Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: well!nagle@lll-crg.llnl.gov (John Nagle) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Simple nanomachines Keywords: nanotechnology Message-ID: Date: 26 Aug 89 00:48:28 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 19 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu Most of the nanomachines discussed here, or, for that matter, in Engines of Creation, are far beyond what we can hope to construct for some time. I suggest that some thought be devoted to the design of simpler nanomachines, far simpler than an assembler. One such is a smart etchant. This is a tool for photolithography. A film of fluid, with etching nanomachines, is laid down on a surface. A mask is projected on the surface, but instead of being simply projected while the etchant works, it is used to control which machines receive messages expressed as patterns of light flashes. The machines respond to low-level commands, such as "remove a 1-atom layer", "remove a 10 atom layer", "remove all non-silicon atoms", "deposit metallic atom layer", and such. The result is a means of producing ICs with a simple, one-pass process. John Nagle