NANOMECHANICS OF SURFACES AND INTERFACES

Abstract

An engineering revolution is currently underway in that devices at the nanometer scale are fabricated. Successful design and development of nanoscale devices and systems will have a significant impact in our lives. The microelectronics industry is currently pursuing 0.15-micron process technology and this will be extended to the 100-nm process technology in the next few years. The information storage industry is investigating control and processing of nanometer grain magnetic thin films for ultra high-density data storage. Biotechnology of DNA and protein microarrays involving oligonucleotide molecules attached to glass or plastic substrates promises to monitor the whole human genome on a single chip so that researchers can have a better picture of the interactions among thousands of genes simultaneously. We, as students of Mechanics, have an important role to play in these new developments. This is not unexpected; even Aristotle gave Mechanics a sense of wonder: Nature works against man’s needs, because it always takes its own course. Thus, when it is necessary to do something that goes beyond Nature, the difficulties can be overcome with the assistance of Engineering. Mechanics is the name of the Engineering discipline that helps us over those difficulties; as the poet Antiphon put it “Engineering brings the victory that Nature impedes.”