Nanotechnology is a group of emerging technologies in which the structure of matter is controlled at the nanometer scale, the scale of small numbers of atoms, to produce novel materials and devices that have useful and unique properties

Nanotechnology combines all scientific fields and is internationally applicable as one of the key technologies of the 21st century. It includes the development, manufacture and application of systems that are combined of nanometre sized (10-9 m) components. A nanometre corresponds with a millionth of a millimetre.

Materials with basic units of only a few nanometres, open the door to a new dimension of material development. Domains that just a few years ago were deemed to be physically unachievable, have now slipped immediately next to feasible. With systems of this scale, completely new characteristics and functions of products and processes have been achieved.