This book is a collection of some of the invited talks presented at the international meeting held at the Max Planck Institut fuer Physik Komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany during August 6-30, 2001, on the rapidly developing field of nanoscale science in science and bio-electronics Semiconductor physics has experienced unprecedented developments over the second half of the twentieth century. The exponential growth in microelectronic processing power and the size of dynamic memorie has been achieved by significant downscaling of the minimum feature size. Smaller feature sizes result in increased functional density, faster speed, and lower costs. In this process one is reaching the limits where quantum effects and fluctuations are beginning to play an important role. This book reflects the achievements of the present times and future directions of research on nanoscopic dimensions.
