Directly assembly and electrical transport measurement of nanowires by nano-manipulator probes

One of the important features to the success of 1D nanotechnology is the ability to manipulate nanostructures physically. Nanostructure assembly is challenging because the pertinent length scales prohibit direct locating and tinkering. So far, fluidic assembly schemes offer sufficient control to fabricate simple networks and dictate the macroscopic patterning of 1D nanostructures but not with the precision, pattern density, or complexity needed for many applications. The alignment of 1D nanostructures via electric or magnetic forces suffers the additional frustration of fringing fields that make the construction of dense or complex architectures impractical. In this work, the directly assembling of the 1D nanowire by using the manipulator machine has been developed to provide a much controllable and accurate strategy in nanowire device fabrication and functional characterization of nanowires structure. The key advantage of this technique is the ability to precisely move the nano-materials by physically handling it which resulting in no chemical contamination. Through the micrometer-scale probe controlled by the manipulator poisoner, the individual building block such as ZnO, Si nanowires were able to be assembled into the patterned substrate. The electric static force and the electron beam deposition technique under SEM were used to anchor the nanowire to the substrate. After the individual nanowire has been localized to the target position, the in-situ IV measurement by the nanomanipulator was able to be carried out.