US Patent 7754600 - Method of forming nanostructures on metal-silicide crystallines

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7754600.html

Epitaxial growth is commonly used to grow nanostructures on single crystal wafers of silicon. However, these substrates can be expensive and cheaper alternatives are desirable. This patent from HP teaches such an alternative in the form of a metal-silicide substrate. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of forming nanostructures, comprising:

forming a metallic layer on a substrate;

forming a silicon layer on the metallic layer;

subjecting the multi-layer structure to a thermal process to form metal-silicide crystallites; and

growing the nanostructures on the metal-silicide crystallites.