Transmission electron micrograph showing gold nanoparticles regularly arranged on an S-layer with square lattice symmetry. Bar, 50nm

A promising tool for the organization of quantum dots into nanoelectronic circuits is self-assembly. Living systems have mastered the art of using self-assembly to generate useful structures. For instance, Prof. Dr. Dietmar Pum at the Center for Ultrastructure Research has demonstrated that S-layer proteins (Crystalline bacterial cell surface layers) can be effectively used to organize quantum dots (5 to 15 nm in diameter), regularly spaced up to 30 nm with oblique, square or hexagonal lattice symmetries. Such well ordered surfaces organize themselves, and thus, require a minimal amount of effort to prepare. The S-layers are able to self-assemble on a variety of solid supports, including semiconductors. Thus, it may not be too long before these nanoscopic arrays are integrated into memory chips, nanoprocessors, and optical devices.

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Keywords: quantum dots self-assembly biomolecular nanotechnology prof. dr. dietmar pum s-layer proteins center for ultrastructure research TEM micrograph nanoelectronic nm gold nanoparticles lattice 2d crystal semiconductors nanoscopic array memory chip nanoprocessor optical devices references

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