Nanotechnology and nanoscience got started in the early 1980s with two major developments; the birth of cluster science and the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). There are three distinct but interdependent nanotechnology areas: (1) Wet nano-technology, (2) Dry nanotechnology and (3) Computational nanotechnology. Nano-technology has also been divided in to two: (1) Structural Nanotechnology, (2) Molecular Nanotechnology. Chemistry and Biochemistry are in many ways nanotechnologies working with nanoscale structures. In physics the classical laws of motion are not always valid on the nanoscale where a quantum mechanical model often is more suitable. Nanophysics includes how nanosystems move, the forces that control the motion, and the ways we can model it.

Nanotechnology has its applications in various fields The important fields are: biomolecular electronics, carbon nanotube, fuel cells, gene chips, magnetic nanosensors, micro-manipulation techniques, molecular  nanobiosensors, nanocatalysis, nano-composites, nanocrystalline materials, nanoelectrochemical lithography, nano-electronics, nanoparticles, nanostructured polymer etc.