A review of the main reasons limiting the miniaturization of nanoelectronicdevices is presented: an increase in heat release per unit volume and variousquantum size effects. Obviously, these limitations should not be ignored whendesigning new generation of subminiature nanoelectroniccircuits. However, along with the negative impact of quantum effects onoperation of ‘standard’ devices, these phenomena could be used to build systemsbased on principles of information transmission, processing and storage thatare different from the classical ones. Of particular interest are nanoscalesuperconducting elements offering zero energy dissipation combined with uniqueproperties distinctive from the bulk objects.