A Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Nanoscience, Applications, and Commercialization (2020) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 7-19
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 7... ...
WHAT IS "NANOTECHNOLOGY" AND WHY IS IT OF PERVASIVE INTEREST? When small numbers of atoms are allowed, or are induced, to assemble into very small objects with dimensions of 1-100 nm, they have properties that are sometimes unlike any exhibited by their macroscopic counterparts -- for example, the mesoporous zeolites described in Box 1.1, or cage-like fullerenes, cylindrical or flattened carbon nanotubes, or carbon formed as sheets of single-layer raphene.1 g While fullerenes have yet to find a major application, the other nanoforms of c arbon possess remarkable stiffnesses and strengths, ultra-high thermal and elec trical conductivities, and a host of interesting and potentially transformative e lectrical transport behaviors.
|
From page 8... ...
They are also used in emerging quantum-dot light emitting displays (QD-LEDs) with the potential to displace this current major application of quantum dot technology.
|
From page 9... ...
For example, the "fin width," or critical dimension, in a fin field effect transistor (FinFET) is now less than 10 nm.12 Such dense device packing has driven down the cost per device at a truly remarkable rate, but has required massive investments by industry to develop integrated circuit design software, silicon wafer processing and metrology tools, and new designs to manage the enor mous thermal flux that must be removed from devices in operation.
|
From page 10... ...
That is, the nanoscience and nanotechnology R&D programs taking place in academic, govern ment, and industry laboratories across the United States originate from, and are funded by, the participating departments and agencies, not the NNI. In its capacity as an interagency coordination effort, the NNI informs and influences the federal budget and strategic planning processes through engagement with its involved departments and agencies and with the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
|
From page 11... ...
Whereas it was originally proposed that these contributions should amount to 0.3 percent of the total NNI budget, it has been noted in previ ous NNI reviews that this level of support for the coordination effort has not been achieved, and appears to have been held flat at just less than $3 million, which for 2020 is about two-thirds of the proposed level of support.18 It has been reported to the committee that this model for supporting the NNI is essentially self-limiting, in that participating departments and agencies have a disincentive for reporting expanded R&D expenditures as nanotechnology, since doing so would trigger a higher contribution for support of the NNI mission and the work of NSET and the NNCO specifically. This is a very different coordination model from the directed funding allocations and robust support and coordination structures that other nations and regions use for investments in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
|
From page 12... ...
, OSTP worked with NNI member agencies to identify and select Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges, each intended to represent "an ambitious but achievable goal that harnesses nanoscience, nanotechnology, and innovation to solve important national or global problems and has the potential to capture the public's imagination."21 The Future Computing Grand Challenge that emerged from that process laid the essential groundwork for the recent launch of the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) .22 19 See National Nanotechnology Initiative, "NNI Budget," http://nano.gov/about-nni/what/fund ing, accessed 04/16/2020.
|
From page 13... ...
are: 1. Current Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives (NSIs)
|
From page 14... ...
SOURCE: The National Nanotechnology Initiative Supplement to the President's 2020 Budget, page 7. BOX 1.3 Nanotechnology Investments The federal departments and agencies making the largest nanotechnology investments through the National Nanotechnology Institute are • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
|
From page 15... ...
gov/signatureinitiatives, accessed 04/16/2020. THE EVOLVING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT The combination of state-of-the-art facilities that allow increasingly complex nanostructures to be synthesized and characterized, appropriate investments in safety and standards, together with the remarkable scientific and engineering talent that has been drawn to the NNI program, has enabled the U.S.
|
From page 16... ...
OECD,data source Training Indicators, 2019; Eurostat, Education and training database; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Education and for Japan changed in 2014, which may potentially result in a time series break. SOURCE: National Science Board, Science & Engineering Indicators 2020, https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators, Figure 3.
|
From page 17... ...
The EU top 6 total vary slightly from the the six EU countries producing the highest number in other doctoral degrees of 2016:report. Germany, 6 includes estimated data for some countries and some years when country data sections in the France, EU top Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
|
From page 18... ...
These observa tions motivated the review committee to investigate the global nanotechnology enterprise, and the effectiveness of the NNI technology transfer activities, and to propose several changes to the coordination of the U.S. commercialization effort.
|
From page 19... ...
Other selected Asia includes India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Board, 2018, Science and Engineering Indicators, https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/, Figure 6-11. Vietnam.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.