Assembly of Bismuth Clusters into Nanowires Using Etched V-Grooves as Templates

The cluster assembly method reported here employs V-grooves as templates for nanowire fabrication. This technique allows the formation of contacted electrically conducting nanowires using simple optical lithography and without painstaking manipulation of the clusters. In–vacuum, temperature dependent I(V) measurements were performed on Bi wires with widths ∼1 μm and lengths 50 μm. The temperature dependent resistance of the Bi wires is explained by the variation in the carrier concentration in Bi with temperature.