The Nanoworkbench: Automated Nanorobotic system inside of scanning electron or focused ion beam microscopes

Many every day developments would not exist today without preparation, handling and assembly of materials under optical microscopes. There would be no wristwatch, no in vitro fertilization, no mini-gearbox, just to mention a few. These products depend on using toolsets like tweezers, knives, hooks, probes and several different measurement tools in combination with optical microscopes, since a good part of the understanding about material functions and process technologies was developed this way. But many material properties and functionalities also depend on structure dimensions that are smaller than the wavelength of light.