Nanotechnology - Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions from the Nanotechnology lecture notes.

Nanometer

A unit equal to 10^-9 meters; about the width of 3–4 atoms.

Technology

The making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, and techniques to solve problems or perform functions.

Nanomaterials

Materials engineered or occurring at the nanometer scale with unique properties.

Water molecule

H2O molecule; its diameter is about 0.3 nanometers.

Gold nanoparticle

A nanoscale particle of gold; typically 1–100 nanometers in size.

Virus

A nanoscale infectious particle; many viruses range from tens to hundreds of nanometers.

HIV virus

A specific virus about 90 nanometers in diameter.

Red blood cell

A blood cell roughly 7,000–8,000 nanometers (7–8 μm) in diameter.

E. coli

A bacterium about 2,000 nanometers (2 μm) long.

DNA diameter

Diameter of DNA around 2 nanometers.

Carbon nanotube

A cylindrical carbon allotrope; typically about 5 nanometers in diameter.

Buckminsterfullerene (C60)

A spherical carbon molecule (60 atoms), also called buckyball, discovered in 1985.

Scanning Tunneling Microscope

STM; imaging instrument that provides atomic-resolution views of surfaces (invented 1981).

Atomic Force Microscope

AFM; imaging instrument for surfaces at the nanoscale (invented 1986).

Nanomedicine

The application of nanotechnology to medicine; includes nanoscale diagnostics and therapies.

National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)

U.S. government program launched in 2000 to coordinate nanotech R&D.

Richard Feynman

Nobel Prize in Physics (1965); proponent of nanoscale manipulation; author of 'There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom'.

There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom

Feynman’s 1959 talk that helped inspire the field of nanotechnology.

Moore’s Law

Observation by Gordon Moore that the number of transistors on a chip doubles roughly every 18–24 months.

Transistor

A semiconductor switch; the building block of modern microchips.

Clean room

A controlled environment with very low dust to prevent contamination during fabrication.

Nanotechnology

The control of matter at the atomic level, using atoms as building blocks to create novel materials.

Interfaces

Boundaries between materials; at the nanoscale, interfaces largely determine properties and behavior.

High surface-to-volume ratio

Nanoscale objects have a large surface area relative to their volume, influencing reactivity and properties.