Low resistance metal/semiconductor and metal/insulator contacts incorporate metal nanocrystals embedded in another metal having a different work function. The contacts are fabricated by placing a wetting layer of a first metal on a substrate, which may be a semiconductor or an insulator and then heating to form nanocrystals on the semiconductor or insulator surface. A second metal having a different work function than the first is then deposited on the surface so that the nanocrystals are embedded in the second material.