Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

The Institute on-line courses in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology cover a broad range of topics and emerging applications with potentially significant impact for the materials, manufacturing, semiconductor electronics, photonics, data storage and life science industries. These online courses offer a great opportunity to learn from Stanford faculty and industry experts the fundamentals of nanoscience.

• Assembly Required: Atomic and Molecular Manipulation
• Bionanotechnology and Biochips
• Computational Nanotechnology: Multiscale Modeling of Nanomaterials
• The Current Status of Carbon Nanotube Science and Technology
• Emerging Magnetic Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
• Introduction to DNA Microarray Technology
• Light & Life: Biophysics, One Molecule at a Time
• Miniaturization in the Pharmaceutical Industry
• Nanoelectronics
• Organic Semiconductors and Electronics
• Patterning at the 10- to 100- Nanometer Level
• Photonic Crystals: Controlling the Flow of Light at Micro and Nano Length Scales
• Plasmonics – Building Nanoscale Photonic Functionality with Metals
• Scanning Probe Microscopes

Assembly Required: Atomic and Molecular Manipulation
Hari Manoharan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University

Nanoscience is enabling us to explore science starting from the building blocks of matter. So the question becomes: rather than work our way down from the macroscopic level, what can we learn if we build up from the atomic realm? This course explores the “bottom-up” approach of atomic and molecular manipulation and its application to problems in science & technology. We discuss scanning probe microscopy, physical phenomena at small length scales, atomic / molecular / spin manipulation at the spatial limit, and the frontier research efforts.
(192 minutes)

Bionanotechnology and Biochips
Peter Wagner, Ph.D., Founder, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Zyomyx

Bionanotechnology is a new and rapidly growing interdisciplinary field addressing the assembly, construction and utilization of biomolecular devices based on nanoscale principles and/or dimensions. Research and product development at the interface of physical sciences and biology as applied to this area require multi-skilled teams and often novel technical approaches for material synthesis, characterization and applications. This session gives an overview spanning fundamental considerations of commercial applications with an emphasis on the development and construction of protein biochips.
(201 minutes)

Computational Nanotechnology: Multiscale Modeling of Nanomaterials
Kyeongjae Cho, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University

Materials behaviors in the sub-10nm regime are different from macroscopic properties due to surface effects and nanoscale quantum confinements of electrons. For nanosystem design, atomistic and quantum mechanical modeling of nanomaterials are required. Inter-atomic interactions or force field models are used in classical atomistic simulations for dynamics and structural analysis of nanomaterials, and diverse quantum mechanical simulation methods are developed for the analysis of electronic, chemical, and optical properties. This course describes nanomaterials modeling followed by hands-on computer simulation of diverse nanomaterials.
(210 minutes)

The Current Status of Carbon Nanotube Science and Technology
Hongjie Dai, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Chemistry, Stanford University

Carbon nanotubes are useful for miniaturized electronic, mechanical, electromechanical, chemical and scanning probe nano-devices, and materials for macroscopic composites. This course presents the status of scientific and technological development in the area of carbon nanotubes. We present the history of carbon nanotubes, methods for producing nanotubes, electrical properties of nanotubes, and the most recent advances in nanotube transistors and logic gates. The course also covers nanotube mechanical / electromechanical / optical properties, functionalization chemistry, as well as applications as gas sensors and biosensors.
(220 minutes)

Emerging Magnetic Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Shan Xiang Wang  – Ph.D., Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering

The enormous success in magnetic storage industry has paved the way for the emerging magnetic nanotechnologies. The development of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensors and magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ), the convergence of magnetics and semiconductors (spintronics), and the prominence of magnetic nanoparticles and nanowires, will open up new killer applications. This course presents the history and overview of GMR / MTJ / spintronics, the status of MRAM development, magnetic nanoparticles and nanowires, and biological applications of magnetic nanotechnology, and a magnetic DNA microarray technology.
(205 minutes)

Introduction to DNA Microarray Technology
Martin J. Goldberg – Ph.D., Vice President of Advanced Technology Research, Affymetrix Laboratories

Since its invention in the 1980's and with the advent of the Human Genome Sequencing Project, DNA microarrays have helped to reshape and expand the fields of genetics and molecular biology. Their uses span the spectrum of applications from academic research through clinical and point-of-care diagnostics. Additionally, it has become an indispensable component of the pharmaceutical industry drug discovery toolkit. This session will discuss various aspects of DNA microarrays and explore recent developments in the field that are pushing the current limits of information density and applications. Topics:

• Different types of DNA microarrays
• Methods for fabricating DNA microarray.
• Applications of DNA microarrays in genomics including gene expression analysis, genotyping and resequencing
• Technologies and challenges for evolving from micro- to nano- bioarrays

