Nano Technology:

Nanotechnology involves the research and technology development at the atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels.

Nanolithography:

Reasearchers* have shown that words can be written on a silicon substrate using a carbon nanotube tip. The height of the letters below = 20 Nanometers.

*Credit: Stevens, Delzeit and Nguyen of NASA Ames Research Center

As an example of the extreme smallness of this technology, AdaRose provides an example of how many lines of text one could write on a grain of rice using Nanolithography. For example, it would be possible to write 73,260 lines of text on an area equivalent to the thickness of 1 grain of rice, using a letter height of 20 nanometers!

For more information, visit the MEMS Industry Group website.

See an introduction to MEMS Technology:

Introduction to MEMS