Polymer pen lithography
AssigneeNorthwestern University
InventorsChad A. Mirkin, Fengwei Huo, Zijian Zheng, Gengfeng Zheng
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosure relates to methods of printing indicia on a substrate using a tip array comprised of elastomeric, compressible polymers. The tip array can be prepared using conventional photolithographic methods and can be tailored to have any desired number and/or arrangement of tips. Numerous copies (e.g., greater than 15,000, or greater than 11 million) of a pattern can be made in a parallel fashion in as little as 40 minutes.
Claims18
-28. (canceled)
A tip array comprising a plurality of tips fixed to a common substrate layer, the tips and common substrate layer formed from an elastomeric polymer, the elastomeric polymer of the tips having a compression modulus of about 10 MPa to about 300 MPa, and each tip having a radius of curvature of less than about 1 μm.
(canceled)
A tip array comprising an at least translucent stacked structure comprising a plurality of tips fixed to a common elastomeric polymer substrate, the substrate fixed to a glass slide.
A method of making a tip array, comprising:
- forming a master comprising an array of recesses in a substrate separated by lands;
- filling the recesses and covering the lands with a prepolymer mixture comprising an prepolymer and, optionally, a crosslinker;
- curing the prepolymer mixture to form a polymer structure;
- and
- separating the polymer structure from the master.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.