infections, toxins, etc. Knowledge of this information will help the
patient make lifestyle and employment decisions and watch for those diseases likely to
affect them. More effective, more personalized treatments will come with the ability to
use DNA profiles to classify patients according to their responsiveness to certain
pharmaceutical drugs or to their potential for having adverse reactions to particular
pharmaceuticals. Current technology leads toward such tests/devices, but nanotechnology
will expand the options leading to greater sensitivity and far better efficiency and
economy.

b. Improved Implants
Special Research Opportunities
Artificial organs or organ-assist devices require implantable materials both compatible with
the biological environment and resilient to the chemistry of that environment. Better
materials and understanding of their interactions with the body may lead to implants that the
body will not only accept but will actually become integrated into the body. Nanometer scale
surface modifications offer potential for creating novel structures that will allow scientists to
control interactions between materials and biological systems.

It is clear that effective manipulation of biological interactions at the nanometer level can
dramatically improve the functionality and longevity of implanted materials. For example,
titanium implants used today for orthopedics and in dentistry become encapsulated with dense
fibrous tissue. This tissue creates an uneven stress distribution at the implant-bone interface,
which can result in implant loosening and failure, and even fracture the adjacent bone. By
applying “bioactive” thin (nanoparticle) coatings on the surface of the implants, it will be
possible to bond the implant more naturally to the adjoining bone and significantly improve
the implant lifetime. Future fundamental discoveries in nanoscience, biology, chemistry, and
instrumentation will provide the basis for the development of materials that will overcome the
challenges implicit in the design and creation of novel biocompatible materials with broad
biomedical applications.

Many drugs that work well in the test tube fail in the body because they will only dissolve in
fluids that cause undesirable side effects or become trapped in other parts of the body than
where they are needed. Evidence has shown that drugs whose chemical structure must today
be modified to improve their solubility (potentially compromising those chemical features that
are responsible for their desired pharmacological effect) could be used without those changes
by using nanoparticle delivery instead of chemical dissolution.

Furthermore, most drugs are delivered throughout the body, rather than to the specific area
where they are meant to have an effect. As a result, side effects on other tissues are
unavoidable. Nanoparticles are showing promise for the delivery of drugs to specific tissues
(e.g., a tumor) where they are needed. By directing drugs primarily to their desired sites of
action, lower overall doses of drugs will be given because these will concentrate where they
are needed and exposure of other body tissues to the drugs will be reduced. This, in turn, will
reduce undesirable side effects of the drugs.

In gene therapy, specific targeting by nanoparticle design will be extremely useful. Some
current attempts at gene therapy use viral particles to aim therapy at a particular type of cell
and, once there, at the appropriate location within the cell, in order for the gene therapy to
have its desired effect. To date, however, the effectiveness of using viral vectors to introduce
DNA into cells is quite variable. Nanoparticles may be able to deliver nucleic acids to
specific cells and even to the specific compartment (cytoplasm or nucleus) within those cells
— wherever their action is required.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
NIH in collaboration with other agencies, including NSF and DoD.

Nanoscale Processes for Environmental Improvement
Vision
Nanoscience and engineering could significantly affect molecular understanding of nanoscale
processes that take place in the environment; of the generation and remediation of
environmental problems through control of emissions from a wide range of sources; of the
development of new, “green” technologies that minimize the production of undesirable byproducts;
and of the remediation of existing waste sites and streams. Removal of the smallest
contaminants from water supply (less than 200 nm) and contaminated air (under 20 nm) and
continuous measurement and mitigation of pollution in large areas of the environment will be
achieved.

Other Grand Challenges related to energy, materials, electronic, and biodevices address the
environmental technologies needed to reduce the pollution at its source.

mediate the bioavailability of a wide variety of organic and inorganic compounds.
Nanoparticles have large and active lateral surfaces that can absorb and transport pollutants in
the form of colloidal suspensions and aerosols. Also, such particles are involved in complex
chemical processes in the atmosphere and in soils, and can catalyze adverse reactions. An
increased knowledge of the dynamics of processes specific to nanoscale structures in natural
systems can improve understanding of complex processes occurring in the environment and
can lead to the development of approaches for mitigating environmental harm.

In order to understand the environmental consequences of processing and transporting
contaminants in the environment, interdisciplinary research is needed on molecular and
nanoscale processes that take place at one or more of the interfaces or within nanoscale
structures in natural systems. Such research includes studies of the interfaces between
inorganic/inorganic, inorganic/organic, and organic/organic structures focused on the specific
processes characterized by small-length scale.

Interdisciplinary research that involves novel approaches and that adapts newly developed
experimental, theoretical, and computational methods for characterizing nanostructures is
needed. The intention is to bring the community of scientists and engineers studying the
fundamental properties of nanostructures together with the community attempting to
understand complex processes in the environment in order to hasten the integrated
understanding of the environmental role of nanoscale phenomena. Model nanostructures can
be studied, but in all cases the research must be justified by its connection to naturally
occurring systems or to environmentally beneficial uses. Environments for investigations are
not limited and might include terrestrial locations such as acid mines, subsurface aquifers, or
polar environments.

Priorities
· Study of the effects of finite size, reduced dimensions, or special geometrical
arrangements of atoms or molecules on the interaction of nanoscale particles with
substrates

· Development of an understanding of how structures peculiar to surfaces or interfaces
influence environmentally relevant reactions

· Use of modern experimental techniques such as optical traps, laser tweezers, or
synchrotron radiation to examine model environmental processes that occur within
nanoparticles or at surface nanostructures

· Study of the role of nanostructures in important processes such as protein precipitation,
desorption of pollutants, stability of colloidal dispersion, micelle aggregation, or microbe
mobility

· Development of experimental, theoretical, and computational techniques to examine the
role of nanoparticles in atmospheric and water resources processes

· Meso-porous structures integrated with micromachined components that are used to
produce high-sensitivity and highly selective chip-based detectors of pollutants

Efficient Energy Conversion and Storage
Vision
Nanoscale synthesis and assembly methods will result in more energy-efficient lighting,
stronger light-weight materials that will improve efficiency in transportation, use of lowenergy
chemical pathways to break down toxic substances for environmental remediation and
restoration, better sensors and controls to increase efficiency in processing and manufacturing,
and significant improvements in solar energy conversion and storage. The efficiency of solar
energy conversion and of fuel cells is expected to double.

Special Research Opportunities
A key challenge is to understand how deliberate tailoring of materials at the nanoscale can
lead to novel and enhanced functionalities of relevance in energy conversion, storage and
conservation. The enhanced properties of nanocrystals for novel catalysts, tailored light
emission and propagation, and supercapacitors for energy storage are being explored, as are
nanocomposite structures for chemical separations, adaptive/responsive behavior and
impurity. Nanocrystals and layered structures offer unique opportunities for tailoring the
optical, magnetic, electronic, mechanical and chemical properties of materials.

Relevance and Research Priorities
This work has significant potential for energy technologies. For example, nanocrystalline
semiconductors in the form of fractal films of particles, isolated colloidal quantum dots,
ordered and disordered arrays of close– packed colloidal quantum dots, and two– and three–
dimensional arrays of self– organized epitaxially grown quantum dots have many potential and
existing applications in renewable energy systems. These include very inexpensive and color
tunable (from clear to colored to black) photovoltaic solar cells based on the dye– sensitization
of nanocrystalline wide bandgap oxides (like TiO2) operating in a photoelectrochemical cell,
and novel solar cells with extremely high conversion efficiency. Nanocrystals could also be
used as efficient photocatalysts for photodetoxification of polluted or toxic water and air
streams. Semiconductor nanocrystals and nanostructures may be used as efficient photoactive
materials for solar– photon conversion of simple molecules to fuels and chemicals, for
instance photolytic water splitting to produce hydrogen, photoreduction of carbon dioxide to
alcohol and hydrocarbon fuels, and photoreduction of molecular nitrogen to ammonia for
fertilizer production.

A deeper understanding of the physics of phonon transport in nanostructured materials may
facilitate production of practical all– solid– state and environmentally clean thermoelectric
energy– conversion devices with performances far superior to current vapor– based
refrigerators and combustion– based engines. The pervasive role of hard and soft magnets in
electric– power production and utilization is another arena in which new nanoscale magnetic
materials may yield substantial energy savings by reducing losses and conserving natural
resources consumed in the generation and use of electricity.

hydrogen– based transportation systems. A crucial issue is whether or not the hydrogen could
be extracted efficiently from such a storage medium at relatively low temperatures.

Opportunities exist for increasing thermal transport rates in fluids by suspending
nanocrystalline particles in them. These “nanofluids” have recently been shown to exhibit
substantially increased thermal conductivities and heat transfer rates compared to fluids that
do not contain suspended particles. However, there is no real understanding of the
mechanisms by which nanoparticles alter thermal transport in liquids. Multibillion– dollar
industries, including transportation, energy, electronics, textiles, and paper, employ heat
exchangers that require fluids for efficient heat transfer. If researchers can improve these
fluids, there can be significant gains in efficiency.

Nanostructured materials also promise greatly improved structural properties in comparison
with conventional metal alloys. For example, small– diameter bundles of single– walled
carbon nanotubes are predicted and observed to have the largest strength– to– weight ratio of
any known material, which is approximately one hundred times that of steel but with only
one– sixth its weight. Such materials offer opportunities for reducing the weight of
automobiles and increasing fuel economy, if they can made by an economically competitive
process that is compatible with other manufacturing technologies.

Other examples of new or enhanced properties from nanostructured materials that can
improve energy technologies include:

· Nanoscale layered materials that can yield a four-fold increase in the performance of
permanent magnets

· Addition of aluminum oxide nanoparticles that converts aluminum metal into a material
with wear resistance equal to that of the best bearing steel

· Layered quantum well structures to produce highly efficient, low-power light sources and
photovoltaic cells

· Novel chemical properties of nanocrystals that show promise as photocatalysts for more
energy efficient breakdown of toxic wastes

· Meso-porous inorganic hosts with self-assembled organic monolayers that are used to trap
and remove heavy metals from the environment

components and sensors; studies to relate operating lifetime of the integrated microsystems,
and any of their component nanotechnologies, to details of the fabrication process, and
investigations of the operation of these systems in extreme environments, including shock,
vibration, extreme temperature excursions and radiation. Investigations of these phenomena
with nanostructures holds the promise for understanding the initiation mechanisms of friction,
wear, fatigue and other causes of materials failure.

Research Priorities
· For future generations of energy systems, nanotechnology can provide significant
advances in terms of functionality, speed and capacity.

· Innovative approaches to improved conversion of solar energy into electricity.
· Catalysts for improved conversion of hydrocarbon energy into thermal energy; Catalysts
and membranes that enable effective, commercially viable fuel cells that utilize a range of
materials as fuels.

· Nanostructured materials for thermoelectricity, magnetic refrigeration and other
innovations in efficient energy conversion.

