Editing Nanowire (section)

=== Electronic devices ===
[[file:Threshold formation nowatermark.gif|thumb|Atomistic simulation result for formation of inversion channel (electron density) and attainment of threshold voltage (IV) in a nanowire MOSFET. Note that the threshold voltage for this device lies around 0.45V]]

Nanowires have been proposed for use as [[MOSFET]]s (MOS [[field-effect transistors]]). [[MOS transistor]]s are used widely as fundamental building elements in today's electronic circuits.<ref name="triumph">{{cite web |title=Triumph of the MOS Transistor |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6fBEjf9WPw | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/q6fBEjf9WPw| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|website=[[YouTube]] |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=21 July 2019 |date=6 August 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Raymer">{{cite book |last1=Raymer |first1=Michael G. |title=The Silicon Web: Physics for the Internet Age |date=2009 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=9781439803127 |page=365 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PLYChGDqa6EC&pg=PA365}}</ref> As predicted by [[Moore's law]], the dimension of MOS [[transistors]] is shrinking smaller and smaller into nanoscale. One of the key challenges of building future nanoscale MOS transistors is ensuring good gate control over the channel. In general, having a wider gate relative to the total transistor length affords greater gate control. Therefore, the high aspect ratio of nanowires potentially allows for good gate control.

Due to their one-dimensional structure with unusual optical properties, the nanowire are of interest for photovoltaic devices.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Yu|first1=Peng|last2=Wu|first2=Jiang|last3=Liu|first3=Shenting|last4=Xiong|first4=Jie|last5=Jagadish|first5=Chennupati|last6=Wang|first6=Zhiming M.|date=2016-12-01|title=Design and fabrication of silicon nanowires towards efficient solar cells|journal=Nano Today|volume=11|issue=6|pages=704–737|doi=10.1016/j.nantod.2016.10.001|url=http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1536157/}}</ref> Compared with its bulk counterparts, the nanowire solar cells are less sensitive to impurities due to bulk recombination, and thus silicon wafers with lower purity can be used to achieve acceptable efficiency, leading to the reduction on material consumption.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kayes|first1=Brendan M.|last2=Atwater|first2=Harry A.|last3=Lewis|first3=Nathan S.|date=2005-05-23|title=Comparison of the device physics principles of planar and radial p-n junction nanorod solar cells|journal=Journal of Applied Physics|volume=97|issue=11|pages=114302–114302–11|doi=10.1063/1.1901835|issn=0021-8979|bibcode=2005JAP....97k4302K|url=https://authors.library.caltech.edu/4165/1/KAYjap05.pdf}}</ref>

After p-n junctions were built with nanowires, the next logical step was to build [[logic gates]]. Connecting several p-n junctions creates the basis of all logic circuits: the [[AND gate|AND]], [[OR gate|OR]], and [[NOT gate|NOT]] gates have all been built from semiconductor nanowire crossings.

[[NAND gate]]s have been produced from undoped silicon nanowires. This avoids the problem of how to achieve precision doping of complementary nanocircuits, which is unsolved. They were able to control the [[Schottky barrier]] to achieve low-resistance contacts by placing a [[silicide]] layer in the metal-silicon interface.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1021/nl300930m|pmid=22594644|arxiv=1208.1465|title=Multifunctional Devices and Logic Gates with Undoped Silicon Nanowires|journal=Nano Letters|volume=12|issue=6|pages=3074–9|year=2012|last1=Mongillo|first1=Massimo|last2=Spathis|first2=Panayotis|last3=Katsaros|first3=Georgios|last4=Gentile|first4=Pascal|last5=De Franceschi|first5=Silvano|s2cid=22112655|bibcode=2012NanoL..12.3074M}}</ref>

