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Why nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology holds various benefits and applications in our everyday lives. It offers use in precision manufacturing, material reuse, and miniaturization to manufacture nanoscale computers. Not only can nanotechnology be applied in manufacturing, it also has uses in medicine such as pharmaceutical creation, surgery by the help of nanomachines, and disease treatment by the help of drug delivery, etc. It even has potential use in environmental aspects like toxic clean up and recycling.
Nanotechnology has especially beneficial uses for developing countries where it can be used to control hunger by increasing crop production through nanoporous fertilizers that exponentially increase crop growth and nanosensors that monitor crop health. Also it may be used to provide clean drinking water and sanitation through the help of nanoclays and nanomembranes made of carbon nanotubes that purify water better than present day viral and bacterial filters. It may offer its application in providing cheap renewable energy by the help of quantum dots that reduce the cost of conventional solar cells.

Commercial Nanotech Applications :
At SEMICON West the Extreme Nano session pointed to the fact that miniscule dreams are beginning to become reality. Applications such as nanoclusters for cleaning and implants, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) used for transparent conductive films and next-generation memory cells are finally becoming commercial realities.
The presentations offered as part of the Extreme Nano session point to the fact that miniscule dreams are beginning to become reality, as once-exotic nanoscale materials leave the labs to be applied to some real-world products. Applications such as nanoclusters for cleaning and implants, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) used for transparent conductive films, and next-generation memory cells are finally (albeit slowly) becoming commercial realities.
created as CMOS continues to be scaled down.
It focused on CNTs' tremendous promise for applications ranging from improving the performance of sporting goods, to highly conductive printable electronics. "There is serious investment underway in building manufacturing capacity for CNTs, though applications are still in their infancy.
CNTs can function as semiconductors or metallic conductors, and when applied in nanometer thick films, can provide conductive transparent films with excellent overall properties. Unidym is deploying its CNT-based transparent conductive film platform in applications that include resistive and capacitive touch panels and other display applications such as LCD, OLED and EPD. Production-length rolls of optical, conductive films have been produced that have been incorporated into prototype devices including flexible displays, touch panels and TFT-LCD. The performance attributes demonstrate a level of robustness and processing ease not offered by the old-generation ITO films. "To fully commercialize these films, certain customer processes might have to be modified or optimized.
An example is the patterning process, where we have found that laser etching will be a highly efficient and environmentally friendly method."
In his presentation on high-resolution thick copper interconnects. As we expect more mobile functionality from our personal electronics, new standards are being developed to allow greater data rates between these low-power devices and the infrastructure in which they are moving .
Significant benefits can be obtained in these application areas by the ability to integrate thick copper interconnect layers (≥10 µm) at high resolution into the top metal layers of these devices.These benefits are multiple, having a positive impact on circuit performance, power consumption, form factor, system reliability and cost." Being able to perform this integration economically and robustly opens up new perspectives for these types of devices, especially as application frequencies start to move up into the tens of gigahertz to exploit new possibilities within the electromagnetic spectrum and to simplify the implementation of new techniques such as cognitive radio.

Technology has a number of distinct characteristics:
1. It is Related to Science?Although there is certainly a relationship between science and technology, there is, except in certain high technology industries, very little technology that could be classified as applied science. Technology is marked by different purposes, different processes a different relationship to established knowledge and a particular relationship to specific contexts of activity. Change in the material environment is the explicit purpose of technology, and not, as is the case with science, the understanding of nature; accordingly its solutions are not right or wrong, verifiable or falsifiable, but more or less effective from different points of view.
2. It Involves DesignAt the centre of technology lies design. That “design is the very core of engineering” is affirmed by the requirement that all degree engineering courses should embody it. The design process in technology is a sequential process which begins with the perception of a need, continues with the formulation of a specification, the generation of ideas and a final solution, and ends with an evaluation of the solution.
3. It Involves MakingThe motivating factor behind all technological activity is the desire to fulfil a need. For this reason all designs should be made or realised - whether that be through prototype, batch- or mass- production or some form of three-dimensional or computer model - if the need is to be truly fulfilled, the design is to be legitimately evaluated, and the design activity is to have been purposeful and worthwhile.
4. It is Multi-DimensionalNot only may design and production involve co-operation between different specialisms (between, for example, designer, production engineer and materials scientist), but may involve “technologists” in performing a multitude of functions, such as working with others, operating within budgets, persuading decision makers, communicating to clients and working to deadlines.
5. It Is Concerned With ValuesTechnology is informed by values at every point. Value decisions may be called for not only in relation to the specific design criteria (i.e. aesthetic, ergonomic and economic judgements, suitability for purpose and ease of manufacture) but also in relation to the rightness or wrongness of a particular solution in ethical terms.
6. It is Socially Shaped/ShapingTechnological enterprises are determined not by advances in knowledge nor simply by the identification of needs, but by social interests. Of the potential new technologies available at any one time only a few are developed and become widely implemented. In this way technology is shaped by society, by consumer choice. yet it could also be argued that technology shapes society - the technology of the motor car, for example, has shaped our environment and our whole way of life.

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