Patent ID: 7749922

Claim:
A method for patterning a conductive nanowire to form a plurality of conductive segments and conductance constricting segments, said method comprising the steps of: providing a suspended linear template molecule; depositing a layer of material on said suspended linear template molecule, thereby providing said nanowire, wherein a diameter of said nanowire is less than about 50 nanometers; exposing a first region of said nanowire to a focused beam of electrons, thereby generating a first conductance constricting segment; exposing a second region of said nanowire to the focused beam of electrons, thereby generating a second conductance constricting segment, wherein said first and second conductance constricting segments are separated by and in electrical contact with a middle conductive segment of said nanowire, thereby patterning said conductive nanowire to form said plurality of conductive segments and conductance constricting segments; wherein said focused beam of electrons has a current density equal to a value selected from the range of about 0.1 pA nm −2 to 50 pA nm −2 .