Biomimetic: Imitating nature and applying those techniques to technology.

Biomolecular Nanotechnology: The use and creation of biomolecules as components in nanotechnology, most often in medical applications.

Bottom-Up: In nanotechnology, the construction of machines using atoms and molecules.

Breakdown: The change in or failing of the physical principles governing materials and machines as they approach the nanoscale.

Buckminsterfullerene (aka Buckyball, C60): Probably the most famous of the fullerenes, it consists of 60 carbon atoms. Discovered in 1985 by Richard Smalley, Harold Kroto, and Robert Curl for which they won the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Named in honor of the architect Buckminster Fuller, who designed the geodesic structures that the fullerene resembles.

Bulk Micromachining: A fabrication process of creating structures by etching into (and through) silicon wafers.

Carbon Nanotube: A cylinder-shaped structure resembling a rolled-up sheet of graphite that can be a conductor or semiconductor depending on the alignment of its carbon atoms. It is 100 times stronger than steel of the same weight, although due to high fabrication costs, widespread commercial use is still distant.

Conductor: A material or object through which electricity can flow with little resistance.

Covalent Bond: The sturdy bond between two atoms that share a pair of electrons.

Dendrimer: From the Greek word for tree, a polymer with branching parts invented by Donald Tomalia in the late 1970s. Currently used in medical research for use as a molecular "toolkit" for targeted drug delivery.

Etching: Removal of material from a surface. Wet etching of silicon uses a chemical bath (usually potassium hydroxide). Dry etching uses gas, plasma or the blasting of particles.

Fullerene: A third form of carbon, after diamond and graphite. Can be spherical or tubular in shape.

Hydrophobic Effect: From the Greek for "water fearing," refers to the force that causes oil and water to separate, as the attraction between water molecules is stronger than oil-water attraction. Its opposite is the hydrophilic effect.

Insulator: A material or object that does not allow electricity to flow through it.

Lab-on-a-chip: A small chip (often the size of a credit card) containing microfluidic channels narrower than a human hair. They take advantage of the properties of liquids and gases to separate and better allow microsensors to analyze their constituent elements.

LIGA: An acronym from the German words for lithography, electroplating and molding, a micromachining technique used to create very tall, straight-walled structures for Microsystems.

Lithography: Literally, "writing on small rocks;" the process of copying a pattern onto a surface using light, electron beams, or X-rays.

Mask: The pattern used in lithography that determines which areas are exposed and which are not.

MEMS: Microelectromechanical systems. A term primarily used in the United States, it refers to machines with moving parts smaller than a human hair that contain both electrical and mechanical components on silicon. Also referred to as Microsystems, microstructures, microstructure technology (MST) and mechatronics.

Microfluidic Channels: Microscopic channels narrower than a human hair (about 100 microns wide) that take advantage of the properties of fluids to separate them. A main component of lab-on-a-chip devices.

Micron: A unit of measurement representing one-millionth of a meter. Equivalent to a micrometer.

Microsystem: A microscale machine that can sense information from the environment and act accordingly. Outside the U.S., it can also refer to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

MOEMS: Microoptoelectromechanical systems. MEMS devices that include optic components, such as micromirrors.

Nano: From the Greek word for "dwarf," it indicates one-billionth of something.

Nanotechnology: The creation and use of objects at the nanoscale, up to 100 nanometers in size.

Quantum Dot: Grouping of atoms so small that the addition or removal of an electron will change its properties in a significant way.

Quantum Mirage: A phenomenon at the nanoscale by which it is possible to transmit information using the wave properties of electrons, possibly enabling future nanoscale machines to operate without wires.

RIE (Reactive Ion Etching): A form of dry etching in which ions are blasted at a wafer's surface.

Self-assembly: A bottom-up assembly method by which individual components of a structure come together, usually by bouncing around in a solution or gas. They connect to each other based on their structural (or chemical) properties.

Semiconductor: A substance such as silicon through which electricity can flow under certain circumstances. Its conductive properties are between those of a good conductor and an insulator.

Superconductor: A material or object through which electricity flows with zero resistance.

Surface Micromachining: The MEMS fabrication process based on standard CMOS microelectronic processes. MEMS structures are photolithographically patterned in alternating layers of deposited polysilicon and silicon dioxide, and then are "released" by dissolving away the silicon dioxide layers.

Top-Down: The building of small machines and materials (via carving, molding, or machining), using larger items such as tools and lasers.