University of Maryland professor Ray Phaneuf has developed a template that nature can follow to produce “self-assembling” structures.

It causes atoms to be arranged in a defined pattern that can serve a variety of purposes — a semiconductor in a laptop, a component in a cell phone or a sensor in a wearable device.

The templates are created using photolithography (a process akin to photography, in which the template is chemically developed after being exposed to light) and etching, or by “nanoscraping,” in which an atomic force microscope is used to selectively scrape the pattern into the template.

The template process can be used by device manufacturers to mass-produce tiny components rapidly and efficiently, reduce costs, shrink device sizes, and improve devices’ functionality in ways previously not possible.