From an electron discovery to Moore’s Law within 70 years

Valeriy Kagadey started his lecture with the hindsight of nanotechnologies onset. We can consider the history of nanotechnologies since 1897 when Joseph Thompson discovered an electron. Further, in 1928 Oskar Heil, German scientist, patented the first transistor. Invention of the first bipolar transistor in 1947 was a serious step in nanotechnologies development. “Namely the invention of the first bipolar transistor allowed producing computers, electronics, connection etc.”, says Valeriy about the key event in electronics development. According to his words, development of computers was a remarkable step forward in electronics. The first lamp computer – ENIAC was made in 1946, in Russia it happened in 1960. In 21 years first PC’s appeared. In Valariy Kagadey’s opinion, the establishment of first integral scheme by John Kilby and creation of the law, which defined a long-term development of semi-conductor technologies, by Gordon Moore in 1965, one of the Intel company founders, were momentous events. According to this law, an amount of transistors on a crystal will double every two years.

More difficult than nature

“About ten years ago a transistor size was achieved, at which the size of gate was equal to 3 silicium atoms”, says Valeriy Kagadey about nanoelectronics development. According to him, in 2011 Intel Company launched a production of 22-20 nanometers transistors that is 5 times smaller than the tiniest biological object in the nature - influenza virus. Valeriy Kagadey highlighted that the size limit is a little bit more than 10 nanometers. “Nobody knows what will be further in future”, the lecturer is assured.

Valeriy Kagadey marked that if we are talking about the term “nanotechnologies”, it was first defined by Norio Taniguchi in 1974. According to his definition, nanotechnologies are manipulations with material on the molecular level. “There is a huge amount of definitions both for nanoelectronics and for nanotechnologies,” pinpointed the lecturer. Valeriy Kagadey introduced one of the nanotechnologies’ definitions - when one out of linear sizes of the object is less than 100 nanometers and material properties change at reducing the object size. Nanotechnologies are the result of science dictionary update. Appearance of the term “nanotechnologies” is connected with the essence of the USA scientific sphere development. In the USA scientific community there is an unspoken rule when every 5 years a scientist should change his own dictionary but not the method and the sphere of research. As the result, the term “nanotechnologies” was introduced. Further, in 2008 nanotechnological initiative appeared in America.

“From top to bottom” and “from bottom to top”

According to the lecturer’s words, there are two methods of producing devices using nanotechnologies - “from top to bottom” and “from bottom to top” ones. The fist method implies application of material on a certain base one layer after another. “From bottom to top” method means the production of elementary devices from separate nanoobjects. “Complexity of “from bottom to top” technology is that we should very precisely define the positions of atoms and control their location,” emphasized Valeriy Kagadey.

Future without current

At the end of his talk the lecturer marked that we can’t accurately characterize the future of nanoelectronics yet. But, in his opinion, probably in future devices, which do not use current flow through a particular material, will be developed. “It could be molecular electronics, which utilizes biological molecules; it could be “quantum dots”, in other words – artificial atoms, which could be created by man, attributing any properties to them”, dwelt on future perspectives Valeriy Kagadey. If we are talking about materials that form the basis for new nanoelectronics objects, according to the lecturer, they are silicium and carbon.”Today graphene and nanotubes are namely made of carbon. They can be used for production of logic elements and transistors”, underlined the expert.

Moore’s Law for nanomaterials

According to Oleg Khasanov, an amount of tons of nanomaterials produced will multiply every ten years. It is connected with the fact that various industrial branches make a request for new physical and chemical properties of materials, while existing markets are based on old materials’ properties and quickly loose a potential for extension and growth. Markets based on new materials’ properties on the contrary will develop very fast. “Necessity of nanomaterials is determined by competitiveness on markets, where new properties of already produced products are required”, highlighted Oleg Khasanov.

According to assessment of nanoproduction market distribution among several branches at the beginning of 21 century (the assessment was carried out by TPU nano-center), nanostructural materials for chemistry and machine building comprise one third of the market.

New properties are on the surface

Focused research in the field of nanomaterials originated from the end of 19th century. According to the lecturer, nanomaterials are such materials, which have an amount of atoms and molecules on the surface comparable with the amount of atoms and molecules in volume. A key distinctive feature of nanomaterials is their properties’ determination. If properties of usual materials are determined by volume, then nanomaterials properties in their turn are determined by the atoms on the surface. “Nanomaterials development became relevant when the necessity of having materials with new properties appeared in science”, marked Oleg Khasanov. According to him, TPU nano-center together with Rusnano and Novosibirsk enterprise fulfills the project on nanoceramics product line establishment. Nanoceramics can be applied in all the spheres – medicine, industry, aerospace engineering, oil and gas industry etc. Forecast made by TPU nano-center has shown that today’s market of nanoceramics in Russia is about 730 million rubles.

Common direction, but various ways

Valeriy Kagadey pinpointed the difference in nanoelectronics and nanomaterials development. While nanomaterials have an amount of atoms (molecules) on the surface of structure elements that is comparable with the amount of atoms (molecules) in volume, people try to enhance the surface properties of materials particularly in this nanotechnology direction. “In nanoelectronics we have an opposite situation – we need to get rid of surface properties of materials while reducing the size”, concluded Valeriy Kagadey.

Listener’s feedback

Ivan, Academic lyceum schoolboy

It was a wonderful lecture. Lectors expanded on topic in a very popular, understandable manner. After the lecture I managed to understand better how it works. I’m here for the first time. My friends invited me, and also at school we were told about such lectures.

Julia, first year student, TUSUR

I liked the lecture. I heard a lot of new information, I took notes. I’m a student of Energy electronics direction, but currently we study only disciplines of general education, and the lecture topic is directly connected with my future specialty that is why it was extremely interesting.

Timur Molotov, a student of electronic engineering department, TUSUR

The lecture was very interesting and informative. It is my sphere of interest, my future, because I’m a student of Nanotechnologies direction in TUSUR. The only remark is probably it could be better to cover issues from more scientific point of view. But I had good time, managed to know many new things. It is also of interest for common people, they want to have an idea of what nanotechnologies are.

Konstantin Golev, Elecard company candidate for master’s degree

I would like the duration of the lecture to be increased, because the lecture itself is very informative, and 30 minutes for each lecturer is not enough at all. The lecturers told us about their activity. Concerning a part of the lecture about nanoceramics, I would like to hear more information about technical specifications — what physical properties form the basis for nanoceramic powders’ extraction, and what kind of limitations initially exist. The fact of nanoelectronics development is not a secret, and nanopowders are our future.