Harvard boffins create self-configuring nanowires

The report, published in Nanotechnology, shows that a phenomenon called the dielectrophoretic effect can create nanowire interconnects.

Treated silicon nanowires are suspended in a viscous, no not vicious, solvent and then pipetted into a chip.

The technique, led by Alex D Wissner-Gross, lets the nanowire interconnects be assembled and disassembled between gold electrodes in benzyl alcohol, with 55µ (micron) nanowires demonstrated.

Trapped nanowires are broken up by high voltage bursts. Full details are here. µ