Email Print Share
November 16, 2006

Improved Method to Produce Nanometer-scale Patterns

Improved Method to Produce Nanometer-scale Patterns

Georgia Tech researchers use atomic force microscopy (AFM) -generated images to analyze nanometer-scale structures. Shown are William King, assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Mechanical Engineering (standing), and graduate research assistants Brent Nelson (left) and Tanya Wright.

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have developed an improved method for directly writing nanometer-scale patterns onto a variety of surfaces. The new writing method, dubbed thermal dip pen nanolithography, represents an important extension for dip pen nanolithography (DPN), an increasingly popular technique that uses AFM probes as pens to produce nanometer-scale patterns. The research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research and Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

To learn more, see the Aug. 30, 2004, Georgia Tech Research News, "Tiny Writing: Researchers Develop Improved Method to Produce Nanometer-scale Patterns." (Date of Image: August 2004)

Credit: Photo by Gary Meek; courtesy Georgia Tech

Special Restrictions: For editorial use only; not for advertising, commercial or for-profit use.


Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.

Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.

Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.

Also Available:
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (2.9 MB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.