Current technologies for materials or system synthesis on the nano scale rely mostly on surface manipulation, which results in principle in twodimensional functional systems. A major challenge in nano technology is the controlled arrangement of nanometer sized building blocks in three dimensions. This would lead to functional materials where the chemical and physical properties can be engineered with a high degree of freedom, and ultimately artificial materials could be composed. Three-dimensional nano structures will pave the way for molecular electronic circuits, ultra dense magnetic storage devices, or photonic meta materials for optical cloaks and information processing. Promising technological appoaches which are pursued are the nano imprint lithography or self organization of nano structures. Several groups in CINSaT work in the field of synthesis, characterization and application scenarios for three dimensional nano structures.