US researchers have built a proto-prototype nano assembler

April 29, 2008 | Source: Nanowerk

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed an early prototype for a nanoassembler.

The NIST system consists of four Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) devices positioned around a centrally located port on a chip into which the starting materials can be placed. Each nanomanipulator is composed of a positioning mechanism with an attached nanoprobe.

By simultaneously controlling the position of each of these nanoprobes, the team can use them to cooperatively assemble a complex structure on a very small scale, using using a scanning electron microscope for real-time imaging of the nanomanipulation procedures.

The researchers suggest it should be possible to have multiple nanoassemblers working simultaneously to manufacture next-generation nanoelectronics.