What Happens When You Make a Flame Thrower, Pen and Tuning Fork 10,000 Times Smaller Than a Human Hair?

In the 1989 film Honey I Shrunk the Kids, a nutty scientist invents a machine that miniaturizes objects.  Fast forward 20 years and scientists at the University of Utah are using miniaturized tools in a very different way. While they have avoided shrinking their children in the process, the scientists’ effort may help grow the Utah economy. 

Measuring one billionth of a meter, a nano lends its name to the super-small scale devices and

scientific methods used to create the 21st century’s most advanced technology, which promises to

revolutionize health care, communications, environmental monitoring and more.

Dr. Massood Tabib-Azar is developing a torch that is so small it is invisible to the human eye and has the potential to make existing electronics smaller and more powerful. Examples range from miniaturized GPS units to a cellphone that is one-fifth the size of current market models.  The nanotorch does this by minimizing waste and resources when building electronics chips and circuits.   

"The way we make chips today is wasteful," says Tabib-Azar.  "It's similar to taking a big chunk of wood and then whittling it away until you have a table.  In contrast, we are building from the ground up instead of cutting away.  The torch is like a pen that deposits and erases only the materials we need to build the electronic chip in the exact place we need it." 

"We can write and erase electronic chips at a very fine resolution," adds Carlos Mastrangelo who executes most of the tool manufacturing.  The team has been awarded a $3 million, three-year federal DARPA grant to develop the nanotorch.

Another tool the team is developing - the nano tuning fork - doesn't tune pianos. Rather it tunes down power consumption.  "They are nanoscale mechanical switches that when added to existing electronics will allow us to reduce power consumption," says Tabib-Azar.  "For example laptops get hot and waste energy. This tool could reduce energy, prevent the laptop from overheating, and make the battery charge last longer."

Both Tabib-Azar and Mastrangelo are USTAR researchers recently recruited to the U of U. They are faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and are members of the Wireless Nanosystems research team. Their experiments are based at the institution’s NanoFab.  In December of 2011, they will move across the street into a new nanofab facility to be located in the 200,000-square-foot James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building, which is being built with state funds as part of the USTAR initiative.

Tabib-Azar is very optimistic about the technology potential, "It's a field of dreams type project."

Tabib-Azar recently formed a new company - Utah Wireless Health Systems, LLC - to commercialize some of the technology the team is developing.

 About USTAR: 

The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative (USTAR) is a long-term, state-funded investment to strengthen Utah's "knowledge economy” and generate high-paying jobs. Funded in March 2006 by the State Legislature, USTAR is based on three program areas. The first area involves funding for strategic investments at the University of Utah and Utah State University to recruit world-class researchers. The second area is to build state-of-the-art interdisciplinary facilities at these institutions for the innovation teams. The third program area involves teams that work with companies and entrepreneurs across the State to promote science, innovation, and commercialization activities. For more information, go to www.innovationutah.com or follow http://twitter.com/Innovationutah.