IEEE approves testing standard for nanotubes
By Staff -- Test & Measurement World, 6/1/2006
The recent approval of IEEE 1650, "Standard Test Methods for Measurement of Electrical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes," provides welcome ground rules for engineers who must test carbon nanotubes. While carbon nanotubes are expected to produce impressive breakthroughs in displays, integrated circuits, sensors, and other nanoelectronic components, the development of practical tools for commercial exploitation by industry remains a distant hope. In providing a uniform test and measurement method, the 1650 standard enhances the technology's development.
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| Carbon nanotubes could have uses in transistors and electronic compo-nents, communications and sensing, launch vehicles, and computing. Courtesy of NASA. |
"There's an impressive amount of work underway seeking to use nanotubes to fabricate next-generation devices," said Daniel Gamota, IEEE 1650 Working Group chair. "These efforts have surfaced a strong need for uniform ways to evaluate nanotube electrical performance, so what is observed by one group can be confirmed by others. IEEE standards provide a consensus-based technical platform that offers guidance for moving forward and commercializing novel nanotechnology based products."
The new standard will provide credibility for carbon nanotubes entering the market, according to Paul Brazis, IEEE 1650 Working Group vice chairman. "Many groups report electronic data for carbon nanotubes, but there is no good way to understand the accuracy, repeatability, and consistency of these data," he said. "IEEE 1650 assures these data are reported consistently so end users can depend on information from vendors and so gain confidence in the nanotubes they buy. The standard also will give manufacturers who comply with IEEE 1650 a way to legitimize what they offer."
Elsewhere in the nanotechnology test realm, IEEE has set its sights on developing IEEE 1690, "Standard Methods for the Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes Used as Additives in Bulk Materials," which will define test methods for carbon nanotube quality control involving such factors as material purity and composition. A third nanotech standards measurement effort, IEEE 1670, "Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Techniques for Nanotechnologies," aims to establish recommendations for the measurements and analyses needed in CVD nanoscale processing.
Finally, the IEEE has formed the Nanoelectronics Standards Roadmap (NESR) for setting up a framework for nanomaterials, devices, functional blocks, and applications developed in conjunction with key industry participants. NESR workshops will meet regularly with the goal of issuing a roadmap document by the end of 2006 with annual updates thereafter. www.ieee.org/groups/1650.
