Stamping Out Low-Cost Nanodevices

RogerRoast writes "Vanderbilt University scientists report that they have developed a simple technique for stamping patterns invisible to the human eye onto a special class of nanomaterials. According to the article, the method works with materials that are riddled with tiny voids that give them unique optical, electrical, chemical and mechanical properties. 'It's amazing how easy it is. We made our first imprint using a regular tabletop vise,' Sharon M. Weiss the lead author said. The article was published in the latest issue of the journal Nano Letters."

Comments

Nano Letters ?

[giorgist]

"The article was published in the latest issue of the journal Nano Letters"

It's one thing not to be able to see the patterns created ... but to post in nano letters is a bit arogant me thinks !!

Re:Wet-embossing?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's nanoimprint lithography ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoimprint_lithography ), but replacing the polymer normally used to record the pattern with a porous material that is crushed.

The images show various materials - (1) is porous gold, with a feature pitch of 750 nm; (2) is porous silicon with a pitch of 400 nm; (3) is porous titanium dioxide, with the distance from the bottom of the pictures to the start of the pores about 1 micron; (4) isn't in the paper; and (5) is porous silicon with the cube side about 2 microns.

The substrates (under the porous films) aren't entirely clear from the paper but seem to have been silicon for the silicon, glass or silicon for the gold, and titanium for the TiO2. They also had Al2O3 on Al.

Re:Nano-Tattoos?

[Agent0013]

Painless and self-renewing (or maybe reprogrammable!) nano-tattoos coming soon to flesh near you?

It's certainly been a staple of cyberpunk.

It's already here. Think geek has a wand that changes an e-Ink tatoo to a new picture.