Nanowires with Biologically Directed Composition and Placement

Cambrios Technologies Corp. proposes to develop methods for fabricating nanowires from a variety of materials (e.g., metallic, semiconducting, and magnetic) and directing the assembly of these nanowires into circuits and devices with nanometer scale precision. Nanowires will be fabricated using the peptide- and virus-directed synthesis techniques of Dr. Angela Belcher (Mao et al., 2004), which have been licensed by Cambrios. Peptides that have affinities towards various materials will be identified by phage display technology and incorporated into select coat proteins of the M13 bacteriophage, a virus of 800nm length and 6-10nm diameter, which will act as a scaffold for each nanowire design. The displayed peptides with various materials specificity will direct the nucleation and/or assembly of nanocrystal components into a composite nanowire, allowing nanowires of homogeneous or heterogenous compositions to be created. Genetic modification of the phage will enable phage lengths and geometries to be manipulated. Additionally, peptides will be displayed on certain locations of the virus with the function to recognize and bind to materials on circuit or device elements, thus directing the location and orientation of the nanowire. This approach, performed under aqueous and ambient conditions, provides an inexpensive and environmentally benign route for nanowire synthesis and placement.