Through silicon deposition onto the silver (1 1 0) surface, we have fabricated in a one-step process a highly perfect nanoscale template consisting of a self-assembled Si nanostripe array with a pitch of 2 nm, covering uniformly the entire surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy investigations show that this system can be used, in a very simple way, as a template for the growth of identical highly ordered one-dimensional nanostructures. The adsorption of Co at room temperature and C-60 at 190 degrees C gives rise to the growth of self-organized one-dimensional nanostructures reproducing the one-dimensional pattern of the Si template. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.