US Patent 8143686 - Laser-induced nanostructures

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8143686.html

Pulsed laser etching can be useful in shaping microstructures but is typically not feasible to create structures smaller than the laser wavelength. This patent from Harvard teaches a 2-step laser pulsing method which allows for nanoscale structures to be formed on micron structures. Claim 1 reads:

1. A semiconductor substrate, comprising a plurality of micron-sized structures disposed in a top surface layer of the substrate, and a plurality of rod-like nano-sized structures superimposed on said micron-sized structures.

US Patent 8076662 - Nanostructured oxide memresistor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8076662.html

Over the past few years Samsung (US Patent 7417271) and Sharp (US Patent 7796416) have been developing memory resistors based on metal oxide materials. This latest patent from Harvard teaches another variation of memory resistors including nanodot structures. Claim 7 reads:

7. An oxide nanostructure, comprising:

a substrate;

a nanoscale oxide thin film deposited on the substrate, the nanoscale oxide thin film having a conductance that can be changed by an electric field transmitted across the film; and

one or more nanodots deposited on the nanoscale oxide thin film;

wherein the nanodots are adapted, when an electric field is applied thereto, to transmit the electric field across the nanoscale thin film so that the conductance of the thin film is changed and a metal-insulator transition is induced across the thin film.

US Patent 8058640 - Branched nanowires

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8058640.html

This is the latest patent from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard teaching a new form of branched nanowire useful to improve light emission devices. Claim 1 reads:

1. An article, comprising:

a branched nanoscale wire comprising a vertex comprising at least a first segment having a first composition;

a second segment having a second composition different from the first composition; and

a third segment, wherein the vertex defines a T junction of the first, second, and third segments.

US Patent 7969079 - Membrane sensor for CNTs

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7969079.html

This patent from Harvard has priority going back to 2002 and teaches a nanotube sensor device. Claim 1 reads:

1. A carbon nanotube device comprising:

a free-standing membrane peripherally supported by a support structure and including an aperture extending through a thickness of the membrane with the aperture disposed at a membrane location directing a liquid through the aperture;

at least one carbon nanotube extending across the aperture on a front surface of the membrane and accessible from a back surface of the membrane and a connection from the carbon nanotube to an electrical circuit, sensing by the nanotube as species in a liquid pass through the aperture in the membrane.

US Patent 7956427 - Nanowire chemfet

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7956427.html

This patent from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard has priority going back to 2000 and includes some basic claims for nanowire ChemFETs. Claim 1 reads:

1. An article comprising: a field effect transistor comprising a semiconductor nanowire and a polymer material deposited on the semiconductor nanowire.

US Patent 7947454 - Polynucleotide analysis with nanopores

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7947454.html

This patent is based on a collaboration between Harvard, the University of California, and Agilent Technologies and includes same basic claims toward sequencing RNA and DNA using nanopores. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for analyzing a target polynucleotide, comprising the steps of:

(a) introducing the target polynucleotide to a nanopore analysis system comprising a nanopore aperture;

(b) allowing the target polynucleotide to move with respect to the nanopore aperture to produce a signal at a rate of 350-2000 Hz; and

(c) monitoring the signal corresponding to the movement of the target polynucleotide with respect to the nanopore aperture, thereby analyzing the target polynucleotide.

US Patent 7918935 - Transistion metal oxide nanowires

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7918935.html


Yet another basic patent from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard. This one has priority going back to 2001 and includes some basic claims to fabrication of metal oxide nanowires which may be useful to future high density, high speed non-volatile memory. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of preparing transition-metal-oxide nanowires comprising:


a) injecting a decomposition agent into a solution comprising a solvent, a coordinating ligand, and a precursor metallic salt; and


b) heating said solution.                             

