a so-called bottom-up fabrication technique that can be used to acheive molecular scale resolution

In chemical solutions, self-assembly (also called Brownian assembly) results from the random motion of molecules and the affinity of their binding sites for one another. Also refers to the joining of complementary surfaces in nanomolecular interaction. [ZY] See MITRE Nanosystems Research Task: Self-Assembly of Nanosystems and Microsystems

At the molecular level, the spontaneous gathering of molecules into well-defined, stable, structures that are held together by intermolecular forces. In chemical solutions, self-assembly (also called Brownian assembly) results from the random motion of molecules and the affinity of their binding sites for one another. Self-assembly also refers to the joining of complementary surfaces in nanomolecular interaction. Developing simple, efficient methods to organize molecules and molecular clusters into precise, pre-determined structures is an important area of nanotechnology exploration.