Eric Drexler first described possible methods for creating nanometer scale devices in the mid-1980s [1]. Since then, various methods, including some not described by Drexler, have been attempted, with many of them finding success.

A nanotube is a structure of atoms arranged to form a tube--similar to a roll of chicken wire. The carbon atoms are the intersection of the wires, and the wires are the bonds between the atoms. This paper describes the use of a nanolaboratory to create and modify carbon nanotubes (CNTs), using an electron beam and oxygen to experiment with “nanoscale fabrication and assembly to develop novel nanodevices to integrate borderless technologies.” The laboratory is inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Fukuda et al. use the SEM with oxygen to cut and bend CNTs, to create nanosensors and nanoactuators. With these methods, a temperature sensor could be created, based on the ability to cut and bend CNTs with high accuracy.