Microelectronics! What is it, when's it used, how was it invented, what's its history, how are they made?
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I would think that microelectronics is just another word for integrated circuit. Now adays the can fit 1 billion transistors on a tiny little chip. ICs are used everywhere now (cars, microwaves, computers, cell phones, etc...).\n\nmore info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit
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Nanotechnology is the science and technology of building electronic circuits and devices from single atoms and molecules.  It deals with devices typically less than 100 nanometers in size and is expected to make a significant contribution to the fields of computer storage, semiconductors, biotechnology, manufacturing and energy.  So it's scope is extremely vast.\n\nEnvisioned are all kinds of amazing products, including extraordinarily tiny computers that are very powerful, building materials that withstand earthquakes, advanced systems for drug delivery and custom-tailored pharmaceuticals as well as the elimination of invasive surgery, because repairs can be made from within the body.  There's even been talk of possibly using nanotechnology in warfare, unfortunately.\n\n-Colourgirlie ^_^.
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Here's a great article from wikipedia: \nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor
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http://www.microchipc.com/
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Nanotech is indeed real. Have you never seen surveillance cameras the size of a dime, and what about tracking devices about the size of a cigarette lighter?Do you remember how many different components use to be in a regular am radio & tv set? Tubes, capacitors, resistors, coils, etc. are now on a pc circuit board in the form of an integrated circuit about 1"x1/4". The first computer ever devised needed many rooms to house. The laptop now is less than the sise of some wire bound notebooks high school kids carry.
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http://www.howstuffworks.com\n\nA great site:\nhttp://www.ibiblio.org/obp/electricCircuits/
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Very Large-Scale Integration \nVery-large-scale integration (VLSI) of systems of transistor-based circuits into integrated circuits on a single chip first occurred in the 1970s as part of the semiconductor and communication technologies that were being developed.\n\nThe first semiconductor chips held one transistor each. Subsequent advances added more and more transistors, and as a consequence more individual functions or systems were integrated over time. The microprocessor is a VLSI device.\n\nThe first "generation" of computers relied on vacuum tubes. Then came discrete semiconductor devices, followed by integrated circuits. The first Small-Scale Integration (SSI) ICs had small numbers of devices on a single chip – diodes, transistors, resistors and capacitors (no inductors though), making it possible to fabricate one or more logic gates on a single device. The fourth generation consisted of Large-Scale Integration (LSI), i.e. systems with at least a thousand logic gates. The natural successor to LSI was VLSI (many tens of thousands of gates on a single chip). Current technology has moved far past this mark and today's microprocessors have many millions of gates and hundreds of millions of individual transistors.\n\nAs of mid-2004, billion-transistor processors are not yet economically feasible for most uses, but they are achievable in laboratory settings, and they are clearly on the horizon as semiconductor fabrication moves from the current generation of 90 nanometer (90 nm) processes to the next 65 nm and 45 nm generations.
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transistors are in your PC, Radio, TV, and in most electronic items you have. Before the age of transistor, electronics use a tube that is normally tens of times the size of a transistor to do what a transistors do. With transistors that now, could be made into nanometre wide, most electronic items take much less space than it's used to be. For example, the ancient computer is at the size of a big room, and it's computing power is tiny compared to today's computer. transistors are also cheaper to made than tubes, thus cutting down electronics price.
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Go to the link below and do a search for "history of electronics" or "fundamentals of electronics" and  you will have your answer.
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Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor.  It's the basic component of most electronic circuits and all digital ones.  It's the breakthrough that made computers so cheap, small and popular.  A transistor, you know, acts as an electrical "gate," acting on a smaller input voltage to allow a larger voltage to pass through.  So a transistor can act as an amplifier, by using a smaller current to control a larger current.  Used in a circuit called a "flip-flop," it makes up the basic circuit for computers and other digital electronics.\n\nThere are many kinds of transistors, dating all the way back to vacuum tubes; the reason MOSFETs are such a big deal is because they are made by "printing," in huge quantities and on extremely small scales, directly onto microchips.
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It was invented by university types in the 1960s with the idea that a system of communication was needed that would survive an atomic attack. It started out as a pair of computers successfully sharing information and it built from there.\n\nSee ARPA
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All "chips" are basically made the same way, from ultra pure glass, or silicon.  Then impurities are added to create different electrical properties.\n\nIf you would like to learn more follow the following link:
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try it... then you might want to go into details like integrated circuits ICs and transistors...\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor
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http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/m/microprocessor.html\n\nhttp://www.webopedia.com/TERM/m/microprocessor.html\n\nhttp://www.pctechguide.com/21Architecture.htm\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprocessor
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In November, 1971, a company called Intel publicly introduced the world's first single chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (U.S. Patent #3,821,715), invented by Intel engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stan Mazor. After the invention of integrated circuits revolutionized computer design, the only place to go was down -- in size that is. The Intel 4004 chip took the integrated circuit down one step further by placing all the parts that made a computer think (i.e. central processing unit, memory, input and output controls) on one small chip. Programming intelligence into inanimate objects had now become possible.
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I have read that future nanotechnology may involve many small machines building small structures.\n\nToday, though, nanotechnology isn't quite that exotic.  For example, lithography is often used in microprocessor production to create patterns on semiconductor surfaces by focusing light through a pattern mask.  The surface is covered by a material called photo-resist that changes when hit by the light.  Then the photo-resist is etched away with acid leaving the very small pattern that was focused on the surface.  Then a layer of material is applied (metal for wire connections, transistor parts, etc).  Many additional layers are required before the processor is completed.\n\nAlso, there are other technologies such as electron beam lithography, molecular beam epitaxy and probably quite a few others.  Basically, it is just shooting a tighly controlled beam of electrons or molecules at a surface to create patterns.\n\nI think there are other areas of nanotech involving chemistry and microbiology.  I just know a few things about electrical engineering nanotech, though.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photolithography\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_beam_epitaxy\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_beam_lithography
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nanotechnology is working with microchips and tiny electrical stuff.