Nanoscale materials: How small is big

Reaching nanometer length scales presents something of a crossover point where the properties of bulk materials start to break down and atomic character emerges. Top-down describes the traditional approach to miniaturization, whereby features are introduced into a bulk material with ever increasing precision. Nanoscale thin films are a somewhat mature technology with a broad base of applications across scientific and engineering fields. More development of 2-D nanostructures is expected to come in the form of advanced materials such as the organic nanosheet graphene and precision fabrication techniques such as atomic layer deposition.