US Patent 7163659 - Vertical Nanowire Array Sensor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7163659.pdf

Nanostructures are of high interest to the area of sensors since the high surface-to-volume ratio of nanostructres allows for high precision detection of extremely small quantities. This patent from Hewlett-Packard teaches forming an array of electrically connected nanowires on a substrate to use as a chemical or bio. sensor. Claim 1 reads:


1. A sensor device, comprising: a substrate; an array of free-standing nanowires, said array comprising individual free-standing nanowires, each of said individual free-standing nanowires having a first end and a second end, said first end being attached to the substrate and said second end being unattached to the substrate, said individual free-standing nanowires configured for electrical communication with other individual free-standing nanowires through the first end; and a signal measurement apparatus electrically coupled to the array of free-standing nanowires for receiving electrical information from the array of free-standing nanowires.

However, there is some prior art in the field of scanning probe microscopy that use arrays electrically connected nanotubes as tips that might have been missed such as
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6452171.pdf