· Improved materials and coatings for reduced materials failure rates and lower friction
(wasted energy dissipation)

· Nanostructures that will selectively bind and concentrate radionucleotides, thereby
sequestering them from benign waste material and lowering waste disposal costs for
nuclear energy.

· Nanostructured materials that are more radiation tolerant for greater nuclear reactor
lifetimes.

· Advances in nanoelectronics development could enable new generations of high speed,
low power circuits for special purpose high performance needs.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
DOE (the Department’s Office of Science for fundamental research, and the Department’s
Technology Offices for research focused on useful technological solutions) and other
collaborating agencies including DOC and NSF.

Special research opportunities
Microspacecraft development is a key thrust for the exploration of space. Motivators for this
demand include the high cost of launching into space, the desire to reach ever more remote
and hostile environments in our solar system, and the unique capabilities of missions
involving large numbers of cooperative spacecraft. To fulfill the promise that microspacecraft
hold for exploring space, these spacecraft cannot be scaled down versions of larger spacecraft,
limited in capability. This new breed of spacecraft must surpass the current state of
technology in today’s fleets of vehicles. Long duration missions (decades) to the outer reaches
of the solar system; exploration into the interiors of planets, comets, and moons, searching for
the subtle clues of the presence of life; fleets of telescopes, acting in concert, imaging Earthly
planets around other stars; all these long range goals for space exploration in the 21 st century
will be enabled through the development of advanced nanoscale technology.

Priorities
The key challenge for NASA is identifying, developing, and exploiting nanotechnology
advances that offer unique advantages for space exploration. Research areas that are
promising in achieving the nation’s space goals include:

1- Nanostructured materials: one key enabling technology for future NASA missions is the
development of ultralight weight and ultrastrong materials that can survive the space
environment. These materials are necessary for the creation of very large structures
(telescopes, antennas, solar sails, to name a few) whose mass will be a only a small
fraction of current systems. The utilization of these materials in deployable and inflatable
systems permits very small spacecraft to undertake missions that were otherwise deemed
far too costly or simply undoable. Beyond the mass and strength advantages of nanoscale
materials lie unique optical, piezoelectric, and other material properties that will allow the
creation of truly smart and agile structures. Active control of mirror surfaces, adjustable
thermal properties, and self-repairing materials represent a partial list of developments
that will change how space missions will be done.
2- Nanoelectronics: Processing, sensing and information management technologies are
critical for space systems. Strong pushes for much more capable spacecraft electronics
come from the following:

- ultrahigh speed computation, for s/c decision making and data set reduction
- rugged, miniaturized spacecraft avionics systems utilizing microwatts of power

3- Biomimetic systems: Micro systems based on biological principles, or on biological
building blocks, is a key future area for space exploration. Ultra long duration missions, or
missions in hazardous environments, will benefit greatly from adopting strategies and
architectures from the biological world. Also, in the search for life outside the earth,
understanding and controlling processes at the molecular level is necessary for enabling in
situ systems to carry out advanced laboratory analyses. Self replicating systems,
utilization of in situ resources to create complex structures in space, spacecraft that can
adapt and react to changing environmental or mission needs are examples of the kinds of
advances that NASA is pushing to be enabled through applying nanotechnology and
molecular biology methods to spacecraft.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
NASA and other collaborating agencies including DOD, DARPA, NSF, and NIH/NCI.

Bio-nanosensor Devices for Communicable Disease
and Biological Threat Detection

Vision
Nanoscience and technology will foster efficient and rapid biochemical detection and
mitigation in situ for chemical-biowarfare, HIV, and tuberculosis. Miniaturized
electrical/mechanical/chemical devices will extend human performance, protect health, and
repair cellular/tissue damage.

Special Research Opportunities
Minimally intrusive devices for human tissue and vasculature will benefit from nanoscale
manufacturing. As the structures are reduced to nanometer scale size, molecular structures
will begin to compete with inorganic structures, and new device functions will be made
possible. The opportunities for molecular mechanical systems are compelling. Living
systems depend on a variety of molecular motors. Molecular motors derive their power from
body chemistry; it is possible that an in vivo bionanodevice could be powered by that same
body chemistry.

As in vivo systems, bionanodevices will initiate appropriate biochemical and biophysical
responses by stimulating biomolecular systems. Highly specific, functional biomolecules —
poly-nucleic, peptide, and saccharide — can be synthesized by chemical/biological
techniques. These molecules hold promise as highly selective sensors (DNA pairing,
antibody and antigen, receptor recognition) and actuators (molecular motors from flagella and
muscle, ion channel activation) to interact with body chemistry and physics. This Grand
Challenge will require those biomolecules to be isolated, their structure and properties
relationships understood, their coupling to inorganic substrates without loss of function
determined, the mechanisms for communication between biomolecules and semiconductor
electronics ascertained, and the extent of power that can be derived from body chemistry
ascertained. Better techniques for single molecule manipulation and measurement must be
developed using proximal probes and optical tweezers.

Relevance
Miniaturized, low power, sensitive, and selective detection/remediation of biological and
chemical threats is a recognized problem with immediate significance because of concern
over weapons of mass destruction. Mother Nature has produced some of the worst threats to
humans — HIV, TB, and the Ebola virus, to name a few. Public health, military and police
forces are in desperate need of the improvements expected from bionanodevices. These
sensors will revolutionize medical diagnostics, making sophisticated blood/urine/saliva tests
inexpensive and routine operations at the doctor’s office. Many professions require sustained
human performance under demanding conditions — pilots, the military, police — even so
simple a task as long-distance driving. Bionanodevices will monitor body chemistry and
physics, provide alerts to mental or physical deterioration, and take appropriate
countermeasures. As miniaturization progresses, bionanodevices will be inserted into the
body with the ability to recognize locations in distress (like cancer sites, infections,
calcification, and bleeding) and take localized, measured remedial action. Whole body
infusion of a prophylactic drug won’t be necessary. Cancerous tissue can be treated directly
without disturbing healthy tissue. In addition to general health care, the casualty care of
special concern to police, trauma, and military operations will benefit.

Priorities and Modes of Support
· Development and measurement of single supramolecular chemical, biological, and
physical properties

· Development of nanomechanical systems, miniaturization of micoelectromechanical
systems (MEMS) by a thousand-fold, and incorporation of molecular activation and
motility

· Sense and actuate information transfer between inorganic electronics and biomolecular
systems

Carolina’s Multi-User MEMS Processes (MUMPS) facility that presently enables affordable
manufacture of MEMS devices for research purposes.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
NSF – fundamental science base
NIH – bionanotechnology approaches to body chemistry intervention
DOD – development of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and chemical-bio agent
detection
DOE – laboratory on a chip concepts

Application to Economical and Safe Transportation
Vision
Nanotechnology will be the building tool for advances in transportation in the 21 st century.
It’s potential benefits are broad and pervasive, including lighter and more efficient cars using
nanostructured materials, corrosion-free bridges and no-maintenance roads, and tiny “traps”
that remove pollutants from vehicle emissions.

Among the breakthrough applications that we may see in transportation are the following:

· Nanotechnology will yield advanced materials that will allow for longer service life and
lower failure rates. Among the key applications are: nanocoating of metallic surfaces to
achieve super-hardening, low friction, and enhanced corrosion protection; “tailored”
materials for infrastructure and vehicles; and “smart” materials that monitor and assess
their own status and health and repair any defects including fire-resistant materials in
vehicles and aircraft.

· Applications of nanoelectronics for transportation include: advanced communications that
maximize the benefits of intelligent transportation systems and obviate the need for some
travel altogether; sensors that continuously monitor the condition and performance of
roads, bridges, and other infrastructure; and “brilliant” vehicles that can avoid crashes and
improve operator performance.

· New materials developed through nanotechnology will permit the ultra-miniaturization of
space systems and equipment, including the development of smart, compact sensors;
miniscule probes; and microspacecraft. Applications include: economical supersonic
aircraft; low-power, radiation-hard computing systems for autonomous space vehicles;
and advanced aircraft avionics.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
Various agencies including, DOE, DOD, NIST and NASA, developing materials and
manufacturing for transportation.

National Security
Vision
Retain and extend technology to enable rapid military dominance simultaneously with
reduced manpower, lower human exposure to risk, and more affordable systems. DOD
investment in nanoscience is essential to meet its stated goals of knowledge superiority, full
spectrum dominance, and warrior protection in the 21 st century.

Relevance
The 1998 Defense Science Board study “Joint Operations Superiority in the 21 st Century”
states that: “Perhaps the most pervasive operational challenge enabling early and continuous
combat effectiveness is knowledge superiority.” Nanoscience and technology will enable us
to achieve knowledge superiority at all levels, in the 2020 time frame. It can lead to
incredible gains: in sensor suites with 1000 times smaller size/power embedded in
autonomous microsystems; in processors with 100 times faster speed, 100 times higher
density, and 1000 times less power per function; in nonvolatile, radiation-resistant static
memory with 100 times higher density and 50 times faster access speed; in flat, foldable
displays with 10 times greater brightness (nanophosphors) without a concomitant increase in
power requirements; and in communications with 100 times greater bandwidth. The Network
Centric Warfare, Information Warfare, and Simulation/Modeling operations — already
accelerated by the previous improvements in information technology hardware — will be
revolutionized once again through these additional breakthroughs in hardware capability.

The new capability will include worldwide, instantaneous communication, threat
identification, secure encryption, speech recognition/language translation for joint operations,
and combat ID. The huge datastreams from multispectral imaging (visible, infrared, mmwave,
microwave, and acoustic) will be transmitted, processed, correlated, and presented in
millisecond time frames. The enhancements will enable the service goals of smarter weapons
for surgical strikes and uninhabited combat vehicles, with special value for aircraft whose
agility will improve significantly without human g-force limitations. The automation
stemming from greater information processing coupled with nanofabricated sensing suites and
nanoelectromechanical actuation will result in a reduced workforce. The greater training
requirements imposed by the reduction in manpower will be met by affordable personal
virtual reality trainers. The realization of these new concepts will require all these advances
in sensing/processing/storage/display transmission.

novel properties not otherwise available. Their small size also permits their selective
incorporation into composites with tailored performance characteristics. Expected
improvements include the following: reduced manufacturing costs by self-assembly of
smaller units into larger structures rather than costly machining down from bulk and by netshape
formation of ceramics through novel nanostructure interface mechanics; organic
composites with high strength-to-weight made by including nanotubules (whose measured
strengths are among the highest known) or with fire resistance created by including nanoclays
(enabling the use of organic composites in surface ships and submarines); multispectral
(visible, infrared, mm-wave, microwave, acoustic) low observable materials made by
incorporating quantum dots and nanocrystal networks; lowered maintenance costs by
nanostructured coatings with reduced wear/corrosion/thermal transport; higher efficiency
energy conversion technology with nanostructured fuel cells, solar cells, and batteries; and
smart materials that detect and respond to the environment through embedded nanosensors
and nanoactuators (e.g., to sense a sonar or radar ping and squelch any echo).

