is anyone in this community working on nanotech? with renewed interest in chip fabrication in geopolitics and investment in “deep tech” in the vc world i think now is a good time to revisit the possibility of creating micro and nano scale tools that are capable of manufacturing.
like ASML’s most recent machine is very big, so will the next one have to be even bigger? how would they transport it if it doesn’t fit on roads? seems like the approach of just stacking more mirrors and more parts will hit limits eventually. “Moore’s Second Law” says the cost of semiconductor production increases exponentially. perhaps making machines radically smaller, manufacturing nano things using many micro scales machines working in parallel, could be a way to reign in costs and shorten iteration cycles.
there’s a two papers I found about the concept of a “fab on a chip”—they seem promising, but mostly exploratory. they did succeed in using microelectromechanics (MEMS) and tweezers to create a tiny vapor deposition tool i believe.
obviously the holy grail would be a tiny fab that could create another version of itself as well as other useful things (chips, solar panels). then you can do the whole industrial revolution recursion thing where you forge better tongs to forge better. I think this vision is lost on people that do nanoscale R&D now—academics and people working long hours in cleanrooms running expensive tests on big expensive machines.
anyways, I’ve only been looking into this for a short while
is anyone in this community working on nanotech? with renewed interest in chip fabrication in geopolitics and investment in “deep tech” in the vc world i think now is a good time to revisit the possibility of creating micro and nano scale tools that are capable of manufacturing.
like ASML’s most recent machine is very big, so will the next one have to be even bigger? how would they transport it if it doesn’t fit on roads? seems like the approach of just stacking more mirrors and more parts will hit limits eventually. “Moore’s Second Law” says the cost of semiconductor production increases exponentially. perhaps making machines radically smaller, manufacturing nano things using many micro scales machines working in parallel, could be a way to reign in costs and shorten iteration cycles.
there’s a two papers I found about the concept of a “fab on a chip”—they seem promising, but mostly exploratory. they did succeed in using microelectromechanics (MEMS) and tweezers to create a tiny vapor deposition tool i believe.
obviously the holy grail would be a tiny fab that could create another version of itself as well as other useful things (chips, solar panels). then you can do the whole industrial revolution recursion thing where you forge better tongs to forge better. I think this vision is lost on people that do nanoscale R&D now—academics and people working long hours in cleanrooms running expensive tests on big expensive machines.
anyways, I’ve only been looking into this for a short while