ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

NanoTechnology 205
driving system of current STMs-another motivation for miniaturizing them
considerably. Thus it would be possible, for example, to turn a molecular scale
mechanical crank (say of 2 nm diameter) at thousands of revolutions per minute.
Similar to flagella and cilia of single cell organisms, these could be used for
propulsion of nanoscale robots and other uses.
The capabilities of STM/FMs have been heretofore nonexistent; therefore
applications may abound in the near future as scientists in many disciplines
become aware of this versatile and inexpensive technology.
10.4 Micro/Nano STM Contest
Feynman’s original (1961) proposal for molecular and atomic scale machines
included prizes and competition to “get kids interested in this field.” He offered
$1000 to the first person to a) reduce the information on the page of a book to an
area 1/25,000 smaller in linear scale to be read by an electron microscope, b)
construct an electric motor which is only 1/64 inch cube.
The latter prize was presented by Prof. Feynman on November 28, 1960 to
William McLellan, who built an electric motor the size of a speck of dust
(Gilbert, 1961). The former prize was awarded in 1985 to Tom Newman, a
Stanford graduate student who used electron beam lithography to reduce a page
from A Tale of Two Cities to 5.9 x 5.9 micrometers and magnified it back using
an electron microscope.
Motivated by a desire to accelerate development of STM derived technology
as a bridge to more powerful Feynman Machines, Schneiker (1985, 1986) has
announced a series of construction challenges and prizes (Hansma and Tersoff,
1987). The challenges are to construct, operate, and publicly demonstrate STMs
(including the active/moving part of the mechanical positioning and scanning
systems) which can be controlled from the outside, and which (not counting leadin
wires, fiber optics, etc.) are of the following sizes or smaller: (1 mm) 3 , (100
µm) 3 , (10µm) 3 , (1 µm) 3 , (100 nm) s , and (10 nm) 3 . The imaging capability should
be comparable to that indicated by the picture on page 482, vol. 56 of the physics
journal Helvetica Physica Acta, 1983. The two imaging tests will be: a) imaging a
(10 nm) 2 square highly ordered pyrolytic graphite surface, and b) imaging the
entire conical surface of another atomically sharp (nonrotating) tungsten STM tip
(forming a 60° cone or less), extending 2 nm from that tip. Successive scans must
be made to demonstrate that your device doesn’t modify these test items. An
additional pair of challenges are 1: to use an STM/FM to a) mechanically
synthesize 10 molecules of either of the proposed spherical C 60 or C 180 molecules
known as “Buckminster Fullerene” (Schneiker, 1986) and to b) demonstrate
conclusively that the synthesis was successful, and 2: to use an STM/FM to a)
mechanically synthesize a 10 nm x 10 nm layer of graphite, and to b) demonstrate
conclusively that the synthesis was successful. The current prizes being offered,
one per category, are $1000, with a maximum of one prize being paid out per
year. Potential winners should contact the author. Additional sponsors and prizes
are solicited. And as Feynman originally advised:
... have some fun! Lets have a competition between laboratories.
10.5 STM/FMs and Molecular Computing
The ability to use multi-tip STM/FMs for mechanical chemistry and as
electrical interfaces might solve two formidable problems in the development of
molecular computing devices as envisioned by Carter (1983): 1) the synthesis of
prototype devices and 2) making individual, reliable, electrical connections to
them for testing.