Defense ultimately relies on the warrior; information and platforms are aids, not ends. We
must protect the warrior from weapons of mass destruction; sense and aid his performance,
especially under the extreme operating demands placed on him; and provide the casualty care
he deserves. Bionanodevices will revolutionize these capabilities. The techniques and tools
of nanoscience will detect single pathogens, providing the ultimate in sensitivity for chemical
and biological agents packaged in fast, low-power, affordable systems no bigger than badges.
Nanostructures show promise for the catalytic degradation of pathogens/chemical agents with
less damage to the environment. The marriage of nanoelectronics with molecular biology will
enable in-situ, body powered sensors (for pathogens, alertness, fatigue) with the ability to take
action to protect the individual or enhance his performance (augmented sensory capability —
hearing, vision, smell, touch).

Priorities
The DOD Basic Research Plan has designated a Special Research Area — Nanoscience —
with the following goal: “to achieve dramatic, innovative enhancements in the properties and
performance of structures, materials, and devices that have ultra-small — but controllable —
features on the nanoscale.…” In the last fifty years, DOD funding has been a principal
federal source of research support for the next generation of electronic/optoelectronic devices,
affordable, high performance materials, and defense against weapons of mass destruction.
The pending DOD-relevant nanotechnology investment has several common objectives with
other Grand Challenges addressed to civilian use:

The priorities in nanoelectronics/optoelectronics are as follows:
· Synthesis/processing of quality nanostructures that can translate to commercially
affordable processing technology: self-assembly, parallel processing via proximal probes,
and in-situ processing controls

· Measurement of nanostructure properties: quantum effects, tunneling, exchange coupling,
molecular electron transport, and terahertz response

· Potential system architectures: cellular automata, quantum computers, cellular parallel
computers, and multiple function integration

· Modeling/simulation for accelerated device/system progress
· Advanced optical components: photonic crystals, and novel phosphors
· Autonomous microsystems coupling sensing, processing, storage, actuation,
communication, and the power to facilitate a complete tactical picture

The priorities in affordable, high-performance nanostructured materials are as follows:
· High volume manufacture of high quality clusters, nanotubes, and dendrimers
· New materials fabrication paradigms: superplasticity and self-assembly
· Formation and properties of high surface area materials, nanocrystal networks, and
aerogels

· Measurement of individual nanostructure properties and of the interfacial properties in
nanostructured materials

· Physics of the nanometer-scale initiation events of materials failure
· Tailored coatings for affordability — wear, corrosion, thermal barrier, and energy
harvesting

· Smart materials for condition based maintenance, and for low observable signatures
· Models/simulations incorporating multi-scale (atomic to nanostructure to microstructure
to macroscopic) computation and leading to materials by design

The priorities in bionanodevices are as follows:
· Measurements of single supramolecular properties to define the events of molecular
recognition and dynamics

· Design and implement molecules to interface between nanodevices and body chemistry
· Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS), especially utilizing molecular motors as
potential actuators

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix A3
A3. Centers and Networks of Excellence (total FY 2001 is $77 million,
$30 million above FY 2000)

Vision
Fund ten nanoscience and technology centers and networks at about $3 million/yr for
approximately five years with opportunity of one renewal after the review. A focus on
research networking and shared academic user facilities is recommended. The establishment
of nanoscience and technology research centers similar to the supercomputer centers will play
a critical role in attaining other initiative priorities (fundamental research, Grand Challenges,
and education), development and utilization of the specific tools, and in promoting
partnerships. Collaboration with academic networks (such as NNUN for nanotechnology
equipment and DesCArtES for nanoelectronics software), and with national users facilities
(such as synchrotron radiation facilities and neutron sources at national laboratories) is
envisioned.

Special opportunities
The science of nanostructures has become a theme common to many disciplines, from
nanoelectronics and molecular biology to catalysis, filtration and materials science. Each of
these disciplines has evolved its own independent view of nanoscience; the opportunity to
integrate these views and to share the tools and techniques developed separately by each field,
is one of the most exciting in all of science and brings with it enormous potential for
technological innovation. Centers for nanoscience and technology will be a major component
of the spectrum of support for this increasingly interdisciplinary field, with potential impact
beyond that of single investigator programs.

A related need is for adequate advanced facilities to do the research demanded by nanoscience
and technology. As George Whitesides and Paul Alivisatos have pointed out, to make rabbit
stew, you must first catch a rabbit. In order to work in nanoscience, one must be able to
fabricate and characterize nanostructures. In many cases the requisite fabrication and
characterization facilities are beyond the scope of individual-investigator laboratories – it
takes the scope and infrastructure of a center or ‘shared facility’ to equip and maintain them.
Access to sophisticated and well-maintained facilities and instrumentation together with
support for instrument development will be essential to the success of research and education
nanoscience and technology.

The proposed centers will be critical to support and accomplish the core objectives of the
initiative: interdisciplinary fundamental research (budget request for FY 2001: $40 million, a
$15M/yr increase over FY 2000), Grand Challenges ($20 million, a $8M/yr increase),
laboratory infrastructure ($17 million, a $7M/yr increase), and education and training.

provide the sophisticated tools needed to do the work.. NSF’s Science and Technology
Centers (STCs), Engineering Research Centers (ERCs), and Materials Research Science and
Engineering Centers (MRSECs) provide successful models for this process over a very wide
range of science and engineering. DOD’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
(MURI), and DOE’s and NASA’s university-based research centers provide successful
patterns for mission oriented centers. The NTCs will include partnership among academic
institutions and between academia, government laboratories and the private sector as needed.
They will address interdisciplinary areas such as simulation at the nanoscale, device and
systems architecture at the nanoscale, nanomaterials, nanoscale structures and quantum
control, nanofabrication, hierarchical linking across multiple length and complexity scales,
nanotechnology and biorobotics, nature and bio-inspired materials and systems, nanoscience
for health care, and molecular nanostructures.

NTCs will:
· Address major fundamental problems in nanoscience and technology, bringing to bear the
entire spectrum of disciplines including engineering, mathematics and computer science,
physical sciences, earth science, and biological and medical sciences as needed.
Exploratory research, and vertical integration from fundamental research to innovative
technological outcomes will be encouraged. Stimulate and support interagency
partnerships to foster emerging areas of nanoscience and technology at interdisciplinary
frontiers.

· Support interdisciplinary research groups comprising strongly coupled groups of
investigators - the whole must be greater than the sum of the parts. Provide incentives to
enable interdisciplinary research and education to prosper;

· Develop and sustain strong links between experiment, theory, modeling and simulation to
advance nanoscience and engineering;

· Integrate research and education from pre-college through postdoctoral;
· Provide and maintain state of the art instrumentation and shared user facilities that are
beyond the reach of benchtop science, including fabrication and characterization
equipment, for the benefit of users both within and outside the centers;

· Foster intensive cooperation, collaboration and partnerships among investigators from
universities, government laboratories and industry involved in nanotechnology. Programs
for visitors from industry and other research centers will be established.

· Promote exchange programs for students and faculty with other centers of excellence in
the US and from abroad;

· Include effective collaboration with and access to unique capabilities offered by existing
facilities at such as synchrotron x-ray, neutron sources, the National High Magnetic Field
Laboratory, the National Nanofabrication User Network, and advanced computational
facilities and resources, through partnership with national laboratories and other
institutions and centers as needed;

· Provide access to databases, remote access to instrumentation, and links from research and
education to producers and users of nanotechnology;

Infrastructure
Physical laboratory infrastructure will be created in the emerging areas of nanoscience and
technology, including expensive equipment that can not be obtained or adequately maintained
by individual academic researchers. This will contribute to an advanced and balanced
infrastructure.

The educational value of NTCs and their role in workforce development deserves special
mention. They will provide both a horizontal and vertical integration of education, with
students interacting at all levels of their training: precollege, undergraduate, graduate students,
postdocs, junior and senior faculty and investigators from industry and government labs.
They will also provide a platform for outreach to generate and maintain public support for
nanoscience and technology, and for curriculum development in critical cross-disciplinary
areas involving engineering, the physical sciences and biology.

Budget Request for FY 2001: $77 million, a $30 million increase. Establish approximately ten
new nanoscience and technology centers/networks by competitive review, each at about $3M
total funding over approximately 5 years, renewable for a further 5 years. Each NTC will
address a major topical area in nanoscience and technology, and will support about 10-20 core
researchers plus students and postdocs and support for instrumentation, access to facilities,
materials and supplies, partnership with industry and national laboratories as appropriate, and
programs for education and outreach. The new centers will be integrated in the existing group
of about 15 large university-based and national laboratory-based centers with research on
nanoscale science and engineering.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix A4
A4. Research Infrastructure (total FY 2001 is $80 million, $30 million above
FY 2000)

One of the IWGN “high priority” themes for additional funding beginning in FY2001 is
‘research infrastructure’ that includes metrology (budget request for FY 2001: $10 million, a
$6 million increase over FY 2000), instrumentation ($30 million, a $8 million increase),
modeling and simulation ($15 million, a $6 million increase), and user facilities ($25 million,
a $10 million).

Vision
A balanced, strong, but flexible infrastructure will be developed to stimulate new discoveries
and innovations that can be rapidly commercialized by U.S. industry. The focus will be on
developing measurements and standards, research instrumentation, modeling and simulation
capabilities, and R&D user facilities.

The potential is great for universities and government to transition this science and
technology, bringing forth fundamental changes. There are great demands in industry to
attract new ideas, protect intellectual property, and develop high performance products. The
transition will require a sustained and timely investment. If the issues associated with
research infrastructure and transition from knowledge-driven to product-driven efforts are not
satisfactorily addressed, the United States will not remain internationally competitive and,
therefore, have difficulty maintaining the economy and quality of life and security that exist
today.

Metrology (Measurement Technology)
Challenges and Opportunities
Nanotechnology offers an outstanding challenge to measurement technology by requiring
three-dimensional, atomic-scale measurement capabilities over large areas. To design,
observe, test, and understand the next generation of nanodevices, we must be able to measure
all the important physical, chemical and at times biological parameters associated with the
devices. These measurements are not currently possible because the necessary tools and
theories are only rudimentary, but must be developed through this Federal Initiative. .

While nanoscale measurement is challenging, nanotechnology offers totally new mechanisms
and instruments for measurements of new phenomena at subatomic spatial scales. Those
measurements are currently out of our reach. Also, exquisitely accurate measurements of
macrosopic physical, chemical and biological properties are possible through nanotechnology.

Priorities
The research supported by this federal nanotechnology initiative will:

· Develop a fundamental understanding of the interactions of matter at the single atom, and
molecule level allowing the design of new measurement approaches and instruments; and

· Create new standard materials, standard data, analytical methods, and standard tools to
assure the quality of the new nano-based commercial products.

