Micromachined arrayed dip pen nanolithography probes for sub-100 nm direct chemistry patterning

We report the development of micromachined passive and active probe arrays for parallel dip pen nanolithography (DPN). DPN is a soft lithography method that allows direct, mask-less deposition of chemicals onto substrates with sub 100-nm resolution. An active DPN probe with thermal bimetallic actuation has been developed and tested. Lithographic results and an analytical tool for optimizing active probe designs with respect to a number of performance criteria are also demonstrated.