ABSTRACT
The role of the template is two fold: First, it allows the production of the structure with the best possible reproducibility and it plays the role of a skeleton in order to organize the different functions and building blocks of a device, the active components and the different interfaces (active elements, electric contacts, various bias voltages, etc.) on a rigid body. The role of the template is to allow the manipulation of the nanoscale building blocks without the help of a microscopic tip (no systematic use of AFM or STM) or without the need of top-down processes (lithography, FIB, lift-off). Second, this nanoscaffold is used to link the structure to the macroscopic world, i.e. the contacts without the use of (nano) lithography. Also, template structuring/growth brings an easy solution to the problem of end-to-end registration 8.
