US Patent 7863625 - Nanocrystal coated nanowire

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7863625.html

This patent from HP teaches doping semiconductor nanowires to manufacture LEDs and light sensors. Claim 1 reads:

1. A nanowire (100) comprising:

a semiconductor core (102) including one of p-type conductivity and n-type conductivity;

an intermediate semiconductor region (104) surrounding the core including one of an intrinsic semiconductor material and a lightly doped semiconductor material;

a semiconductor outer region (106) including the other of n-type conductivity and p-type conductivity at least partially surrounding the intermediate semiconductor region; and

nanocrystals (108,110) disposed on the surface of the outer region, wherein the core, intrinsic region, and outer region are concentric and coaxial, and the nanocrystals provide electron-conduction paths along the length of the nanowire and spaces between the nanocrystals allow light to penetrate into and to be emitted from the semiconductor regions.