ABSTRACT
Recent advances in the ¢eld of nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology have been fueled by the advancement in fabrication technologies that allow construction of arti¢cial structures that are of the same size or smaller than many biological entities. Figure 12.1 shows the size and scale of many biological and arti¢cial structures. It is interesting to note that the minimum feature in modern day integrated circuits, which is 0.05 μm in 2005, is an order of magnitude smaller than cells and bacteria. ¡e tip of an atomic force microscope, a key tool in advancing the ¢eld of nanotechnology, is smaller than most viruses. ¡e gate insulator thickness of a modern day metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor is thinner than
12.7 Conclusions....................................................................................... 344 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................... 344 References ..................................................................................................... 344
one helical turn of a DNA. ¡us, it is clear that the top-down fabrication technologies have progressed enough to allow the fabrication of micro-and nanostructures that can be used to interface, interrogate, and integrate biological structures with arti¢cial structures.
