Controlled placement and orientation of nanostructures

• Main Authors: ZETTL ALEX K, YUZVINSKY THOMAS D, FENNIMORE ADAM M
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 08.04.2014
• Subjects: APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CARBONFILAMENTS; APPLYING LIQUIDS OR OTHER FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL; CHEMICAL FEATURES IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS,THREADS, FIBRES, BRISTLES OR RIBBONS; CHEMISTRY; COMPOUNDS THEREOF; INORGANIC CHEMISTRY; LAYERED PRODUCTS; LAYERED PRODUCTS, i.e. PRODUCTS BUILT-UP OF STRATA OF FLAT ORNON-FLAT, e.g. CELLULAR OR HONEYCOMB, FORM; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT THEREOF; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; METALLURGY; NANOSTRUCTURES FORMED BY MANIPULATION OF INDIVIDUAL ATOMS,MOLECULES, OR LIMITED COLLECTIONS OF ATOMS OR MOLECULES ASDISCRETE UNITS; NANOTECHNOLOGY; NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL THREADS OR FIBRES; NON-METALLIC ELEMENTS; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PROCESSES FOR APPLYING LIQUIDS OR OTHER FLUENT MATERIALS TOSURFACES, IN GENERAL; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; SPINNING; SPRAYING OR ATOMISING IN GENERAL; TEXTILES; TRANSPORTING

A method for controlled deposition and orientation of molecular sized nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) on substrates is disclosed. The method comprised: forming a thin layer of polymer coating on a substrate; exposing a selected portion of the thin layer of polymer to alter a selected portion of the thin layer of polymer; forming a suspension of nanostructures in a solvent, wherein the solvent suspends the nanostructures and activates the nanostructures in the solvent for deposition; and flowing a suspension of nanostructures across the layer of polymer in a flow direction; thereby: depositing a nanostructure in the suspension of nanostructures only to the selected portion of the thin layer of polymer coating on the substrate to form a deposited nanostructure oriented in the flow direction. By selectively employing portions of the method above, complex NEMS may be built of simpler NEMSs components.