Patent ID: 6987277

Claim:
A method for manipulating a nanoscale object comprising: depositing a plurality of reactive nanoscale objects onto one or more portions of a passive surface of a substrate wherein each of the plurality of nanoscale objects has one or more reactive sites covered with a cap; providing a scanning probe microscope having a tip operable to act upon the passive surface and the cap; forming a reactive site target position on at least one of the plurality of reactive nanoscale objects by causing the scanning probe microscope tip to remove the cap; forming a bond between the scanning probe microscope tip and another of the plurality of reactive nanoscale objects; moving the scanning probe microscope tip with the another reactive nanoscale object bonded thereto to the reactive site target position; forming a bond between the reactive site target position and the another reactive nanoscale object bonded to the scanning probe microscope tip; and breaking the bond between the scanning probe microscope tip and the another reactive nanoscale object.