The Industrial Technology Re-search Institute (ITRI,
development.
Nanotechnology is a field of science whose goal is to control individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other devices that are thousands of times smaller than current technologies permit.
A nanometer is about 10,000 times narrower than a human hair and about four times wider than an atom.
Mindful that nanotechnology will be a key part to Taiwan's sustainable development in the high-tech field, ITRI is planning to establish the Center for Applied Nanotechnology Institutes (CANTI, 奈米中心) in January 2002, with an investment of NT$10 billion (US$286 million) in the first five years, ITRI chairman Weng Cheng-yi (翁政義) said yesterday.
Weng said the ITRI will submit plans for CANTI's establishment to the National Science Council for discussions in the next few months, in the hope that it will become a national project.
Once scientists at the CANTI have successfully developed nanotechnology, they will be capable of making equipment that will be able to handle circuits less than 100 nanometers in size, a 44 percent reduction compared to today's machines, said ITRI vice president Yang Re-chang (
Because the research and development of nanotechnology involves the integration of all related technologies in all areas, the ITRI decided to embark on R&D in five major areas -- establishing five satellite nano sub-projects to deal with nano materials, nano electronics, nano opti-electronics, nano chemicals and nano biotechnology, respectively, Yang added.
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