Split a human hair thirty thousand times, and you have the equivalent of a nanometer. The aim of this work is to provide an introduction into nanotechnology for the s- entifically interested. However, such an enterprise requires a balance between comprehensibility and scientific accuracy. In case of doubt, preference is given to the latter. Much more than in microtechnology whose fundamentals we assume to be known a certain range of engineering and natural sciences are interwoven in nanotechnology. For instance, newly developed tools from mechanical engine- ing are essential in the production...