17 September 2009

Nano manufacturing's new page with 'NanoPen'

A "NanoPen" could provide an easy way of laying down patterns of nanoparticles for making electronic devices and medical diagnostic tests.

These highly-magnified images are composed of tiny nanoparticles produced by a “NanoPen.”

There are already several different techniques to produce patterns of nanoparticles, which are barely 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, said Ming Wu, a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences department at the University of California at Berkeley. But current techniques tend to be too complex and slow. They require bulky instrumentation and take minutes or even hours to complete. These techniques also require the use of very high temperatures to apply the nanostructures to their target surfaces. Such limitations prevent widespread application of such techniques, the researchers said.

The “NanoPen” solves these problems. In lab studies, the researchers used it to deposit various nanoparticles into specific patterns in the presence of relatively low light and temperature intensities.

The process, which requires the use of special “photoconductive” surfaces, takes only seconds to complete, researchers said. Manufacturers can adjust the size and density of the patterns by adjusting the voltage, light intensity, and exposure time applied during the process.

For related information, go to www.isa.org/manufacturing_automation.