Nanotechnology Glossary: A–Z Terms and Definitions
This nanotechnology glossary explains key terms used in nanoscience, nanomaterials, nanoparticles, nanoelectronics, nanomedicine, microscopy, spectroscopy, lithography, quantum materials, graphene research, and nanoscale fabrication. It is designed as an A–Z reference for students, researchers, engineers, journalists, and industry professionals looking for clear definitions of nanotechnology terminology.
Use the A–Z navigation to browse terms alphabetically, from zero-dimensional materials and 2D materials to quantum dots, scanning probe microscopy, self-assembly, and other concepts used across research and industry.
0–9
A
- Aerogel
- AES (Auger Electron Spectroscopy)
- AFAM (Atomic Force Acoustic Microscopy)
- AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy)
- ALD (Atomic Layer Deposition)
- Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES)
- Ångström
- Anisotropic Nanoparticles
- Anomalous Hall Effect
- Antimonene
- Artificial Atom
- Artificial Synapse
- Atom Probe Tomography (APT)
- Atomic Layer Etching
- Atomic Vacancies
B
- Ballistic Electron Transport
- Bandgap
- Bandgap Engineering
- Bandgap Materials
- Bimetallic nanoparticles
- Bioelectronics
- Bioinspired Nanomaterials
- Bionanotechnology
- Bismuthene
- Block Copolymer Lithography
- Boron Nitride
- Boron Nitride Nanotubes (BNNT)
- Borophene
- Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC)
- Bottom-up Nanotechnology
- Bragg Coherent Diffraction Imaging
- Brownian Motion
- Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) Analysis
- Buckyball
- Buckypaper
C
- Capillary Force Lithography (CFL)
- Carbon Allotropes
- Carbon Black
- Carbon Dots
- Carbon Nanobelt
- Carbon Nanohorns
- Carbon Nanomaterials
- Carbon Nanotube
- Casimir Force
- Ceramic Nanoparticles
- Charged Domain Walls
- Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)
- Chiral Plasmonics
- Chirality
- Cleanroom
- CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor)
- Colloidal Lithography
- Colloidal Nanoparticles
- Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy (C-AFM)
- Contact Profilometry (Stylus)
- Core-Shell Nanoparticle
- Coulomb Attraction
- Coulomb Blockade
- Covalent Organic Framework (COF)
- Critical Dimension Scanning Electron Microscopy (CD-SEM)
- Cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM)
- Cryo-Electron Tomography (cryo-ET)
D
- De Broglie Wavelength
- Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE)
- Defect Engineering
- Defect States
- Dendrimers
- Dendrites
- Density Functional Theory (DFT)
- Diffraction Limit
- Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN)
- Dirac Cone
- Dirac Materials
- DNA Nanobots
- DNA Nanotechnology
- DNA Origami
- Domain Wall
- Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS)
- Drug Delivery
E
- Electrochemical Atomic Force Microscopy (EC-AFM)
- Electrohydrodynamic (Ejet) Printing
- Electromagnetic Nanogenerator (EMG)
- Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)
- Electron Beam Induced Deposition (EBID)
- Electron Beam Lithography (EBL)
- Electron Diffraction
- Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS)
- Electron Holography
- Electron Microscopy
- Electron Tomography
- Electronegativity
- Electronic Ink
- Electronic Paper
- Electronic Skin
- Electronic Tattoo
- Electrospinning
- Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM)
- Ellipsometry
- Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS or EDX)
- Environmental Nanotechnology
- Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL)
F
- Fermi Liquid
- Ferroelectric Crystals
- Few-Molecule Reservoir Computing
- FinFET Transistor
- Flash Joule Heating
- Flexible Electronics
- Flexoelectricity
- Fluidic Force Microscopy (FluidFM)
- Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS)
- Focused Ion Beam Lithography (FIBL)
- Focused Ion Beam Milling
- Force Microscopy
- Force Spectroscopy
- Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
- Friction Force Microscopy (FFM)
- Fullerene
- Functionalization
G
H
I
J
K
L
- Lab-on-a-Chip
- Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) Technique
- Laser Ablation
- Layer-by-Layer Assembly
- LCD – Liquid Crystal Display
- LED – Light-emitting Diode
- Lipid Nanoparticles
- Liposomes
- Liquid Crystal Nanoparticles
- Liquid Metal
- Liquid-Phase Exfoliation
