Page 44 - Sensors and Control Systems in Manufacturing

FIGURE 1.5 The Role of Sensors in the 21st Century 9
RNA forms winding
bundles.

RNA clusters, called “riboswitches,” in 2002, scientists have been
eager to understand how they work and how they form. Now,
researchers at Stanford University in California are deeply involved
in understanding how the three-dimensional twists and turns in a
riboswitch come together by taking hold of it and tugging it straight.
By physically pulling on this winding RNA, scientists have deter-
mined how a three-dimensional molecular structure folds, step by
step (Fig. 1.5.)

1.6 Nano-Sensor Manufacturing Challenges
Nanotechnology offers the scientific communities and end users
valuable opportunities, but not without substantial obstacles and dif-
ficulties, in particularly in methodology and business management.
The current nanotechnology industry is worth $40 billion, with appli-
cations in microelectronics, specialty coatings, tooling, and cosmetics.
These and other emerging nanotechnology markets are forecast to
grow over the next half decade to more than $1 trillion by 2015,
according to analysts at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and
independent research groups. In order to effectively commercialize
nanotechnology and harness its unique benefits, it’s widely believed
that all sectors of industry will have to change their management
approaches, business models, and corporate strategies. A recent study
by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) in Ann
Arbor, Michigan was funded by the NSF. The NCMS outlined how
well prepared U.S. industries must be to face these changes to take
advantage of nanotechnology’s values.

1.7 Nano-Crystals Enable Scalable Memory Technologies
The 24-Mb memory array of “silicon nano-crystals” is reducing the
cost of embedded flash memory as researchers have demonstrated