Posts by Jim Logajan

Quote from lsuess

Jim Logajan – How are you doing?

I'm helping with a direct path startup ATM (Machine Phase Systems).

Recently more people are talking about APM again. Both direct- and incremental-path.

But that all happened on Twitter (now X-platform, Elons "global town square").

I was quite surprised about the progress with CO molecule wielding qPlus sensor based nc-AFM

on nanographene structures like graphene nanoribbons (GNRs).

And especially surprised that (under certain conditions)
high (higher than the picked up CO molecule) 3D structures
could be subatomically imaged despite high inertia of macroscale drive and only vertical force detection.
This amazing paper changes everything:

2018 – Assigning the absolute configuration of single aliphatic molecules by visual inspection

OA https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04843-z

This is just scanning though where the forces are very weak. Weak enough to not even
drag a vdW bonded four-cage-nanodiamond (tetramantane) on top of smooth unreactive gold to the side.

Challenge is getting the benefits of this adapter molecule method working for much higher forces in manipulations.
And extend it to indirect pickups. Pick up atoms (H capped) with a formerly picked up tool molecule.
Pick-up and drop-down. Thermodynamic cascade or something less energetically downhill for
more path dependent control (error repairs).

A path towards prototyping of early primitive mechanosynthesis.
May become useful for inclusion in incremental path bootstrapping phase systems too perhaps.

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I searched for "Machine Phase Systems" and found a startup by that name founded by Mark Friedenbach and Aru Hill. I presume that is who you mean?

I read through the paper the Nature paper to which you linked. Looks like the use of the CO tip was worked out and published back in 2009. Was interesting to see them discover accidental rotations of the molecules within clusters when tunneling setpoint was too high or tip approached too close.

As to myself: I'm doing fine. Been studying molecular cell biology, among other things. I have not been keeping up with work being done toward nanotechnology, mainly because I don't know where it is being discussed or what journal(s) have a reasonable concentration of papers on mechanosynthesis nanotech to make subscriptions worthwhile. I don't have an X account and only recently created a temporary account on Facebook when I was shopping for a plane (seems a lot of sellers now place for-sale posts there rather than traditional sales sites.)

I banned the users and I think I removed the threads. Since the posts were some time ago I suspect these were one-off spams.

Quote from MachineMatter

It seems like there's not much activity on the forum, so I've thought I'd ask, What's some recent progress that you've seen in last couple of years? Any new papers relevant to MNT you find interesting? I've found this one: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41570-023-00558-y

I'm particularly curious to know if there's been any progress in AFM/SPM in the last few years.

Ratcheting is, as the article abstract notes, somewhat common (and essential) to biological systems. Without seeing the whole article hard to tell if they have any suggestions that might lead to progress.

I don't know of much progress in AFM/SPM because I haven't paid close attention to the field.

Quote from lsuess

Jim Logajan
Seems something broke with the forums database.
The *.png image file is no longer loadable here.

Seems the *.graphml became inacessible too.

Hmm … I can reupload the image screencap but not the *.graphml.
yEd-tooltip-cycle-graph_v1.00.graphml

The file extension is invalid.
*.svg is blocked too.

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Sorry about that. The directory where images generated by those file types got moved somehow. The directory has been moved back to where it belongs so the images should now display. I have not tested whether graphml or svg files can again be uploaded.

I just watched the video. I don't know which topic of the ones you mentioned that you should cover next.

By the way, Youtube had a small note in the lower left corner that said the video was unlisted. That means it wont be found by normal Youtube searching. A person has to be given the link to view it. I did a search on Youtube for "Productivity of Nano-Machinery" and the video did not appear. When I set the filter to sort results by date it found nothing. Not sure if that was your intent or an oversight.

Interesting to see TEMs have been improved to sub-ångström - the 3D reconstruction mentioned near the end of the article is particularly intriguing:

https://www.wired.com/story/ne…um-world-in-crazy-detail/

Quote from lsuess

Another one: "Atomic-scale manufacturing now a reality"
https://phys.org/news/2018-05-atomic-scale-reality.html

It's about this paper:
"Autonomous Scanning Probe Microscopy in Situ Tip Conditioning through Machine Learning"
https://www.researchgate.net/p…_through_Machine_Learning

I guess this needs to be combined with the R&D results which I've posted about recently here:
Major improvement in STM control methodology.

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Looks promising - thanks for posting those news items.
Though I found it a bit odd that climate change is mentioned as a motivator, considering the more profound impacts nanotechnology will have.

