Editorial

The 7th LEEE Lnternational Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems (LEEE-NEMS 2012) was held on March 5-8 in Kyoto, Japan. This conference is an annual conference focusing on MEMS, nanotechnology, and molecular technology providing an excellent opportunity to bring together scientists and engineers from academia, research centres, national research institutes and companies to present and discuss the latest results in these fields. This year, LEEE-NEMS received 337 abstracts from 20 countries and a total of 285 papers (including late-news papers) were judiciously selected by the Technical Program Committee (TPC). This special section of the LET´s Micro & Nano Letters was advertised prior to the conference on the website and 28 submissions of expanded manuscripts from the conference attendees were received. These manuscripts were required to demonstrate significant new results over the full paper in the conference proceedings. As a consequence of the standard peer review process, 14 expanded manuscripts were accepted for publication in this special section. Most of these 14 manuscripts address the fabrication and characterisation of material and device for micro/nanosystems, which are common and important aspects of this field. The focusing points of these manuscripts can be categorised into four topics as follows: (1) the nano-carbon (carbon nanotubes and graphene) and nano-silicon electromechanical systems, since fabrication techniques and characterisation of these materials are key for expanding their applications; (2) functional materials contributing to expand functionalities and performances of new micro/ nanodevices; (3) micro/nanofluidic devices for chemical and bio microsystems including new fabrication techniques that will realise novel microfluidic devices; (4) fabrication and packaging techniques dedicated for bio and chemical applications and CMOS integrated micro/nanodevices. We believe these 14 manuscripts will bear fruit throug- developing new micro/nanodevices. As guest editors of this special section, we thank all the contributors and the reviewers. We would also like to thank Dr James Baldwin and Mrs Anna Bond from the LET for their assistance and remarkable patience.