The concept of nanotechnology came from Dr. Richard P. Feynman. He introduced the idea of nanotechnology at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society at CalTech (See transcript here). He basically stated that there were many advantages to microscale components and that it would prove to be inexpensive to manufacture. Nanotechnology would also require less human work to be done, and it would completely depend on the self replicating work of the nanomachines. Ideas range from self repairing cells to microcomputers less than the size of a cell performing 10 quadrillion operations per second. In the next following sections, I will describe some applications of nanotechnology and what branches of nanotechnology there are.
Nanotechnology can be applied into many fields and here are some of them:
Nanomedicine may be defined as the monitoring, repair, construction and control of human biological systems at the molecular level, using engineered nanodevices and nanostructures. Nanotechnology can be used to improve the field of diagnostic techniques, drugs, prosthetics, and implants. Current research is going on right now for anticancer drugs, implanted insulin pumps, and gene therapy. Ongoing research in the biomedical field includes Synthesis and use of nanostructures, Nanotechnology and therapy, Biological nanostructures, devices for early disease detection, and nanotechnology for tissue engineering. For more information about nanomedicine, visit this website.
Nanotechnology dealing with electronic systems includes carbon nanotubes, molecular devices, nanomagnetics, organic transistors, photonic crystals, and silicon transistors. For more information about nanoelectronics, visit this website.
Nanomaterials happen to do with self-assembly. Some of its branches includes Di-block copolymer templates, bottom-up nanomachines, nanocrystal assemblies, and quantum dots/wires. For more information on nanomaterials, visit this website.
This field includes quantum computing, quantum mirage, and nanomagnetics. For more information on Quantum Coherence, visit this website.
Here are some links to help further the understanding of the concept of nanotechnology.
http://www.zyvex.com/nano/ : This website will give a basis of nanotechnology and some of the manufacturing and processes of nanotechnology.
http://www.foresight.org/ : A webpage dealing with nanotechnology and current research in nanotechnology. http://www.nano.gov/ : The nanotechnology initiative from the U.S. Government. http://www.nanoindustries.com/ : Various nanotechnology resources and links to nanotech companies.