The purpose of this study was to investigate methodology for the one-step assembly and interfacing of nanoscopic wires between targeted sites in a circuit. Indium nanowires were fabricated from an indium acetate solution using an electrochemical technique and the effects of experimental parameters on the resulting wire structures were studied. Dendritic growth of indium nanowires was observed between the lithographic electrodes. Electron diffraction measurements reveal that these wires are single crystals of pure indium with a $$ growth axis. The growth morphology was found to depend on the salt concentration, solution viscosity and the voltage and frequency of the applied voltage. Proper choice of these conditions enables the fabrication of arbitrarily long wires with tunable diameters.

Dr. Ishan Talukdar is an experimental physicist in atomic and molecular optics. His areas of interest include self-assembly, quantum chaos, and quantum optics. Currently he works as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.