· Rapid transfer of the new measuring techniques and standards to industry.

The new measurement capabilities developed through this initiative will impact all industrial
sectors and the everyday lives of each American. For example, new health related
measurements will improve the accuracy, availability, and cost of diagnostic tests and allow
more diseases to be diagnosed in a timely fashion. The reliability, cost, and function of cars,
planes, telephones, computers and many other devices will improve through manufacturing
improvements enabled by these measurements. For example, nanometer accuracy has made
possible the giant magnetoresistance layers to be manufactured and the most advanced NASA
spacecraft to be built.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
DOC/NIST in collaboration with other agencies as a function of the area of relevance.

Instrumentation
Challenges and Opportunities
Availability of instrumentation in university, government laboratories and industry will be a
determining factor in the advancement of the field. This initiative will provide tools to
investigators in nano-science and engineering to carry out state-of-the-art research, to achieve
the nanotechnology potential, and to remain competitive. Funding support will include the
continuous development and advancement of the instrumentation for nanotechnology in
partnership with the private sector.

In the last few years there has been continually increasing interest in nanotechnology here in
the United States as well as in Japan and Europe. It is critical that we have the state-of-theart
instrumentation for development of materials at the nano-scale and processing of
nanostructures and devices, development of nano-scale systems, and for testing,
measurements, and characterization. Progress is being made in the instrumentation - such as
the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), the atomic force microscope (AFM) and near-field
microscopy (NFM) - which has been developed, for the observation, characterization and
analysis of nanostructures. These instruments and the development of relevant technologies
are helping scientists and engineers in making scientific advances in the area of
nanotechnology. At the same time these tools are being modified and improved to increase
the capabilities available for manipulation and manufacturing of nanostructures.

Priorities
· Development of new instruments for research, development and processing in
nanotechnology. Instrumentation for the characterization of individual and ensembled
nanostructures will be required. For example, the development, detection, and
manipulation of biological structures, semiconductor technology and polymeric materials
will require instrumentation that is capable of handling all these materials in one facility
and without the danger of cross-contamination.

· Fund the purchase of instrumentation enhancing the capabilities of the existing research
centers, networks and consortiums. This includes funding of
industry/university/government collaboration to develop the tools and technology. The
major R&D instrumentation and facilities will be made available to users not only from
the institution that houses the facilities, but also for users from other institutions,
industries and government.

· Provide computer network capabilities and a nanotechnology database for the
management and dissemination of information to the nanotechnology science and
engineering community in order to promote collaborations.

Agency Participation and Partnerships
The development of the instrumentation and capabilities for research and development in
nanotechnology will require cooperation and collaboration of scientists and engineers from
universities, industries, and the funding support of all government agencies. NSF, DOD,
DOE and NASA will develop the instrumentation infrastructure in universities.

Modeling and Simulation Infrastructure
Challenges and Opportunities
Experimentation and modeling/simulation capabilities will be equally important to advances
in understanding, each testing and stimulating the other, compelling the development of new
computational methods, algorithms and high performance computing resources.

Modeling and simulation at nanoscale will enable new synthesis and processing methods of
nanostructures, control of nano-manipulators such as atomic force microscopes, development
of scale-up techniques, and creation of complex systems and architecture based on
nanostructures. Control of nano-manufacturing requires the development of manipulation
strategies and associated software, using either known or new robotics techniques.
Nanoassembly must be automated because the number of elementary operations required in
most assemblies would be enormous. Research is needed into the programming languages
suitable for assembly, into the techniques for path planning and other high-level control, and
into the real-time control of singe manipulators and arrays of manipulators.

scientific computation will be necessary to designers for an accurate view of material
properties.

The ab-initio prediction of fundamental physicochemical and engineering properties of
extended molecular systems is becoming feasible. This is being made possible by advances in
atomic and electronic structure calculation, molecular dynamics simulation, and software and
hardware design. Realistic predictions still rely heavily on adjustments to theory suggested by
experimental verification.

Relevance
In the future, molecular modeling and simulation and high-throughput experimentation will
affect most products and processes that depend on chemical, biological, and materials
properties. This knowledge will generate new competitive advantages for modern industries,
such as electronics and optoelectronics, biotechnology, environmental technology, medical
engineering, sensing and automation.

Computational modeling should provide a better understanding of the parameters and
constraints for these nano-devices and create a framework for interpreting experiments.
Modeling may even reduce the need for costly experimentation. Conceivably, modeling also
could give new information about nanodevices that is not evident through experimentation
alone.

Applications to be considered include drug design, high performance materials, catalysis,
environmental processes, energy conversion, biotechnology, nanoelectronics, and
nanomagnetics and the related field of nanotechnology. Affected industries include
chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other biochemicals, paper, textile, electronics, and advanced
materials.

· Development of software, computational approaches, and simulation tools for process
control and molecular manufacturing. This area is a very timely topic as it focuses on the
regime between atomistic simulations (quantum theory, molecular dynamics) and
physicochemical engineering practice (process simulation and design). The idea here is to
use the results of atomistic calculations to supplement experimental data in determining
the parameters of the coarse grain, phenomenological models required for process
simulation and design. The use of new data on structural correlations from the atomistic
simulations should provide more detailed information not available from experiment and
would lead too much more detailed and accurate predictions.

Agency Participation and Partnerships: All agencies. A network for
multiscale/multiphenomena simulation at nanoscale will be developed by NSF, DOD, DOE
and NASA.

User Facilities
Special Opportunities
The research scientists and engineers working in the area of nanotechnology will need access
to state-of-the-art instrumentation and facilities for observation, characterization,
manipulation and manufacturing. University-based and national laboratory-based centers will
provide access to expensive equipment with rapid state-of-the-art changes.

The most common instruments will probably be various types of scanning probe, electron and
ion microscopes. On the one hand, there has to be an understanding that a single research
group can easily have need for several different scanning probe microscopes, since there are
now many different types each optimized for a different task. On the other, the best electron
and ion microscopes are very expensive and costly to maintain, and means should be provided
for universities either to acquire, maintain and operate such systems, or have access to users
facilities. There will also be a need for a wide range of facilities and instruments, ranging
from synchrotron radiation and neutron sources, electron-beam and ion-beam manufacturing,
all types of spectrometers and computational facilities to both handle the processing of
massive amounts of data and carry out the crucial modeling/simulation work needed to
advance the field rapidly. Since the emphasis for most of groups performing nanotechnology
research needs to be on the science and not the equipment, the existing facilities (such as the
National Nanofabrication Users Network) will be extended and a number of shared
laboratories and regional facilities need to be funded and staffed.

Priorities
· Multiple-user national centers and networks equipped with nanotechnology-specific
equipment (type of measurement, industry, etc.) need to be funded and staffed; the centers
may be based in universities or at national laboratories.

· Vertical integration of fundamental and technological research within the multiple-user
centers will be encouraged for synergistic purposes. Multi-technology engineering
demonstration facilities funded by mission-oriented agencies and industry should be
included in the centers.

· Development and use of regional university-national laboratory-industry facilities will be
encouraged.

· The issue of information sharing is paramount; an agency and specific funding might be
identified to foster communication of ideas and results among the various subfields within
nanotechnology. One approach would be for an agency such as NIST to sponsor a
nanotechnology-specific information facility agreed by participating agencies.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix A5
A5. Societal Implications of Nanotechnology and Workforce Education
and Training (total $28 million, $13 million above FY 2000)

Vision
A university-based program is designed to provide effective education and training of
nanotechnology professionals, especially for industrial careers. Focused research on social,
economic, ethical, legal and workforce implications of nanotechnology will be undertaken.

The science, engineering, and technology of nanostructures will require and enable advances
in a fabric of disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, materials, mathematics, engineering
and education. In their evolution as disciplines, they all find themselves simultaneously
ready to address nanoscale phenomena and nanostructures. The dynamics of interdisciplinary
nanostructure efforts will reinforce educational connections between disciplines and give birth
to new fields that are only envisioned at this moment. Rapid development of nanotechnology
will require changes in the laboratory and human resource infrastructure in universities, and in
the education of nanotechnology professionals.

A main objective of the national initiative is to provide new types of education and training
that lead to a new generation of skilled workers in the multidisciplinary perspectives
necessary for rapid progress in nanotechnology. The proposed initiative will leverage the
existing strong foundation of nanoscience and engineering in the U.S., and will address the
formidable challenges that remain.

When radically new technologies are developed, social, economical, ethical, legal,
environmental and workforce development issues can rise. Those issues would require
specific research activities and measures to take advantage of opportunities or reduce
potential risks. NNI will address these issues in a research program.

Special Educational Opportunities
Nanotechnology offers unprecedented opportunities to revitalize connection between
disciplines and promote education at the interfaces between physics, mathematics, chemistry,
biology and engineering. Although change is occurring in a relatively rapid fashion, there
still exist many elements in the culture of our research universities that do not encourage
multidisciplinary research. Specific suggestions to address these opportunities and needs are:

· Introduce nanoscience and engineering in existing and new courses. Courses on surface
science, molecular dynamics, quantum effects, and manufacturing at molecular scale are
necessary in curricula at the undergraduate and graduate levels. An integrative science
and engineering approach is suggested. Technology programs cannot be developed
without strong supporting science programs because of the scale and complexity of the
nanosystems.

· Educating and training a new generation of skilled workers in the multidisciplinary
perspectives necessary for rapid progress in nanotechnology is necessary. This represents
a grand experiment in integration - integration of a multiplicity of disciplines and
expertise, and integration of education and research into a true partnership. There should
be a broader range of educational opportunities for students coming into nanotechnology
areas. The students must become deep in one subject, but they also need to develop
breadth by being able to transcend geographical location, institution and discipline. The
problem with this goal is that most graduate students in technical areas are funded by the
grants to their research advisors, and thus they are tied to a specific discipline and location
because their mentors cannot afford to pay for students who are not in their labs. Thus,
there should be a significant number of nanotechnology fellowships and training grants,
which will give the best students the ability to craft their own education by specializing in
one area but having the opportunity to work with one or more other mentors. This will
further encourage a practice that is already occurring, since much of the current
transdisciplinary nanotechnology research efforts are actually initiated by students who
realize the benefits of working with more that one advisor. An emphasis on educational
outreach is recommended for involving people at all levels.

· Programs that encourage intermingling among science, engineering and business
disciplines should also be supported strongly, since grooming future technically
competent entrepreneurs is at least as important as future professors and researchers.
Nanotechnology workshops focused on graduate students should be held that allows them
to see and understand the bigger picture, and encourage them to communicate across
disciplinary boundaries.

· Program to investigate societal impact of nanotechnology, which will include focused
research on social, economic, ethical, legal and workforce implications of
nanotechnology.

