Glossary of terms used on NANO Magazine

N

Nanotech

Nanotech is the short form of Nanotechnology, the term used to cover the design, construction and utilization of functional structures with at least one characteristic dimension measured in nanometres. Such materials and systems can be designed to exhibit novel and significantly improved physical, chemical and biological properties, phenomena and processes as a result of the limited size of their constituent particles or molecules. The reason for such interesting and very useful behaviour is that when characteristic structural features are intermediate in extent between isolated atoms and bulk macroscopic materials; i.e., in the range of about 10-9m to 10-7 m (1 to 100 nm), the objects may display physical attributes substanti-ally different from those displayed by either atoms or bulk materials. Ultimately this can lead to new technological opportunities as well as new challenges.