ABSTRACT
Various functional devices have been developed on the basis of recent rapid progress in nanotechnology, which is a methodology to provide nanostructures for fabrication of fi ne devices such as mechanical machines and information converters, with nanometer-scale structural precision. Miniaturization of electronic and photonic devices has had an enormous impact on technology and fueled many important research efforts in the fi eld of materials science. Successful advances in silicon nanotechnology, such as very large scale integrated circuitry (VLSI) and ultra large scale integrated circuitry (ULSI), are results of the downscaling of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors. Our daily life is actually supported by a variety of nanodevices whose functions depend upon such highly integrated electronic circuits.
