When we make things in the ordinary-sized world, we use ordinary substances as our raw materials without paying much attention to their structures. In nanomanufacturing, however, not only chemical composition, but also physical structure, is of vital significance to the raw materials used. In other words, both substance and structure come into play.

When nanotechnology was born in the latter half of the twentieth century, the development of nanomaterials and nanostructures was largely a matter of chance. Substances created by chance and existing substances whose properties were not widely known were re-examined from the perspective of their properties at the nano level, and discovered to be materials that could be exploited in nanotechnology.

In the 21st century, however, a succession of new nanomaterials and nanostructures are being created through using special physical or chemical methods to change the structure of substances to bring out special properties, and intentionally manipulate molecules and atoms.