Light & Life: Biophysics, One Molecule at a Time
Prof. Steven Block – Ph.D., Professor of Applied Physics and Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Recent progress in understanding how Nature's own nanomachines work has come about with the advent of new approaches, including optical traps (“optical tweezers”). These technologies have enabled the development of “single-molecule biophysics”, where the properties of individual proteins and protein complexes are studied. This course describes the technology, challenges, and applications of optical trapping. The course covers a range of related topics, including manipulation of nanoscale biomaterial, generation of piconewton-level forces, measurements of nanometer-level displacements, nanoscale measurements of biological macromolecules and macromolecular complexes, and biological nanomachines.
(209 minutes)

Miniaturization in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Rolfe Anderson – Ph.D.; Alza Corporation

Miniaturization of pharmaceutical devices creates powerful opportunities by enabling scale-up to high-multiplicity replication of functions for interrogation or control of biological entities. As new technologies using miniaturization migrate to the pharmaceutical industries, they must compete with the natural evolution of tools, devices, and methods. This course explores these processes by reviewing concepts and opportunities along with the current reality and future promise of miniaturization in the pharmaceutical industry. The course examines the key areas in drug discovery that can benefit from miniaturization and nanotechnologies.
(171 minutes)

Nanoelectronics
H.-W. Philip Wong – Ph.D., IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

The semiconductor industry is poised to go through a major transition fueled by the increasing importance of nanoscale device physics such as quantum confinement, quantum mechanical tunneling, and single electron effects, leading to new devices with unique properties. This course reviews the state-of-the-art Si nanoelectronics and surveys the emerging opportunities in novel nanoscale devices and fabrication techniques. The course covers nanoscale device physics, nanoscale CMOS device & materials options, emerging memory & logic devices, nanotubes / nanowires / nanoparticles, molecular devices, and nanofabrication techniques.
(200 minutes)

Organic Semiconductors and Electronics
Michael McGehee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford University

This session will explain how the electrical and optical properties of organic semiconductors can be tuned and will include discussion of the band theory of organic semiconductors, electron and energy transfer, thin-film field-effect transistors, molecular electronics, light-emitting diodes, and nanostructured interpenetrating networks of semiconductors for photovoltaic cells. The fabrication and operating principles of organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs), field effect transistors (FETs) and photovoltaic (PV) cells will be covered. Emphasis will be on photovoltaic cells consisting of nanostructured interpenetrating networks of two semiconductors that are patterned at the nanometer length scale.
(197 minutes)

Patterning at the 10- to 100- Nanometer Level
R. Fabian W. Pease, Ph.D., William Ayer Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

This course covers the principles and applications of major nano-device patterning techniques, including e-beam lithography, scanning probe lithography, nanoimprinting, self assembling, and related techniques. E-beam techniques are used for low-volume fabrication but ‘nano-imprinting' promises much higher throughput with features as small as 10 nm. ‘Self assembly' might be useful especially when used with other patterning techniques. Currently, there are no obvious choices for semiconductor and nanoelectronics manufacturing but some other applications are already starting to use the new techniques.
(177 minutes)

Photonic Crystals: Controlling the Flow of Light at Micro and Nano Length Scales
Shanhui Fan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Photonic crystals may allow us to control the behaviors of photons in a similar way that semiconductors control the behaviors of electrons. Photonic crystals are artificial materials created using a variety of micro and nano-fabrication techniques. In this course, we review the basic concepts of photonic crystal structures, as well as their applications in many areas of optical engineering, including: micro-photonic components, photonic crystal fibers, super-prisms and super-lens, as well as active and tunable photonic crystal devices.
(212 minutes)

Plasmonics – Building Nanoscale Photonic Functionality with Metals
Mark Brongersma – Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University

This course explains why metals are ideally suited to build nanophotonic circuits that beat the diffraction limit. The strong interaction of light with noble metal nanostructures gives rise to plasmons used in plasmonic nanocircuits. We discuss the use of plasmon-based devices in biosensing, non-linear optics, light transmission through sub-wavelength holes, “perfect” lenses, near-field optical microscopy, and nanophotonic circuits. We present the tools for designing and analyzing plasmonic nanocircuits, including computer simulations and near-field optical microscopy. We review the applications of plasmonics in biology, photonics, and electronics.
(195 minutes)

Scanning Probe Microscopes
Calvin Quate , Ph.D., Leland T. Edwards Professor (Research) of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and, by courtesy, Applied Physics, Stanford University

This seminar presents the properties of scanning probes as special tools for studying, manipulating, and fabricating nanoscale structures. We describe the Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPM) as used to investigate and manipulate nanoscale structures. The instruments are used to characterize surface structure, manipulate nanoscale structures, and study the properties of single molecules. Beginning with a description of the construction and operation of the instruments, we move to a discussion of their properties and applications.
(32 minutes)