WHAT IS

NANOTECHNOLOGY?
Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and
technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is
about 1 to 100 nanometers.Nanotechnology is
science, engineering, and technology conducted at
the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100
nanometersNanotechnology is the understanding
and control of matter at dimensions between
approximately 1 and 100 nanometers, where unique
phenomena enable novel applications. Encompassing
nanoscale science, engineering, and technology,
nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring,
modeling, and manipulating matter at this length
scale.
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. A sheet of paper is
about 100,000 nanometers thick; a single gold atom is about
a third of a nanometer in diameter. Dimensions between
approximately 1 and 100 nanometers are known as the
nanoscale. Unusual physical, chemical, and biological
properties can emerge in materials at the nanoscale. These
properties may differ in important ways from the properties
of bulk materials and single atoms or molecules.
Nanotechnology ("nanotech") is manipulation of matter on an
atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. The earliest,
widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the
particular technological goal of precisely manipulating atoms
and molecules for fabrication of macroscale products, also
now referred to as molecular nanotechnology. A more
generalized description of nanotechnology was subsequently
established by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which
defines nanotechnology as the manipulation of matter with
at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers. This
definition reflects the fact that quantum mechanical effects
are important at this quantum-realm scale, and so the
definition shifted from a particular technological goal to a
research category inclusive of all types of research and
technologies that deal with the special properties of matter
that occur below the given size threshold. It is therefore
common to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" as well as
"nanoscale technologies" to refer to the broad range of
research and applications whose common trait is size.
Because of the variety of potential applications (including
industrial and military), governments have invested billions

of dollars in nanotechnology research.

Nanotechnology as defined by size is naturally very broad,
including fields of science as diverse as surface science,
organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics,
microfabrication, etc.The associated research and
applications are equally diverse, ranging from extensions of
conventional device physics to completely new approaches
based upon molecular self-assembly, from developing new
materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to direct control
of matter on the atomic scale.
Scientists currently debate the future implications of
nanotechnology. Nanotechnology may be able to create
many new materials and devices with a vast range of
applications, such as in nanomedicine, nanoelectronics,
biomaterials energy production, and consumer products. On
the other hand, nanotechnology raises many of the same
issues as any new technology, including concerns about the
toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials,and their
potential effects on global economics, as well as speculation
about various doomsday scenarios. These concerns have led
to a debate among advocacy groups and governments on
whether special regulation of nanotechnology is warranted.

How nanotechnology started?

The ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and
nanotechnology started with a talk entitled Theres Plenty of
Room at the Bottom by physicist Richard Feynman at an
American Physical Society meeting at the California Institute
of Technology (CalTech) on December 29, 1959, long before
the term nanotechnology was used. In his talk, Feynman
described a process in which scientists would be able to
manipulate and control individual atoms and molecules. Over
a decade later, in his explorations of ultraprecision
machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi coined the term
nanotechnology. It wasn't until 1981, with the development
of the scanning tunneling microscope that could "see"
individual atoms, that modern nanotechnology began.
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at

the molecular scale. This covers both current work and
concepts that are more advanced. In its original sense,
nanotechnology refers to the projected ability to construct
items from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being
developed today to make complete, high performance
products.
One nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 109, of a meter. By
comparison, typical carbon-carbon bond lengths, or the
spacing between these atoms in a molecule, are in the range
0.120.15 nm, and a DNA double-helix has a diameter around
2 nm. On the other hand, the smallest cellular life-forms, the
bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma, are around 200 nm in
length. By convention, nanotechnology is taken as the scale
range 1 to 100 nm following the definition used by the
National Nanotechnology Initiative in the US. The lower limit
is set by the size of atoms (hydrogen has the smallest atoms,
which are approximately a quarter of a nm diameter) since
nanotechnology must build its devices from atoms and
molecules. The upper limit is more or less arbitrary but is
around the size that phenomena not observed in larger
structures start to become apparent and can be made use of
in the nano device. These new phenomena make
nanotechnology distinct from devices which are merely
miniaturised versions of an equivalent macroscopic device;
such devices are on a larger scale and come under the
description of microtechnology.
To put that scale in another context, the comparative size of
a nanometer to a meter is the same as that of a marble to
the size of the earth.[18] Or another way of putting it: a
nanometer is the amount an average man's beard grows in
the time it takes him to raise the razor to his face.
Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. In the
"bottom-up" approach, materials and devices are built from
molecular components which assemble themselves
chemically by principles of molecular recognition. In the "topdown" approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger
entities without atomic-level control.
Areas of physics such as nanoelectronics, nanomechanics,
nanophotonics and nanoionics have evolved during the last
few decades to provide a basic scientific foundation of
nanotechnology.
Its hard to imagine just how small nanotechnology is. One

nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or 10-9 of a meter. Here

are a few illustrative examples:
There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch
A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick
On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then
one meter would be the size of the Earth
Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve the ability to see
and to control individual atoms and molecules. Everything on
Earth is made up of atomsthe food we eat, the clothes we
wear, the buildings and houses we live in, and our own
bodies.
But something as small as an atom is impossible to see with
the naked eye. In fact, its impossible to see with the
microscopes typically used in a high school science classes.
The microscopes needed to see things at the nanoscale were
invented relatively recentlyabout 30 years ago.
Once scientists had the right tools, such as the scanning
tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope
(AFM), the age of nanotechnology was born.
Although modern nanoscience and nanotechnology are quite
new, nanoscale materials were used for centuries. Alternatesized gold and silver particles created colors in the stained
glass windows of medieval churches hundreds of years ago.
The artists back then just didnt know that the process they
used to create these beautiful works of art actually led to
changes in the composition of the materials they were
working with.
Today's scientists and engineers are finding a wide variety of
ways to deliberately make materials at the nanoscale to take
advantage of their enhanced properties such as higher
strength, lighter weight, increased control of light spectrum,
and greater chemical reactivity than their larger-scale
counterparts.

