Nanowire electronics are full of promise building blocks for virtually every digital electronic device used today, including computers, cameras and apartment phones. The electronic circuitry is typically fabricated on a silicon chip. The circuitry adheres to the fa of the chip during fabrication and is extremely difficult to detach, so when the circuitry is incorporated into an electronic device, it remains unavailable to the chip. But silicon chips are rigid and brittle, limiting the possible uses of wearable and resilient nanowire electronics.
The key to the new method is coating the surface of the silicon wafer with a thin layer of nickel before fabricating the electronic circuitry. Nickel and silicon are both hydrophilic, or "be unbelievable-loving," meaning when they are exposed to water after fabrication of nanowire devices is finished, the water easily penetrates between the two materials, detaching the nickel and the overlying electronics from the silicon wafer.