US Patent 7915151 - Flow alignment of nanowires

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7915151.html

This is another basic nanowire patent from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard University which has priority going back to 2000 and teaching an alignment method for semiconductor nanowires useful to form nanoscale transistors and sensors. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of assembling one or more nanoscale elongated structures on a surface, the method comprising acts of:

(A) flowing a liquid that comprises the one or more nanoscale elongated structures onto the surface which nanoscale elongated structures have at least one portion having a smallest dimension of less than 500 nm; and

(B) aligning the one or more nanoscale elongated structures on the surface to form an array of the nanoscale elongated structures;

(C) conditioning the surface with one or more functionalities that attract the one or more nanoscale elongated structures to particular positions on the surface,

wherein act (B) comprises attracting the one or more nanoscale elongated structures to the particular positions using the one or more functionalities.

US Patent 7911009 - Nanowire sensor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7911009.html

This patent from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard has relatively early priority (12/11/2001) and includes some basic claims to semiconductor nanowires used in chemical sensors. Claim 1 reads:

1. An article, comprising:

a semiconductor nanowire and a polymer material deposited on the semiconductor nanowire, wherein the polymer material is capable of recognizing an analyte in a sample.

US Patent 7884446 - Nanospikes

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7884446.html

This patent from Harvard teaches a method of laser processing a silicon substrate to create a nanospiked surface. Claim 1 reads:

1. A semiconductor substrate, comprising a surface layer having at least a portion exhibiting an undulating topography characterized by a plurality of submicron-sized features having an average height less than about 1 micrometer and an average width in a range of about 100 nm to about 500 nm.

US Patent 7858965 - Ge/Si nanowires

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7858965.html

One problem with semiconductor nanowires in electronics is the formation of Schottky barriers which inhibit conduction at the interface between metal contacts and the nanowires. This patent is based on research from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard and teaches using nanowire heterostructure with a germanium core and silicon shell to help eliminate Schottky barriers. Claim 1 reads:

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a nanoscale wire consisting essentially of a core consisting essentially of undoped germanium and a shell surrounding the core consisting essentially of undoped silicon, the shell in physical contact with a first contact consisting essentially of nickel metal and a second contact,

wherein the shell of the nanoscale wire and the nickel metal contact form a Schottky barrier of less than 0.5 eV, and

wherein the nanoscale wire exhibits ballistic transport when subjected to a voltage via the first and second contacts.

US Patent 7666708 - Uniform nanowire growth

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7666708.html

This patent from the Lieber Research Group of Harvard has relatively early priority (~2000) and includes some basic claims to the fabrication and structure of doped nanowire semiconductors. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method, comprising:

growing a population of semiconductor nanowires, each having at least one portion having a smallest width less than 500 nanometers, catalytically from catalyst particles having a variation in diameter of less than about 20% and being selected such that the population of semiconductor nanowires produced according to the method has a variation in diameter of less than 20%.

US Patent 7619290 - Semiconductor nanowire analyte sensor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7619290.html

This patent is from Charles Lieber's group at Harvard University and has relatively early priority (2000) to semiconductor nanowire chemical sensors. Claim 1 reads:

1. An article comprising:

a semiconductor nanowire and a catalyst material deposited on the semiconductor nanowire which is capable of catalyzing a reaction with an analyte which comes into contact with the nanowire.

US Patent 7500213 - Nanoscale drivers for molecular electronics

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7500213.html

This patent based on a collaboration between Caltech and Harvard teaches reconfigurable nanoscale crossbar circuit architectures providing both decoding and signal restoration capabilities. Claim 1 reads:

1. A circuit comprising:

a plurality of arrays having first and second sets of address lines and connections between the first and second sets of address lines; and

a plurality of driving devices for the plurality of arrays, the driving devices having third and fourth sets of address lines and connections between the third and fourth sets of address lines, wherein the second set of address lines is connected with the fourth set of address lines, wherein the driving devices have a first condition in which they act as decoders for the arrays, and a second condition in which they act as signal restoring devices for the arrays, and wherein the driving devices comprise nanoscale driving devices.

