3. Nanotechnology developments

Nanotechnology refers to the spatial scale, i.e. the nanometer. The evolution of technology has been based on a global approach known as top-down: we start from the largest to go towards the smallest. By definition, nanotechnology is about the opposite (bottom-up) approach: in this case, we start from the smallest and work towards the largest. The idea is to manipulate individual atoms and, by manipulating them and using assembly processes, form groups of atoms. If we were able to organize them correctly, we could form nanomaterials or nanomachines. It has often been mistakenly assumed that "nanotechnology" is any technology related to the nanometer scale or even down to 100 nanometers, whatever the approach. Rather, what we call nanotechnology concerns the creation of new materials, devices or systems, through the control of matter at the atomic scale. Nano-objects have the particularity...