  We review here the physics of capillary condensation of liquids in confined
media, with a special regard to the application in nanotechnologies. The
thermodynamics of capillary condensation and thin film adsorption are first
exposed along with all the relevant notions. The focus is then shifted to the
modelling of capillary forces, to their measurements techniques (including SFA,
AFM and crack tips) and to their influence on AFM imaging techniques as well as
on the static and dynamic friction properties of solids (including granular
heaps and sliding nanocontacts). A great attention is spent in investigating
the delicate role of the surface roughness and all the difficulties involved in
the reduction of the probe size to nanometric dimensions. Another major
consequence of capillary condensation in nanosystems is the activation of
several chemical and corrosive processes that can significantly alter the
surface properties, such as dissolution/redeposition of solid materials and
stress-corrosion crack propagation.
