Nanoscale science and technology represent one of most exciting frontiers in science and technology today. One-dimensional nanostructures, such as the nanowires described in our paper, are particularly interesting because they represent the smallest dimension for efficient transport of electrical carriers, and have the potential to revolutionize broad areas of nanotechnology—including electronics, photonics, computing, information technology, microscale sensing devices, and health care. However, rational assembly functional devices from nanowires had been rather limited until our paper "Indium phosphide nanowires as building blocks for nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices," which represented a timely breakthrough in this area. It, for the first time, demonstrated critical nanoscale devices including field-effect transistors, p-n diodes and light-emitting diodes, and a rational assembly approach of these devices, and therefore opened and outlined a new paradigm of bottom-up assembly of nanoscale electronics and optoelectronics. This breakthrough has generated a broad range of interest from conventional semiconductor electronics, optoelectronics to nanotechnology, and rapidly led to a flurry of growth of research in this new area and have also directly led to a number of exciting applications including "nanocircuits" which were referred to as the "Breakthrough of the Year" in Science, December 21, 2001.

Yes. It outlines and defines a new paradigm of "bottom-up" assembly approach to electronic and optoelectronic systems. The crossed nanowire configuration described in the paper represents an important and scalable device structure for a range of electronic devices including diodes, transistors, and other important device elements. The electrical field directed assembly represents the first rational approach in the world for the parallel assembly of nanowires on surface with controlled orientation and spatial location. Together, the paper represents a critical step forward to rational assemble nanocircuits from the bottom up.

Nanoscale science and technology are currently the most closely watched frontier for a wide range of applications. We have long-standing interest in one-dimensional nanostructures such as nanowires because they are the smallest dimension for routing information. Our previous research on growth of nanowires with precisely controlled chemical composition, physical dimension, and electronic properties have enabled us do this most recent research.

The paper presents a range of new discoveries opening an entirely new paradigm of nanotechnology—assembling nanoscale electronics and optoelectronics from nanowire building blocks with the critical device dimension defined by chemical synthesis and subsequent assembly rather than by conventional lithography. This new nanowire-based technology holds the promise of powering the next generation of electronics and computing chips beyond Moore’s Law with unparalleled speed, storage, and size reductions, and opens up new and unexpected opportunities in communication, medical diagnostics, and therapeutics.

Charles M. Lieber
Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Cambridge, MA, USA