Patent ID: 8308968

Claim:
A method for obtaining all-parallel nanowires comprising: providing an array of micromachined probes, wherein each micromachined probe of said array includes a cantilever and a pyramidal silicon tip; growing a plurality of nanowires on exposed surfaces of said pyramidal silicon tip including an uppermost horizontal surface and sidewall surfaces, wherein a subset of said plurality of nanowires are parallel and wherein said growing said plurality of nanowires comprises forming a metal catalyst having a first thickness atop the uppermost horizontal surface of said pyramidal silicon tip and a second thickness on said sidewall surfaces wherein said first thickness is greater than said second thickness and said second thickness is below a critical thickness for nanowire growth; aligning said pyramidal silicon tip such that said subset of parallel nanowires is parallel to a reactive ion etching beam; and etching nanowires having at least one segment that is non-parallel to the reactive ion etching beam from said uppermost horizontal surface and said sidewall surfaces of said pyramidal silicon tip.