Patent ID: 8569151

Claim:
A method of formation of nanowires at a surface of a substrate attached to a flat face of a solid immersion lens, the method comprising: forming at least one catalyst element at the surface of the substrate; and growing nanowires from each catalyst element formed at the surface of the substrate, wherein, with the catalyst element being a metal nanoparticle and with the substrate being transparent at an operating wavelength, the forming the catalyst element at the surface of the substrate includes: bringing the substrate into contact with a fluid placed in a tank that contains metal nanoparticles; focusing a light beam at the operating wavelength in an area of the substrate, using an incident light beam on a hemispherical face of the solid immersion lens; moving the tank until a metal nanoparticle is trapped in the focused light beam; and attaching the trapped metal nanoparticle on the substrate.