by Anthony Vigliotti
Nanotechnology is more than the science of nanoscale materials, carbon nanotubes, and quantum electronics but also represents advancements in technology that can improve the capability of Navy systems and future combat war fighter needs. ACI Technologies, Inc. has been requested by the Office of Naval Research to determine the maturity of these, and other nanotechnology areas, and their relevance to DoD and Navy applications.

Nanotechnology did not begin with, but has been spurred on by, the well-known National Nanotechnology Initiative. This research and development funding in the President's 2004 budget at $847 million has increased modestly over previous years for the multi-agency effort. These monies are a fundamental science-based initiative, but the DOD also applies its investment to applied research (6.2) and to exploratory development (6.3). The focus of this effort is in line with transitioning science discoveries in innovative technology through MANTECH programs.

There are different types of nanotechnology, each with different levels of maturity, that ACI has determined through a survey of industry manufacturing capability. Nanoelectronics is an advanced realm of nanotechnology that uses devices such as quantum dots and wires for terahertz computing speeds. The downside of this advanced technology is that relatively few have been produced and testing of these devices is difficult. Focus within nanoelectronics has been on development and understanding and will continue to be so for the next eight to ten years as prototype processes are replaced with manufacturing ones.

Carbon nanotubes are another area of nanotechnology that has greater maturity than nanoelectronics but they are still in a research and development mode and currently have scale up concerns. Carbon nanotubes are a form of carbon that has a rolled-up graphite like or tube-shaped structure. Interesting properties of these materials are that they interact with light efficiently and can react to gases and molecules present in the air to act as high surface area sensors.

One company called NanoLab, Inc. grows bulk carbon nanotubes and is scaling to large volumes. The company can also grow aligned nanotubes on various substrates for customers up to 3" square. They are at a research and development stage with uses for their nanotubes such as field emission displays and nanoscale tweezers. They envision breakthrough applications for nanophotonics, biosensors, and energy storage. Current work for the Army is focused on toughening the armor that our troops wear in Iraq.

Another company, Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc. (CNI) produces single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs or Buckytubes), also in prototype quantities. They describe these materials as being 1nm in diameter, thousands of nm long, largely defect-free molecules of pure carbon. They continue to say that SWNTs are the strongest, stiffest, toughest material that will likely ever be known. They are the only organic material that conducts like a true metal and the most thermally conductive material known. They also have high thermal stability (500 C in air, and greater than 1400 C under anaerobic conditions). Breakthrough applications they see are strong, stiff, tough, lightweight composites (aerospace), conductive polymers (low observable), high performance fibers (ballistic protection), fuel cells, and field emission displays.

Scale, process efficiency and quality control are current issues of these manufacturers. Once solved for them and for better affordability and availability, two major concerns of MANTECH, these materials could be used in Navy and DoD applications.

The maturest area of nanotechnology that ACI has identified is nanomaterials or nanoscale powders as they are also called. From discussions of current capability and maturity with industry, ACI has identified that his technology has the highest potential for technology transfer within the next three to five years.

Some nanoscale materials take advantage of applying nanoscale coatings to very fine particles. For instance, Powdermet, Inc. is manufacturing production level nickel coated microballons for EMI shielding applications. They have also produced copper coated reinforcement materials that have applications for high thermal conductivity and low expansion substrates. These materials are of interest to electronics manufacturing for Navy applications in that they may lower cost of system designs and provide to designers substitutes to conventional system packaging techniques.

There is a tremendous amount of research into nanotechnology with potential application areas. The filtering process, used to identify industry sources with manufacturing capabilities, has been substantial. Many of the companies that ACI has contacted have been small companies that focus solely on invention and technology, and are unaware of DoD and Navy needs. To aid these small companies, ACI believes that a larger system integrator may be necessary.

Once application areas are determined, we can transition and link advanced materials and nanotechnology to these DoD and Navy systems. Specific manufacturing issues of industry will be known and we will establish recommendations for manufacturing capability to transition the technologies. Links between program acquisitions, application developers, and industry nanotechnology will in this way then provide increased capability to Navy and DoD systems.