Nanopatterning and nanomaterials: an integrated top down - bottom up approach to nanofabrication

大自然有能力制造出比人类触手可及的更精细的结构。例如，在冬天，出现在单一玻璃窗上的精心制作的霜花图案是通过水分子和玻璃表面之间的微妙相互作用而自我组装的。同样，在我们的实验室里，我们引导大自然制造出比传统方法可能的细一百倍的金属线(纳米线)。我们的实验室与世界各地的许多其他实验室一起，开发了许多具有独特电子性质的纳米材料。问题是如何将这些材料构建成电路或设备，或者如何将纳米世界与我们的宏观世界电连接。 用纳米技术的话来说，自组装是制造纳米级结构的一种“自下而上”的方法，而目前的微电子工业是基于光刻和薄膜生长，这是制造电路的“自上而下”的方法。纳米电子学的发展将依赖于自下而上和自上而下相结合的制造。我们正在开发这些技术的集成组合，以制造和研究内置于电子测试电路中的纳米结构。这些技术将适用于广泛类别的电子纳米材料，并将使未来纳米设备的发展成为可能。

Nature has the ability to produce structures that are finer in detail than the reach of humankind. For example the elaborate pattern of frost that appears on a single pane window on a winter's day self-assembles through the subtle interactions between water molecules and the glass surface. Similarly, in our lab, we guide nature to make metallic wires (nanowires) that are a hundred times thinner than what is possible by conventional means. Our lab, along with many others world wide, have developed many of these nanomaterials that have unique electronic properties. The question is how to build these materials into circuits or devices, or how to electrically interface the nanoworld with our macro world. In the parlance of nanotechnology, self-assembly is a "bottom up" approach to making nanometer scale structures, while the current microelectronic industry is based on lithography and thin film growth that are "top down" methods for making electrical circuits. Development of nanoscale electronics will rely on a combination of bottom up and top down fabrication. We are developing an integrated combination of these techniques to make and to study nanostructures that are built into circuits for electrical testing. These techniques will be applicable to broad classes of electronic nanomaterials and will enable the development of future nanodevices.