Microdisplacement Printing

by A. A. Dameron et al. Nano Letters, 19 Aug 2005 (web release) We describe a new patterning technique that employs microcontact printing to replace preformed labile self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) selectively; we call this "microdisplacement printing." We demonstrate that this technique results in ordered molecular regions of both the patterning ("displacing") molecule as well as the remnant labile film, here 1-adamantanethiolate. The existence of the 1-adamantanethiolate SAM before patterning hinders lateral surface diffusion of the patterning molecules, and therefore permits the use of molecules that are otherwise too mobile to pattern by other methods. Read more