- Lithography in Nanotechnology
- Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR)
- Low-dimensional Materials
M
- Machine Learning in Nanotechnology
- Magic Angle
- Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM)
- Magnetic Nanoparticles
- Magnetic Tunnel Junctions
- Magnetic Tweezers
- Magneto-Ionic Gating
- Magnonic Crystals
- Magnonics
- Majorana Fermions
- Mass Spectrometry
- Mechanical Exfoliation
- Mechanosynthesis
- Memristor
- MEMS (Microelectromechanical System)
- Mesoporous Materials
- Meta-Optics
- Metal Oxide Nanoparticles
- Metal-Organic Framework (MOF)
- Metal-Organic Nanosheet (MON)
- Metalenses
- Metallic Nanoparticles
- Metamaterial & Metasurface
- Metrology in Nanotechnology
- Microfluidics
- Micromechanical Cleavage
- Microtransfer Printing
- Mie Scattering
- Moiré Materials
- Molecular Assembly
- Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)
- Molecular Dynamics Simulation
- Molecular Electronics
- Molecular Motors
- Molecular Nanotechnology
- Molecular Switch
- Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS₂)
- Monodispersity
- Monolayer Amorphous Carbon
- Moore's Law
- MOSFET
- Mott Insulator
- Multiferroics
- Multiple Exciton Generation
- MXene
N
- NAND Flash
- Nano-Optics
- Nanoactuator
- Nanoampere
- Nanoantenna
- Nanoarchitectonics
- Nanobiomaterials
- Nanobiomechanics
- Nanobiosensors
- Nanobiotechnology
- Nanobodies
- Nanobots
- Nanocandela
- Nanocantilever
- Nanocapacitor
- Nanocapsule
- Nanocarbon
- Nanocatalyst / Nanocatalysis
- Nanocellular graphene
- Nanocellulose
- Nanoceramics
- Nanochemistry
- Nanocircuits
- Nanoclay
- Nanocluster
- Nanocoatings
- Nanocomposites
- Nanocrystal
- Nanocrystalline Materials
- Nanodevices
- Nanodiamond
- Nanoelectrochemistry
- Nanoelectrode
- Nanoelectronics
- Nanoemitter
- Nanoemulsion
- Nanoengineering
- Nanoethics
- Nanofabrication
- Nanofertilizer
- Nanofiber
- Nanofilm
- Nanofiltration
- Nanofluidic Transistor
- Nanofluidics
- Nanogel
- Nanogenerators
- Nanogram
- Nanographene
- Nanoimaging
- Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL)
- Nanoindentation
- Nanoink
- Nanoionics
- Nanolaser
- Nanoliter
- Nanomachines
- Nanomagnetism
- Nanomanipulation
- Nanomanufacturing
- Nanomaterial
- Nanomechanics
- Nanomedicine
- Nanomembrane
- Nanometer
- Nanometrology
- Nanomol
- Nanomolar
- Nanomotor
- Nanonewton
- Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis
- Nanoparticles
- Nanopatterning
- Nanopesticide
- Nanophotonic Circuits
- Nanophotonics
- Nanophysics
- Nanopiezotronics
- Nanopipette
- Nanopixel
- Nanoplasmonics
- Nanoplastics
- Nanopore DNA Sequencing
- Nanopores
- Nanoporous Materials
- Nanoprecipitation
- Nanoprinting
- Nanoprobe
- Nanoreactor
- Nanorheology
- Nanoribbon
- Nanorobotics
- Nanorobots
- Nanorod
- Nanoscale
- Nanoscale Thermodynamics
- Nanoscience
- Nanoscopy
- Nanosecond
- Nanosensors
- Nanoshells
- Nanosphere Colloidal Lithography
- Nanosponge
- Nanostencil Lithography
- Nanostructured Crystals
- Nanostructured Materials
- Nanostructured Superalloys
- Nanoswimmers
- Nanotechnology
- Nanotechnology Education
- Nanotechnology in Energy
- Nanotechnology in Food & Agriculture
- Nanotechnology in Space Exploration
- Nanotechnology Standards
- Nanotoxicity
- Nanotoxicology
- Nanotribology
- Nanowire
- Nanozymes
- Narrow-Bandgap Material
- Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM)
- Near-Field-Optics
- NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical System)
- Neuromorphic Computing
- Neuromorphic Engineering
- Neuronanotechnology
- Neutron Reflectometry
- Neutron Scattering
- Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) Centers
- NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy
- Non-Hermitian Physics
- Nonlinear Optical Crystals
- NRAM (Nanotube-based Random Access Memory)
O
- One-dimensional Materials
- Optical Cavity
- Optical Lithography
- Optical Profilometry
- Optical Resonator
- Optical Scatterometry
- Optical Tweezers
- Optoelectronics
- Optomechanical Crystals
- Orbitronics
- Organic Electronics
- Organic Field-Effect Transistor (OFET)
- Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED)
- Organic Molecular Beam Deposition (OMBD)
- Organic Photovoltaics (OPV)
P
- P-N Junction
- Peptide Nanotubes
- Perovskite
- Phase-change Materials
- Phononic Crystals
- Phosphorene
- Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (PALM)
