How to Engineer Things at the Nano-Scale
Have you ever heard the term nanotechnology? If you have, you should know it’s the study of things between 1 and 100 nanometers in size. But if one nanometer is a billionth of a meter, how is it possible that scientists can alter sequences and make fully functional robots? The four different microscopes in this article will give a description of how.
Atomic Force Microscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy gives an extremely accurate picture of the sample along with its’ properties like size, surface roughness, and texture. The cost of this machine is about $100,000, which is ridiculous. The reason the cost is so high is because the parts that consist of the microscope have to be of the highest accuracy and assembled perfectly. The in time running technology also has to be spot on for the surface the tip is scanning. The problem with these are that the extremely expensive tip can be easily damaged and scratched with scanning.
Scanning Electron Microscopy

Scanning electron microscopy is a microscope that displays specimens in 3-D. This allows for a full dimensional look at different objects at the nanometer scale. The price of these microscopes are 1 million dollars because of the implemented technology that creates the fully functional system. This microscope is also extremely large, making it difficult to house in a multi-purpose lab.
Transmission Electron Microscopy

Transmission electron microscopes are very useful for samples that are the smallest nanometers in thickness. The traveling beams of electrons forms an accurate image of the specimen. The cost of one is about $100,000, significantly less than the staggering cost of the scanning electron microscope. But this high energy beam also can cause damage to samples, making its’ purpose virtually a gamble without proper testing.
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The scanning tunneling microscope works by scanning a very sharp metal wire tip over a surface. By bringing the tip very close to the surface, and by applying an electrical voltage to the tip or sample, we can image the surface at an extremely small scale, down to resolving individual atoms. This microscope also allows scientists to change the magnetism of atoms, and therefore move them around. This was the launch for nanotechnology, since scientists were able to finally engineer things at the nanoscale. The cost of one of these is about $50,000, making it the most well worth microscope for the money. Not only is it less expensive, it allows for the altering of structures in different samples.
Conclusion
Every variety of microscope edges each of the others out in at least one category. Each has different resolutions, data, and cost. It comes down to what you want to use it for; but for the sake of nanotechnology and this article, the scanning tunneling microscope is the most viable one. It allows for the literal definition of nanotechnology, which is being able to see at the nanoscale, and being able to alter molecular structures at the nanoscale.
