High-yield self-limiting single-nanowire assembly with dielectrophoresis.
Single-crystal nanowire transistors and other nanowire-based devices could have applications in large-area and flexible electronics if conventional top-down fabrication techniques can be integrated with high-precision bottom-up nanowire assembly. Here, we extend dielectrophoretic nanowire assembly to achieve a 98.5% yield of single nanowires assembled over 16,000 patterned electrode sites with submicrometre alignment precision. The balancing of surface, hydrodynamic and dielectrophoretic forces makes the self-assembly process controllable, and a hydrodynamic force component makes it self-limiting. Our approach represents a methodology to quantify nanowire assembly, and makes single nanowire assembly possible over an area limited only by the ability to reproduce process conditions uniformly.
Freer
Erik M
EM
Nanosys, Inc., 2625 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, California 94304, USA. efreer@nanosysinc.com
Grachev
Oleg
O
Duan
Xiangfeng
X
Martin
Samuel
S
Stumbo
David P
DP