The Architecture for Nano Assembly

In the CACM: Blueprints for Self-Assembly

"Self-assembly, by which atoms, molecules, or other nanoscale components spontaneously organize into something useful, sounds so simple. Just mix a few chemicals and wait for a new plastic, drug, or electronic component to form at the bottom of your test tube.

Unfortunately, it's not so easy. Coaxing tiny particles to arrange themselves in an orderly way, with desirable and repeatable properties, is enormously complex, typically involving a great deal of trial and error in the laboratory.

But now two mathematicians, using tools from information theory and computer science, have found a new and relatively simple way to orchestrate the assembly of nanostructures. And they have devised algorithms that can produce mathematical proofs that their structures are optimum ... "