Nanotechnology progression (starts at around ZPM)

[swagXDragonSlayer46YT]

ZPM nanotechnology

Similarly to how circuit fabrication needs ultrapure silicon, these nanofabrication processes will need ultra-pure elements. (Source: https://www.shivajicollege.ac.in/sPanel/uploads/econtent/7063310c4c2df888692b173e0ce85c86.pdf)

• Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Th, and Pa: Van Arkel-de Boer process (documented here: Van Arkel-de Boer Process GregTechCEu/gt-ideas#4)
• Post-transition metals & metalloids will be purified fractional crystallization. (Exception: silicon, which has its own chain) The metal dust is melted and re-crystallized, leaving behind impurities. This applies to metals such as antimony, aluminum, and boron.
• Elements in metal groups that are not covered by sections above will be purified by electroplating. This includes platinum, copper, tin, and many more.

Any element that is not covered by any of the main processes above will have to be purified by their own separate chemistry lines.

• Iodine purification: https://patents.google.com/patent/CN104724675A/en

Anyways those were the materials. Now for the multiblocks and processes. The molecular beam epitaxy is the gateway for producing nanomaterials.

Changes to molecular beam epitaxy to make it more realistic: Requires extremely low vacuums and temperatures, which can be provided by liquid gases. Needs laser systems to control the process.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular-beam_epitaxy

UV nanotechnology

Scanning tunneling microscopes and nanobots can be used to manufacture extremely small structures at the atomic scale. This will require many materials from the previous section as a prerequisite, including the molecular beam epitaxy. Scanning tunneling microscopes require ultra high vacuums and near absolute value temperatures to operate. They also need platinium-iridium tips and very good vibration cancellation systems. The scanning tunneling microscope allows the player to manipulate individual atoms and control nanobots.

Nanobots would be made out of molecular wires, wheels, and tweezers.

• The axles of the nanobots would be made from Staffane. Its production is documented here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffane
• The wheels of the nanobots would be fullerene
• The tweezers would be corannulene: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corannulene

After the player makes nanobots, nanobots can be used to assemble nearly unlimited arrangements of chemicals and allotropes, including extremely cursed ones. This would not replace molecular beam epitaxy in production of macroscopic 2-D or 3-D objects, but extremely advanced 1D materials or singular molecules can be made with nanobots for later-game purposes. This applies to 1D materials or molecules that cannot be made with chemistry or previous processes, such as atoms within fullerenes and carbyne chains inside of carbon nanotubes.

Elements will have to be separated into nearly individual atoms before they can be rearranged into new ones. This can be done by vaporizing ultra-pure solids using lasers. The vaporized solids are cooled in cold helium gas, causing them to precipitate into nanoclusters.

Grey Goo

Following off the topic of molecular assemblers, grey goo could be a late-game way to kill basically anything, or to target specific resources to harvest them or just delete them completely. Self-replicating molecular assemblers could consume everything around them, with no stopping point. This could be used to convert your enemies into funny hydrocarbon, or be used to eradicate an entire planet by turning it into funny hydrocarbon as well. (End-game weapon)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_goo