US Patent 7960260 - Formation of nanowhiskers on a substrate of dissimilar material

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7960260.html

This patent from QuNano includes claims to the formation of heterostructures formed by nanowire arrays on a substrate which is relevant to applications in solid state light emission. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for forming a nanowhisker, having at least a base portion of a first material, on a substrate of a second material different from said first material, comprising:

providing a substrate of said second material having a surface comprising at least one catalytic particle on an atomically flat growth region; and

epitaxially growing the nanowhisker on said growth region via said catalytic particle, wherein said substrate comprises a Si(001) substrate,

wherein said first material is selected from a group consisting of II-VI and III-V semiconductor compounds.