Thanks for the links and information - very helpful!

The Christian Schafmeister video was very interesting. Quite a rabbit hole to go down, as he said, to get what he wanted.

I hope to retire mid-year from my decidedly non-nanotech related job, which will give me more time to devote to nanotech stuff. One task I'd like to do is try my hand at using some of the existing molecular modeling tools to determine their strong and weak points with respect to design of molecular machines. Probably someone has already done this, so that would be the first thing to check. As chemist Frank Westheimer once observed: "A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple of hours in the library."

Saw this remotely related announcement today:
Scientists create world’s first ‘molecular robot’ capable of building molecules

The original article in Nature:
Stereodivergent synthesis with a programmable molecular machine

I say "remotely related" because it also looks to use a manufacturing system in a solution that can synthesize some kinds of molecules. But it appears to use a chemically positionable "arm" which would put it in a different class of machines/techniques than the previously mentioned approaches.

Quote from lsuess

I guess the one most widely known of these is the "Great Pyramid of Giza" best viewed form the perspective of "Pyramid of Menkaure". mrgris.com/projects/merc-extreme/#0b6b7dd3@29.97271,31.12854

A good choice - Giza was the first place I thought of when I started thinking of well known but temporally distant things. But as you note, not much interesting in its vicinity.

Quote from lsuess

Maybe: Greece Athens "Sunken Lake" (with caves unexplored to this day).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vouliagmeni#Lake_Vouliagmeni
Viewing coordinates: 37.807075,23.786131
mrgris.com/projects/merc-extreme/#0b6b7dd3@37.80707,23.78613

Looks interesting because it encompasses an area rather than a small object. But it is probably obscure enough to need a brief introduction (though any choice would need one.)

Quote from lsuess

The "Atomium" in Belgium Brussel:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomium
Viewing coordinates (from south-west): 50.894463,4.340803
mrgris.com/projects/merc-extreme/#0b6b7dd3@50.89446,4.34080
(This perspective from south west is best since it shows all continents and no building shadows)
The topical focus is actually nuclear technology though.
The surrounding landscape is rather flat, wheat field paved and bland.
Wikipedia (en) says: Distributing pictures of the Atomium is only legal since last year. What?!

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I like this choice. The art is sufficiently arresting to the eye, though, that it might distract from the surrounding view which highlights the non-linear mapping. The copyright aspect is Interesting. Belgium's "freedom of panorama" copyright laws are new to me - U.S. copyright law is different. (It occurs to me that Google satellite maps must incorporate millions of copyright violations caused by photos of public buildings in countries whose laws don't allow publication of them without permission, which I doubt Google got.)

Quote from lsuess

I found an interactive version of nonlinear mapping:
https://mrgris.com/projects/merc-extreme/
(Tip: turn on satellite view)

What would be the most visually interesting while least politically, religiously, ideologically problematic place to focus at for a screenshot demonstrating that kind of the mapping?

This is already hard. Additionally asking for a place that can be easily identified by most of the worlds population is probably too much and likely leaves no results.

"Least problematic focus" appears to be a goal without a solid reason. If the audience is presumed to be that emotionally sensitive, exposure to non-linear mapping is probably an effort in futility. That said, something like the most ancient extant building might be sufficiently distant from present-day disputes that it could serve the desired purpose. One list of such entities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_buildings

Sorry for the tardy reply. It looks like those URL pointers got messed up during the port to the new forum software. I'm not sure where the links were supposed to point. I'll do some more searching to see what I can find.

I did send a message to Josh via my linkedin.com contact when I started this web site. I did not hear back from him. However, I see he has a Facebook page and is active there (he just posted today in fact.) After browsing his posts, it looks like he now has a pilot license certificate - earned about 5 years ago and still flying, so medically fit to fly per the FAA.

(I do not have a Facebook account, but my wife does. We jointly use hers to keep in touch with family members who joined. Neither of us would have joined otherwise.)

I did reply to Dr. Neil Sarkar saying I was interested in any information they could share. I indicated a general interest in scanning probe nanolithography since that seemed the most relevant use of their product given its resolution and what I would really attempt with such a device. I have not yet heard anything from them.

I was not aware of the two efforts you found. The ISCPI AFM is about 2.6 times more expensive, but has about 40 times greater resolution, than the Stromlinet Nano AFM. I could not find any mention of cost for tips for the Stromlinet Nano AFM. The ISCPI AFM comes with 4 replacement chip tips.

The OpenAFM project doesn't seem to have progressed since November 2015.