US Patent 7476596 - Fluidic nanowire alignment

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7476596.html

This patent from Harvard professor and Nanosys co-founder Charles Lieber teaches a methodology for aligning parallel arrays of semiconductor nanowires via a fluidic flow and transfer process which provides a broader range of substrate materials on which transistors can be fabricated. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of assembling one or more nanoscale elongated structures on a surface of a substrate, the method comprising acts of:

(A) flowing a fluid that comprises the one or more nanoscale elongated structures onto the surface, which nanoscale elongated structures have at least one portion having a smallest dimension of less than 500 nm; and

(B) aligning the one or more nanoscale elongated structures on the surface to form an array of the nanoscale elongated structures; and

(C) transferring the array of nanoscale elongated structures from the surface of the substrate to a surface of another substrate.

US Patent 7466069 - CNT bridge

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7466069.html

In order to better characterize the properties of carbon nanotubes and use the nanotubes in applications such as molecular sensors this patent from Harvard teaches growing a suspended nanotube over an apertured region of a substrate suitable for a flow through sensor. Claim 1 reads:

1. A carbon nanotube device comprising:

a substrate including an aperture extending from a front surface to a back surface of the substrate, with the aperture open only at the front surface and the back surface;

at least one pair of electrically conducting contact pads disposed on a selected one of the front and back substrate surfaces with the conducting contact pads in a given pair of pads being separated from each other by the aperture;

a carbon nanotube catalyst region disposed on top of each of the contact pads in alignment with an edge of the aperture and exposed at the selected substrate surface; and

at least one carbon nanotube extending across the aperture and accessible through the aperture from both the front surface and the back surface of the substrate, each end of the carbon nanotube contacting an exposed catalyst region on a contact pad at the selected substrate surface.

US Patent 7435353 - Focused e-beam nanopatterning

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7435353.html

This patent from Harvard teaches a new nanopatterning method for semiconductor processing involving vapor condensation and selective removal of the condensate using a focused electron beam. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for forming a nano-patterned material layer on a structure, comprising:

condensing a vapor to an amorphous solid water condensate layer on a surface of the structure;
and

localized removal of at least one selected nanometric region of the condensate layer by directing a focused electron beam at the selected region.

US Patent 7399691 - Aligning nanotubes for crossbar array

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7399691.html

This is a continuation patent originating from Harvard based on technology used to fabricate the NRAM technology developed by Nantero. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method comprising:

aligning a plurality of nanoscopic wires using a mechanically patterned surface to define a set of aligned nanoscopic wires on the surface, wherein the mechanically patterned surface comprises a plurality of elongated trenches in the mechanically patterned surface, the elongated trenches each having a first dimension on the surface that is substantially longer than a second dimension on the surface, the second dimension being substantially greater than the greatest depth of the trenches; and

contacting the plurality of aligned nanoscopic wires on the surface with a common electrode.

US Patent 7385267 - Microfluid nanowire sensor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7385267.html

This patent from Harvard with relatively early priority (Dec. 11, 2000) may lay claim to the basic use of nanowires or nanotubes for chemical sensing of small fluid volumes. Claims 1 and 25 read:

1. A method comprising: providing a nanowire and contacting the nanowire with a sample having a volume of less than about 10 microliters; and measuring a change in a property of the nanowire resultant from the contact.

25. An article comprising: a sample cassette comprising a sample exposure region and a nanowire, at least a portion of which is addressable by a sample in the sample exposure region, wherein the sample cassette is operatively connectable to a detector apparatus able to determine a property associated with the nanowire.

US Patent 7256466 - Functionalized semiconductor nanowire

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7256466.html

This patent from Harvard includes basic claims to functionalized semiconductor nanowires (including carbon nanotubes). It does have an early priority date (December 11, 2000) and while there is prior art for multiwall carbon nanotube functionalization such as for AFM tips the use of semiconductor nanowires can be more useful for sensing applications. Claim 1 reads:

1. An article comprising: a semiconductor nanowire comprising a core region and an outer region surrounding the core region, wherein the outer region is selectively functionalized with a chemical or biological species added to the nanowire after construction of the nanowire.