Methods of fabricating a damascene template for electrophoretic assembly and transfer of patterned nanoelements are provided which do not require chemical mechanical polishing to achieve a uniform surface area. The methods include conductive layer fabrication using a combination of precision lithography techniques using etching or building up the conductive layer to form raised conductive features separated by an insulating layer of equal height.

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for performing mechanosynthesis, including those that involve bulk chemical preparation of tips, multiple tips for supplying feedstock, and use of sequential tips such as in a thermodynamic cascade; such features may simplify starting requirements, increase versatility, and/or reduce complexity in the mechanosynthesis equipment and/or process.

Systems and methods for mechanosynthesis are disclosed, including those that avoid the need for a bootstrap process, avoid the need to build tips via mechanosynthesis, avoid the need for charging tips with feedstock during a build sequence, avoid the need to dispose of reaction byproducts, which reduce the design complexity of new tips, and/or which reduce or avoid the need for multiple positional means and/or tip switching.

In the system and method disclosed, an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip is used to selectively desorb hydrogen atoms from the Si(100)-2X1:H surface by injecting electrons at a negative sample bias voltage. A new lithography method is disclosed that allows the STM to operate under imaging conditions and simultaneously desorb H atoms as required. A high frequency signal is added to the negative sample bias voltage to deliver the required energy for hydrogen removal. The resulted current at this frequency and its harmonics are filtered to minimize their effect on the operation of the STM's feedback loop. This approach offers a significant potential for controlled and precise removal of hydrogen atoms from a hydrogen-terminated silicon surface and thus may be used for the fabrication of practical silicon-based atomic-scale devices.

The present invention relates to a scanning probe microscope. The scanning probe microscope can be configured to remove a polymeric material from a surface of a nanostructure. The scanning probe microscope includes a metal coated probe tip and a voltage source. The voltage source can be configured to apply a bias voltage between the probe tip and a sample. The bias voltage can be between 0.5 V and 2 V. The scanning probe microscope further includes a sample positioner configured to position the sample in relation to the probe tip and a system controller configured to control the scanning probe microscope.

Provided is a composite metal-wide-bandgap semiconductor tip for scanning tunneling microscopy and/or scanning tunneling lithography, a method of forming, and a method for using the composite metal-wide-bandgap semiconductor tip.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a device comprising a platform comprising a layer of a 2-dimensional material. The device further comprises a plurality of electrodes and one or more molecules arranged on the platform. The device is configured to apply control signals to the plurality of electrodes to position the molecules by means of an electric field. Embodiments of the invention further concern a corresponding method for fabricating such a device and a method for positioning molecules by such a device.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for using a device for the positioning of molecules, the devise including a semiconductor substrate including a semiconductor layer and an insulating layer with a plurality of electrodes arranged on the insulating layer forming an electrode layer with a layer of 2-dimensional material arranged on the electrode layer. The method includes applying a first set of control signals to the plurality of electrodes to position a plurality of molecules in a first molecule arrangement and applying a second set of control signals to the plurality of electrodes to position the plurality of molecules in a second molecule arrangement, wherein the second set of control signals is different from the first set of control signals and wherein the device provides a first functionality in the first molecule arrangement and a second functionality in the second molecule arrangement.

Novel methods and means for convergent nanofabrication and nanoassembly are disclosed, and systems produced by and performing same are targeted at a broad range of applications. Molecules and/or nanostructures are bound to supported binding means and manipulated to translate such precursors or intermediates to bond together in precisely desired locations and orientations to yield desired precise structures. Methods and means suitable for precise fabrication of a range of materials including diamond, Beta-Silicon-Carbide and related materials, and precise modifications thereof such as color centers in predetermined configuration for quantum computation and information processing and storage applications, and for precise fabrication of halite structured materials including MgO, MgS, TiC, VN, ScN, precisely Mn doped ScN, NbN, HfC, TaC, HfxTayC, AbOS, SrO, BaO, Zr02, ZrC, ZrN, HfN, and also metals including refractory metals such as W are disclosed, yielding an extremely broad range of materials and materials properties which may be availed or utilized.

An apparatus and a method for continuous solvothermal synthesis of nanoparticles, are provided. The apparatus includes an inlet section, a reactor section, a flexible quenching unit, and an outlet section. The inlet section separately receives reactants including the solvent and a precursor solution that are allowed to flow into the reactor section. The reactor section includes multiple spiral turns such that each of the spiral turns includes a helical channel followed by a counter-helical channel for enabling mixing of the reactants to cause solvothermal reactions between them. The counter-helical channel changes the direction of flow of reactants upon flow of said reactants from the helical channel to the counter-helical channel. The flexible quenching section enclosing a portion of the reactor section quenches a slurry formed as a result of the solvothermal reactions, wherein the slurry includes the nanoparticles of targeted characteristics. The outlet section facilitates withdrawal of the slurry.