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Applications of dip-pen nanolithography

Nature Nanotechnology volume 2, pages 145–155 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The ability to tailor the chemical composition and structure of a surface at the sub-100-nm length scale is important for studying topics ranging from molecular electronics to materials assembly, and for investigating biological recognition at the single biomolecule level. Dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) is a scanning probe microscopy-based nanofabrication technique that uniquely combines direct-write soft-matter compatibility with the high resolution and registry of atomic force microscopy (AFM), which makes it a powerful tool for depositing soft and hard materials, in the form of stable and functional architectures, on a variety of surfaces. The technology is accessible to any researcher who can operate an AFM instrument and is now used by more than 200 laboratories throughout the world. This article introduces DPN and reviews the rapid growth of the field of DPN-enabled research and applications over the past several years.

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Figure 1: Dip-pen nanolithography (DPN).
Figure 2: Detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen using a nanoarray of anti-p24 antibody.
Figure 3: Monolayer templates defined by DPN are used to screen phase separation in polymer blend films.
Figure 5: Examples of variants of DPN.
Figure 6: DPN patterning with 55,000 AFM cantilevers in parallel.
Figure 4: SWNTs assembled into rings on chemical templates.

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Acknowledgements

C.A.M. acknowledges the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Army Research Office, National Science Foundation, and NIH through a Director's Pioneer Award for support of this work.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and International Institute for Nanotechnology, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, 60208–3113, Illinois

    Khalid Salaita, Yuhuang Wang & Chad A. Mirkin

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  1. Khalid Salaita
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  2. Yuhuang Wang
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  3. Chad A. Mirkin
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Correspondence to Chad A. Mirkin.

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Salaita, K., Wang, Y. & Mirkin, C. Applications of dip-pen nanolithography. Nature Nanotech 2, 145–155 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.39

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