4587.1:
Nanocontact Printing: Chemical and Morphological Nanostructuring of Surfaces
Abstract
Microcontact printing is a chemical structuring approach that involves the conformal stamping of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) in a pattern onto a surface. This project aims to advance the technology of microcontact printing into a more useful, high-resolution technique by two separate approaches: The first involves the extension of microcontact printing by the development of new SAM/substrate combinations (as alternatives to the well-known Au/thiol and oxide/silane chemistries) which are also amenable to contact printing, and which are more relevant to technological needs, particularly in the biosensor, combinatorial library, and implant areas. Of particular importance is the development of SAM chemistries that work effectively on oxides, which, if possible, can self-assemble out of aqueous solution. The second approach involves the use of new elastomers for stamping and new embossing-based methods for structuring stamps. This is a critical need at present, since the existing technologies suffer from both resolution and contamination problems, as well as being less suited to stamping non-thiol-based precursor systems.