Nanotechnology Minor

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is any technology related to features of nanometer scale (1 billionth of a meter): thin films, fine particles, chemical synthesis, advanced micro-lithography, and atomic/molecular engineering. A true sci-tech revolution has begun that is based upon our ability to systematically organize and manipulate matter on the nanometer length scale.

There are five reasons why this very tiny length scale is so important:

The wavelike properties of electrons inside matter are influenced by variations on the nanometer scale. It is possible to vary fundamental properties of materials (e.g. melting temperature, magnetization, and charge capacity) without changing the chemical composition by patterning matter on the nanometer length scale.
Life works at the nanometer scale. The systematic organization of matter on the nanometer length scale is a key feature of biological systems. Nanotechnology promises to allow us to place artificial components and assemblies inside cells, and to make new materials using the self-assembly methods of nature. This is a powerful new combination of materials science and biotechnology.
By virtue of their size, nanoscale components have very high surface areas. Thus, they are ideal for use in composite materials, reacting systems, drug delivery, solar cells, and energy storage.
The finite size of material entities, as compared to the molecular scale, determine an increase of the relative importance of surface tension and local electromagnetic effects, making nanostructured materials harder and less brittle.
The interaction wavelength scales of various external wave phenomena become comparable to the material entity size, making materials suitable for various opto-electronic applications.

The number of new applications of nanotechnology is nearly limitless. In addition, the nanotechnology industry is already well on its way to bringing the nanoscale science from laboratories to the market – nanotechnology applications are estimated to represent a market in the trillions by 2010!

Nanotechnology Minor

The nanotechnology minor will give you the knowledge base and skills necessary to contribute to this exciting and rapidly expanding field. At Clarion University the nanotechnology minor consists of three phases.

Phase 1: (Normally your first two years) You will develop a strong background in the physics that underlie nanotechnology.
Phase 2: You will spend a semester at Penn State with full access to the state-of-the-art National Nanofabrication Facility. Think of it as a full semester of laboratory with all the latest high-tech equipment.
Phase 3: You will put it all together in upper level physics courses on the implementation of nanotechnology devices of your own design.