Figure 5.

The plot shows a measure of manufacturing complexity, M_C, as a function of cost per unit area (dollars per square meter). We define manufacturing complexity (M_C) as Log₁₀ [K·ξ_max/(d_min·f·P)], where K is the Kolmogorov complexity,⁴²⁴ (ξ_max/d_min) is a measure of the maximum distance over which spatial coherence must be maintained, compared to the minimum feature size, the fractional tolerance, f, is the maximum allowable variation in feature size, and the perfection, P, is the maximum fraction of defective components or concentration of impurities that can be permitted. The cost may be dominated by the information content (Bits), as in the case of a Blu-ray disk, or by the material (Atoms) as for a protein-functionalized nanoparticle [see text for details].