Self-assembling copper nanowires

Gina Miller writes "The EE Times reports that a research team in Denmark and France used a large, table-shaped organic molecule (C₉₀H₉₈) as a template to induce a copper surface to form a wire of copper atoms. At room temperature the organic molecules will bind to the edges of one atom-thick terraces on the copper surface. At lower temperatures, where the copper atoms stay put, an STM tip can be used to nudge the organic molecule away from the edge. Since the copper atoms had lined up under the table molecule at higher temperatures, there is now a small segment of a wire on the surface: one copper atom thick, two copper atoms wide, and 8 copper atoms long. Could these molecular templates be used to make wires to link components on a copper surface together into circuits? The research was originally published in the April 12, 2002 issue of Science."