TRN's Making The Future Report

November, 2003
Self-Assembly: The Natural Way to Make Things
37 pages

This report examines the current state of the self-assembly technologies poised to enable nanotechnology and future chip manufacturing processes, organizes key issues and puts them in context, and succinctly explains how the technologies work.

Scientists looking for efficient ways to make microscopic machines and faster electronics are turning to self-assembly in hopes of putting things together with something like natures' ease.

Self-assembly is a critical aspect of nanotechnology because using tools to manipulate objects in the realm of molecules is incredibly difficult and nowhere near cost-effective. Self-assembly is also poised to enable faster electronics when current chip manufacturing processes reach their limits.

Researchers are tapping biological materials like DNA, organic molecules like polymers, and inorganic molecules like gold nanoparticles to find ways ways to make materials self-assemble into specific shapes, sizes and orientations. Initial efforts have produced particles, wires, rings, tubes, containers, patterned surfaces and patterned materials that automatically assemble molecule-by-molecule.

The technology is likely to play an increasingly important role in areas like photonics, data storage, drug delivery and biochemical sensors.

The report includes an executive summary, a list of 17 developments to look for as these cutting-edge technologies take shape, and a section of 24 researchers to watch, including links to their Web pages. It also includes a quick tour of 39 recent developments in six areas and a section of 28 in-depth news stories from TRN.

The stories are organized into six categories: DNA, viruses and proteins, polymers, molecules, semiconductors and metals, and scope and scale.

TRN's Making the Future reports contain live links, and can be read on a computer, printed and archived.

Buy the the Self-Assembly report for $89.

. You will receive download instructions via email.

Report Sections
Executive Summary: 260 words Main Report: 3,580 words How It Works: 610 words In-Depth Stories: 28 stories, including 19 images
Table of Contents: Main Report Making things make themselves Microscopic machines and faster electronics Materials, means and ends The laws of physics Design as process The stuff of life Blueprint and building material Hybrids Getting down to the basics Proteins Catching a bug — and putting it to work Better building through organic chemistry Chain reactions Liquid crystals Natures building blocks — one at a time Order and growth Sowing crystals seeds Alchemy An organizing principle Delivering on the nanotech promise Self-assembling the far future	How It Works Life’s plan Connecting things up Building a bigger molecule Chain reactions In-Depth Story Categories DNA Viruses and proteins Polymers Molecules Semiconductors and metals Scope and scale

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View a four-page sample of the Making the Future report (pdf).

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