Bottom-up, or self-assembly, approaches to nanofabrication use chemical or physical forces operating at the nanoscale to assemble basic units into larger structures. As component size decreases in nanofabrication, bottom-up approaches provide an increasingly important complement to top-down techniques. Inspiration for bottom-up approaches comes from biological systems, where nature has harnessed chemical forces to create essentially all the structures needed by life. Researchers hope to replicate nature’s ability to produce small clusters of specific atoms, which can then self-assemble into more-elaborate structures.

A number of bottom-up approaches have been developed for producing nanoparticles, ranging from condensation of atomic vapours on surfaces to coalescence of atoms in liquids. For example, liquid-phase techniques based on inverse micelles (globules of lipid molecules floating in a nonaqueous solution in which their polar, or hydrophilic, ends point inward to form a hollow core, as shown in the figure) have been developed to produce size-selected nanoparticles of semiconductor, magnetic, and other materials. An example of self-assembly that achieves a limited degree of control over both formation and organization is the growth of quantum dots. Indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) dots can be formed by growing thin layers of InGaAs on GaAs in such a manner that repulsive forces caused by compressive strain in the InGaAs layer results in the formation of isolated quantum dots. After the growth of multiple layer pairs, a fairly uniform spacing of the dots can be achieved. Another example of self-assembly of an intricate structure is the formation of carbon nanotubes under the right set of chemical and temperature conditions.

DNA-assisted assembly may provide a method to integrate hybrid heterogeneous parts into a single device. Biology does this very well, combining self-assembly and self-organization in fluidic environments where weaker electrochemical forces play a significant role. By using DNA-like recognition, molecules on surfaces may be able to direct attachments between objects in fluids. In this approach, polymers made with complementary DNA strands would be used as intelligent “adhesive tape,” attaching between polymers only when the right pairing is present. Such assembly might be combined with electrical fields to assist in locating the attachment sites and then be followed by more-permanent attachment approaches, such as electrodeposition and metallization. There are several advantages of DNA-assisted approaches: DNA molecules can be sequenced and replicated in large quantities, DNA sequences act as codes that can be used to recognize complementary DNA strands, hybridized DNA strands form strong bonds to their complementary sequence, and DNA strands can be attached to different devices as labels. These properties are being explored for ways to self-assemble molecules into nanoscale units. For example, sequences of DNA have been fabricated that adhere only to particular crystal faces of compound semiconductors, providing a basis for self-assembly. By having the correct complementary sequences at the other end of the DNA molecule, certain faces of small semiconductor building blocks can be made that adhere to or repel each other. For example, thiol groups at the end of molecules cause them to attach to gold surfaces, while carboxyl groups can be used for attachment to silica surfaces. Directed assembly is an increasingly important variation of self-assembly where, in quasi-equilibrium environments, parts are moved mechanically, electrically, or magnetically and are placed precisely where they are intended to go.