Directed assembly of nanowire contacts using electrodeposition

A maskless process for the directed assembly of Ni contacts to Si nanowires on prepatterned electrodes is reported. Microarrays of thin Au/Cr electrodes were lithographically formed on oxidized Si substrates followed by electric-field assisted alignment of Si nanowires between the electrodes. The nanowire ends were then embedded in Ni by selective electrodeposition over the prepatterned electrodes. Annealing to 300 degrees C provided good electrical contacts for transport through the doped nanowires. This approach provides a parallel, maskless method to establish metal contacts to the nanowires without the need of high resolution electron beam lithography for electrical and mechanical applications. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.