Hacker News Reader

> we have very little to show in a way of progress. What happened?

Our semiconductors have had features below 100 nm for a while (actual features, not just process node names), so that's been wildly successful.

Why nanofabrication hasn't been as commercially successful outside of semiconductors is a much harder question to answer.

View on HN

Yes, of course the etching on silicon process has been refined to a level nobody thought possible. But this is more like a CNC process at a tiny level. What we don't have is additive manufacturing at nano scale. The nano assembler that Drexler and Feynman thought were possible is not panning out.

I'll have to look up that idea of the "nano assembler" that you're referring, but I'll just mention that there is significant additive manufacturing in a modern semiconductor GAAFET node, with the entire transistor being grown.

This video is a good summary of the main steps involved: https://youtu.be/xaKyDrWfHes

It's certainly not as powerful or universal as 3D printing and it might not even be "additive manufacturing" proper, but it is a lot more than just etching/subtractive manufacturing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com