Freitas awarded first mechanosynthesis patent

By Christine Peterson, on April 12th, 2010

The winner of the 2009 Foresight Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory), Robert A. Freitas Jr., has now been granted the first diamond mechanosynthesis patent. This is not just the first DMS patent but also, I believe, the first mechanosynthesis patent that has ever been issued. Freitas is the sole inventor on this patent, which was assigned to Zyvex because the work was done while he was a contractor for the company. The patent abstract reads:

“A method is described for building a mechanosynthesis tool intended to be used for the molecularly precise fabrication of physical structures — as for example, diamond structures. An exemplar tool consists of a bulk-synthesized dimer-capped triadamantane tooltip molecule which is initially attached to a deposition surface in tip-down orientation, whereupon CVD or equivalent bulk diamond deposition processes are used to grow a large crystalline handle structure around the tooltip molecule. The large handle with its attached tooltip can then be mechanically separated from the deposition surface, yielding an integral finished tool that can subsequently be used to perform diamond mechanosynthesis in vacuo. The present disclosure is the first description of a complete tool for positional diamond mechanosynthesis, along with its method of manufacture. The same toolbuilding process may be extended to other classes of tooltip molecules, other handle materials, and to mechanosynthetic processes and structures other than those involving diamond.”

The literature citation of the patent reads as follows: Robert A. Freitas Jr., “A Simple Tool for Positional Diamond Mechanosynthesis, and its Method of Manufacture,” U.S. Patent No. 7,687,146, issued 30 March 2010.

The URL is: http://www.molecularassembler.com/Papers/US7687146.pdf

Congratulations, Rob! —Chris Peterson

Sergio M.L. Tarrero

May 7th, 2010 at 7:25 PM

Congratulations, Rob! Wishing you all the best!

Ambiguous User

May 7th, 2010 at 3:49 PM

Excellent work, Mr. Frietas (and Merkle for helping promote the idea). I look forward to reading more on it. Let us all hope that Mr. von Ehr (Zyvex) allows the benefit of the rest of mankind to conceive more than just patents and confinements, but instead open source, open hardware, and open systems of molecular nanotechnology. Look what benefit OS theory has had from the promulgation of Linux. The same with nano-structures among the educated would reap much greater benefits for all.

Janko Korelc

April 20th, 2010 at 2:50 AM

“What is the side of the profits?”

Imagine having something smaller than a needle pin,
and all of a sudden there sits a big robot, talking
to you how stupid you are.

flashgordon flashgordon flashgordon flashgordon

April 14th, 2010 at 3:45 PM

Whoa! Where’d my post about ‘what did Mr Freijas just patent; an unverified idea, or an actually constructed nanotool’ go?

flashgordon flashgordon flashgordon

April 14th, 2010 at 3:41 PM

Well, Chris Phoenix, Mr Freijas has patented(moeny ethics) knowledge(knowledge ethics); he’s illigal according to you and your ’system of three ethics” In the spirit of Dr Venkman from Ghostbusters, “go get him ray”; or, here, go get him Chris!

flashgordon flashgordon

April 14th, 2010 at 3:37 PM

Around 1.2 lines 55 to 60, it says this isn’t experimentally verified and yet Mr Freijas has a patent; so, he has a patent on an unverified idea? This doesn’t make sense because it looks like he has either an electron microscope image or an stm/afm image of a whole bunch of I’m guessing daimondoid tools at the very beginning.

Has he patented calculations or an actually already constructed nanotool?

Erin

April 14th, 2010 at 6:55 AM

Congratulations Robert Freitas! At this point if there was a government/corporate Manhattan-style project for molecular assembler systems, how long and how much money would it take to bring about working, primitive self-replicating systems based on diamondoid mechanosynthesis? Feel free to answer everyone.