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IBM researchers print nanostructures 

MUNICH, Germany Researchers of the IBM Zurich lab and the ETH Zurich university have demonstrated a new nanoprint process that could be used - among ... other applications - to create printed nanowires. The process features a resolution three orders of magnitude higher than known printing technologies, the researchers say. The achievement, published in the September issue of Nature Nanotechnolgy offers a promising tool for use in a range of fields such as biomedicine, electronics and optical technologies. In contrast to existing printing technologies, the new technique makes use of a self-assembly process that controls the arrangement of nanoparticles on the printing plate or template. "In traditional gravure printing, ink is scraped into the recessed features of a printing plate in which pigment particles are randomly dispersed", explained Tobias Kraus of the nanopatterning team in Zurich. "In our method, a directed self-assembly process controls the arrangement of nanoparticles." Th   [More...] [Less...]