In a spin: nanotechnology could revolutionize many areas of science. Credit: IBM ZURICH

As the United States launches its drive to capitalize on nanotechnology's potential, Japan is also gearing up for expansion in the field. Extra money has been earmarked for a host of new multidisciplinary programmes, centres and institutes for nanoscience. All of which is good news for researchers looking for work in the country.

But with expansion comes the possibility of organizational disarray. Some researchers describe Japan's current nanoscience programmes as chaotic. So the multitude of new programmes and institutes threatens to add to the madness as well as to the opportunity. By the end of the year, a high-level committee under the Council for Science and Technology will set out proposals covering how the various programmes should be coordinated.

It could be a mammoth task. The reorganized National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), for example, will have six centres and four institutes spread around the country, all taking a multidisciplinary approach to nanoscience and nanotechnology. The Correlated Electron Research Center will explore new electronic materials for developing atom-based technology. For example, it will address questions of how to make quantum nanostructures and device junctions using oxide materials. “The physics of these exploratory electronic materials is not yet established,” says director Yoshinori Tokura.

About 40 scientists will staff the centre, half of whom will be postdocs. Masataka Hirose of Hiroshima University will run AIST's Advanced Semiconductor Research Center, with significant cooperation from the private sector and universities. The centre will address fundamental problems in making semiconductors smaller than is possible using existing chip technology. It aims to reduce integrated circuit technology to 50–70 nanometres by 2007.

Plans for the future

The National Institute for Materials Sciences (NIMS), to be formed from a merger of two Science and Technology Agency institutes, will undertake a range of research on materials that could be used for nanodevices and nanoscale environmental energy projects. Three likely areas of research, according to NIMS director Kazuhiro Yoshihara, are laser generation using quantum dots on semiconductors, single-electron transistors, and computers using quantum dots or quantum wires. The institute will be housed in a new building and will have a yearly budget of ¥2.4 billion (US$22 million). Yoshihara expects the centre to employ around 100 people, of which about 60 will be taken from the predecessor institutions.

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is supporting a separate nanomaterial programme. This is receiving yearly funds of ¥5 billion for 5–7 years, which programme co-leader Teruo Kishi hopes will be increased after next year. The programme will be split into eight projects, primarily representing different materials such as polymers and particles. Six project leaders will come from universities and two from the AIST. The project's 150–200 permanent staff will be joined by 100–200 postdocs and temporary employees. Despite the fact that foreigners will probably not be candidates for the permanent positions, Kishi hopes to attract many postdocs from abroad.

University-led nanotech programmes appear poised to flourish as well. For example, Tadahiro Ohmi at Tohoku University aims to reduce quantum noise and statistical fluctuation as integrated circuits approach 50 nanometres and then move on towards 10 nanometres. The 50-nanometre level is already heavily supported with funds and researchers from industry, but Ohmi is looking for partners to move beyond that. Although it is hard to get funding for postdocs at a university, he is hoping to obtain greater industry support and so increase the number of postdocs on his project from two to ten within two or three years. There are also plans for a research institute focusing on future silicon technologies.

Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (precursor to National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

→ http://www.aist.go.jp

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

→ http://www.nedo.go.jp

National Research Institute for Metals (precursor to National Institute of Materials Sciences)

→http://www.nrim.go.jp:8080/public/english