Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, Grenoble, France, Laboratory of Plant & Cell Physiology, CEA/DRF/BIG, CNRS UMR5168, INRA UMR 1417, Grenoble, France, INAC/SyMMES, UMR 5819 CEA CNRS UGA, MINATEC Campus, Grenoble, France

Metallic conductive nanowires (NWs) with DNA bundle core are achieved, thanks to an original process relying on double-stranded DNA alignment and physical vapor deposition (PVD) metallization steps involving a silicon substrate. First, bundles of DNA are suspended with a repeatable process between 2 µm high parallel electrodes with separating gaps ranging from 800 nm to 2 µm. The process consists in the drop deposition of a DNA lambda-phage solution on the electrodes followed by a naturally evaporation step. The deposition process is controlled by the DNA concentration within the buffer solution, the drop volume, and the electrode hydrophobicity. The suspended bundles are finally metallized with various thicknesses of titanium and gold by a PVD e-beam evaporation process. The achieved NWs have a width ranging from a few nanometers up to 100 nm. The electrical behavior of the achieved 60 and 80 nm width metallic NWs is shown to be Ohmic and their intrinsic resistance is estimated according to different geometrical models of the NW section area. For the 80 nm width NWs, a resistance of about few ohms is established, opening exploration fields for applications in microelectronics. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), metallization, microelectronics, nanowires, resistance

Deposition, DNA, Drops, Electric resistance, Electrodes, Evaporation, Metallizing, Metals, Microelectronics, Nanowires, Physical vapor deposition, Vapor deposition, Deposition process, Double stranded DNA, E beam evaporation, Electrical behaviors, Geometrical models, Intrinsic resistance, Parallel electrodes, Silicon substrates, Nucleic acids