High speed atomic force microscope lithography driven by electrostatic interaction

This letter paper describes a scanning probe lithography method for fabricating patterns of various nanoparticles on SiO_x/Si substrate. The electrostatic interaction resulting from the charge separation caused by the friction between the atomic force microscope (AFM) tip and the substrate was utilized as the driving force for the deposition of nanoparticles. The nanoparticles loaded on the tip were transported onto the substrate as the AFM tip moved at a speed as high as hundreds of μm/s. This method allows patterning functional inorganic nanoparticles with a deliberate control over the feature size and shape.