Nanowires: building blocks for the assembly of integrated nanosystems

An examination of semiconductor nanowires focused on their fundamental properties and applications in nanoelectronics is presented. First, the transport properties of silicon and germanium/silicon nanowires are described with an emphasis on coherent and ballistic transport. Second, strategies for integrating controlled nanoscale metal-semiconductor junctions, and the properties of single devices and large areas are reviewed. Third, applications of these nanowires device arrays, such as bioelectronic detectors, are described, and strategies for integrated systems are discussed.