Relevance
Education will need to address the fast development of nano-science and nano-industries. An
entirely new generation will need to be trained in the sciences underpinning nanotechnology.
The centers to be created in response to this initiative will strengthen the environment in
which we train our young scientists and engineers, thereby helping to ensure that the United
States will lead the technologically developed nations into the 21st Century. The creation of
the intellectual capital is probably the most important long– term investment for science and
technology.

Priorities and Modes of Support
To most effectively respond to the opportunities discussed above, several specific priorities
are:

· Introduce nano-science and engineering in existing and new courses.
· Nanotechnology centers and networks, with facilities and interdisciplinary research teams,
that will enable educating a new generation of young scientists.

· Create “regional coalitions” that involve industry-tech generation that include educational
and training programs.

· Support student and post-doctoral fellowships for interdisciplinary work.
· Support student and young scientist internships at centers of excellence abroad.

Budget Request FY 2001: $28 million, a $13 million increase over FY 2000. Indirect
contributions are from other funding themes, such as fundamental research and centers.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B
Appendix B. Examples of nanotechnology applications and partnerships
(Additional examples are provided in the attached volume
“Nanotechnology Research Directions – IWGN Workshop Report”, 1999)

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B6

B6. Giant Magnetoresistance in Magnetic Storage Applications

IN1999: Within ten years fromthe fundamental discovery, the giant
magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in nanostructured (one dimension)
magnetic multilayers has demonstrated its utility in magnetic
sensors for magnetic disk read heads, the key component ina
$34B/year hard diskmarket in1998. The newread head has
extended magnetic disk information storage from1 to ~20Gbits.
Because of this technology, most of hard disk production is done by
U.S.-based companies.

IN3-5 YEARS: Afuture application of GMRis nonvolatile magnetic
randomaccess memory (MRAM) that will compete in the $100BRAM
market. In-plane GMRpromises 1Mbit memory chips in 1999; at the right,
the size of this chip (center of image) is contrasted to an earlier 1Kbit ferrite
core memory. Not only has the size per bit been dramatically reduced, but
the memory access time has dropped frommilliseconds to 10
nanoseconds. The in-plane approach will likely provide 10-100Mbit chips
by 2002. Since the GMReffect resists radiation damage, these memories
will be important to space and defense applications.

AFTER5 YEARS: The in-plane GMRdevice performance (signal to
noise) suffers as the device lateral dimensions get smaller than 1
micron. Government and industry are funding work on a vertical
GMRdevice that gives larger signals as the device dimensions shrink.
At 10 nanometer lateral size, these devices could provide signals in
excess of 1 volt and memory densities of 10 Gbit on a chip,
comparable to that stored on magnetic disks. If successful, this chip
would eliminate the need for magneto-mechanical disk storage with
its slowaccess time in msec, large size, weight and power
requirements (paradigmchanges)

GMRSignal versus Device Size
Vertical

In-plane
10 100 1000

0.0001

0.001

0.01

0.1

1

10

Lateral Size (nanometers)

Si

gnal

(Volts

)

Additional information:
A Commercial IBM Giant Magnetoresistance Read Head
Contact person: E. Grochowski, IBM

When certain kinds of materials systems are exposed to a magnetic field, their electrical
resistance changes. This effect, called the magnetoresistive effect, is useful for sensing
magnetic fields such as those in the magnetic bits of data stored on a computer hard drive. In
1988, the giant magnetoresistance effect was discovered in specially prepared layers of
nanometer-thick magnetic and nonmagnetic films. By 1991, work at the IBM Almaden
research center demonstrated that the GMR effect could be observed in easily made samples
and that a special kind of GMR structure, a spin valve, could sense very small magnetic fields.
This opened the door to the use of GMR in the read heads for magnetic disk drives. A
commercial product based on this design was first announced by IBM in December 1997. In
the spin valve GMR head shown in the figure below, the copper spacer layer is about 2 nm
thick and the Co GMR pinned layer is about 2.5 nm thick. The thickness of these layers must
be controlled with atomic precision.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B7
B7. Nanostructured Catalysts
Researchers at Mobil Oil Co. have revolutionized hydrocarbon catalysis by the development
of innovative nanostructured crystalline materials. Their program focused on zeolites, porous
materials with well-defined shapes, surface chemistry and pore sizes smaller than 1
nanometer. A new zeolite class, ZSM-5 (see schematic in Figure 1) was discovered in the late
1960s. ZSM-5 has a 10 atom ring structure that contributes pore sizes in the range 0.45 – 0.6
nm (smaller than in zeolites X, Y and larger than in A) and enables shape selected chemistries
not previously available.

Zeolite catalysts now are used to process over 7 billion barrels of petroleum and chemicals
annually. New Zealand is using the same catalyst to produce 1/3 of its oil fuel requirement by
converting it from natural gas via methanol and then high-octane fuels. ZSM-5, along with
zeolite Y, now provide the basis fo hydrocarbon cracking and reforming processes with a
commercial value that exceeds $30B in 1999 (J. Wise, Vice President Exxon, ret.). Another
example at Mobil Oil Co. is the aluminosilicate 10 nm shaped cylindrical pores (Figure 2),
which has been applied in both catalysis and filtration of fine dispersants in the environment
(Liu and Mou, 1996). Further systematic advances in nanotechnology are expected to
increase its share of an overall world catalyst market that exceeds $210B in 1999.

improvements in nanostructured catalysts, desired product yields have increased significantly
in the last decade.

MCM-41:
A Breakthrough i n Nanomateri al s

~90 Gr oups,
Both Industrial
and A cademi c,
Worki ng on
T hes e M at er i al s Mobil’s 1992 Paper i n Natur e

Has Been Cited
~1000 T i mes >50 Patents
to Mobi l ;

>30 US Patents
to Other s

MCM-41:
A New Cl ass of Nanomateri als

Cl ad the S ur f ace
V ar y t he Chemi cal
Composi tion

Vary the Pore Size
1.5nm to >10nm

Anchor Metal s
and Cat al y s t s

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B8
B8. Drug Delivery Systems
By using nanotechnology fundamental changes in drug production and delivery are expected
to affect about half of the $380 billion worldwide drug production in the next decade. The
U.S. company market share is about 40%. Nanotechnology will be used in various ways:

· Nanosizing will make possible the use of low solubility substances as drugs. This will
approximately double the number of chemical substances available for pharmaceuticals
(where particle size ranges from 100 to 200 nm).

· Dendrimer polymers have several properties (high solubility in aqueous solvent, defined
structure, high monodispersity, low systemic toxicity) that make them attractive
components of so-called nanobiological drug carrying devices.
· Targeting of tumors with nanoparticles in the range 50 to 100 nm. Larger particles cannot
enter the tumor pores while nanoparticles can move easily into the tumor (Figure 1)

· Active targeting by adding ligands as target receptors on a nanoparticle surface.
The receptors will recognize damaged tissue, attach to it and release a
therapeutic drug.

· Increase the degree of localized drug retention by increasing the adhesion of finer
particles on tissues

· Nanosized markers will allow for cancer detection in the incipient phase when only a few
cancer cells are present .

An example of current commercialization is liposome encapsulated drugs produced by
Nexstar (doxarubicin for cancer treatment and amphotericin B for fungal infection) with sales
over $20 million in 1999.

In the 1980s, academic researchers proposed using polymers to embed nanoparticles carrying
drugs (Douglas and Davis, 1987, “Nanoparticles in drug delivery”). This approach did not
prove practical because of the difficulties in disposing of the polymeric blends after their use.
In 1992, industry researchers proposed using nanocrystals without polymeric support (U.S.
Patent 5,145,682, “Surface modified drug nanoparticles”). This solution has been adopted in
the current applications.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B9
B9. Nanocomposites: Nanoparticle Reinforced Polymers
- Low-Cost, High-Strength Materials for Automotive Parts –

Requirements for increased fuel economy in motor vehicles demand the use of new,
lightweight materials - typically plastics - that can replace metal. The best of these plastics
are expensive and have not been adopted widely by U.S. vehicle manufacturers.
Nanocomposites, a new class of materials under study internationally, consist of traditional
polymers reinforced by nanometer-scale particles dispersed throughout (Figure 1). These
reinforced polymers may present an economical solution to metal replacement. In theory, the
nanocomposite can be easily extruded or molded to near-final shape, provide stiffness and
strength approaching that of metals, and reduce weight. Corrosion resistance, noise
dampening, parts consolidation, and recyclability all would be improved. However,
producing nanocomposites requires the development of methods for dispersing the particles
throughout the plastic, as well as means to efficiently manufacture parts from such
composites.

Dow Chemical Company and Magna International of America (in Troy, MI) have a joint
Advanced Technology Program (ATP) sponsored by the National Institute of Science and
Technology (NIST) to develop practical synthesis and manufacturing technologies to enable
the use of new high-performance, low-weight “nanocomposite” materials in automobiles
(NIST 1997). The weight reduction from proposed potential applications would save
15 billion liters of gasoline over the life of one year’s production of vehicles by the American
automotive industry and thereby reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 5 billion
kilograms. These materials are also likely to find use in non-automotive applications such as
pipes and fittings for the building and construction industry; refrigerator liners; business,
medical, and consumer equipment housings; recreational vehicles; and appliances.

Small

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B10
B10. Two Examples of Nanoelectronic Devices
The proposed National Nanotechnology Initiative would invest in the science base necessary
to manufacture, characterize and utilize three dimensional nanostructured systems. While this
goal is years away, technologies based on assemblies of one-dimensional nanostructures
(superlattices) have already penetrated the marketplace. Two examples are High Electron
Mobility Transistor (HEMT) and Vertical Cavity Selective Emitter Laser (VCSEL). These
examples give an indication of the potential for nanoelectronics to completely change
electronic devices in the next 10-20 years. Currently, other new concepts such as single
electron devices, quantum cellular automata, and use of molecular and quantum devices are
under investigation.

HEMT devices were engendered by the DoD 6.1 Ultra Small Electronics Research Program
(USER, FY81-88) in which $60M was expended to develop technology capable of creating
nanometer thick semiconductor films and electronic junctions. The DARPA Microwave
Amplifier Front End Transistor (MAFET) program of FY92-99 used the HEMT devices as
the major building block for sophisticated microwave and millimeter wave integrated circuits
for radar and communications systems in various DoD applications. Today HEMT is used as
a standard for the development of any military and commercial microwave or millimeter wave
system requiring low noise figure and high gain. The commercial market for HEMT high
frequency receiver/transmitter devices is estimated at $140M in 1997 with growth to $800M
by 2002.

Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers are another
device that relies on superlattices with nanometer
thick films. VCSELs were first demonstrated in the
1970s by the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan)
and became a commercial reality in the 1990s
following innovations at ATT and DARPA funding.
Fiberoptic data communications is the first major
commercial application of VCELs, with a growing
list of other applications such as optical sensors,
encoder, range-finders, and extended range sensing.
The present market is approximately $100M and is
anticipated to grow to over $1B in the next 3-5 years.
(A Honeywell VCSEL laser is shown in the picture
and tabulated data below). The VCSEL has superior performance as compared to other solid
state photon sources as shown in the following table:

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B11
B11. National Security: Bio Detection
Nanotechnology promises revolutionary advances in military capability. The confluence of
biology, chemistry, and physics at the nanometer scale is enabling significant advances in
sensors for biological and chemical warfare agents. Civilian disaster response teams and
medicine will benefit as well. We cannot afford to respond to a nerve gas attack, such as the
1995 Aum Shinrikyo incident in Japan, by carrying a canary as a sensor. Defense research
and development programs are pursuing many sensor options; two related technologies are
nearing fruition.

One is a colorimetric sensor (Figure 1) that can selectively detect biological agent DNA; it is
in commercial development with successful tests against anthrax (and tuberculosis) (C.
Mirkin, Northwestern University). DNA is attached to nanometer size gold particles; when
complementary DNA strands are in solution, the gold particles are bound close to each other.
The nanoparticles change the suspension color as a function of the particle clustering. .
Compared to present technology, the sensor is simpler, less expensive (by about a factor of
10), and more selective.

Figure 1. Anthrax detection: when the anthrax target is present, pairs of nanoparticles assemble
together via the DNA filaments and change the color of the suspension.

A complementary effort is based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) in which a sandwich
immunoassay attaches magnetic beads to a microfabricated cantilever (R. Colton, NRL). In
the laboratory the AFM technology is already 100 to 1,000 times more sensitive than
conventional immunoassays.

Both colorimetric and magnetic bead technologies might be implemented in detector arrays
that provide simultaneous identification of multiple pathogens.

R. Elghanian, R.C. Mucic, C.A. Mirkin and R.L. Letsinger, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 1959
(1998).

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B12
B12. Water Purification and Desalinization
An energy-efficient Flow Through Capacitor (FTC) technology for water desalinization has
been designed to desalt seawater with at least 10 times less energy that state-of– the art reverse
osmosis and at least 100 times less energy than distillation. The energy usage of the FTC is
anticipated to be less than 0.5 Whr/liter and is being designed for portable use as well as for
large-scale integration. The capital cost and operational costs over a 5 year period are
predicted to be approximately a factor of 3 less than reverse osmosis systems. The critical
experiments underpinning these estimations are underway now. This energy-efficient process
is possible by fabricating of very high surface area electrodes that are electrically conductive
using aligned carbon nanotubes, and by other innovations in the system design.

The DARPA-funded flow through capacitor desalinization technology being developed by
Marc Andelman, its inventor at Biosource Inc, and collaborators at Sabrex of Texas,
Nanopore Inc. and Boston College, is a common sense approach based on several
technological advances which takes the salt out of seawater as opposed to reverse osmosis
with takes the water out of the salt.

The FTC is configured as a deionizing water filter using very high surface area capacitor
electrodes (1000 m 2 /g). Upon supplying a small dc voltage (1-2 V), the seawater is rapidly
purified due to the fact that the dissolved ions become electrostatically attracted to the high
surface area electrode materials. The positively charged ions (Na + , Ca ++ ) are attracted to the
negatively charged electrode, while the negatively charged ions (Cl - , SO3 - ) in the water are
electrostatically attracted to the positively charged electrode as shown in the figure below.
The performance of the FTC is rooted in nanotechnology, which enable the fabrication of
novel high surface area conductive electrode materials to reduce resistive losses and increase
charged ion (Na, Cl, etc.) adsorption capacity. The highly conductive materials will reduce
resistive losses of the electrodes and makes the desalting process energy-efficient.

Global population is increasing while fresh water supplies are decreasing. The UN predicts
that by the year 2025 that 48 countries will be short of fresh water accounting for 32% of the
world’s population! Water purification and desalinization are some of the focus areas of
preventative defense and environmental security since they can meet future water demands
globally. Consumptive water use has been increasing twice as fast as the population and the
resulting shortages have been worsened by contamination.

High surface area, high-conductivity electrodes from aligned carbon nanotubes
(after Biosource Inc., Sabres of Texas and Boston College)

Negativ e Ele ctrode
Pos itiv e Ele ctrode

Sea wa te r

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B13
B13. Nanophase Technologies Corporation: A Small Business Focused on
Nanotechnology

In 1985, the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, DOE began supporting a research activity in the
emerging field of nanophase materials at Argonne National Laboratories’ Materials Science
Division. Nanophase materials involve powders made of extremely small crystals, which are
compacted to yield solid materials. Because the grain sizes are so tiny, one can obtain
enhanced plasticity, chemical reactivity, optical absorption, magnetism or other properties.

Additional information on the government-industry partnership funded by ATP/NIST:
“Synthesis and Processing of Nanocrystalline Ceramics on a Commercial Scale” (1992)

· ATP funding enables a 25,000-fold increase in production of materials made of nanosized
particles and a 20,000-fold reduction in cost per gram (from 10 grams of material per day
at $1,000 per gram to the current capacity of 100 tons per year at 5 cents per gram).

· Sunscreens made with these materials are on the market, offering increased protection
levels.

· Tests of prototype products made with these materials show that mechanical seals gain up
to 10-fold increases in service life and industrial catalysts become up to four times more
active.

Materials made of nanoparticles finally achieve their promise through a government-industry
partnership.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B14
B.14 Molecular Electronics: UCLA-HP project sponsored by NSF and
DARPA

J. Heath (UCLA) and S. Williams (Hewlett-Packard Laboratories), in a NSF GOALI
supported activity (Awards 94-57712 and 95-21392) have taken steps towards a new way to
circumvent problems that will arise in the semiconductor industry when circuit feature sizes
reach below the resolution of optical lithography.

If the reduction in size of electronic devices continues at its present exponential pace, the size
of entire devices will approach that of molecules within two decades. However, well before
this happens, both electronic devices and the manufacturing procedures used to produce them
will have to change dramatically. This is because current devices are based primarily on
classical mechanics, but at the scale of molecules, electrons behave as quantum mechanical
objects. Also, the cost of factories for fabricating electronic devices is increasing at a rate that
is much larger than the market for electronics; therefore, much less expensive manufacturing
process will need to be invented.

Thus, an extremely important area of research is molecular electronics, in which molecules
with electronics functionality are designed. synthesized using the batch processes of
chemistry, and then assembled into useful circuits through the processes of self-organization
and self-alignment. A major limitation of any such process is that chemically fabricated and
assembled systems will necessarily contain defective components and connections. This
limitation was addressed in a 1998 paper entitled “A Defect-Tolerant Computer Architecture:
Opportunities for Nanotechnology” in Science 280:1716-1721. By describing a silicon-based
computer that was designed to operate perfectly in the presence of huge numbers of
manufacturing defects, researchers from Hewlett-Packard Labs and UCLA presented an
architectural solution to the problem of defects in molecular electronics, as described in
Figure 1, and thus demonstrated in principle that manufacture by chemical assembly is
feasible.

Oblique view
Regular Tree

Front View
Fat Tree

Address lines
Data lines

Memory

a) Tree Architectures b) The Crossbar
Figure 1. The logical design of a defect-tolerant circuit: (a) shows a “fat tree” architecture
in which every member of a logical level of the tree hierarchy can communicate with every
member at the next level. In the case of a defective component, these structures enables
one to route around and avoid the defect; (b) shows how this architecture is implemented
using cross bars, which are very regular structures and look like something that can be
built chemically. The complexity required for a computer is programmed into the
crossbars by setting the switches to connect certain elements of the tree together. Using
silicon circuitry, two completely separate sets of wires (address and data lines) are required
for the cross bars and seven transistors are required for each switch, since a continual
application of electrical power is required to hold the sense of the switches.

O
O
O O

O

N +

O O

O

O
O

O 4PF 6 –

N +N
+

N +

CH 2 OH

O O O
O O

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B15
B15. Academe-Industry-Government Partnerships
Federal and local governments (N.Y., N.J., Kentucky, Washington, NC, others), private profit
(industry) and non-profit organizations (such as Beckman Institutes), and academic
institutions have all determined that nanoscale science and engineering is an important longterm
field for investment.

Examples of universities with investments in nanotechnology in the last few years are:
· Arizona State University: Nanostructure Research Group
· California Institute of Technology: Materials and Process Simulation Center
[http://www.theory.caltech.edu/~quic/index.html]

· Cornell University: Cornell Nanofabrication Facility [http://www.nnf.cornell.edu];
Cornell Science and Technology Center (NSF) in Nanobiotechnology

· Georgia Institute of Technology: Nanocrystal Research Laboratory; Nanostructure
Optoelectronics

· Johns Hopkins University: Center for Nanostructured Materials
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/groups/mrsec/main.html

· Massachusetts Institute of Technology: NanoStructures Laboratory
[http://www-mtl.mit.edu/MTL/NSL.html]

· Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs) with interdisciplinary
research groups addressing nanostructured materials. For links to their web sites see
http://www.nsf.gov/mps/dmr/mrsec.htm

· National User Facilities (NSF sponsored) in x-ray synchrotron radiation, neutron
scattering, and high magnetic fields provide access to major facilities for the benefit of
researchers in a wide range of science and engineering fields including nanoscience and
engineering. See http://www.nsf.gov/mps/dmr/natfacil.htm

· NNUN is a partnership involving NSF and five universities (Cornell University, Stanford
University, UC Santa Barbara, Penn State University and Howard University). See
http://www.nnun.org/

· Northwestern University (IL): Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-assembly.
See http://www.chem.nwu.edu/NanoWeb/index.html

· Oxford Nanotechnology (MA): Molecular nanotechnology, nanolithography
· New Jersey Institute of Technology: Nonlinear Nanostructures Laboratory (NNL)
· Pennsylvania State University: Nanotechnology
· Princeton University: Nanostructure Laboratory
· Rice University: Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (fullerenes)
· Stanford University: Stanford National Nanofabrication Users Network (NNUN)
[http://snf.stanford.edu/NNUN]; [http://feynman.stanford.edu/qcomp]

· University of California, Santa Barbara: NSF Science and Technology Center for
Quantized Electronic Structures (QUEST)

· University of Notre Dame: Center for Nanoscience and Technology
· University of Washington: Center for Nanotechnology
· University of Wisconsin, Madison: Center for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces
http://mrsec.wisc.edu/

· Washington State University: Nanotechnology Think Tank
· Yale University: Optoelectronic Structures/Nanotechnology

Examples of Federal and industry research programs collaborating with academe:
· California Molecular Electronics Corporation (CALMEC): Molecular Electronics
· Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA): The ULTRA Program
[http://web-ext2.darpa.mil/eto/ULTRA/index.html]

· Hewlett Packard Lab: TERAMAK program
· IBM: Nanotech program [http://www.almaden.ibm.com/vis/vis_lab.html]
· IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory: Microscopy at the atomic level
· MITRE Corporation: Covers topics on nanoelectronics and nanocomputing
[http://www.mitre.org/technology/nanotech]

· Molecular Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.(MMEI)
· Molecular Nanotechnology NanoLogic, Inc.: Integration of nanotechnology into
computers

· Nanogen Co.: nanomanufacturing on a chip
· Nanophase Technologies Corporation
· NanoPowders Industries
· NanoSystems Co.: Drug delivery
· Nanotechnology Development Corporation
· NASA: Nanotechnology, Nanoelectronics [http://www.nas.nasa.gov]
· National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Nanostructure fabrication
· Naval Research Laboratory (NRL): Nanoelectronics processing facility and Surface
Nanoscience {http://stm2.nrl.navy.mil]

· National Science Foundation (NSF): Partnership in Nanotechnology
[http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/nano/start/htm]; Nanoscale processes in biological
systems [http://www.nsf.gov/nano]

· Office of Naval Research (ONR): Nanotechnology, nanoelectronics
· Raytheon Co.: nanoelectronics
· Texas Instruments: projects on QMOS program and TSRAM:Tunneling-based static
RAM

· Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC): Nanotechnology, molecular nanotechnology
[http://nano.xerox.com/nano]

· Zyvex: Molecular manufacturing.

breadth of application (medical to cosmetics to automotive) and industrial interest (small
business to large corporation) and rough time scale for commercialization (less than 10 years).
These examples are purposely shown in the one narrow nanotechnology R&D field of
nanoparticles. The examples further show that government-industry partnerships can play a
key role in aiding U.S. industry speed nanotechnology innovations into the marketplace.

