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Fig. 1.4 Drexler's molecular devices: “transmission gear” (a), more complex “transmission gear”
(b), bearing (c)
not envision a number of fundamental limitations and identify concrete ways to
build devices. The problem of micro-macro interfaces, i.e., the problem of inter-
action between the human and the micro device, was also practically not discussed.
At the same time, rapid progress in several areas of human activity, and, first of
all, semiconductor electronics, naturally led to the need to use nanotechnological
principles. In several technological areas, nanotechnological base was being built
up. The most important development was arguably the creation in the 1980s of the
scanning tunneling microscopy and then atomic force microscopy. This provided
the opportunity to not only see objects at atomic resolution but also to manipulate
atoms and molecules.
