Construction of highly conductive nanowires on a DNA template

We present measurements of the electrical conductivity of metallic nanowire s which have been fabricated by chemical deposition of a thin continuous pa lladium film onto single DNA molecules to install electrical functionality. The DNA molecules have been positioned between macroscopic Au electrodes a nd are metallized afterwards. Low-resistance electrical interfacing was obt ained by pinning the nanowires at the electrodes with electron-beam-induced carbon lines. The investigated nanowires exhibit ohmic transport behavior at room temperature. Their specific conductivity is only one order of magni tude below that of bulk palladium, confirming that DNA is an ideal template for the production of electric wires, which can be utilized for the bottom -up construction of miniaturized electrical circuits. (C) 2001 American Ins titute of Physics.