Multiple Ink Nanolithography: Toward a Multiple-Pen Nano-Plotter

The formation of intricate nanostructures will require the ability to maintain surface registry during several patterning steps. A scanning probe method, dip-pen nanolithography (DPN), can be used to pattern monolayers of different organic molecules down to a 5-nanometer separation. An "overwriting" capability of DPN allows one nanostructure to be generated and the areas surrounding that nanostructure to be filled in with a second type of "ink."