NANOSTRUCTURES FORMED BY MANIPULATION OF INDIVIDUAL ATOMS, MOLECULES, OR LIMITED COLLECTIONS OF ATOMS OR MOLECULES AS DISCRETE UNITS

**Definition:** This place covers:

Precise arrangements of matter on molecular or atomic level having particularly shaped configurations (i.e. nanostructural assemblages) formed during manufacture which are distinct from both naturally occurring and chemically produced chemical or biological arrangements composed of similar matter, wherein each assemblage includes at least one essential integral element:

The essential integral elements of nanostructural assemblages when they include structural features limiting their use to these assemblages.

The manufacture or treatment of the above type of nanostructural assemblages when the manufacturing or treating creates an essential structural feature of an assemblage and utilizes either:

**Glossary:** - Manufacture: Chemical, electrical, or mechanical process or apparatus for accomplishing one or more of the following operations on a nanostructural assemblage or an essential integral element thereof: assembling, associating, bonding, constructing, creating, cutting, distorting, electric photographing, etching, fabricating, fastening, finishing, joining, juxtaposing, positioning, shaping, or working. - Nanosize or nanoscale: Controlled geometrical size below 100 nanometres (nm) in one or more dimensions. - Nanostructure: Entity having at least one nanosized functional component that makes physical, chemical or biological properties or effects available, which are uniquely attributable to the nanoscale.