- Photocatalyst
- Photoelectron Spectroscopy
- Photoemission Spectroscopy
- Photolithography
- Photoluminescence Quantum Yield
- Photon Upconversion Nanoparticles
- Photonic Bandgap
- Photonic Crystals
- Photorefractive Crystals
- Phoxonic Crystals
- Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)
- Piezoelectric Crystals
- Piezoelectric Nanogenerator (PENG)
- Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM)
- Plasmon / Plasmonics
- Plasmonic Crystals
- Plasmonic Hot Electron Photovoltaics
- Plasmonic Nanoparticles
- Plastic Electronics
- Polaritronic Crystals
- Polymeric Nanoparticles
- Printed Electronics
- Programmable Matter
- Pseudocapacitor
- Pulsed Laser Deposition
- Pyroelectric Nanogenerator (PyENG)
Q
- QLED – Quantum Dot Light-emitting Diode
- Quantum Anomalous Hall Insulator
- Quantum Chemistry
- Quantum Communication
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Confinement
- Quantum Dot Laser
- Quantum Dot Solar Cell
- Quantum Dots
- Quantum Effects
- Quantum Emission
- Quantum Emitter
- Quantum Fluid
- Quantum Hall Effect
- Quantum Interference
- Quantum Mechanics
- Quantum Metrology
- Quantum Optics
- Quantum Photonics
- Quantum Sensing
- Quantum Size Effects
- Quantum Spin Hall Insulator
- Quantum Spin Liquid
- Quantum Technology
- Quantum Topology
- Quantum Tunneling Effect
- Quantum Wells
- Quantum Wire
- Qubit
R
S
- Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy
- Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
- Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM)
- Scanning Microwave Microscopy
- Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM)
- Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM)
- Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM)
- Scanning Transmission X-Ray Microscopy (STXM)
- Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM)
- Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy
- Scotch Tape Method
- Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS)
- Seebeck Effect
- Self-assembly
- Self-Healing Materials
- Semiconductor Industry
- Semiconductor Nanoparticles
- Semiconductor Technology
- SERS (Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering)
- Silicene
- Silicon-Vacancy (SiV) Centers
- Silver Nanoparticles
- Single-atom Catalyst
- Single-Electron Transistors
- Single-Molecule Force Spectroscopy
- Single-Molecule Imaging
- Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy
- Single-Photon Emitters
- Skyrmion
- Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS)
- Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)
- Smart Dust
- Soft Lithography
- Sol-Gel Synthesis
- Solid-State Battery
- SP Hybridization
- Spin Coating
- Spin Hall Effect
- Spin Liquids
- Spin Valve
- Spin-Orbit Coupling (SOC)
- Spintronics
- Stanene
- Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy
- Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM)
- Stokes-Einstein Equation
- Strain Engineering
- Straintronics
- Stretchable Electronics
- Structural Colors
- Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM)
- Super-Resolution Microscopy
- Supercapacitor
- Superconducting Crystals
- Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID)
- Superconductivity
- Superhydrophilicity
- Superhydrophobicity
- Superwettability
- Supramolecular Assembly
- Surface Force Apparatus (SFA)
- Surface Functionalization
- Surface Plasmon Resonance
- Surface Plasmons
- Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption (SEIRA) Spectroscopy
- Surface-to-Volume Ratio
- Synthetic Nanomotors
T
- Targeted Drug Delivery
- Template-Assisted Growth
- Terahertz Technologies
- Thin Films
- Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS)
- Tissue Engineering Scaffolds
- Top-down Nanotechnology
- Topological Crystals
- Topological Electronic States
- Topological Insulator
- Topological Materials
- Topological Superconductor
- Transistor
- Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs)
- Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
- Transparent Electronics
- Tribo-Thermoelectric Nanogenerator (TTENG)
- Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG)
- Tunable Optical Materials
- Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor (TFET)
- Tunnel Junction
- Tunneling Magnetoresistance
- Twistronics
- Two-dimensional Materials
- Two-Dimensional X-Ray Diffraction (2D-XRD)
