Future Horizons

Microproducts already are making life better for us. It is inspiring to consider the future. From where we stand, a lot of new microproducts are on the horizon. There is a microproducts revolution. So far, most people don't know very much about it. It's mostly a few scientists, engineers, and technologists like us who are pressing science and technology to break through with new, revolutionary microproducts.

We are excited about the scores of opportunities for microproducts in the future. We are in awe about the possibilities of creating things that don't presently exist. Can you imagine clothing with microdevices to heat us when we are cold and cool us when we become too hot? What about miniature power plants to provide electricity wherever we go? Why not small chemical plants to produce food, fuel, fertilizers, and other such things? We will witness how these and other microproducts will change the way we live. The promise is so powerful and so imminent.

What started this microproducts revolution? The revolution started with the miniaturization of electronics. These advances gave us smaller, lighter, faster, and less-expensive computers. More recently the quest for miniaturization of mechanical, chemical, and thermal components has begun. Now we have small combustors, heaters, heat exchangers, and fuel cells. Think about any device and then realize it is possible to miniaturize it to achieve advantages. The microproducts revolution is happening. We can expect great changes in the next few decades. Things are already happening very fast. We can expect to see dramatic changes right before our eyes. In the years to come, we will be surrounded by products that we can't even envision now.

As we press to create microproducts, we rely on advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology. These can give us new materials with improved properties and functionalities. There is an almost infinite number of ways to assemble atoms and molecules, the basic building blocks of matter. Not long ago, we thought about these things, but now the capability to control the movement of atoms exists. All of this happens in the world of the very small, with dimensions of one billionth of a meter, a nanometer. Many distinctive and potentially useful phenomena and properties emerge as size approaches the nanoscale level. These include the transport properties (momentum, energy, and mass) that extend from a continuum description to a molecular description. Similarly, the optical, electrical, magnetic, and chemical properties extend from a classical to a quantum description. By manipulating matter on a nanometer scale and taking advantage of changes in these physical properties, it will be possible to develop nanoscale devices and materials that provide new capabilities, tools, and technologies. These advances at the nanoscale will feed the development of products at the microscale.