Two days of talks, many focused on the rapid growth in nanotechnology manufacturing, marked the 2006 Industrial Physics Forum, which was held at San Francisco’s cavernous Moscone West Convention Center in conjunction with the international AVS symposium. Titled “Nanotechnology in Society and Manufacturing,” the annual physics forum, sponsored by the Corporate Associates of the American Institute of Physics, opened with a discussion by Mark Bünger, director of research for the New York-based Lux Research Inc, about the transition of nanotechnology from the discovery phase to commercialization. Nanotechnology is following the same commercialization pattern as plastics, biotechnology, and the internet, he said, citing a Lux industry survey that forecast rapid growth in nanotechnology over the next two years (see chart).
Other talks at the forum included the increasing use of nanotechnology in automobiles, semiconductor nanoelectronics, and biological systems. James Baker, a medical doctor from the University of Michigan, detailed his...
