A typical microprocessor integrates a large number (greater than a hundred million) of small (less than 100 nanometers) electronic parts, but the miniaturized systems of the future will also need to incorporate photonic, mechanical, chemical, and even biological devices. The semiconductor industry has had impressive success in producing integrated electronics, but it has been decidedly less successful at mass-manufacturing multifunctional microsystems, partly because the processes used to make different components are incompatible. A major question for engineers is what manufacturing process can mass-produce useful multifunctional, miniature systems. The conventional approach to making engineered products is unlikely to yield a satisfying answer.
The most complex functional systems are found in the biological world. Nature is full of machines with trillions of nanoscale components all working in harmony. The complexity and sophistication of biological machines–in terms of the number of parts, the variety of materials used, and the diversity of functions performed–is far beyond what any microfabrication or nanofabrication can achieve.
These advanced biological machines are mass-produced in a way that is fundamentally different from the way we produce products such as microprocessors, automobiles, or airplanes today. In nature, components “self-assemble” to yield complex functional systems. Inspired in part by this observation, a number of research groups are working to enlist self-assembly as a method for producing functional products across size scales. The hope is to create a new paradigm in mass manufacturing in which self-assembly replaces assembly of parts one by one. We believe that, in principle, it is possible to “grow” an integrated circuit, a biomedical sensor, or a display.
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