Years after the demise of the logging industry, Oregon is now being called the "Silicon Forest." Like Silicon Valley in California is a center of high technology, the state is the center of much nanotechnology and microtechnology development with industry big-leagues like Intel Corporation teaming up with universities to create the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI). The institute is part of a collaboration between the University, Oregon State University, Portland State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.
"I worked with ONAMI since its inception," said Associate Chemistry Professor Jim Hutchison, adding that there are more than 20 faculty members from each participating university in ONAMI.
Here at the University, the focus is on nanotechnology. Hutchison said he is interested in the miniatures of the world.
"There are two things that are of interest in nanotech," he said. "One is, of course, the small size and the other is the new properties we see in nanoparticles -- it's the properties that excite us."
Hutchison said he works using a "bottom-up" approach. The researchers employ the analogy that to make a statue with a slab of marble, one must chisel it, which wastes much of the marble and takes more energy to construct the statue out of the slab. Hutchison said their method of development is to arrange nanoparticles so they assemble the statue.
"If you actually look at the nanoparticles in gold, they are a ruby-red color, which we have used for ruby glass," Hutchison said. "At the nano level, we can design particles with a controlled size and shape and can find molecules that will assemble the particles together."
Hutchison's bottom-up method saves time, money and is less hazardous, he said. His lab is pioneering "green" technology, which can accomplish more efficiency while reducing the level of hazardous material both in labs and the environment.
Hutchison said he has used "green" practices for a research project he began in 1997, working to use safer materials in nanotechnology manufacturing processes in the lab that would also not pose a hazard to the environment. His lab recently patented the rights to a new synthetic procedure that eliminates the use of diborane and benzene, two hazardous materials in gold nanoparticles.
"Nanotech is just blossoming and commercial availability is not around just yet," said Greg Kearns, a graduate chemistry student working in Hutchison's lab.
Intel, Hutchison says, already uses approximately 34 million nanoparticles in its Pentium 3 transistors. For its next-generation microprocessors, the amount of nanoparticles will multiply significantly. Kearns said microprocessors and optics are two areas that are currently in focus with nanotechnology and that with optics, researchers are trying components that steer light as much as 90 degrees without any loss of light.
While ONAMI has not officially opened its 60,000-square-foot headquarters, it's already receiving criticism from the Campaign to Demilitarize Oregon's Schools. The group cites concerns such as student tuition subsidizing weapons development, Nike "smart clothes" and the plan to use taxpayer money to make the tax-exempt building "smart" with video surveillance cameras they describe as "Orwellian." The Campaign to Demilitarize Oregon's Schools' Web site is http://nanobotinvasion.cjb.net.
anthonylucero@dailyemerald.com
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