Author Archives: Walt

About Walt

I have been involved in various aspects of nanotechnology since the late 1970s. My interest in promoting nano-safety began in 2006 and produced a white paper in 2007 explaining the four pillars of nano-safety. I am a technology futurist and is currently focused on nanoelectronics, single digit nanomaterials, and 3D printing at the nanoscale. My experience includes three startups, two of which I founded, 13 years at SEMATECH, where I was a Senior Fellow of the technical staff when I left, and 12 years at General Electric with nine of them on corporate staff. I have a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, an MBA from James Madison University, and a B.S. in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Are we missing the important capability of nanomaterials?

Posted on September 30, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

Particles with a dimension that is 100nm or less in size are considered nanomaterials.  But, size is not what provides the unique nanomaterial properties that are being observed. [..]

Misc Ramblings, Nanotechnology

2-dimentional material and other nano properties

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

Material: Two-dimensional materials seem to have a staying power in various technical news magazines.  The US Department of Energy released a report on efforts involving the Lawrence Berkeley [..]

Nanotechnology, Technology

Nano-Safety Educational Efforts

Posted on July 31, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

There is a book being published in late 2017 by De Gruyter called “Nano-Safety, Wheat We Need to Know to Protect Workers” [Ref. 1].  (Full disclosure, I am [..]

Nanotechnology Education, Nanotechnology Safety

Two-dimensional materials and moving them into production

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

There has been more work reporter on 2-D materials, also called atomic level materials.  Typically, this term refers to a sheet of material that is only atom thick [..]

Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology

More Proof that the Nanoscale is Different

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

Results reported in the May 24, 2017 issue of Phys.org is titled: “Water is surprisingly ordered on the nanoscale.”  (Reference is at the end of the blog.) “Researchers [..]

Nanotechnology

A Key Nano Device Manufacturing Challenge

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

The use of “nano” has become commonplace.  Projections are made about creating individual items/molecules/devices at the nano-scale.  There are examples of nano clocks, vehicles, etc.  Given enough effort, [..]

Nanotechnology

Science Fiction continues to become Science Fact

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

This blog is an update of a topic from my November 2014 blog.  In those comments, I mentioned the science fiction of the Star Trek programs that have [..]

Misc Ramblings, Nanotechnology

Applications based on the properties of new materials

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

Composites: An interesting set of articles have appeared on composite metal foams.  Research conducted at North Carolina State University (NCSU) by Professor Afsaneh Rabiei [Ref. 1] has developed [..]

Nanotechnology

The State of Nanotechnology

Posted on January 31, 2017 by Walt | Permalink 0

It is always interesting to look forward into the rest of the year.  Nanotechnology will continue to grow and have more applications.  While there is strong and continuing [..]

Misc Ramblings, Nanotechnology

2016 Year End Thoughts on Nanotechnology

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Walt | Permalink 0

Without any question, there is a significant amount of research ongoing.  I thought it would be a good time to look back at 2016 and identify progress and/or [..]

Misc Ramblings