US Patent 8088674 - Horizontal single crystal nanowire growth

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8088674.html

Nanowire transistor designs based on vertically grown nanowires have been proposed but are incompatible with common transistor structures in which the channel is parallel to the silicon substrate. This patent teaches one method for growing semiconductor nanowires laterally which may provide better compatibility with conventional transistor manufacture. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of growing a nanowire made from single-crystal semi-conductor material, comprising successively:

providing a substrate with two electrodes made from metallic material on a layer of dielectric material, one of the electrodes comprising a layer of catalyst directly in contact with the layer of dielectric material; and

growing the nanowire made from single-crystal semi-conductor material by means of the catalyst, the nanowire growing in contact with the dielectric material and with a diameter equal to a thickness of the layer of catalyst.