ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

NanoTechnology 203
A system akin to the STM nanotech workstation may dynamically observe
and manipulate nanoscale materials and systems, capabilities consistent with
Feynman’s notions for molecular machines.
10.3 STM/Feynman Machines (FMs)
STMs utilized to implement Feynman’s ideas concerning atomic and
molecular level fabrication and machining (Feynman machines: “FMs”) have
been dubbed by Schneiker as “STM/FMs.”
Feynman had noted the possibility of doing chemical synthesis mechanically.
In an effort to move in this direction, Schneiker (1986) proposed the following
STM experiments (Figure 10.11). 1) Use an STM tip to move a pair of adatoms
(or molecular fragments) on a substrate (or STM tip) together so as to induce
chemical bonding. 2) Use an STM tip to cleave a chemical bond of a molecule
adsorbed on a substrate. 3) Use an enzyme or synthetic catalyst adsorbed on an
STM tip to repeat experiments (1) and (2).
Figure 10.12: Nanomilling/nanolithography. By Conrad Schneiker
(Schneiker, 1986).
Perhaps the first step in such ambitious proposals has already been
accomplished. The Bell Labs group (Becker, Golovchenko and Swartzentruber,
1987) used an STM tip to place a single atom on a germanium surface. Further
STM/FM modifications and applications elucidated by Schneiker (1986) include:
1) tip shape modifications (scalpel, chisel, cylindrical, and other configurations)
for scanning, scribing, etching, milling, and polishing operations or for electrical
interfaces, electrochemical synthesis or machining, 2) attached tip structures
(enzymes, synthetic catalysts, shape selective crown ethers, transducer molecules,
etc.) for molecular recognition with species selective (and perhaps electrostatic or
electromagnetic assisted) pick, place, join, and cleave operations, or nanoenvironmental
sensing, 3) multiple tip configurations (parallel or radial
configurations) for use as ultraminiature tweezers, jigs, and arcs or interface
electrodes, or to generate rapidly rotating electric fields, and 4) tip materials
modification (insulating, semiconducting, ferroelectric or ferromagnetic) for
electrostatic, electromagnetic, magnetic, kHz-GHz acoustic (longitudinal,
transverse, or torsional) and optical modulation in mono-or multi-polar
configurations (Figures 10.12 and 10.13).