This volume contains the proceedings of the conference on "Atomic and Nanometer Scale Modification of Materials: Fundamentals and Applications" which was co-sponsored by NATO and the Engineering Foundation, and took place in Ventura, California in August 1992. The goal of the organizers was to bring together and facilitate the exchange of information and ideas between researchers involved in the development of techniques for nanometer-scale modification and manipulation. theorists investigating the fundamental mech­ anisms of the processes involved in modification, and scientists studying the properties and applications of nanostructures. About seventy scientists from all over the world participated in the conference. It has been more than 30 years since Richard Feynman wrote his prophetic article: ''There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom" (Science and Engineering, 23, 22, 1960). In it he predicted that some day we should be able to store bits of information in structures composed of only 100 atoms or so, and thus be able to write all the information accumulated in all the books in the world in a cube of material one two-hundredths of an inch high. He went on to say, "the prin­ ciples of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. " Since that time there has been significant progress towards the realization of Feynman's dreams.

Atom Manipulation with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope.- STM-Induced Modification and Electrical Properties of Surfaces on the Atomic and Nanometer Scales.- Alkali Metals on III - V (110) Semiconductor Surfaces: Overlayer Properties and Manipulation via STM.- Field Ion Evaporation from Sample and Tip in the STM for Atomic-scale Surface Modification.- Writing of Local, Electrically Active Structures in Amorphous Silicon Films by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy.- Atomic-Scale Imaging and Modification of Spins Using a Magnetic-Sensitive Scanning Tunneling Microscope.- Physics and Chemistry in High Electric Fields.- Field-induced Transfer of an Atom Between Two Closely Spaced Electrodes.- Vibrational Heating and Atom Transfer with the STM.- Tip-induced Modifications of Electronic and Atomic Structure.- Field Emission from Single-Atom Protrusion Tips: Electron Spectroscopy and Local Heating.- Four-Point Resistance Measurements of Wires Written with a Scanning Tunneling Microscope.- High Resolution Patterning with the STM.- AFM Data Storage Using Thermomechanical Writing.- BEEM: A Probe of Nanoscale Modification.- Nanoscale Fashioning of Materials.- Growth and In-Situ Processing of Low Dimensional Quantum Structures.- Quantum Dot Fabrication by Optical Lithography and Selective Etching.- High Frequency (MHz) Nanoactuators for Tips and Tip-arrays.- Light Pressure Lithography.- Semiconductor Quantum Dot Resonant Tunneling Spectroscopy.- Single Electron Effects in Small Metallic Tunnel Junctions.- Fabrication and Electric Conductance of a Finite Atomic Gold Wire: A Theoretical Study.- Structure, Dynamics and Electronic Properties of Molecular Nanostructures Observed by STM.- The Modification of Semiconductor Surfaces by Molecular Self-Assembly.- Molecular Self-Assembly and Micromachining.- Characterization of the Interaction of C60 with Au (111).- Molecular and Cellular Organizates on the Electrode Surface for Electronic Control of Their Functions.- Characterization and Application of Nanoscale Artifacts in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy.