ACM TechNews

Scientists Demonstrate Method for Integrating Nanowire Devices Directly Onto Silicon

Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (05/08/08) Rutter, Michael Patrick

Harvard University scientists, working with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may be suitable for high-volume commercial production. By incorporating spin-on glass technology, used in the manufacturing of silicon-based integrated circuits, and photolithography, the researchers say they created a reproducible, high-volume, low-cost technique for integrating nanowire devices directly onto silicon. The fabrication technique is independent of the geometrical arrangement of the nanowires on the substrate, allowing the process to be combined with one of the several methods already used to control the placement and alignment of nanowires over large areas, says Harvard graduate student Federico Capasso. The researchers believe that combining these processes will soon provide the level of control needed to enable integrating nanowire photonic circuits in a standard manufacturing setting. To demonstrate the scalability of the technique, the team fabricated hundreds of nanoscale ultraviolet light-emitting diodes using zinc-oxide nanowires on a silicon wafer. "Such an advance could lead to the development of a completely new class of integrated circuits, such as large arrays of ultra-small nanoscale lasers that could be designed as high-density optical interconnects or be used for on-chip chemical sensing," says University of Jena professor Carsten Ronning.

http://www.seas.harvard.edu/newsandevents/pressreleases/050808_Nano.html

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