Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Illustration with orange and yellow background. Gray honeycomb pattern. Circles that look like water drops.

Nanotechnology

Advancing nanoscale measurement science, standards, and nanotechnology is an important component of NIST's mission to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness. From leading cutting edge research to coordinating the development of standards that promote trade, NIST's programs in nanotechnology directly impact priorities important to the nation's economy and well being.

The Research

Projects & Programs

Chemical Functionalization and Manipulation of Nano Materials

Completed

This project focuses on manipulating nanomaterials, including weakly bonded van der Waals systems, and probing emergent phenomena in these nanoengineered systems to impact technologies such as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, quantum sensing, and quantum computing. Developing processes to

Forensic Topography and Surface Metrology

Ongoing

Surface texture and microform Surface texture affects the functionality of many products, ranging from bearings to semiconductors and optics. Affected properties include aesthetics, friction, wear, lubrication, sealing, light scattering, and conductivity. Improvements in parameters and metrology to

Nanoscale Spectroscopy for Advanced Electronics, Quantum Materials and Devices

Ongoing

Semiconductor technologies are critical to U.S. economic and national security as they are essential to modern life in communications, healthcare, energy, etc. and also underpin many emerging technologies like quantum, artificial intelligence, high power electronics and advanced wireless (6G+). The

View All Projects/Programs

Additional Resources Links

Publications

Software

Tools & Instruments

Man in a clean suit stands in front of a chip oven

The CNST NanoFab: Through the Users’ Eyes

Learn more about this unique NIST facility, where scientists from government, academia and industry can use commercial, state-of-the-art tools at economical rates, and get help from dedicated, full-time technical support staff. Voices: David Baldwin (Great Ball of Light, Inc.) Elisa Williams (Scientific & Biomedical Microsystems) George Coles (Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory) William Osborn (NIST)

View video

News and Updates

concept illustrating the virtuous cycle of how better devices lead to better measurements which lead to better devices

The Virtuous Cycle of Making and Measuring Nanostructures

In his 1959 lecture “ There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” Richard Feynman invited us to enter a new field of physics. He envisioned, with remarkable prescience, making, measuring and using new technology at the nanometer scale. The exact effect that his predictions had on future science is uncertain, but he certainly inspired science fiction writers, and their stories captured my imagination as

A composite image of multiple creatures, including green beetles, crabs, lobster, scorpion and a mantis shrimp.

Bioinspired Materials Can Take a Punch

NIST Scientists Use DNA Origami on a Chip to Detect Biomolecules

With Some Bumps, NIST Scientists Devise a Novel Way to Extend the Wavelength Range of Microcombs

Two men sit at a table in a lab, facing each other and smiling as they talk and gesture toward their computer screens.

Can Nanotechnology Help Solve Climate Change?

NIST biomedical engineer Laurie Locascio places a water sample on a highly sensitive, inexpensive "lab-on-a-chip"

One of NIST’s Most Prolific Inventors Is Also Our Director — and She’s Still an Inventor at Heart

Two people wearing coveralls in a "clean room" lab look up at a disk-shaped object that one of them is holding.

Agents of Contrast, Software Runaway Hit, Our Early Universe: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

Stay in Touch

Upcoming Events

Artificial Intelligence for Materials Science (AIMS) Workshop

Wed, Jul 9 - Thu, Jul 10 2025

As part of the JARVIS workshop series, the 6th Artificial Intelligence for Materials Science (AIMS) workshop will be

Was this page helpful?