OVERVIEW

Improvement in performance and shrinkage of device sizes in microelectronics have been major driving forces for scientific and economic progress over the past 30 years. Developments in semiconductor processing and surface sciences have allowed precise control over critical dimensions with desirable properties for solid state devices. In the past 20 years, there have been tremendous developments in micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS), microfluidics and nanofluidics, quantum structures and devices, photonics and optoelectronics, nanomaterials for molecular sensing and biomedical diagnosis, and scanning probe microscopy for measurement and manipulation at the molecular and atomic levels.

Nanotechnology research has not only emerged as a new area of science and engineering, but it has also become an integral part of almost all natural science and engineering disciplines. According to the Web site of Georgia Institute of Technology (http://www.gatech.edu), more than 10% of the faculty members at the university have been involved with research projects related to nanoscience and nanoengineering. The same can be said for most major research universities in the United States and in many other countries. Furthermore, the study of nanoscience and nanoengineering requires and has resulted in close interactions across the boundaries of many traditional disciplines. Knowledge of physical behavior at the molecular and atomic levels has played and will continue to play an important role in our understanding of the fundamental processes occurring in the macro world. This will enable us to design and develop novel devices and machines, ranging from a few nanometers all the way...