Overview

This article is reprinted from Sensors magazine, November 2003. Used with permission.

If you make or use sensors, your business will likely feel the impact of current and future developments in nanotechnology, a very promising new branch of small-scale technology named for the unit of measure at which it operates: the nanometer, or 0.001 micron. Nanotechnology enables us to create functional materials, devices, and systems by controlling matter at the atomic and molecular scales, and to exploit novel properties and phenomena ^[1 ^]. Consider that most chemical and biological sensors, as well as many physical sensors, depend on interactions occurring at these levels and you ll get an idea of the effect nanotechnology will have on the sensor world.

The trend toward the small began with the miniaturization of macro techniques, which led to the now well-established field of microtechnology. Electronic, optical, and mechanical microtechnologies have all profited from the smaller, smarter, and less costly sensors that resulted from work with ICs, fiber optics, other micro-optics, and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems). As we continue to work with these minuscule building blocks, there will be a convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology, among others, with benefits for each discipline. Substantially smaller size, lower weight, more modest power requirements, greater sensitivity, and better specificity are just a few of the improvements we ll see in sensor design.

Nanosensors and nano-enabled sensors have applications in many industries, among them transportation,...