"NANOTECH: Conference plots future of electronics"

Presenters at the First International Nanotechnology Conference on Communication and Cooperation last week identified the key issues facing nanotechnology. The San Francisco conference, which hosted more than 36 presenters from nearly a dozen countries, kicked off with overviews of the state of nanotechnology in the United States, Europe and Japan. A dozen presentations zeroed in on the key issues and challenges facing future EEs designing nanoscale devices. Researchers spoke about nanowires, organic large-area solar cells, molecular electronics, spintronics, bioanalytic systems and nanotechnology in medicine. Speakers looked at the biological and societal implications of nanotechnology, including the use of organic materials in the fabrication of everything from large-area electronics to artificial organs. Also discussed were the ethical issues facing the safe deployment of processing methodologies and end-user applications in nanotechnology that hold the potential to shift the worldwide economic balance. Presenters speculated that chemistry, especially nanoscale catalysts, would be the first technological area to be revolutionized by nanotechnology, followed by semiconductors that employ nanotechnology to indefinitely extend Moore's Law, with a sprinkling of medical breakthroughs along the way.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=164300128