Fundamental controls over physical and chemical attributes at the molecular scale------------------what does that mean ? To understand that , take manufacturing , as we know it now . The focus of manufacturing processes has been on getting increasingly more precise, less expensive and more flexible .
The limit of precision is the ability to get every atom where the manufactirer wants it to be. The limit of low cost is set by the cost of raw materials and energy used in manufacturing . And the limit of flexibility is the ability to arrange atoms in all patterns permitted by natural laws (the very in which it is possible to arrange them).
The way things are right now-------------we are preety close to exhaust all of these possible limits.
Exhaustion of those limits is one being ; breaching the is another . And that is where the challenge lies . Because the moment these fundametal limits are by-passed , traditional manufacturing systems will cease to exist.
The outcome promises to be remarkably powerful computers ; materials over fifty times lighter than steel but with same strength ; rockets and cars that are mind-bollingly light , strong and inexpensive ; even molecular surgical tools that are injected into the blood stream and guided by the molecular computers to find and destroy cancer cells or invading bacteria , unclog arteries or, provide oxygen when circulation is impaired in the body of an living organism.
 
What makes the challenge so excitingis that it borrows heavily from BIOLOGY.
Which is why, all of these systems will know to replicate themselves and evolve into complex products   with great precision . These artificial programmable , self replicating molecular machine systems------------------------------------------also known as assemblers--------------------------------will be able to make a wide range of products including GRAPHITE , DIAMOND and other non - biological products or materials . 
 
If it sounds too far out to be true , just peek into the laboratories   at IBM and HEWLETT-PACKARD , substantial nano programs exists.
 
Researcher there  current silicon electronics to go bust over next ten to twenty-five years
 
 because by then all limits of current manufacturing would have reached that is when they hope to use nanotubes or some such novel material) that will allow rentless improvements in chip performance without a corresponding increase in the cost of chip itself
And if a decade seems too distant , consider publicly trade companies .