Molecular Manufacturing: Nano Building Nano

The field of nanotechnology owes much of its popularity to molecular manufacturing (also called molecular nanotechnology or MNT), yet many nanotechnologists are only vaguely familiar with it. In general, nanotechnology involves creating or studying nanoscale structures–less than 100 nm in size. This includes a very broad range of fields, from computer chips to medical diagnostics. Making nanoscale structures is difficult. Although some tools, such as scanning probe microscopes, can interact with the nanoscale directly, such tools are expensive and difficult to use. Indirect methods of creating nanoscale structures, including various techniques of chemistry, can be used, but the results can be difficult to characterize and control, and of limited complexity. abstract