The term “nanotechnology” has two very different meanings.

The term “nanotechnology” was introduced to describe physicist Richard Feynman’s vision of factories using nanomachines to build complex products, including additional nanomachines. Engineering analysis indicates that this will be an extremely powerful capability, able to make large products with atomic precision, building them with superior materials, cleanly, and at low cost. This original vision for nanotechnology is sometimes termed “molecular manufacturing” (a term used throughout this site), or “MNT” (for molecular or molecular-manufacturing-based nanotechnology). It is the basis for the original excitement about the field.

In recent years a group of scientists, technologists, business leaders, and bureaucrats have exploited the excitement around nanotechnology by using the term to label existing and near-term products which have significant features less than 100 nanometers in size. By this new, loose definition, “nanotechnology” isn’t about making nanoscale productive systems, but about making nanoscale products. It can describe anything with small features, ranging from fine particles to thin coatings to large molecules — even big things with tiny holes. Many parts of chemistry, materials science, microelectronics, and biotechnology are now marketed as “nanotechnology”. This redefinition has created confusion, raised false expectations, and hampered progress toward the original, more powerful goal.