  One of the main goals of DNA nanotechnology is to provide a viable solution
to the limitations of top-down approaches in microfabrication schemes. Although
a completely practical bottom-up approach is yet to be realized, there has been
great progress in integrating the two approaches in the past few years. In this
vein, we present a novel surface assisted fabrication scheme able to directly
control the coverage rate, from 0 to 100%, of functionalized DNA nanostructures
on centimeter-scaled silica (SiO_2) substrates which is one key to harnessing
DNA's unique properties in electronics and photonics. Furthermore,
electrostatic interactions between the DNA structures and the surface lead to
dramatic topological changes of the structures, creating novel formations of
the crystals. These results provide a direct route to applying fully
functionalized layers of DNA nanostructures to current technologies in
SiO_2-based electronics and photonics.
