Artificial DNA nanostructures 1,2 show promise for the organization of functional materials 3,4 to create nanoelectronic 5 or nano-optical devices. DNA origami, in which a long single strand of DNA is folded into a shape using shorter 'staple strands' 6 , can display 6-nm-resolution patterns of binding sites, in principle allowing complex arrangements of carbon nanotubes, silicon nanowires, or quantum dots. However, DNA origami are synthesized in solution and uncontrolled deposition results in random arrangements; this makes it difficult to measure the properties of attached nanodevices or to integrate them with conventionally fabricated microcircuitry. Here we describe the use of electron-beam lithography and dry oxidative etching to create DNA origami-shaped binding sites on technologically useful materials, such as SiO 2 and diamond-like carbon. In buffer with 100 mM MgCl 2 , DNA origami bind with high selectivity and good orientation: 70-95% of sites have individual origami aligned with an angular dispersion (+ + + + +1 s.d.) as low as + + + + +108 8 8 8 8 (on diamond-like carbon) or + + + + +208 8 8 8 8 (on SiO 2 ).The semiconductor industry is currently faced with the challenges of developing lithographic technology for feature sizes below 22 nm (ref. 7) and exploring new classes of transistors that use carbon nanotubes 8 or silicon nanowires 9 . A major goal of nanotechnology is therefore to couple the self-assembly of molecular nanostructures with conventional microfabrication. A marriage of these so-called bottom-up and top-down fabrication methods would enable us to register individual molecular nanostructures, to electronically address them, and to integrate them into functional devices. One strategy is to use lithography to make templates onto which discrete components can self-assemble. Examples include the assembly of nanoparticles 10,11 , carbon nanotubes 12,13 and nanowires 14 . Lithographic templates can also be used to create hierarchical order: the nanostructures they organize can themselves have internal features with dimensions significantly smaller than those of the original template 15 and can serve as scaffolds for the assembly of still smaller components.Artificial DNA nanostructures are well suited to this approach. They can be synthesized with attachment groups (such as biotin or single-stranded DNA hooks) at defined locations, which can bind objects such as gold nanoparticles 4,16 . Easily designed in arbitrary shapes, DNA origami typically carry 200 such independently addressable sites at a resolution of 6 nm. Figure 1a depicts the self-assembly of triangular DNA origami in solution (see Supplementary Methods 1) and shows an atomic force micrograph (AFM) of their random deposition on mica, a technique ill-suited for integration with microfabrication. Previous lithographically patterned deposition of organic compounds 17 , single-and doublestranded DNA molecules [18][19][20] or DNA nanostructures 21 has achieved highly selective adsorption, but the molecules were smaller than the lith...
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