We propose to develop technology for self-assembly of quantum wires on bent single-crystal membranes. The proposed process does not require expensive lithographic or any other pattern transferring techniques. Instead, regularly spaced arrays of quantum wires of a dissimilar material are produced on the strained surface of a single-crystal membrane. For Ge wires on Si substrate a tensile strain is introduced by bending the membrane to a cylindrical surface to produce parallel wires, or around a conical surface to produce an array of diverging from a single point quantum wires. Due to the fact that Ge lattice constant is ~4% greater than that of Si, the unidirectional surface strain creates thermodynamic conditions favorable for Ge nucleation in a shape of quantum wires; as the result of implementing a two-step procedure intersecting arrays of such can be grown. Multiple layers of such structures, separated by host material, can be produced on a single membrane, which creates a new type of superlattice substrate. The technology has potential for expansion into non-semiconductor materials applicationsAnticipated Benefits/Commercial Applications: A new type of substrate material, namely a silicon wafer with embedded Ge quantum wires will open broad opportunities for the future research and development in both material sciences and in fabrication of advanced devices. Morphological modification of the surface layer on a nanometer scale will benefit the DoD and BMDO applications by creating new opportunities in advanced quantum, optical and electronic devices, bio-electronics and bio-MEMS technologies, controlled assembly of organic and complicated inorganic molecules, DNA and protein classification, etc. Such superlattices will offer opportunities to introduce new types of devices based on 1D and 0D quantum transport properties. In particular single-electron transistors will permit dense memory and logic devices, extremely fast and low power A/D converters can be developed with Q-dots in their core and new optical materials and structures, based on band-gap engineering approaches, can also be envisioned.
