Nanolithography and Molecular Cut-and-Paste: Methods for Bottom-Up Surface Assembly

Nanoscale material interfaces are of fundamental interest to the scientific community because of the unique physics governing material contacts on the nanometer length scale. Scanning probe atomic force microscopy has enabled manipulation of surfaces on the nanoscale, and has allowed researchers to fabricate devices exhibiting intelligent behavior and controlled interactions with surface adlayers. Nanolithography and molecular cut-and-paste are two related techniques both of which use scanning probe tools to modify surfaces and pattern nanoscale features of arbitrary complexity. This brief review focuses on fundamental chemistry and physics of the two techniques, and discusses current and future applications of the technology along with recent patent activity in the related biomedical and bionanotechnology fields.