· Just started partnership – Nanoparticles for cancer therapy: NIST-ATP, NIH-NCI,
CytImmune Sciences Inc., and EntreMed, Inc., “Using nanosized particles for more
effective cancer therapy”

· Ongoing partnership – Nanocomposites for the automotive industry: Industry-Government
Partnership: NIST-ATP, Dow Chemical Company, Magna International of America
“Nanocomposites: Materials for Automotive Parts”

· Past Partnership, now fully commercialized – Nanoparticle synthesis: NIST-ATP and
Nanophase Technologies “Synthesis and Processing of Nanocrystalline Ceramics on a
Commercial Scale”

- Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Investment from University Endownment: The Harvard
Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Structures (CIMS)

Harvard is making a major commitment to several areas of interdisciplinary science through
the creation of several new Centers. In particular, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has
established a new Center for Imaging and Mesoscale Structures (CIMS). The emphasis of the
center will be on multi-disciplinary research, bridging the disciplines of chemistry, physics,
engineering, materials science, biology and medicine

The proposed initial funding for CIMS is from FAS whose main funding source is the
Harvard endowment. This funding will be used for construction of new building, new major
facilities and to seed new research directions. The level of funding is on the order of tens of
millions of dollars and a new building. The overall aim of CIMS is to foster new
interdisciplinary research on small things; the specific research areas are still under discussion
but will undoubtedly include mesoscale electronics, mesoscale mechanical systems,
functional nanoscale materials, and the interface between biological and physical sciences.
The Center will provide space for state-of-the-art facilities (clean rooms, microscopy,
synthesis - both wet and dry -, etc.), and new research space. An important point about the
research space is that much of it will be assigned on a rotating basis for new interdisciplinary
projects-- to provide the resources needed to pursue new directions in nanoscale research.

The length of University support of CIMS is not well defined at present. Initial plans are to
provide a decreasing funding over a 10 year period with major external review after five
years. This scheme is based on the desire that the researchers involved with the Center
develop external funding sources (government and private) to supplement and sustain efforts.
Potential partners are presently being actively pursued.

projects and by providing world-class facilities and technical support, Harvard believes that it
will create a win-win situation for academia, industry and government.

- Nanotechnology Partnership: Rice University and NASA
A collaborative effort between NASA and Rice University began in October 1998 for the
development of carbon nanotechnology to be used in numerous revolutionary applications.
Collaborative partners with Rice in this effort are Johnson Space Center, Ames Research
Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Langley Research Center. Rice is currently working
on bulk production of nanotubes in a gas-phase process, suspension of tubes in a solution, and
the fabrication of membranes and arrays of nanotubes that can be grown continuously. The
Johnson Space Center’s primary goal for nanotubes is to produce a structural material with a
strength-to-weight ratio much higher than today’s best composites. This work consists of
production of nanotubes using electric arc and laser ablation methods, study of growth
mechanisms, purification of tubes, and insertion into polymer composites for testing.
Researchers from Rice have been instrumental in pushing this work forward. Preliminary
work in composites has given scientists reason for optimism for eventual widespread use.
These composites show promise in revolutionizing the field of materials science. The
collaboration extends to Ames Research Center for modeling of the mechanical behavior of
nanotubes and nanotube composites. Ames also works directly with Rice to model the highpressure
nanotube production system being developed there. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
has been involved with the nanotube effort by looking into battery and energy storage
applications and is now looking further into nanoelectronics. Although the addition of
Langley Research Center is relatively new, Langley is the NASA Center of Excellence for
Structures and Materials. The goal of the nanotube project is to develop breakthrough
technologies such as ultralightweight composites, advanced energy storage, flat panel
displays, chemical sensors, nanoelectronics, and biomedical uses. These enabling
technologies will help NASA achieve its missions in the new millennium. The total planned
investment of NASA in the Rice collaboration is 4 to 5 million dollars over a period of five
years, and Rice’s contribution will be on the same order of magnitude.

- Nanoscience university-industry-government investment: Northwestern University Center
for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-assembly.

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix B16
B16. International Activities in Nanotechnology

Introduction
The United States’ relative strength compared with the rest of the world has changed
significantly. While the United States is still the world’s undisputed economic and
technological leader, the world’s knowledge and wealth is found in more and more locations.
In 1950, the United States contributed approximately 40 percent of the developed world’s
GDP and carried out two to three times the total research and development (R&D) carried out
by the rest of the world. By 1997, the U.S. contribution was 27 percent of world GDP, and
the United States conducted about 40 percent of the world’s R&D.

Nanotechnology is a prime example of the global spread of R&D. The United States, Japan
and Europe all are world leaders in this area. (for further reference see “Nanostructure
Science and Technology: A Worldwide Study Study”, NSTC, 1999,
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.Worldwide.Study/toc.htm).
While it is difficult to estimate the extent and quality of nanotechnology research taking place
especially within industry, there is at least twice as much government-funded nanotechnology
research going on outside of the United States as there is within it. Therefore, it is imperative
the United States build international awareness and analysis, and investigates into
collaborative opportunities into the National Nanotechnology Initiative initiative from the
very beginning.

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that there is still a chance to get in on the ground floor in this technology’s development, helps
explain the phenomenal levels of R&D activity worldwide.

Examples of Regional Research
The Japanese government has designed programs to establish its companies as the leaders in
the development of this technology. Germany and the United Kingdom have programs
comparable in scale and sophistication to Japan, but with differences in research emphasis.
China also is undertaking major efforts in nanotechnology. Other major players are Australia,
France, India, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Russia, Switzerland, and Canada. It is essential,
therefore, to be able to transcend geographic location to understand and craft this technology.

1. Japan
The Japanese Government spent about $120 million on nanotechnology research in 1997. It
has significant capital infrastructure for nanotechnology in its national laboratories,
universities and companies. The quality of its science in this area is high, it has ample human
resources and has a large number of first-class collaborations among national laboratories,
academic institutions and company researchers. Government and very large corporations are
the main sources of funding for nanotechnology in Japan. Japan is attempting in the relatively
new field of nanotechnology to provide an opportunity for researchers to become more
proactive and less traditional. Japanese research centers around three main areas: quantum
functional devices, biotechnology, and smart materials. Appendix One lists major Japanese
centers of excellence and projects on nanotechnology and, if available, the approximate
amount they spend per year.

2. Western Europe
In Europe, there is a combination of national programs, collaborative European Union
projects and networks, and large corporations investing in nanotechnology. The United
Kingdom, Germany and France all have major national programs and capabilities in
nanotechnology. Researchers in other countries such as the Netherlands and Switzerland also
are doing significant work. European Government Expenditures on nanotechnology were
about $128 million in 1997.

Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology, and the Joint Research Center
Nanostructured Materials Network.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) spends approximately $50
million per year on nanotechnology. BMBF is supporting precompetitive R&D projects in
nanotechnology with a plan to scale-up spending over the next few years. Areas of emphasis
include: nanoanalysis, ultrathin films, lateral nanostructures, nanomaterials, and ultraprecision
engineering. In 1998, it began an initiative to fund six competence centers as a platform for
the accelerated development of nanotechnology. The goal of these centers is to bring together
science, economics and venture capital to quickly spread information and results, coordinate
an educational effort, and stimulate the formation of start-up companies.

The British Government created the LINK Nanotechnology Programme in 1988 with an
annual budget of about $2 million. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
funded $7 million worth of materials science projects related to nanotechnology from 1994-
1999, and plans to continue funding this area. The National Physical Laboratory established
the National Initiative on Nanotechnology to promote nanotechnology in universities,
industry, and government. In addition, some British universities, such as Oxford University,
conduct leading edge nanotechnology research.

3. Other Examples
· Singapore has a national program initiated in 1995.
· Australia’s National Research Council sponsors significant amounts of nanotechnology
R&D. There are also programs in Australian universities and industry.

· Korea has included nanotechnology as a national focus area since 1995 and is in the
process of establishing a special research center on nanoscale semiconductor devices.

· Taiwan is increasing nanotechnology research through the Industrial Technology research
Institute and its National Science Council to ensure it can retain a leading position in
information technology.

· China is just completing a ten-year nanotechnology program "Climbing Project on
Nanometer Science" and plans major new activities. It also has significant relevant
research on advanced materials, nanoprobes and manufacturing processes using
nanotubes.

· Russia has established the Russian Society of Scanning Probe Microscopy and
Nanotechnology, and has particular strengths in preparation processes of nanostructured
materials and nanocrystalline structures.

· Ultimate Manipulation of Atoms and Molecules Program ($25 million)
· Frontier Carbon Technology Program ($15 million)
· Smart Materials Program ($9 million)
· Optical Disk Systems with Nano-Precision Control Program ($12 million)
· Super Metal Technology Program ($10 million)
*Subtotals are higher than total MITI funding because some programs listed do not clearly delineate
nanotechnology research.

Science and Technology Agency ($35 million)
· Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Frontier Materials Research
· National Research Institute for Metals
· Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) Projects
--Quantum Devices
--Single Atomic and Molecular Manipulations

· Japan Science and Technology Corporation’s ERATO Projects
--Quantum Wave Project
--Atomcraft Project
--Electron Wavefront Project
--Quantum Fluctuation Project

Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and Culture
· Tokyo University
--Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology
--Institute of Industrial Engineering
--Chemical Engineering

· Kyoto University
· Tokyo Institute of Technology, Bioelectric Devices
· Tohoku University, Institute of Materials Science
· Nagoya University
· Osaka University
· Institute of Molecular Science
· Exploratory Research on Novel Artificial Materials and Substances for Next Generation
Industries

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix C
NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE
PUBLICATIONS

Below is a list of nanotechnology publications that have been prepared by the
Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology
(IWGN) of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on
Technology.