Uses of Nanotechnology in Sensors

To know about the uses of nanotechnlogy in Sensors first we
have to know about the nanosensors.Nanosensors are any
biological, chemical, or surgical sensory points used to

convey information about nanoparticles to the macroscopic

world. Their use mainly include various medicinal purposes
and as gateways to building other nanoproducts, such as
computer chips that work at the nanoscale and nanorobots.
There are several ways being proposed today to make
nanosensors; these include top-down lithography, bottom-up
assembly, and molecular self-assembly.
Nanotechnology enables us to create functional materials,
devices, and systems by controlling matter at the atomic and
molecular scales, and to exploit novel properties and
phenomena . Consider that most chemical and biological
sensors, as well as many physical sensors, depend on
interactions occurring at these levels and you'll get an idea of
the effect nanotechnology will have on the sensor world.
The trend toward the small began with the miniaturization of
macro techniques, which led to the now well-established field
of microtechnology. Electronic, optical, and mechanical
microtechnologies have all profited from the smaller,
smarter, and less costly sensors that resulted from work with
ICs, fiber optics, other micro-optics, and MEMS
(microelectromechanical systems). As we continue to work
with these minuscule building blocks, there will be a
convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and
information technology, among others, with benefits for each
discipline. Substantially smaller size, lower weight, more
modest power requirements, greater sensitivity, and better
specificity are just a few of the improvements we'll see in
sensor design.
Nanosensors and nano-enabled sensors have applications in
many industries, among them transportation,
communications, building and facilities, medicine, safety, and
national security, including both homeland defense and
military operations. Consider nanowire sensors that detect
chemicals and biologics , nanosensors placed in blood cells to
detect early radiation damage in astronauts, and nanoshells
that detect and destroy tumors . Many start-up companies
are already at work developing these devices in an effort to
get in at the beginning. Funding for nanotechnology
increased by more than a factor of 5 between 1997 and
2003, and is still on the rise. So this is a good time to
examine the possibilitiesand the limitationsof this small

new world.
There are following sensors given below in which
nanotechnology play an important role
1.Biosensors- Nanotechnology will also enable the very
selective, sensitive detection of a broad range of
biomolecules. By using the sequential electrochemical
reduction of the metal ions onto an alumina template, we can
now create cylindrical rods made up of metal sections 50 nm
to 5 microns long . These particles, trademarked
Nanobarcodes , can be coated with analyte-specific entities
such as antibodies for selective detection of complex
molecules. DNA detection with these nano-scale coded
particles has also been demonstrated.
Researchers at NASA Ames Research Center have taken a
different route . They cover the surface of a chip with millions
of vertically mounted CNTs 3050 nm . When the DNA
molecules attached to the ends of the nanotubes are placed
in a liquid containing DNA molecules of interest, the DNA on
the chip attaches to the target and increases its electrical
conductivity. This technique, expected to reach the sensitivity
of fluorescence-based detection systems, may find
application in the development of a portable sensor.
2.Chemical Sensors-Chemical sensor using nanocantilevers
that are oscillating at their resonance frequency. When the
chemical attaches to the cantilever it stops the oscillation,
which triggers a detection signal. Nanocantilevers can also
be used to detect biological molecules, such as viruses. The
cantilever is coated with antibodies that capture the
particular virus, when a virus particle attaches to the an
antibody the resonance frequency of the cantilever changes.
Nanocantilevers: These devices are being used to develop
sensors that can detect single molecules. These sensors take
advantage of the fact that the nanocantilever oscillates at a
resonance frequency that changes if a molecule lands on the
cantilever, changing its weight. Coating a cantilever with
molecules, such as antibodies, that bond to a particular
bacteria or virus determines what bacteria or virus will bond
to the cantilever.
3.Medicinal Use-Medicinal uses of nanotechnology mainly
revolve around the potential of nanosensors to accurately

identify particular cells or places in the body in need. By

measuring changes in volume, concentration, displacement
and velocity, gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces,
pressure, or temperature of cells in a body, nanosensors may
be able to distinguish between and recognize certain cells,
most notably those of cancer, at the molecular level in order
to deliver medicine or monitor development to specific
places in the body. In addition, they may be able to detect
macroscopic variations from outside the body and
communicate these changes to other nanoproducts working
within the body.
4.Mechanical Nanosensors-Like chemical nanosensors,
mechanical nanosensors also tend to measure electrical
changes. The nanosensors used in the Micro-ElectroMechanical Systems systems that car airbags depend upon
are monitoring changes in capacitance. These systems have
a miniscule weighted shaft attached to a capacitor. The shaft
bends with changes in acceleration and this is measured as
changes in capacitance.
There are also many other areas in which Nanotechnology
use like Electrometers,Deployable nanosensors etc.