US Patent 7067867 - Core/Shell Nanowire Transistor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7067867.pdf

Nanosys is a company that is putting forth a strong effort to monopolize nanowire FETs and their application in large area electronics suitable for flexible displays, RFID, and other emerging applicatons. Nanowires can be p-doped or n-doped and placed between source and drain electrodes to created nanotube FETs. This patent teaches adding a coating to the nanowires to prevent electron/hole recombination which reduces mobility. Claim 57 reads:

57. A semiconductor device comprising: a substrate; a plurality of nanowires deposited on the substrate, wherein each of said plurality of nanowires comprises a core made of a first material and a first shell layer made of a second material disposed about said core, wherein said first material is compositionally different from said second material; and at least a first source contact and a first drain contact formed in or on the substrate providing electrical connectivity to the plurality of nanowires, wherein the plurality of nanowires form a channel between said at least first source and drain contacts.