Dip‐pen nanolithography: Small 22/2009

Abstract

The cover picture shows a process used to fabricate carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). This process is enabled by patterning catalyst ink directly on silicon substrates with nanometer‐scale precision using dip‐pen nanolithography. A multipen writing method is employed to increase the patterning rate. The development of new molecular inks for the deposition of the precursor catalyst results in a high yield of isolated CNTs, ideal for subsequent device fabrication. The work demonstrates advantages of the new method for producing high‐quality isolated CNTs in scalable array geometries. The image is a graphical representation of the patterning process. Arrays of dots are written with catalyst ink on the substrate at predefined locations marked by fiducial markers, which are alphabetical pairs of letters. After patterning, the CVD process facilitates synthesis of CNTs at the catalyst sites on the substrate. The arrows denote the final result‐isolated CNTs grown from nanocatalyst clusters. For more information, please read the Communication “Controllable Patterning and CVD Growth of Isolated Carbon Nanotubes with Direct Parallel Writing of Catalyst Using Dip‐Pen Nanolithography” by I. Kuljanishvili, V. Chandrasekhar, et al., beginning .

Nanoscale Patterning of Carbon Nanotubes: Techniques, Applications, and Future

“…Kuljanishvili et al showed Fe catalyst can be deposited with DPN, using an ink containing iron salts of ferric nitrate nonahydrate and ferric chloride hexahydrate (Figure 13d-g). [268] Concentration of the iron salts in the ink determined eventual Fe catalyst concentration in the patterns. They also demonstrated the scaling up of this method, using a pen array with multiple pens to simultane-ously pattern multiple areas (Figure 13d).…”

“…f,g) SEM images of CNTs grown from the DPN-patterned catalyst (scale bars 10 µm, 2 µm). Reproduced with permission [268]. Copyright 2009, Wiley-VCH.…”

Controlled growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on patterned substrates

“…Kuljanishvili et al used the similar strategy with multipen DPN to deposit iron-based catalyst for the growth of SWCNTs and fabricated a device based on the grown SWCNTs. 37 Worth commenting is that if the size of DPN-generated patterns can be controlled down to single particle level, individual-tube arrays can be grown on the quartz substrate, which is crucially important for individual tube devices. By combining the recently developed scanning probe block copolymer lithography which can generate single-particle arrays, 38 such an endeavor of generating individualtube arrays is possible.…”

Development of Meta‐Chemical Surface by Dip‐Pen Nanolithography for Precise Electrochemical Lead Sensing

“…Scanning Probe Lithography techniques such as dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) have emerged as a strong technique for DOI: 10.1002/smtd.202301118 patterning or writing a desired structure over a flat substrate using a modified atomic force microscope (AFM). [1][2][3][4][5][6] It became quite popular after 1999 when Mirkin et al [2] coined the term Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN). It is important to note that in the early stage of DPN, patterning was processed with a probe with only a single cantilever, therefore, inherently low throughput.…”