"Nanotechnology tools and instruments" are the hardware, software, and supplies used to measure and manipulate structures on the nanoscale. They include microscopes, probes, lithography systems, manipulation and fabrication systems, software, and other accessories. Rarely are these instruments unique to nanotechnologies. Most of them were developed in other industries, especially in semiconductor and chipmaking, where sub-micron manufacturing principles have fueled the communications explosion. Chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science have also had a significant impact, and it is in this interdisciplinarity that nanotechnology is unique.

According to a soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Company, Inc, RGB-283 Tools and Instrumentation for Nanotechnology, the worldwide market for nanotechnology instruments and tools is estimated at $199.2 million in 2003. Expected to grow at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 28.6%, this market is forecast to cross $700 million by 2008.

Since the launch of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, media, industry, and the public have gone nanotech crazy. It is everywhere, from Michael Crichton's evil nano-swarm in Prey, to the superheroic teenager shot full of nanoparticles in the television show Jake 2.0, to the cartoon Jimmy Neutron in which Jimmy's pants try to take over the world because of a glitch in the "nanochip" Jimmy has supplied them with in order that they might fold themselves and put themselves away.

While the status of nanotechnology has risen in the popular mind, the reality is that the sales of Prey alone likely outstripped the 2002 revenues of the whole nanotechnology industry.

With all this attention, it is often hard to remember that, despite the clear potential of nanotechnologies, it is still a nascent industry, really less than a decade old.

As the core of the nanotechnology industry, tools and instrumentation allow us to do the work of nanotechnology: move and manipulate individual atoms, create new materials and structures, analyze and characterize surfaces, stretch proteins. As this sector grows and innovates, we will see a broad range of new nanotechnology products begin to move into the commercial marketplace. Today, the vast majority of nanotechnology is laboratory science, though commercial products are finally beginning to slip into the market.

Atomic force microscopes dominate the sector -- they are expensive, but have applications in almost every nanotechnology field. Indeed, they can be a key component in nanolithography and nanofabrication systems. Expansion of sales of AFMs will be a bellwether for the rest of the nanotechnology industry. We expect the microscopy sector to expand at about 22.4% AAGR.

With growth at an AAGR of 69.9%, nanolithography systems represent one of the highest growth areas for the sector. This is a very new technology, and its real impact will not be seen for perhaps a decade. However, it represents a significant technological leap, and may offer a few early successful applications. In October 2002, NanoInk, Inc., one of the leading developers of nanolithography systems, was awarded a key platform patent in this technology.