US Patent 7256435 - Multidimensional nanowire crossbar interface

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7256435.html

While nanoscale crossbar configurations are one of the leading candidates for future nanoelectronics, current efforts are focused on interconnecting these devices with more conventional electronic devices to enable near term applications. This patent teaches forming connection nanowires on a substrate to have a greater thickness than the other nanowires so that microwires can electrically contact the thick nanowires without interfering with the thin nanowires. Claim 9 reads:

9. An array of approximately parallel nanowires, each nanowire oriented in an X direction having (1) micro dimensions in the X direction, (2) nano dimensions and nano spacing in a Y direction, and at least two distinct heights in a Z direction, the X and Y directions parallel to a surface of a substrate underlying the array of approximately parallel nanowires, and the Z direction normal to the substrate surface, each of said nanowires, selectively making contact with portions of microscopic regions of microscopic wires or pads.