Patent ID: 8372470

Claim:
A method of providing controlled growth and assembly of nanostructures comprising: providing a first substrate including at least one reaction site; providing energy to said reaction site; introducing a reaction species to said first substrate; growing a nanostructure from said reaction site; and controlling the growth process of the nanostructure, wherein said controlling the growth process comprises providing mechanical control of the growth process, wherein said mechanical control comprises providing an extrusive force during growth which pushes said nanostructures away from said reaction site, while continuously monitoring the properties of at least one of the nanostructure and the at least one reaction site wherein said properties being monitored include at least one of the group consisting of a quality of at least one of said nanostructures and a length of at least one of said nanostructures, and by controlling process variables based on the monitored properties of the nanostructure and the at least one reaction site wherein said process variables controlled include at least one of the group consisting of temperature of the reaction process, infra-red radiation produced by said reaction process, resistance of said nanostructures, capacitance of said nanostructures, and gas composition analysis of effluent gases produced by said reaction process.