The range of possible semiconductor materials and materials properties is extensive and barely explored. Materials processing routes that allow fabrication of single-crystalline semiconductor structures for which one or more dimensions are smaller than 100 nm (dots, ribbons, membranes) provide opportunities to realize material states and behaviors that are unconventional and unexpected. IRG 1 examines how the combination of nanoscale patterning and structuring, strain manipulation, and phase engineering can be used to push semiconductor materials from their natural ‘bulk’ states to realize unique and undiscovered functionality.