Duke University engineers have adapted a computer-aided design (CAD) method and manufacturing process to reproduce nanosized structures with features on the order of a single molecule. The process used the computing language of macroscale milling machines to guide an atomic force microscope (AFM).
The process produced 3D silicon oxide nanostructures by anodization nanolithography, in which oxides are built on semiconducting and metallic surfaces by applying an electric field in the presence of tiny amounts of water. AFMs have relied on 2D imaging to lay out a design. Now, the researchers have shown they can visualize 3D structures in a computerized design environment and automatically build them at the nanoscale.
The research indicates that nanomanufacturing facilities of the future may operate much the same as existing manufacturing plants. Said Rob Clark, one of the Duke researchers, "If you can take prototyping and nanomanufacturing to a level that leverages what engineers know how to do, then you are ahead of the game."
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