From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sun Aug 13 2000 - 19:33:44 MDT
On Sunday, August 13, 2000 10:11 AM Ross A. Finlayson raf@tiki-lounge.com
wrote:
> Well, it would be possible to use nanoscopes to see structural defects at
a
> level finer than currently. That, way, all the processes could be tuned
for
> comprehensive fitness.
Exactly! Of course, in some cases, one might not be able to do more than
just see the defects. But if it's something where a process produces
variable outputs -- as with manufactureing microchips -- it might be a case
of seeing the defects and rejecting the outputs that fall below a certain
threshold. With nanoscale detection * one would certainly be able to do
this. This would be especially important in critical components or
components that fail at a high rate because of their structure.
> In terms of nanotech replication machines it could probably reproduce
nanotechs
> at a pretty fast rate. That means very high quality crystals until it is
used
> for plastics and other polymers.
To be precise here, I'm not talking about nanoassemblers -- nanotech that
reproduces -- but about non-nanotech that produces nanotech. To some
extent, we have this now. People are already building nanoscale structures.
Since we don't yet have true nanoassemblers, we can still, I believe build a
lot of useful nanostructures and even devices with current technology.
The real trick is being able to produce such things in such a way as to make
a profit and, hopefully, further progress along. (I think if nanotech
structures make it out of the lab now, it will signal investors to put more
funding into the work as well as bring the stuff into everyday life.)
Daniel Ust
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
* I prefer this over "nanoscope," as that term implies something akin to a
microscope albeit smaller. In fact, nanoscale detection might be something
as simple and crude as making the defective item or process change color
change so that we can detect the problem output at a macroscale. E.g., if
defective microchips changed to dayglow green, we be able to pick them out
of the batch. Crude but effective, no?
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