US Patent 7311776 - Nanostructure synthesis using resistive nanostructure

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7311776.html

High temperatures are often necessary in many of the techniques used to manufacture nanostructures. This patent teaches a room temperature approach resulting from the use of localized thermal effects from a resistive microstructure. Claim 10 reads:

10. A method of integrating a nanostructure with a wafer comprising at least one microelectronic device, comprising: establishing a resistive microstructure on the wafer; said resistive microstructure being thermally insulated from the microelectronic device; supplying current to the resistive microstructure to generate localized heat at a location on the microstructure while maintaining the microelectronic device at room temperature; and synthesizing one or more nanostructures at the location on the microstructure as a result of the localized heat at the location.