Nanofabrication, Growth and Self Assembly

Nanofabrication underpins the generation of devices and materials whose critical dimensions lie below 100 nm. Traditionally rooted in silicon planar processing, it has diversified into a broad toolbox that spans top-down patterning methods—such as projection lithography, probe writing and nanoimprint—and bottom-up routes where nanoscale entities organise into ordered architectures. Top-down techniques now routinely achieve sub-20 nm features by exploiting extreme-ultraviolet or electron-beam exposure, or by stamp replication of master templates. Bottom-up approaches harness the intrinsic drives of atoms, molecules and colloids to assemble under forces ranging from van der Waals to capillary and electrostatic interactions. Growth processes such as chemical vapour deposition and seeded colloidal crystallisation yield ultrathin films and three-dimensional nanostructures, while self-assembly schemes—including block-copolymer microphase separation and evaporation-induced ordering—produce highly regular periodical lattices. Hybridised workflows combine these strategies, for example by templating molecular layers with lithographically defined features or by guiding colloidal arrays with surface-energy patterns, to yield complex, multifunctional nanosystems. Applications spanning microelectronics, photonic metasurfaces, programmable catalysts and implantable sensors attest to the global significance of these methods. From wafer-scale transistor arrays to single-atom electronics and chiral metamaterials, nanofabrication, growth and self-assembly chart a course toward devices with unprecedented performance, integration density and adaptive capabilities.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Assembly of planar chiral superlattices from faceted nanoparticles has revealed that monodisperse tetrahedral gold particles on liquid interfaces can form two-dimensional lattices exhibiting uniform handedness. Fine control of electrostatic repulsion, van der Waals attraction and depletion forces directs a one-step rotation of individual tetrahedra into hexagonal chiral domains, demonstrating how geometry and surface interactions give rise to emergent two-dimensional chirality without molecular asymmetry.

All-optical nanomanipulation via optothermally-gated photon nudging has introduced a contactless route to pattern colloidal particles on solid substrates with ten-nanometre accuracy. A thin surfactant layer mediates local particle–substrate adhesion under infrared illumination, enabling dynamic writing and erasing of nanoscale arrangements for in situ spectroscopy, reconfigurable nanophotonic elements and sub-100 nm circuit assembly without liquid-phase constraints.

High-resolution combinatorial patterning combines dielectrophoretic enrichment with deep surface-energy modulation to print diverse functional nanoparticles into arbitrarily defined patterns at 30 nm linewidths and 200 nm pitches across millimetre-scale areas. This robust nanoprinting platform integrates multiple colloidal inks via simple spin, brush or dip coating, laying the groundwork for large-area integration of electroluminescent, plasmonic and quantum-dot components into photonic and biosensing devices.

Nanofabrication, Growth and Self Assembly publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in nanofabrication, growth and self assembly across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Self-assembly: Spontaneous organisation of nanoscale building blocks into ordered structures through minimisation of free energy.

Directed self-assembly: Guided organisation of colloids or molecules via external templates, fields or surface-energy patterns to achieve predesigned nanostructures.

Dielectrophoresis: Motion and concentration of polarisable particles under non-uniform electric fields for nanoscale placement.

Surface-energy modulation: Local alteration of substrate wettability or adhesion to control nanoparticle deposition and assembly.

Block-copolymer lithography: Phase separation of copolymer chains into nanoscale domains that act as self-assembled masks for pattern transfer.

References

1. Nanofabrication of nanostructure lattices: from high-quality large patterns to precise hybrid units. International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (2024).
2. Assembly of planar chiral superlattices from achiral building blocks. Nature Communications (2022).
3. Optical nanomanipulation on solid substrates via optothermally-gated photon nudging. Nature Communications (2019).
4. High-resolution combinatorial patterning of functional nanoparticles. Nature Communications (2020).
5. Nanoparticle Assembly: From Self‐Organization to Controlled Micropatterning for Enhanced Functionalities. Small (2023).
6. Thermal‐Assisted Multiscale Patterning of Nonplanar Colloidal Nanostructures for Multi‐Modal Anti‐Counterfeiting. Advanced Science (2023).
7. Combining printing and nanoparticle assembly: Methodology and application of nanoparticle patterning. The Innovation (2022).
8. Enriching libraries of high-aspect-ratio micro- or nanostructures by rapid, low-cost, benchtop nanofabrication. Nature Protocols (2012).