The main theme of this book is the exploration the underlying physical laws that permit the fabrication of nanometer-scale structures. As researchers attempt to fabricate nanometer-scale structures which do not exist per se, they must still employ the natural laws to fabricate them through processes such as self-assembly. So it turns out that our techniques for fabrication of nanometer-scale structures are not artificial but actually rely on the natural laws. We even find that nanometer-scale structures, e.g. fullerenes, are fabricated in nature beneath the surface of the Earth. This fact may be called the ubiquity of the nanometer-scale structures. The topics presented in the book include: scanning probe-related and near-field techniques, nanolithography, self assembling and design of novel nanostructures, as well as new nanodevices and their application.
