US Patent 7164209 - Optimized Nanowire Spacing for Electrical Contacts

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7164209.pdf

In order to assure connection between electrical contacts using metallic or semiconducting nanowires this patent from Nanosys proposes using nanowires at least twice as long as the separation between the electrical contacts. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanowire based device comprising first and second electrical contacts disposed on a surface of a substrate and at least first and second nanowires positioned in contact with both of the first and second electrical contacts, wherein the first and second electrical contacts are separated from each other by a distance that is less than 50% of an average length of the first and second nanowires.