Nanotechnology: Shaping the World Atom by Atom
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.Public.Brochure/welcome.htm).

This glossy publication sets the stage for increasing the public’s understanding of what nanotechnology is, how
nanotechnology came to be, and its potential impact on society. “The emerging fields of nanoscience and
nanoengineering are leading to unprecedented understanding and control over the fundamental building blocks
of all physical thinks. This is likely to change the way almost everything – from vaccines to computers to
automobile tires to objects not yet imagined – is designed and made.”

National Nanotechnology Initiative – Leading to the Next Industrial Revolution
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.FY01BudSuppl/toc.htm)

This report supplements the President’s FY 2001 Budget and highlights the nanotechnology funding mechanisms
developed for this new initiative as well as the funding allocations by each participating Federal agency. This
report unveils the President’s bold, new initiative coordinating focussed areas of research and development
(R&D) among the Federal government, academia and university to advancing nanotechnology.

Nanostructure Science and Technology: A Worldwide Study Study
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.Worldwide.Study/toc.htm).

This report reviews the status of R&D in nanoparticles, nanostructured materials, and nanodevices, including
innovative approaches to synthesis and characterization. The report highlights applications in dispersions, highsurface
area materials, electronic and magnetic devices, nanostructured materials, and biological systems. It
includes a comparative review of research programs around the world – the United States, Japan, Western
Europe, and other countries – to help provide a global picture of the field.

IWGN Workshop Report: Nanotechnology Research Directions
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/NSTC/html/iwgn/IWGN.Research.Directions/toc.htm)

National Nanotechnology Initiative, Appendix D
President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology Endorsement to the
President
__________________________________________________________________________________________

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT’S COMMITTEE OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20502

December 14, 1999
The President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:
Your Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) strongly endorses the
establishment of a National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), beginning in Fiscal Year 2001,
as proposed by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). Our endorsement is
based on a technical and budgetary review of a comprehensive report prepared by the NSTC
Committee on Technology’s Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering and
Technology (IWGN).

We believe that the Administration should make the NNI a top priority. America's continued
economic leadership and national security in the 21st century will require a significant,
sustained increase in nanotechnology R&D over the next 10 to 20 years. We strongly endorse
the robust funding and the research strategy that has been proposed by the NSTC’s IWGN.

Nanotechnology is the science and engineering of assembling materials and components atom
by atom, or molecule by molecule, and integrating them into useful devices. It uses new
discoveries, new eyes (high resolution microscopes) and hands (laser tweezers) to work, at the
scale of a nanometer (one billionth of a meter – ten thousand times smaller than the diameter
of a human hair).

Nanotechnology thrives from modern advances in chemistry, physics, biology, engineering,
and materials research. We believe that nanotechnology will have a profound impact on our
economy and society in the early 21st century, perhaps comparable to that of information
technology or of cellular, genetic, and molecular biology. Nanotechnology also promotes the
convergence of biological, chemical, materials and physical sciences and engineering
disciplines.

but Europe and Japan are each making greater investments than the United States is, generally
in carefully focused programs. Now is the time to act.

In our view, the Federal government, together with academia and industry, plays a vital role
in advancing nanotechnology. This role will require a new, bold national initiative
coordinating focused R&D in the decade ahead. Today nanoscale S&T is roughly where the
fundamental R&D on which transistors are based was in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Most
of the work currently required is still fundamental, with a much longer time horizon than what
most industries can support. The NNI is balanced well across fundamental research, grand
challenges, centers and networks of excellence, research infrastructure, and education and
training.

We believe that the science, technology, applications, products, and programs catalyzed by
the NNI will inspire a new generation of young Americans with exciting new opportunities
and draw them to careers in S&T. Potentially the NNI will help provide for a better world
through advances in environmental technologies, lowering of energy consumption, and
advances in medical diagnostics and therapeutics.

The NNI is an excellent multi-agency framework to ensure U.S. leadership in this emerging
field that will be essential for economic and national security leadership in the first half of the
next century. We recommend that progress toward NNI goals be monitored annually by an
appropriate external body of experts, such as the National Research Council.

A brief summary of our review of the IWGN report, National Nanotechnology Initiative –
Leading to the Next Industrial Revolution, is enclosed. We hope that our recommendations
will be helpful as you consider your priorities for Federal investments.

We look forward to discussing this review with you, with members of your Administration,
and with members of Congress.

Sincerely,

PRESIDENT’S COMMITTEE OF ADVISORS
ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PANEL ON NANOTECHNOLOGY
REVIEW OF PROPOSED NATIONAL NANOTECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE
NOVEMBER 1999

Summary
PCAST believes that the benefits to the United States of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)
are compelling, and we endorse the funding level, balance, and mechanism recommended by
Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering and Technology (IWGN).

Our Review
A PCAST Nanotechnology Panel, composed of industry and university experts and chaired by Dr.
Charles Vest, carefully reviewed the report entitled National Nanotechnology Initiative – Leading to
the Next Industrial Revolution, written by the National Science and Technical Council (NSTC)
Committee on Technology’s Interagency Working Group on NanoScience, Engineering and
Technology (IWGN). This report frames a new interagency R&D initiative, the NNI, starting in Fiscal
Year 2001, and proposes a 5-year funding plan, appropriately distributed across both agencies and
funding mechanisms. The NNI has an essential exploratory and scientific component and focuses on
fundamental aspects of nanoscale science and engineering that collectively have high potential to
eventually lead to important applications, processes, and products. These outcomes will strengthen
both scientific disciplines and create critical interdisciplinary opportunities. Our Panel reviewed the
technical merits and the funding profiles in the NNI proposal and supports the IWGN recommendation
for a substantial budget increase in Fiscal Year 2001 with sustained funding in this area.

The NNI research portfolio is balanced well across fundamental research, Grand Challenges, centers
and networks of excellence, research infrastructure, and education and training. The NNI also provides
mechanisms for building workforce skills necessary for future industrial and academic positions,
proposes cross-disciplinary networks and partnerships, includes a mechanism for disseminating
information, and suggests tools for encouraging small businesses to exploit nanotechnology
opportunities. If it is implemented, we recommend that the NNI be annually reviewed by a nongovernment
advisory committee, such as the National Research Council, to monitor and assess
progress toward its goals.

Nanotechnology is the future.
Nanotechnology is the builder's new frontier – one where properties and phenomena are very different
than those utilized in traditional technologies. Nature builds things with atomic precision. Every
living cell is filled with natural nanomachines of DNA, RNA, proteins, etc., which interact to produce
tissues and organs. Humans are now learning to build non-biological materials and machines on the
nanometer scale, imitating the elegance and economy of nature. This embryonic capability may
portend a new industrial revolution. In the coming decades, nanotechnology will enable us to
manufacture devices that conduct electricity efficiently, compute, move, sense their environment, and
repair themselves.

It may eventually be possible to develop technologies for renewable, clean energy; to replace metals
with lightweight, recyclable polymeric nanocomposites; to provide low-cost access to space; and to
develop new classes of pharmaceuticals. Investments in nanotechnology have the potential to spawn
the growth of future industrial productivity. When allied with the biosciences, nanotechnology will
accelerate the development of early detection instruments for physicians, as well as the development
of noninvasive diagnosis and medical treatment. It will also lower the cost of pure water and healthy
food for the world’s population.

The United States cannot afford to be in second place in this endeavor. The country that leads in
discovery and implementation of nanotechnology will have great advantage in the economic and
military scene for many decades to come.

A bold, Federally funded national program is needed now.
Nanotechnology, which is based on phenomena first observed and characterized in the 1980s, is now
emerging as an important new frontier. Direct, strategic investments made now in fundamental
science and engineering will position the U.S. science and technology (S&T) community to discover
and apply nanoscale phenomena, and transfer them to industry. Nanoscale S&T today is roughly
where the fundamental R&D on which transistors are based was in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
Most foreseeable applications are still 10 or 20 years away from a commercially significant market;
however, industry generally invests only in developing cost-competitive products in the 3 to 5 year
timeframe. It is difficult for industry management to justify to their shareholders the large
investments in long-term, fundamental research needed to make nanotechnology-based products
possible. Furthermore, the highly interdisciplinary nature of some of the needed research is
incompatible with many current corporate structures.

There is a clear need for Federal support at this time. Appropriately, Federal and academic
investments in nanotechnology R&D to date have evolved in open competition with other research
topics, resulting in some fragmentation and duplication of efforts, which is natural at this stage. Going
forward, however, nanotechnology will require a somewhat more coherent, sustained investment in
long-term research. The NNI would support critical segments of this research and increase the
national infrastructure necessary to conduct it.

International Activity in Nanotechnology
The United States does not dominate nanotechnology research. Yet we strongly believe that the United
States must lead in this area to ensure economic and national security leadership. Compared to our
nation, other countries are investing much more in relevant areas of ongoing research. Many other
countries have launched major initiatives in this area, because their scientists and national leaders have
determined that nanotechnology has the potential to be a major economic factor during the next
several decades. Japan and Europe are supporting scientific work of the same quality and breadth of
that done in the United States. Unlike in the other post-war technological revolutions, the United
States does not enjoy an early lead in nanotechnology.

We must act now to put in place an infrastructure for nanoscale research that is equal to that which
exists anywhere in the world. A suitable U.S. infrastructure will enable us to collaborate
appropriately, as well as compete, with other nations. Without the NNI, there is a real danger that our
nation could fall behind other countries. To ensure leadership in the future, the United States must
make a large and sustained investment in this area.

world as they know it. Yet chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, and materials research are at the
core of nanotechnology, which likely will play a dominant role in future decades. The NNI should
parallel investments in R&D with a creative and entrepreneurial program that offers young people a
truly interdisciplinary education, and that prepares the next generation of researchers and industrial
leaders.

As nanotechnology develops, the core areas of the physical sciences, engineering and biomedicine in
our nation’s universities will become much more intimately coupled to each other. Future research
efforts in these fields need a far better integration among each other and to industry and society as a
whole. The relevance and inherent excitement of nanoscale R&D should attract young men and
women to science as never before and also create exciting and important career options for them.

Nanotechnology and Global Challenges
In the next century, the world population will likely grow to over ten billion. Without revolutionary
advances in environmentally sustainable technologies, global society will struggle with the
implications of this growth. Nanotechnology, as broadly supported by the NNI, has the potential to
develop lightweight, recyclable materials and energy efficient devices that will contribute to such
sustainability. Therefore, the United States should move to develop this area quickly, not only for
economic benefit, but also for its potential contribution to a more sustainable future.

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