Parallel nanodevice fabrication using a combination of shadow mask and scanning probe methods

A resistless proximal probe-based lithography technique combining scanning probe microscopy and the shadow masking technique is described. In this method, structures are locally deposited through pinhole-like apertures situated in the proximity of a cantilever tip. By this way, complex and submicron-sized structures of various materials can be directly patterned, and with predefined excursions of the sample, direct fabrication of arbitrary structures on the surface is possible.