Nanowire Fabricators Earn Their Stripes

Electronics makers love a good sandwich. By layering sheets of semiconductors, researchers have learned to control electrons and photons precisely enough to build everything from ultrafast transistors to ultrasmall lasers. Now three groups report that they have carried this sandwichmaking ability down to one dimension by creating tiny wires, each of which resembles a stack of pancakes composed of different semiconductors. The work could open the door to a host of new devices that would boost progress toward long-sought technological goals such as molecular-based computers, quantum computers, and chips that automatically cool themselves.