By this definition, in my first microelectronic job 20 years ago and in subsequent materials jobs I was actually doing nanotechnology all along. Silly me! Similarly, persons in the middle ages doing plating or surface modification hundreds and even thousands of years ago were apparently actively developing nanotechnology as well. And, on a grander scale there is nature, apparently the greatest nanotechnology engineer that ever existed, making all those semi-permeable membranes, nanoscopic structures and such just so we could sit here and ponder all of this.
The IX-200 ChromaDice DPSS version is a high-precision wafer dicing system suitable for wafer trimming and scribing applications. Its UV diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser system is said to deliver high-speed wafer dicing and cutting with typical yields above 99%. The process tolerates wafer warp and bow, and the system is available in an excimer laser version for via drilling, micromachining, thin film patterning, and other semiconductor packaging applications. The IX-200 ChromaAblate system — suitable for micromachining of III-V materials as well as polymers and ceramics — is an excimer laser configuration. J. P. Sercel Associates, Hollis, NH, www.jpsalaser.com