US Patent 8178402 - Self-assembly of CNT transistors

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8178402.html

This patent from Intel teaches how to align and immobilize carbon nanotubes as the channels of field effect transistors using molecular functionalization of the ends of the nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method comprising:

selectively severing a portion of a carbon nanotube;

functionalizing an exposed portion of the carbon nanotube, wherein opposed ends of said carbon nanotubes are functionalized differently; and

placing the carbon nanotube on a transistor substrate, wherein a source region of the transistor substrate attracts one end of said carbon nanotube and a drain region attracts the opposite end of said carbon nanotube.