Large scale directed assembly of nanoparticles using nanotrench templates

Abstract

The authors describe a general high throughput directed assembly technique to address some of the challenges to enable high rate/high volume nanomanufacturing. The directed assembly of colloidal particles using an applied electric field shows the ability of precise control of nanoparticles by controlling assembly voltage, time, and geometric design of templates. The results show that single nanoparticle lines as small as 10 nm wide and 100 000 nm long over a 2.25 cm(2) area as well as other nanoparticle structures can be fabricated using electrophoresis. This approach offers a simple, robust, and fast means of directed assembly of nanoelements for many applications.