Nanometric superlattices: non-lithographic fabrication, materials, and prospects

A non-lithographic technique that utilizes the self-organized, highly ordered anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) porous membrane as a template is employed as a general fabrication means for the formation of vastly different two-dimensional lateral nanometric superlattices. The fact that material systems as different as metals, semiconductors, and carbon nanotubes (CNT) can be treated with the same ease attests to the generality of this nano-fabrication approach. The original alumina nanopore membranes determine the uniformity, packing density, and size of the nanostructures. The flexibility of using a variety of materials, the accurate control over fabrication process, and the command over the alumina template attributes give us the freedom of engineering various physical properties determined by the shape, size, composition, and doping of the nanostructures. The novel nanomaterial platform realized by this unique technique is powerfully enabling for a broad range of applications as well as for uncovering new physical phenomena such as the collective behavior of arrays of nano-elements that may not be intrinsic to individual nano-elements.