Professor Mike Kelly, Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, University of Cambridge, recently published a paper in the IOP journal Nanotechnology, in which he states that it is not possible to mass produce nano-structures by using a top-down approach.
The paper puts a question mark on the billions of dollars currently being invested in nanotechnology hoping that it will make a transition that could be integrated into the existing products.
Nanotechnology is all about monitoring and manipulating substances at the nano-level and is ideal for use in drug delivery ,increasing the efficiency of solar cells and in food packaging applications. It aims at offering low cost solutions, but the material used should exhibit properties conducive to mass production within a pre-determined limit, which according to Kelly is not possible below the 3nm limit while structuring arrays.
The top-down production approach uses external equipment to slice through and design huge materials to incorporate multiple nano-features. An alternative bottom-up approach involves joining nano-units such as molecules to develop whole materials. But this approach does not guarantee mass production without inherent defects.
Kelly has utilized statistical evaluation of vertical nanopillars to prove his theory in two stages. The first is when materials are mass produced on a nano-scale there will be no consistency in size of multiple components. This inconsistency will cause the material properties to differ to a point where the material will not be able to operate at full capacity in an array.
Kelly says that if future research shows that his theory is incorrect, it will enable the growth of science and technology in this area. But it will require much more research and investment of both money and time.