I have found a fair number of articles on DIY STM projects. Most accomplished with under US$1000. Atomic resolution attained with some of them.

Your 3D modeling skills are quite impressive. I have a Robo 3D R1+ but I followed a project that modified the bed after I managed to chip the glass on the original bed. I now have build area of 22 cm wide by 32 cm deep by 20 cm high. The new bed heater can get quite hot very fast. For design I started with the free DesignSpark Mechanical but I really wanted to draw some of the lines and planes of my projects with equations. I also wanted to be able to import and export several file types that the free programs didn't always support, so I finally ended paying as much for the Rhino 3D CAD system as I did for the printer (if I include the cost to upgrade the bed - otherwise the software cost more!) It was definitely a bit of a learning curve after DesignSpark but the free evaluation period for Rhino 3D is 90 days, giving me plenty of time to make sure it would work for me.

I do have some ideas for an STM I'd like to try but have to work around my day job.

I received a reply from the president, Dr. Neil Sarkar. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume he would have no objection to his response being published verbatim, so here it is:

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your interest in the nGauge AFM system, I'm happy to answer your questions (apologies for the delay).

We have a conductive path to the tip in all of our AFM chips, but we do not yet support electrical modes. Our team has produced scanning microwave microscopes, which are on the product roadmap but no hard dates that we can disclose yet.

We would be happy to share the electrical, mechanical and signal interface with customers that would like to build their own coarse approach mechanisms. One customer has built a wafer-scale multi-probe AFM tool, while another is interested in roll-to-roll metrology. Please feel free to tell us about the application you have in mind if you'd like some feedback.

Best,
Neil

I think that is as good a response as can be expected. The price of the chips makes the idea of a hobbyist coarse approach mechanism quite appealing. I'm definitely going to look into it.

Appended to this post is the content of an email I sent to their info@ address. If I get a response I'll post a summary of its content here. If they don't answer by the 8th I'll try to find another way to contact them.

Since the chips are essentially consumables they should have priced them well above cost to manufacture. The patents on their web site all pertain to the technology in the chips and not to the stage. The assignee for each of the six patents they mention are Niladri Sarkar, Icspi Corp., and Zyvex Corp (4 of the 6.) This appears to be one of the results of a US DARPA funded APM project awarded to Zyvex back in 2008.

I recently learned of your nGauge AFM and was hoping you would be willing to provide answers to two questions:

Are there any plans or schedules to offer chips that allow scanning tunneling (STM) or other scanning modes in addition to the AFM mode chips?

Under what conditions, if any, is documentation on the electrical, mechanical, and signal interface to the AFM chips available so others might develop their own equivalents of the nGauge stage?

Thank you for your time!

Regards,

Jim Logajan

I presume this is the firm's site (let me know if it isn't):
http://www.icspicorp.com/

Obviously the price is based on their expectations of number of units they hope to sell versus the cost they've so far spent in developing the microscope plus per-unit costs. And also what competitors are charging and getting away with - even though they claimed it was for the masses. I had not previously looked at the current market for AFMs but your post made me curious and I came across the following document which gives some estimates of its size and growth:

http://www.nanotechmag.com/wp-…09/SPMicroscopes2014-.pdf

According to this link that market analysis probably wasn't cheap to purchase either! I presume that issue is either out of date or was posted in violation of copyright (if the latter I would expect it to vanish eventually.) In any case, I believe the US$7900 price of the AFM is relatively inexpensive - compared to competitors.

I know that the most common 3D printer plastics, PLA and ABS, are likely fine because their thermal expansion properties are similar to metals they would replace. This article has a reference to a 3D printed head that was compared to a plastic one (actually only partially plastic; I found a copy of the complete article here

We have employed such a technique to manufacture an atomic force microscopy (AFM) head, and we compared its performance with a copy milled from aluminum. We tested both AFM heads for single molecule force spectroscopy applications and found little to no difference in the signal-to-noise ratio as well as in the thermal drift. The lower E modulus seems to be compensated by higher damping making this material well suited for low noise and low drift applications. Printing an AFM thus offers unparalleled freedom in the design and the rapid production of application-tailored custom instruments.

But the cost to machine the AFM's head doesn't make it expensive, it is the content of the heads of the sellers that makes the AFM expensive.

Drexler mentions that it appears to be progressing at the speed of government. I would expect results in fifteen to twenty years, then.

It's an interesting building block, but I think a modest stretch to call it a breakthrough.

Is there a molecular version proposed yet?