It is possible that semiconductor nanowire crossings will be important to the future of digital computing. Though there are other uses for nanowires beyond these, the only ones that actually take advantage of physics in the nanometer regime are electronic.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Toward nanowire electronics|journal= IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices|volume= 55|issue= 11|pages= 2827–2845|url= https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1169&context=nanodocs&sei-redir=1&referer=https%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fhl%3Dzh-CN%26q%3Dnanowire%2Belectronics%26btnG%3D%26lr%3D#search=%22nanowire%20electronics%22|doi=10.1109/TED.2008.2008011|year= 2008|last1= Appenzeller|first1= Joerg|last2= Knoch|first2= Joachim|last3= Bjork|first3= Mikael T.|last4= Riel|first4= Heike|author4-link=Heike Riel|last5= Schmid|first5= Heinz|last6= Riess|first6= Walter|s2cid= 703393|bibcode= 2008ITED...55.2827A}}</ref>

In addition, nanowires are also being studied for use as photon ballistic waveguides as interconnects in [[quantum dot]]/quantum effect well photon logic arrays. Photons travel inside the tube, electrons travel on the outside shell.

When two nanowires acting as photon waveguides cross each other the juncture acts as a [[quantum dot]].

Conducting nanowires offer the possibility of connecting molecular-scale entities in a molecular computer. Dispersions of conducting nanowires in different polymers are being investigated for use as transparent electrodes for flexible flat-screen displays.

Because of their high [[Young's moduli]], their use in mechanically enhancing composites is being investigated. Because nanowires appear in bundles, they may be used as tribological additives to improve friction characteristics and reliability of electronic transducers and actuators.

Because of their high aspect ratio, nanowires are also suited to [[Dielectrophoresis|dielectrophoretic]] manipulation,<ref>{{cite journal|author = Wissner-Gross, A. D.|title = Dielectrophoretic reconfiguration of nanowire interconnects|journal = Nanotechnology|volume = 17|issue = 19|pages = 4986–4990|year = 2006|url = http://www.alexwg.org/publications/Nanotechnology_17-4986.pdf|doi = 10.1088/0957-4484/17/19/035|bibcode = 2006Nanot..17.4986W|s2cid = 4590982}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://nanotechweb.org/articles/journal/5/10/2/1|date=October 19, 2006|title=Nanowires get reconfigured|work=nanotechweb.org|access-date=January 18, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522224736/http://nanotechweb.org/articles/journal/5/10/2/1|archive-date=May 22, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Grange, R. |author2=Choi, J.W. |author3=Hsieh, C.L. |author4=Pu, Y. |author5=Magrez, A. |author6=Smajda, R. |author7=Forro, L. |author8=Psaltis, D. |title=Lithium niobate nanowires: synthesis, optical properties and manipulation |journal=Applied Physics Letters |volume=95 |issue=14 |pages=143105 |year=2009 |url=http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/95/143105/1 |doi=10.1063/1.3236777 |bibcode=2009ApPhL..95n3105G |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160514132623/http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/95/143105/1 |archive-date=2016-05-14 }}</ref> which offers a low-cost, bottom-up approach to integrating suspended dielectric metal oxide nanowires in electronic devices such as UV, water vapor, and ethanol sensors.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Vizcaíno | first1 = J. L. P. | last2 = Núñez | first2 = C. G. A. | s2cid = 124474608 | title = Fast, effective manipulation of nanowires for electronic devices | doi = 10.1117/2.1201312.005260 | journal = SPIE Newsroom | year = 2013 }}</ref>

Due to their large surface-to-volume ratio, physico-chemical reactions are facilitated on the surface of nanowires.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Coradini|first1=Diego S. R.|last2=Tunes|first2=Matheus A.|last3=Kremmer|first3=Thomas M.|last4=Schön|first4=Claudio G.|last5=Uggowitzer|first5=Peter J.|last6=Pogatscher|first6=Stefan|date=2020-11-05|title=Degradation of Cu nanowires in a low-reactive plasma environment|journal=npj Materials Degradation|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|page=33 |doi=10.1038/s41529-020-00137-2|s2cid=226248533|issn=2397-2106|doi-access=free|bibcode=2020npjMD...4...33C |hdl=20.500.11850/454060|hdl-access=free}}</ref>